All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S04E12.Smoke.and.Mirrors.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

On this episode of
"Expedition Files"...

in 1849, spine-tingling author
Edgar Allan Poe vanishes from

the streets of Baltimore,

only to reappear
days later, delirious

and on the verge of death.

What killed one of America's
greatest writers?

For nearly two centuries,
his demise has remained one of

literature's most
haunting mysteries.

But a startling new theory may

shed light on what
really happened.

Then, in 1513, Spanish explorer
Ponce de León is said to risk

everything in search of
the mythical Fountain of Youth,

a spring that can
grant immortality.

Now, stunning new insights may
completely rewrite the story of

this legendary quest.

And in 1910,
a horrifically mutilated body

is found beneath the London
home of Dr. Hawley Crippen.

He's convicted and executed
for murder.

But 100 years later, will DNA
evidence provide a bombshell

that overturns the case?

In the corridors of time

are mysteries that
defy explanation.

Now, I'm traveling through
history itself

on a search for the truth.

New evidence.

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh Gates.

And these...

are my "Expedition Files."

When I was a kid, I was
obsessed with magic.

The idea that someone could
pull a rabbit out of

a seemingly empty hat,
or take an ordinary playing

card and make it disappear,
and then reappear.

OK, so, David Blaine, I am not,
but trickery is

our theme tonight.

And many of history's greatest
mysteries involve their fair

share of smoke and mirrors.

So watch closely and expect
the unexpected as we seek out

the truth in three mischievous
mysteries designed to deceive.

We begin here in Baltimore
on October 3rd, 1849.

It's Election Day,
and the tavern behind me,

Gunner's Hall, is both polling
place and drinking spot,

popular with all kinds
of patrons.

One of them is this man.

To say that he's seen better
days would

be an understatement.

He's considered one of

the greatest writers of
all time.

Meet the master of the macabre,
Mr. Edgar Allan Poe.

After five days missing,
he's just reappeared,

disheveled and incoherent.

He's not even wearing
his own clothes.

Days from now, he'll die from
unknown causes.

So what kills this
literary giant?

What happened to him in those
last lost days?

175 years on, new evidence will
emerge suggesting Poe's ending

may be his most tragic
tale yet.

The life of Edgar Allan Poe,
famed writer of Gothic tales

like "The Raven"
and "The Tell-Tale Heart,"

begins 40 years earlier when
Poe is born just as Edgar,

no Allan yet, in the city
of Boston.

Poe's upbringing is as grim as
his later work.

What I do outside
of this house

is none of your business!

When he's just a baby,
his alcoholic father,

an out-of-work actor,
abandons the family,

leaving them broke.

Then, in 1811, his mother dies
from tuberculosis,

leaving him an orphan.

Where Poe's morbid worldview
came from is no mystery.

Much like the incessant pulse
beating beneath the floorboards

in his story,
"The Tell-Tale Heart,"

alcoholism, sickness,
and financial woes

will follow Poe throughout
his life,

all the way to the grave.

After his mother's death,

Edgar Poe becomes
Edgar Allan Poe,

when he's taken in by
his late mother's wealthy

friends, John
and Frances Allan.

The Allans invest in
his education and refinement,

even sending him to England for
five formative years.

Back in the U.S., Poe enrolls
at the University of Virginia.

His foster parents provide only
limited funds for expenses,

leaving Poe short on cash.

To make up the difference,
he turns to gambling

and quickly falls into debt.

After just one year,
he's forced to

leave the university.

A few years later, he moves
to Baltimore

to try to make it as a writer.

At the age of 27,
Poe marries his 13-year-old

first cousin, Virginia Clemm,
which raises some

serious eyebrows.

For the next decade,
with Virginia by his side,

Poe hits his stride,
revolutionizing

American literature.

He births the modern
detective story

with "The Murders
in the Rue Morgue"

and perfects
psychological horror through

stories like "The Fall of
the House of Usher."

Then comes his masterpiece.

In 1845, his poem "The Raven"
finds instant success,

turning Poe into
a household name.

Fame brings Poe recognition,
but no security.

He remains trapped in a cycle
of financial desperation.

Even "The Raven," the poem that
makes him famous, earns him

just $9, roughly
400 bucks today.

Scrambling to survive,
Poe takes on whatever work

he can find.

But then, in 1847,
comes the blow that truly

shatters his world.

