All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S02E02.Curse.of.the.Haunted.Prison.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
An abandoned concrete pyramid

Dominating
The american midwest...

It looks like the set
Of some "Temple of doom."

Narrator: ...A group
Of ominous structures

Rusting away at sea...

Dr. Dickrell:
This looks like aliens

Are standing out in the water.

It's quite a sight to see.

Narrator: ...And one of the
Biggest machines ever built,

Forgotten in a field.

It's just unbelievable.

It's just unbelievable.

Narrator: once, they were some
Of the most advanced structures

And facilities on the planet,

At the cutting edge
Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them?
And how?

And why were they abandoned?

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

*

At the northern edge
Of north dakota,

Just 15 miles from
The canadian border,

Stands one of america's
Most incredible

And mysterious structures.

Standing on top of
A sloping mound, a 79-feet tall,

Standing on top of
A sloping mound, a 79-feet tall,

Slab-sided concrete pyramid

Looms
Over the surrounding plains.

Gough: this thing looks
Downright sinister.

This has to be one of the
Weirdest-looking things

In the entire country.

There's a brooding menace
About the whole environment.

Narrator:
There are no windows visible.

Sloped at 56 degrees,

The otherwise blank
Surfaces of each wall

Are punctuated with strange,
Large white disks.

Are punctuated with strange,
Large white disks.

You're confronted with something
Completely unworldly

From where you are.

This giant structure

Has the impression
Of an aztec pyramid.

Narrator: the giant pyramid

Is in the center
Of a 470-acre field,

Surrounded by dozens
Of underground silos,

Security fences
And derelict guard posts.

But this is no ordinary
Industrial complex.

But this is no ordinary
Industrial complex.

Gough: when you get closer,
You can see this was some kind

Of military installation,
But what?

These monolithic structures
Springing out of the ground.

You have a concrete parking lot
That has hatches and pillars.

What is this?

Who built it and why?

Narrator: and why was this giant
Pyramid abandoned?

In the cold war
Of the early 1960s,

The nuclear arms race
Between the soviet union

And the united states
Is reaching a crisis point.

A fierce debate breaks out
Within america's armed forces

About the best way
To protect the nation

And its arsenal of missiles
From annihilation

By soviet intercontinental
Ballistic missiles.

By the 1960s,

The popular imagination
Has fixed on the idea

That nuclear war would involve
All-out total war assault.

Bell: nuclear armageddon was
Very much on the horizon.

The potential for mass
Destruction was very real.

The soviet union truly
Respected one thing only,

And that was military force.

And so we had to show
That our technology was equal

And so we had to show
That our technology was equal

Or better than theirs.

Narrator: so the u.S. Army

Raises the stakes
Of military defense

And develops this,

The nekoma anti-ballistic
Missile system.

At the heart of the complex
Is a state-of-the-art radar.

Bell: this is a one-of-a-kind
Radar system

That was constructed at
The height of the cold war,

The height of american paranoia.

The height of american paranoia.

Narrator: construction
Of this installation

Begins in the late 1960s.

Teams of engineers excavate

Nearly 1 million
Cubic feet of earth

To create a vast pit
53 feet into the ground.

They line it with concrete

Reinforced by 22,000 tons
Of iron and steel

To shield against nuclear
Electromagnetic radiation.

Inside, multiple floors
Cover 127,000 square feet

And contain all the tactical
Operational systems

And weapon control.

The groundbreaking radar
Has ambition.

The technology developed to
Create a virtual radar antenna

That is capable of focusing
In different directions

Without actually having to move
A big piece of steel mesh.

Without actually having to move
A big piece of steel mesh.

Otto: the phased array
Is a radar that will,

Through the computer system,

Will detect a missile or
An object coming in from russia

Or at a greater distance.

This was the cutting edge
Of technology,

To allow the u.S.A.
To feel safe that,

Should there be a strike
From the ussr,

They'd be able to take out
Those nuclear warheads

Before they landed
On american soil.

