History's Conspiracy Theories

History's Conspiracy Theories — page 1 — 1 Shakespeare Didn’t Write His Own Plays 37 Number of plays that Shakespeare is said to have written William Shakespeare is known in history as a famous playwright Not much is known about his life Some people have claimed that other people wrote Shakespeare’s plays No one has been able to prove or disprove the conspiracy theories about Shakespeare William Shakespeare is one of the best-known playwrights in history Three of his most famous plays are Romeo and Juliet Hamlet and Macbeth But some people believe that Shakespeare didn’t write them Shakespeare was born in England around 1564 He was an 4 actor and a playwright He married had children and owned property He became famous in the London theater world He died in 1616 Not much else is known about his life Some conspiracy theories claim that Edward de Vere wrote

History's Conspiracy Theories — page 2 — MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR One theory says that many people wrote Shakespeare’s plays In 1848 an American named Joseph C Hart wrote a book about this theory In 1856 Delia Bacon wrote an article about it This has become one of the more popular beliefs among conspiracy theorists Shakespeare’s plays De Vere was the 17th Earl of Oxford An earl is a British nobleman Many of Shakespeare’s plays are about kings queens and other royalty Some people think a common man like Shakespeare wouldn’t know about such things But someone like de Vere would Other theories say Sir Francis Bacon wrote the plays Still others say it was another playwright Christopher Marlowe Or they say it was a different earl William Stanley No one yet has been able to prove that Shakespeare didn’t write his plays But no one has been able to prove he wrote them either Edward de Vere Sir Francis Bacon Christopher Marlowe William Stanley 5

History's Conspiracy Theories — page 3 — 2 Lewis Carroll Was Jack the Ripper In 1888 a serial killer terrorized London He murdered at least five women But he was never caught or even identified He was called Jack the Ripper This case has led to many conspiracy theories One of the strangest theories claims the elusive killer was a man named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson He was better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll He was the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Carroll was also a photographer He took many pictures of young girls One of these girls Alice Liddell was said to inspire Alice in Wonderland Some people who have studied Carroll’s life say he did not treat these girls with respect Other people have pointed out anagrams in Carroll’s writing When they rearrange some of Alley in Whitechapel London the district where Jack the Ripper committed his crimes WANTED Jack the Ripper 6

History's Conspiracy Theories — page 4 — THINK ABOUT IT If the London murders took place today do you think police would identify and catch the killer Why or why not the letters messages appear The messages seem to suggest that Carroll was Jack the Ripper Some people think this is silly They argue that with enough letters nearly anything can be spelled out The killings took place more than 130 years ago But the conspiracy theory about Lewis Carroll lives on 176 into which Number of languages Alice in Wonderland has been translated A man people call Jack the Ripper killed five women in London in 1888 One conspiracy theory says that Lewis Carroll was the killer People have based this theory on anagrams Some people still believe Carroll was Jack the Ripper Lewis Carroll in 1863 7

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