On January 30th,
his beloved wife,

Virginia, will die at the young
age of 24 from the same disease

that took his mother, tuberculosis.

Friends describe Poe as
utterly broken.

He turns to the bottle for
solace, despite his family

history of alcoholism,
which makes him violently ill

after drinking even
a small amount.

The next year proves no better
for Poe, as he begins suffering

from extreme hallucinations.

Again!

What?

Louder!

Some say it's due to
his descent into alcoholism,

an accusation he denies.

He blames it on contracting
cholera, which killed thousands

that summer and left Poe ill
for weeks.

By September, however,
it appears he may be

recovering, giving several
well-received lectures in

Richmond, during which
he appears to be

completely sober.

But is he really better?

On September 27th,
he boards a ship in Richmond,

departing for Baltimore.

From Baltimore, he planned to
take a train to New York to see

a relative, with a stop along
the way in Philadelphia to edit

a collection of poetry.

But he never
makes his appointments.

Somewhere before Philadelphia,
Poe disappears.

It isn't until five days later
on Congressional Election Day

in Baltimore that Poe is seen
again outside Gunner's Hall.

And like a plot lifted from one
of his twisted stories, Poe is

a disturbingly changed man.

Witnesses describe
his appearance as repulsive

and that he's completely
incoherent, not wearing his own

tailored clothes
but a stranger's cheap rags.

What happened during those
five days will become one of

the literary world's
greatest mysteries.

Wake up, sir.

Believing Poe to be drunk,
bystanders and a local friend

get him to Washington College
Hospital, where they

leave him to dry out.

According to the attending
physician, Poe drifts in

and out of consciousness for
days, muttering incoherently

and repeatedly calling out
the name Reynolds...

Reynolds.

...a name that doesn't mean
anything to anyone.

Reynolds.

Reynolds.

Then, four days after he's
admitted to the hospital,

Poe takes his last breaths
and reportedly utters

his final words.

Lord, help my poor soul.

Immediately, Poe's death is
linked to alcohol,

given his well-known struggles.

The Baltimore Patriot cites
"congestion of the brain,"

a common euphemism for
alcohol poisoning.

The doctor that attended to Poe
attributes his death to

"alcohol-related brain fever."

But many find these
explanations unsatisfying.

Why was Poe wearing someone
else's clothes?

Why couldn't he account for
those missing five days?

Who was this Reynolds he was
rambling about?

And if alcohol was to blame,
why had he been stone-cold

sober at his lectures in
Richmond just days before?

Over the decades, other causes
of death are proposed.

Some suggest Poe's strange
behavior could have been caused

by rabies.

He apparently had difficulty
drinking water in his final

days, which can be a tell-tale
sign of the disease.

Then, in 1999, tests of Poe's
hair revealed elevated levels

of mercury.

Peculiar, yes,
but the levels were not high

enough to confirm
mercury poisoning.

And in 2007,
an author published a book

arguing Poe died from
a brain tumor.

This theory stems from
a witness report from 1875,

when Edgar's body was exhumed
for a memorial.

Supposedly, a solid mass was
heard rattling in his skull.

Could this have been
the remnants of a large tumor?

All of these claims are
intriguing, but none of them

can definitively account for
the five missing days right

before Poe's death.

All of this is complicated by
the fact that none of Poe's

medical records or even
his death certificate survives.

But now, a historian believes
he knows what happened during

the author's final days,
and it's a twist worthy of

Poe himself.

In 1849, Edgar Allan Poe dies
in mysterious circumstances

after disappearing for five
days, before reappearing

incoherent and incurably ill.

Then, in 2023, a stunning new
biography is published,

offering the fullest
explanation yet for both

his death
and his disappearance.

It's all tied to Baltimore
and, of all things, voting.

Chris Semtner, curator of
the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in

Richmond, explains.

I have spent years of
examining Poe's death for books

and exhibits at the Poe Museum.

And I believe it's important to
know what happened to Poe

because he is really the guy
who put American literature

on the map.

One of our literary
founding fathers.

In 1849, Baltimore was known
as "Mob Town."

It was a rough place,
the Wild West.

There were political gangs
trying to coerce people

to vote.

Well, the most insidious way
that these political gangs

figured out to convince people
to vote for them

was just grab them,

drug them, and force them
to vote.