Before they landed
On american soil.

Narrator: but achieving this
Level of defense requires

The most advanced computer in
The western world at the time.

Engineered to handle 10 million
Instructions per second,

The radar's computer is located

Deep beneath
The blast-proof pyramid.

It controls an on-site fleet
Of 46 missiles

Held in underground launch silos

Designed to shoot down
Incoming soviet weapons,

Designed to shoot down
Incoming soviet weapons,

All directed by
The huge circular radar dishes

Mounted on each side
Of the pyramid.

But the system faces incredible
Defense challenges.

The nekoma system was operating
At the limits

Of 1960 technology,

And the biggest problem it had
Was you had seconds to decide,

Are you going to fire your
Missile to stop that missile,

Are you going to fire your
Missile to stop that missile,

Or is it a decoy?

Is it something else?

Narrator: to be effective,

It had to be able
To target multiple

Soviet nuclear missiles
All at the same time.

The radars could detect
A soviet missile incoming

And give 6 minutes' warning.

The missiles could hit a target
On 30 seconds' notice.

That meant that as long
As the big computers

That meant that as long
As the big computers

Could make their
Decisions fast enough,

A nuclear-tipped missile
Could be in the air

And intercepting
An inbound soviet icbm

In time to blow it up.

Narrator: working out these
Technologies takes many years,

And it isn't until late 1975
That the nekoma base

Is finally fully equipped
With both long-range spartan

And short-range sprint
Nuclear missiles.

And short-range sprint
Nuclear missiles.

These weapons ensure
That there are two chances

Of taking out incoming
Soviet missiles.

We have here
Sprint missile field.

You'll notice that there's
A white cover

On top of this missile site.

That is mainly fiberglass.

When they fired this missile,

It would go directly
Through the fiberglass.

When they launched these
Spartan missiles,

When they launched these
Spartan missiles,

You'll notice that there is
A steel rail on each side.

When this missile is ready
For firing, they send a signal,

And then there's explosive
Charges on that area,

And they'll blow
This cover out of the way

And be speeding on its way
To the outer atmosphere.

Narrator: so will this high-tech
Missile defense system

Actually work?

And why was it abandoned?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator: in north dakota

Lies a forgotten remnant
Of the cold war,

The nekoma anti-ballistic
Missile system.

Completed in 1975,
The complex costs $5 billion,

The modern-day equivalent
Of $27 billion.

Those missiles were so fast
And so accurate

Those missiles were so fast
And so accurate

And directed by radars
That were so powerful

That the united states

Was able to demonstrate its
Capability to the point at which

The u.S. Could be made
Invulnerable to soviet attack,

Scared the hell
Out of the russians.

Narrator: but in early 1976,

The american political climate
Takes a new turn.

After just five months
Of full combat readiness,

After just five months
Of full combat readiness,

The u.S. Government believes
Projects like nekoma

Are ineffective war deterrents

And abruptly shuts
The complex down,

Leaving it abandoned.

Bell: although it was
Technically operational,

Rumor has it it was only ever
Switched on, screens alight,

Lights flashing,
Fuzzy noises, for three days.

Gough: so when you look at
Nekoma, you're in for a shock.

Gough: so when you look at
Nekoma, you're in for a shock.

When we waste money, we really
Go down in flames, don't we?

I mean, this has to be
One of the greatest wastes

Of taxpayers' money
In the cold war

If not in history.

Narrator:
But many experts think

That the billions
Spent at nekoma

Actually helped to keep
The soviets in check.

If you look at it that way,

The very fact that nuclear war
Never did break out,

Maybe the american taxpayers
Did get value for money.

If 5 billion bucks was the cost
Of nuclear peace,

If 5 billion bucks was the cost
Of nuclear peace,

That is 5 billion bucks
Well spent.

Narrator: today, the nekoma
Safeguard complex lies abandoned

In a remote corner
Of north dakota.

Plans were afoot for nekoma
To be opened up

As a tourist attraction.

