Over 500 years ago, two young brothers disappeared, seemingly off the face of the Earth. These weren’t just any boys, however – one was Edward V, king of England, who had recently been declared illegitimate and quickly usurped by his uncle, Richard III. After their strange disappearance, rumours of murder spread through the country, with suspicions falling upon the boys’ uncle as well as other power-hungry figures at the royal court. To this day, debate rages about the curious fate of the Princes in the Tower. From this Medieval murder mystery to the unsettling transmissions from Cold-War-era radio stations, uncover history’s most fascinating and peculiar unanswered questions. Will we ever crack the code of the Voynich Manuscript? Who really was Jack the Ripper? What’s the truth behind the Bermuda Triangle? Pick up a copy to see if you can solve history’s greatest mysteries…
WELCOME TO HISTORY'S GREATEST MYSTERIES
History's Greatest Mysteries
MURDER IN THE TOWER • When two young princes disappeared more than 500 years ago, it sparked one of the most controversial and debated murder mysteries in history…
Countdown to murder • The final movements before the princes’ disappearance
Pretenders of the throne • The princes’ presumed murders didn’t stop people coming forward claiming to be them
A deadly rumour
WHO KILLED HENRY DARNLEY? • The murder of Mary’s husband in 1567 poses one of the biggest whodunits in British history
Drawing of a murder
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF LUDWIG II • What happened to the mad king of Bavaria?
Was Ludwig II really insane? • Declared unfit to rule without a psychiatric evaluation, the king might not have been as mad as history made him out to be
The theories of Ludwig’s death • Four theories were put forward to explain the king and his doctor’s death
Who are the Guglmänner? • An ancient society lives on to preserve the memory of Ludwig II
JACK THE RIPPER • History’s most infamous serial killer stalks the streets and the police hunt for him grows more desperate with every gruesome murder
Suspects
Map of East London
Jack’s victims?
UNSOLVED MURDERS AND MYSTERIOUS DEATHS • Around the world, and across the centuries, people have gone missing or been found dead, their deaths becoming a mythologised mystery
Who was Semyon? • There was a further mystery with the Dyatlov Pass nine, when the identity of one of their number was investigated
Possible poisonings • Famous people have often attracted enemies – so which ‘natural’ deaths might really have been deliberate poisonings after all?
A VANISHED COLONY: THE MYSTERY OF ROANOKE • A 16-century English settlement on America’s eastern seaboard held out great promise, and then simply disappeared. Historians have been wondering what happened ever since
Virginia Dare and the creation of a mystery • Few figures better encapsulate the American fascination with what happened at Roanoke than Virginia Dare
TERROR ON THE ICE • How an obsession with finding the fabled Northwest Passage through the Arctic doomed John Franklin and his 128 men
EXPEDITION • FROM THE EXPEDITION’S HOPEFUL INCEPTION TO ITS DISASTROUS DISAPPEARANCE
Race against death • Frostbite is a common enemy for polar explorers. As temperatures drop, the human body struggles to cope
Faces From the Past • Scientists have been able to reconstruct the faces of remains found at Erebus Bay to identify crew members
MARITIME MYSTERIES • At the mercy of bad weather, rough seas, piracy and mutinies, disappearing boats and abandoned ships have littered the sea for centuries
The boy who escaped the Mary Celeste’s fate • When he was seven, Arthur Briggs was left behind...