It was called "cooping."

Basically, the gang would find
somebody from out of town

and then beat them up,
drug them, and coop them up in

a basement or a yard until it
was time to vote.

Then the coopers just take
their victims up to vote.

Then they dragged them back,
switched their clothes,

had them vote again.

From all the research I've
conducted, it leads me to

believe that Poe most likely
died after being cooped.

This type of violent election
fraud was so rampant in

the 19th century that Congress
actually held hearings on

cooping in the 1850s and '60s to
protect future

election integrity.

Victims testified they were
held with dozens of other men,

threatened with guns,
beaten, liquored up,

and then left for dead after
being forced to vote for

a favored politician.
So was Poe cooped?

Well, when you think about
the condition in which he was

found and that he was found
outside a voting hall,

it actually makes perfect sense.

Imagine this.

It's the fall of 1849.

Poe steps off the steamship in
Baltimore, stepped into

a tavern, dressed in his finest
silk vest.

An easy mark.

And a gang member offers Poe
a drugged drink.

Have we met somewhere?

Uh, I've given many lectures
in many places.

Cheers to you.

And then drags Poe to a cellar

where they keep him plied
with alcohol.

More drinks for
our new friend.

Ah, he's almost out of it.

Changing him out of
his expensive clothes,

replacing them with cheap rags
who won't be recognized.

And there he stays for days.

Finally, on election day,
they drag him back up out of

the cellar along with whoever
else he's been imprisoned with

and take him to the nearest
polling place at Gunner's Hall,

where they all drop
their ballots in the box.

And then after voting once,
the gang just drags him back,

switches all their clothes,
and had him vote again for

the House of Representatives,
and then vote again, plying Poe

with alcohol each time.

By the end, they were probably
dragging him.

He's probably barely able
to stand.

And they just had to drop him
at a table in the tavern.

It's a compelling theory.

But what about the mysterious
name Reynolds, which Poe

repeatedly uttered in
the hospital

just before he died?

Semtner believes that too may
be connected.

Reynolds was the election
judge at that polling place

where Poe was found.

Maybe Poe was trying to give us
a clue, saying Reynolds is

a dirty judge.

But there's no way to prove
this now.

There's strong circumstantial
evidence that Poe was

the victim of a cooping scheme.

But it turns out that even if
he was intoxicated and beaten,

his actual death might have
been hastened by something else

entirely, a disease that Poe
sadly knew all too well.

I think it's most likely that
he died of

tuberculous meningitis.

With tubercular meningitis,

it starts to affect the central
nervous system.

And that could cause
the delirium, the head pain,

the confusion that we associate
with Poe's last four days

in the hospital,
and Poe would have been exposed

to tuberculosis.

His mother, his foster mother,
his brother, and then most

recently, his wife had all died
of tuberculosis.

Most people who'd contracted
the tuberculosis bacteria were

asymptomatic, but after being
cooped, after being left for

dead, his system could have
been so weakened that

the tuberculous meningitis
from which he was already

suffering was able
to ravage his body,

and it's accelerated his death.

I think it's most likely that
these two factors, the cooping

and the tuberculosis
meningitis, came together,

and that's what solves
the mystery of Poe's death.

It is ironic that the author
who explored the darkest

corners of the human psyche,
who gave us mysterious tales of

murder and madness, should die
a death that seems straight out

of one of his macabre tales.

And though his days were marked
by hardship and tragedy,

today Poe has found immortality,

celebrated as one of
the greatest authors in

American history,
his work living on for

future generations.

As Poe himself once wrote,
"The boundaries which divide

"life from death are at best
shadowy and vague.

"Who shall say where the one
ends and where

the other begins?"

Better than Botox,
more powerful than a facelift,

for over 1,000 years,
the legendary

Fountain of Youth, has been
said to restore beauty and even

grant immortality to anyone
who drinks from it.

The year is 1513,
and Spanish conquistador

Juan Ponce de León is on a quest
to find it, searching in,

of all places, Florida.

Or at least that's how this
story will be told for the next

500 years.

But is Ponce here really
searching for

the Fountain of Youth?

Or is he actually seeking
something of a very

different value?

Well, half a millennia
from now,

records will be discovered that

finally help tell the true
story of the man said to risk

it all in the search for
everlasting life.

Do I look younger?