And you might think, "Why am I
Going to want to travel

A distance and pay money

To go and visit
This giant concrete eyesore?"

Well, you could look
At it this way.

Well, you could look
At it this way.

That's a monument to the fact

That two nations
Could come together

And resolve their issues
To create peace.

Narrator:
Despite its short active life,

Nekoma pushed the boundaries of
Radar and computer technology.

It proved that simply flooding
The planet with nuclear missiles

Was not the way
To win the cold war.

Bell: and I think reason enough
To keep nekoma as it is

Bell: and I think reason enough
To keep nekoma as it is

And to go along,
To learn about that history

And feel the significance
Of what is otherwise

Just this giant, mysterious,
Concrete structure.

*

Narrator: over 4,000 miles away,
Across the atlantic ocean,

Off the east coast of england,
A group of bizarre,

Rusting iron structures
Stick out of the ocean,

Looking like something
From "War of the worlds."

Looking like something
From "War of the worlds."

It looks like an alien
Standing as a sentry.

Coming out of the water,
It almost looks like a deposit

From an alien civilization.

It's completely out of character
From what you would expect.

Narrator:
Standing 80 feet above the sea

Are 7 huge steel boxes
Weighting 750 tons,

Supported on four 17-feet-long
Splayed concrete legs

Supported on four 17-feet-long
Splayed concrete legs

Extending down into the waters.

Agrawal: being out there

And living
In one of these structures

Must have been very intense
And rather quite terrifying.

You sort of know
There are people nearby,

But it must have been
A very, very isolating

And scary experience.

Narrator: it's easy to see from
Their corroded steel plating

That these mysterious structures
Have been derelict for years.

That these mysterious structures
Have been derelict for years.

But what drove engineers
To create such bizarre

Constructions in such
An inhospitable place?

What was their purpose,
And why were they abandoned?

In the early 1940s,
The second world war

Has reached a turning point.

Hitler is enraged by allied
Bomber raids on germany

And plans to obliterate london

In a devastating
Aerial offensive.

In a devastating
Aerial offensive.

So the british military develops
A top-secret defense project

And for good reason.

The designs are like nothing
That has ever been seen before.

The river thames is crucial
To london's survival.

This lifeline allows supplies of
All kinds to flow into the city

And transports the goods made in
Its factories to the war fronts.

And transports the goods made in
Its factories to the war fronts.

Churchill
And the british had to make sure

That nobody ever came up the
River thames to threaten london.

Agrawal: often really sound,
Practical engineering solutions

Can be borne out
Of what's a very

Difficult and tragic situation.

Narrator: and britain's
Do-or-die solution

To the nazi threat
Is the redsand sea fort.

To the nazi threat
Is the redsand sea fort.

It's part of a string
Of defenses equipped

With heavy anti-aircraft guns
Across the mouth of the thames.

This was total war,
And in total war,

You do not leave the river

That goes up to your
Metropolis undefended.

Narrator:
But will the redsand sea fort

Actually stop the nazis'
Legendary air force?

Actually stop the nazis'
Legendary air force?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator:
Off the coast of england

Lie seven abandoned
Installations

From the second world war,
The redsand sea fort.

Construction begins in 1942.

In the past, creating
Defenses at sea

Had been a long
And complex process,

But engineers try
A new building technique,

And on land,
With pre-fabrication.

And on land,
With pre-fabrication.

Taking a fort and constructing
It in an easy location

And then floating it out

Into a strategically
Beneficial location

Was a groundbreaking
And very important innovation

In terms of offshore
Construction

In engineering projects.

Narrator: each fort consists
Of a concrete grid base

With angled legs at each corner.

These support a 36-by-36-foot
Two-story accommodation block

These support a 36-by-36-foot
Two-story accommodation block

And gun platform on top.

So there's two really, really
Basic principles

Of structural engineering

That have been used
In the design of these towers.

First one is making sure that
The weight of the structure

Is as low as possible
Because the lower that is,

The more stable
Your structure is.

