Though he is considered the greatest and most influential English language writer of all time, William Shakespeare’s authorship of the plays that bear his name has been doubted for at least two centuries. How did these theories arise? Is there any credence to them? Well, the iron simplicity of the answers might surprise you.

Faced with certain death from the guns and bayonets of attacking French troops, a young woman supplying water to Spanish soldiers should have joined the defenders in fleeing the battle. However, her immense courage would not allow retreat; her deep patriotism would not abide surrender. So she stayed, and a legend was born. This episode tells the astounding story of Augustina of Aragon.

When a mass death event strikes a remote region of Africa in 1986, the initial facts are so freakishly weird that even those most skeptical of anything supernatural pause to reconsider with the question, “What in the world just happened here?” As scientists doggedly unravel the truth, the baffling story becomes no less troubling. This episode tells the story of the nearly forgotten mystery of the Nyos disaster.

Graced with a stunning face that could launch a thousand ships, Hedwig Kiesler ricocheted repeatedly between fame and scandal. But while no one was looking, she created an innovation so startling that it literally changed the world – an invention that is likely affecting you at the very moment you are reading this. The astonishing story of Hedy Lamarr.

During the darkest days of The Great Depression, three men plot to kill a local drunk, make it look like an accident, and collect insurance money on the corpse. However, the plan goes comically awry when the target of the murder scheme simply refuses to die. The astonishing tale of Iron Mike Malloy and the men who wished him dead.

Two sticky technological problems give way to nearly miraculous inventions. However, the miracles come with an unexpected price: the possible future of humanity. This episode tells the twisted story of a pair of seemingly harmless 20th-century inventions that nearly ended us all.

She is a forgotten member of her family – the youngest girl, the smallest, the most disposable – relegated to a life of chores and servitude with no hope for a brighter future. However, when the smallest sliver of opportunity appears, she seizes it with a vengeance to plot a path that will take her to the stars. This episode covers the amazing and improbable life of Caroline Herschel.

One of the wealthiest men in human history set out on a medieval journey whose logistics are nearly too astonishing to be believed. How he used his wealth stands in stark contrast to the havoc wreaked by the uber rich of today. This episode tells the story of Mansa Musa, perhaps the richest man who ever lived.