The origin of the legend
and everything else about

the Fountain of Youth is murky.

The tale first appears in
the 5th century BC

writings of Greek
historian Herodotus,

who describes a mythical spring
in Africa said to bring

long life.

Centuries later,
the fountain becomes a popular

theme in medieval stories
and European art.

But in the 16th century,
the legend takes on a new life

when stories emerge,

linking it to the explorer
Juan Ponce de León.

Born around 1474 in the Kingdom
of Castile in Spain,

Ponce de León comes from a noble
lineage, but one with little

power behind it.

Seeking opportunity, as a young
man, he joins an expedition to

explore the uncharted reaches
of the world.

The year is 1493.

Juan Ponce de León has set sail
on a ship bound for mysterious

lands known as the Indies.

De León hasn't made his name
yet, but this guy certainly

has, Christopher Columbus.

A year earlier,
he crossed the Atlantic hoping

to reach Asia,

instead, landing in the islands
of the Caribbean before

returning to Spain a hero.

Now, Columbus is at it again,
leading 17 ships and 1,000 men,

including Ponce here,
because this second expedition

isn't just a voyage
of discovery.

It's a mission of conquest.

Their destination?

An island he's christened
Isla Española, what is now

the nations of Haiti
and Dominican Republic.

In the years that follow,
Spain conquers

the island, killing, enslaving,

and forcibly converting
the indigenous population

to Christianity.

Ponce de León rises quickly
through the colonial ranks,

ruling with force.

In 1508, he leads his first
expedition west and claims

an island he names
San Juan Bautista,

today known as Puerto Rico.

A year later, he is named
interim governor of the island,

building his wealth
and solidifying his power

as a conquistador.

But Ponce's success
is short-lived.

When Christopher Columbus's son

Diego arrives with something
to prove...

He insists.

...he tries to take control of
the Caribbean colonies,

an act that would strip Ponce
of his authority.

A bitter power struggle erupts
between Ponce

and Diego Columbus.

But it's hard to beat a man
whose father discovered

the New World.

Diego wins out and seizes
full control.

Determined to regain
his status, Ponce petitions

the Spanish king for permission

to explore new lands
to the west.

In 1512, he receives a royal
contract granting him the right

to claim and govern any
territories he discovers.

His destination is Bimini,

an island in the Bahamas
rumored to hold miraculous

waters said to restore youth.

The indigenous Taíno people

spoke of a legendary
spring there,

"La Fuente De La Juventud,"

or the Fountain of Youth.

April 2nd, 1513,

Ponce de León and his crew
spot land on the horizon.

They believe it's another
island, but it isn't.

This is a continent,
the eastern edge of a vast

territory not yet claimed by
any European nation,

a place we know today as
the United States of America.

Ponce de León comes ashore,
the first known European to set

foot on what would become
the continental U.S.

He gives this land its name,

a name that continues to
this day.

La Florida,
the Land of Flowers.

But we don't know anything
about his hunt for the Fountain

of Youth here, or if that's
really what he was

searching for.

The following year,
Ponce de León returns to Spain.

He's granted a lifetime title,
Governor of the Islands of

Bimini and La Florida,
because at the time, Florida is

still believed to be an island.

In 1521, he's dispatched back
to the New World to make

La Florida his own.

Eight years after their first
landing in Florida,

200 Spaniards have returned
to build a permanent colony.

Ponce de León is struck by
a poisoned arrow, likely in

a surprise attack by
the indigenous Calusa tribe

defending their homeland.

If anyone was ever in need
of a fountain of youth,

it's right about now.

But with no healing waters to
cure him, Ponce de León

dies at 47 years old.

In all of the official records

from his lifetime,
his contracts, petitions,

and correspondence with
the Crown, the Fountain of

Youth is never mentioned.
Not once.

So you're probably asking
yourself, "Well, how the hell

"did Ponce de León become
forever linked to the search

for the Fountain?"

Well, one historian who scoured
the Spanish archives has

a shocking explanation,
and it all traces back to one

man, Christopher Columbus.

For centuries, the world has
believed Juan Ponce de León

searched for the Fountain of
Youth, but there is no written

record he ever did.

Deep in the Spanish Empire's
vast archive of the Indies,

professor of history
Dr. J. Michael Francis

has discovered writings
that reveal the truth

behind the story.