Second great principle
That we're seeing

Is the use of a triangle,

So by having a wide base

So by having a wide base

And bringing the legs up
Almost into a point,

You've kind of re-created
That stability of a triangle,

And structural engineers
Absolutely adore triangles

Because they're
A really stable shape.

Narrator: and there's a real
Need for stability.

The total weight of each tower
Is a staggering 580 tons,

But still light enough to be
Carried out by tugboat

To their position.

To their position.

Three groups of seven towers
Are built to defend the thames.

The majority are armed
With heavy antiaircraft guns.

*

This is the whole heart
Of the operation.

We are now on the platform
Of the 3.7-inch gun,

Of which there are three others
On each of the other gun towers.

The gun that was out here
Was very effective.

They were controlled by radar
And a sperry predictor,

Which was a piece of kit

Which was a piece of kit

That sat between
The radar and the gun,

Which could automatically
Get the gun

To lock onto their target.

Narrator: by the end of 1943,

The thames forts
Are ready for battle.

There's only one thing missing,
The 165 soldiers needed

To man each group
Of seven towers.

To operate the gun, there were
Two crew on the gun itself,

To operate the gun, there were
Two crew on the gun itself,

And then they had lots of
People in the control tower

And also watching
By the searchlight.

Narrator: but living conditions
Are brutal.

Come down here is the shell
Rockers all around the side,

All around the gun towers,
Which held the 3.7-inch shells.

They were brought up
From the armory

And loaded into these rockets.

Dr. Dickrell: since this was
A military structure,

The human consideration
Of the occupants

Was probably not a priority.

If it was more about, "Can it
Withstand the weather?

If it was more about, "Can it
Withstand the weather?

Can it withstand
An enemy attack?

And then let's worry about
The comfort of the operators."

If it meant using thousands

And thousands of rounds
Of ammunition

To try to shoot down
Only a few german aircraft,

Then that's what you do.

And if it meant that soldiers
And sailors had to live

Under miserable conditions
In the north sea

And all kinds of weather with
Only a little bit of fresh water

And only occasional resupply,
That's what you do.

And only occasional resupply,
That's what you do.

Narrator:
But will the redsand sea fort

Survive the nazis' aerial raids?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator: rising out of the
Ocean off the coast of england,

Seven rusting sea forts guard
The entrance to the river thames

That leads to
The heart of london.

During world war ii,

They proved to be an outstanding
Success against nazi aircraft.

In the end, these heavily
Armored antiaircraft platforms

In the end, these heavily
Armored antiaircraft platforms

Shoot down dozens
Of planes as well

As the nazis' deadly v-1 bombs,

Sending them plummeting
Into the sea.

Having antiaircraft artillery
Pointed at anyone who tries

To approach london up the river
Thames limits german options.

The german bombers that attack
London during the blitz,

They could not just drive right
Up the river and attack london.

They could not just drive right
Up the river and attack london.

Narrator: these stark forts
Are one of the most

Extraordinary engineering
Successes

That helped lead the allies
To victory in 1945.

After having fulfilled
Their purpose,

The british government
Decommissions them in 1956,

Leaving them abandoned.

Today, seven of the original
Redsand sea fort towers remain,

Rusting away at sea.

Rusting away at sea.

The fact that the redsand forts
Are still standing to this day

Is a testament to the quality
Of the engineering construction

Involved in making them
And putting them to use.

Engineering can't last forever,

And these have served
Their purpose,

So it's often
A difficult decision,

But sometimes we do
Just have to accept

That things just can't
Be there forever.

*

*

Narrator: 3,600 miles away
Across the atlantic ocean

Is an empty, abandoned
And unusually shaped complex

That sits in the heart

Of the densely populated city
Of philadelphia.

When you come across what
Looks like a medieval castle

In philadelphia with battlements
And flags waving from turrets,

It looks like someone airlifted

One of the spectacular
Medieval buildings in france,

One of the spectacular
Medieval buildings in france,

The ones that
Inspired disneyland,

And just dropped it
In the middle of philadelphia.