The first documented
connection we have that ties

Juan Ponce de León with
the Fountain of Youth story

comes more than a decade after
Juan Ponce's death.

It happens in 1535 in
a chronicle written by

the royal chronicler

Gonzalo Fernández
de Oviedo y Valdés,

in which he relates this quest

to locate this so-called
Fountain of Youth

based on stories that he had
heard that there was this

magical spring that

if you bathed or drank
the water, it can restore one's

health and one's youth.

OK, so we have found where
the Fountain of Youth story

started, but is there any truth
to the idea that Ponce de León

actually searched for it?

Well, Dr. Francis found clues
in the way the conquistador is

depicted that may
explain everything.

Oviedo's rendering
of Ponce de León as a rather

comical character who was guided
by vanity and not by logic.

And had he thought logically
about this story of

the Fountain of Youth,
he wouldn't have believed it.

He wouldn't have then spent
a fortune on a campaign in

search of this
Fountain of Youth.

It seems that Oviedo was more
closely aligned with Columbus

and with Diego Columbus.

And for that reason,
he might have rendered

Ponce de León
in a more negative light.

After Oviedo, Ponce de León
and the Fountain of Youth are

inextricably intertwined.
The story then,

in a sense, takes on a life
of its own.

It continues to be
repeated and repeated.

Different details are added.
Other details omitted.

And over time, what we find is,
if you repeat a story often

enough, a myth

transforms into history.

Dr. Francis thinks that
the Fountain of Youth story is

essentially one of history's
first and most successful

smear campaigns.

The Columbus family worked to
turn Ponce into a punchline,

stripping him of his ambition
and complexity and recasting

him as a vain fool chasing
magical waters.

And the story worked.

To this day,
the connection between Ponce,

Florida, and the Fountain of
Youth remains as strong

as ever.

When I was in St. Augustine,
Florida, I even joined

the tourists at the so-called
Fountain of Youth Park to have

a sip myself.

- Here we go-- cheers.
- Cheers.

Like all conquistadors,
Juan Ponce de León sought land,

riches, and power.

But we now know that he didn't
seek the Fountain of Youth.

Nevertheless, eternal life
still found him, not through

magical waters, but through
an ever-enduring legend.

It's July 13th, 1910.

Detectives are searching
the cellar of a North London

townhouse, home to Dr. Hawley
Crippen and his wife, Belle.

Both have gone missing,
but the police are about to

make a gruesome discovery.

Oh, dear Lord.
The smell is unbelievable.

Human flesh.

No head or even bones,
just muscle, skin,

and fat wrapped in some kind
of cloth.

This is the beginning of one of
the most disturbing murder

cases in British history,
one that will make the name

Dr. Crippen infamous.

But a century from now,
cutting edge DNA testing will

allow these remains to be
reexamined, leading to

a terrifying twist.

Who is Dr. Hawley Crippen,

the man at the bloody heart of
this story?

Well, he isn't what you'd call
a traditional doctor.

Born in Michigan in 1862,
he trains in homeopathic

medicine, going on to sell
over-the-counter remedies that

are alleged to cure everything

from headaches to malaria
to baldness.

Some patients swear by them,
but critics call them

snake oil.

Either way, they become
big business.

After setting up shop in
New York City, Dr. Crippen has

a brief marriage that ends
tragically when his wife dies

of a stroke in 1892.

Crippen becomes a widower at
just 30 years old.

But he seems to bounce back.

Nine months later, in September
1892, Crippen marries

a 19-year-old dance hall singer
named Cora Turner, known by

her stage name, Belle Elmore.

The brash party girl singer
and the mild-mannered doctor,

nearly 12 years her senior,
appear an odd pair.

But the Crippens make it work,
for a while at least.

In 1897, Dr. Crippen gets a job

managing Munyon's Homeopathic
Home Remedies in London,

and the couple ships off
to England.

Belle sets her sights on making
her name in the bustling

vaudeville scene,
becoming a member

of the Music Hall Ladies Guild.

The future seems bright for
the Crippens, but things don't

go exactly as planned.

Two years after arriving in
England, Dr. Crippen parts ways

with his company.

Barred from practicing as
a doctor in the UK due to

his lack of qualifications,
he bounces between odd jobs.

Belle's theater career never
takes off either,

but that doesn't seem to
faze her.

She lives lavishly,
partying with a wide circle of

friends across London.

In reality, times are tight,
but you would never know it.

On January 31st, 1910,

Belle and the doctor
entertain a few of

their closest friends.

The party runs late,
with laughter and drinks

flowing until 1:30
in the morning.

This is the last time Belle's
friends will see her alive.

Two days later,
Belle misses a meeting

of the Music Hall Ladies Guild.

In her place,
Crippen's secretary,

Ethel Le Neve, delivers a letter
signed by Belle stating

she must resign her position

and go to America to tend to
a sick relative.

Weeks go by with no word
from Belle.

Soon, Crippen is seen publicly
with his secretary, Ethel,

who has since moved into
his home and has been seen

wearing Belle's fur and jewelry.

Crippen is pressed for details
by Belle's friends,

and his story keeps changing.

I'm very sorry.

This has all been
a terrible shock.

First, he says she's fallen ill,

then that she's died while
away in America.

By March 1910, Belle's friends
alert Scotland Yard,

bringing in
Inspector Walter Dew,

a seasoned detective

well-known for his work
on the Jack the Ripper case.

Dew meets Crippen on July 8th.

To his surprise, Crippen calmly
admits he lied to Belle's

friends, claiming she's alive
in America with another man,

and that he invented her death
to avoid embarrassment.

Dew then searches Crippen's
home, but finds nothing.

The following Monday,
the 11th of July, Dew returns

for a follow-up visit.

But Crippen and Ethel are
nowhere to be found.

At this point,
our Scotland Yard inspector is

certain the couple is
on the run.

But the most
disturbing discovery

isn't their disappearance.

It's what he's about to find
hidden inside their house.

London Police Inspector
Walter Dew believes that

Dr. Crippen and
his secretary-turned-girlfriend

Ethel Le Neve are evading police
after the mysterious

disappearance
of his wife, Belle.

Dew suspects the couple is
hiding something,

and he's about to find it.

After two days of searching
Dr. Crippen's home,

police decide to dig up
the coal cellar floor when

they notice loose bricks,

eventually leading to
a horrifying discovery.

- Oh, my word.
- Human remains.

But the head, skeleton,
and vital organs are gone,

making identification
nearly impossible.

A piece of cloth buried with
what remains of the body

matches a pair of Crippen's
pajama bottoms

found under his bed.

And a medical examiner
identifies a scar on

the abdomen, which is
consistent with a previous

surgery that Belle Elmore
had undergone.

Tragically, it appears
they found Dr. Crippen's wife.

Now, they just need to find him.

But the doctor and his mistress
Ethel have

a five-day head start.

Scotland Yard shares
the shocking story with

the press, splashing photos of
Dr. Crippen and Ethel across

front pages and posting
their faces at ports

throughout Europe.

It's July 22nd, 1910.

I'm aboard the SS Montrose,
two days into its 10-day

crossing from Belgium
to Canada.

Among the passengers are

a Mr. John P. Robinson and son.

But to the ship's captain,
they look suspiciously like

the fugitives he'd seen in
the paper the day

they set sail.

Fortunately, the Montrose
happens to be one of only 60

ships in the world fitted with
a brand-new marvel,

the Marconi wireless telegraph.

The captain seizes his chance,
tapping out a message across

the Atlantic in what will be
the first time radio waves are

used in a fugitive hunt.

The very next morning,
Inspector Dew races to the port

at Liverpool and boards
the much faster SS Laurentic.

His ship will reach Canada
a full day before the Montrose,

allowing him to intercept

Crippen when they dock
in Quebec.

On the morning of July 31st,
the inspector and two Canadian

policemen are ferried to
the arriving Montrose.

They wear crew-member uniforms
to avoid suspicion.

As the disguised Dr. Crippen
watches the Canadian horizon

come into view, the long arm of
the law taps him squarely

on the shoulder.

Crippen is stunned to see
the familiar face of

Inspector Dew.

Dr. Crippen is placed under
arrest for the murder of

his wife, Belle Elmore.

Crippen's mistress,
Ethel Le Neve, is booked as

an accessory to murder.

Back in London, the trial
is a sensation.

Dr. Crippen maintains
his innocence,

but the evidence
is overwhelming.

Perhaps most damning,
the human tissue found in

the cellar tests positive for
the toxic sedative hyoscine,

a drug the doctor purchased

just days before Belle
went missing.

On October 22nd, 1910,
after four days of testimony,

the jury takes just 27 minutes
to find Crippen

guilty of murder.

Ethel's defense convinces
the jury that she was

an unwitting victim of
the doctor's deceit.

She is acquitted of charges
but lives the rest of her life

under public suspicion of how
much she really knew.

One month later, November 23rd,
Dr. Hawley Crippen

is hanged at Pentonville Prison.

Crippen goes to the gallows
maintaining his innocence,

swearing he didn't kill
his wife, Belle.

Now, a century after
his death, new evidence raises

a troubling question.

What if Crippen was actually
telling the truth?

After a manhunt spanning
the Atlantic Ocean,

Dr. Hawley Crippen is convicted
and executed for the murder of

his wife, Belle Elmore.

For the next hundred years,
Dr. Crippen's case is

remembered as a real-life
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

But then researchers at
the Royal London Hospital

locate a microscope slide of
organic material marked

"Crippen case."

This sample could
change everything.

Journalist Harry Howard
covered the story.

The Crippen case was reignited
in 2007 when experts did DNA

testing on a slide of skin that
had been taken from the corpse

that was found in
Crippen's basement.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed
down the female line,

and they extracted that
from the sample,

and then they compared it to
three distant living relatives

of Belle Elmore,
and the results seemed quite

conclusive, that the body in
the basement was not that of

Belle Elmore, and what's more,
they seemed to show that

the body was actually a male
rather than a female.

A male, not a female.

The scientists declared that
whoever was buried in that

basement, it isn't Belle.

The findings rock
the true crime world.

Was Crippen somehow a victim
of lethal injustice?

Suddenly that means that
everything is out in the open

again, and headlines are
proclaiming that Crippen might

be innocent.

Some people are saying that
he should be

pardoned posthumously.

So there's all these questions
flying around, which really

kind of drive a dagger
through the conviction.

In 2009,
the British government refuses

to reopen the case in the Court
of Appeals, citing that since

Crippen was American,

there are no British
citizens who could benefit.

And while the court of public
opinion seems to have shifted

in his favor, not everyone is
convinced he's an innocent man.

Then, in 2025,
there's an incredible new

twist, as famed British DNA
expert Dr. Turi King

enters the fray.

Dr. Turi King is a highly
respected geneticist who was

a key member of the team that
identified the remains of

Richard III, after that
skeleton shocked the world when

it was found in a car park
in Leicester.

So she brings a lot of heft to
anything that she does.

King reviews the work of
the 2007 team and says

she uncovers disturbing
problems with how

they conducted their analysis.

So Dr. King highlighted what
she argued were several flaws

in the testing process.

The first one, ordinarily you'd
have two samples tested in two

separate labs.

They only had one sample tested
in one lab.

There was no independent
replication of this test.

And also she was concerned that
there weren't proper protocols

in place to prevent
contamination of

the scientist's DNA getting
into the sample.

None of the analysts
contributed their own DNA to

rule themselves out of the kind
of prospect

of cross-contamination.

And if that obviously did
happen, that would explain why

it was found to be male.

So the implication really of
this is that she doesn't feel

that the 2007 DNA results are
strong enough to cast really

any doubt on Crippen's guilt.

The scientists behind the 2007
study defend their methodology,

saying there was
no contamination.

They have no plans to
retest the sample.

But whether the body is male
or female, Harry says it

doesn't change the most crucial
issue, the guilt of

Dr. Crippen himself.

My feelings on the Crippen
case is that he is guilty.

And even if we say that
the body in the basement was

not hers, there's so many other
elements, her uncharacteristic

disappearance, the flight to
Canada, the hyoscine found in

the corpse, that he was known to
have bought.

It is really kind of like

a wall of evidence that has
been mounted.

And so my feeling is that
he did kill her and that

the conviction of 1910 is
a safe one.

It's hard to disagree with
those facts.

And there is a key question
Crippen's supporters have yet

to answer.

If those mutilated remains
didn't belong to his wife,

whose were they?

Because if the body
in the basement isn't

Belle Elmore, then this is far
from case-closed.

Because that means this
real-life Dr. Jekyll has

another unknown victim.

110 years on, there may yet be
more to the horrifying case of

Hawley Crippen.

I'm Josh Gates, and I'll see
you on the next expedition.