Narrator: taking up over 9.8
Acres of a whole city block,

There is over half
A mile of 30-feet-high,

10-feet-thick stone walls,

Which contrasts against
The homes and offices

That fill
The surrounding streets.

With seven corridors
Extending outward

With seven corridors
Extending outward

From an octagonal
Central towering hub,

This massive abandoned complex
Is shaped like a wagon wheel.

Dr. Dickrell: it's decaying
And moldy and dark and damp,

A haunted place where you
Definitely don't want

To spend any time.

Gough: it's really spooky.

You can smell the paint
Peeling off the walls

And the damp concrete.

And the damp concrete.

It's really, really eerie.

Narrator: but what was the
Purpose of this strange site,

And why was it abandoned?

In the early 1800s, the state
Of pennsylvania has a problem.

The prisons they control
Are overcrowded,

Hard to keep orderly
And inhumane for the inmates.

For decades, prisons were cold,
Crowded buildings,

For decades, prisons were cold,
Crowded buildings,

Where inmates were just crammed
In like chickens in a coop,

Inviting disease,

Violence, even death.

Narrator: so officials plan
A bold new site

For the rehabilitation
Of prisoners --

The eastern state penitentiary.

The aim is to create
A state-of-the-art prison

That revolutionizes
The criminal-justice system

And puts all others
Around the world to shame.

And puts all others
Around the world to shame.

You can see that this was a real
Reaction to a social reform,

And at the time,
Very revolutionary indeed.

Narrator: in 1822, work begins
On america's biggest

And most expensive
Prison project,

Costing the modern
Equivalent of $20 billion.

Architect of this prison,
John haviland,

Architect of this prison,
John haviland,

Had to think of all
The daily needs of a person

While they were by themselves.

So consequently, this prison
Was built with central heat,

Central plumbing, ventilation.

It was the first
Environmentally controlled place

For human life.

Narrator: it's a drastic change
From the chaos

And violence of ordinary
Communal prisons,

Which experts believe give
Inmates no chance to reform.

And in 1829, this humanitarian
Prison opens.

And in 1829, this humanitarian
Prison opens.

The purpose behind the design

Is to give the occupants
Individual rooms.

Each inmate has their own cell.

They also have their own
Little skylight,

And this is interesting

Because the whole thinking
Was about social reform.

Megs: the idea was, we're not
Just going to punish prisoners.

We're going to allow them time
To reflect and repent.

We're going to allow them time
To reflect and repent.

The word penitentiary
Comes from repent,

So they isolated each prisoner
By himself in a cell.

They didn't get to talk
To each other.

They were supposed to
Spend their days

In quiet contemplation
Of their crimes.

Prisoners were let out
Of their cells twice a day

For exercising in
An individually open-air yard,

And the idea here
Was the fresh air

And sunlight would
Keep people healthy.

Narrator: the initial design
Features 450 individual cells,

But to supervise so many
In an ordinary prison

Would take an army of guards.

British architect john haviland
Solved this problem

By introducing a unique
Layout with a central hub.

With the really ingenious
Design of having

What is effectively
A wagon wheel,

A central hub where the guards
Can look out in every direction

And see the cells
Going off in the distance.

And see the cells
Going off in the distance.

Megs:
The design of the penitentiary

Was actually
Extremely innovative.

It meant that a small group
Of guards could keep an eye

On the whole prison
From that one location.

Narrator: but creating a model
Prison to revolutionize

The treatment
Of offenders is not cheap.

With a price tag of the modern
Equivalent of $20 billion,

It is one of the most expensive
Public building projects

It is one of the most expensive
Public building projects

Ever carried out in
The united states of america.

This is 1828.

Now, each inmate has their own
Central heating,

Their own wash basin,

Their own flush toilet.

Now, let's put that in
Perspective.

The white house, the president,

He doesn't have
His own flush toilet.

These guys do.

Megs: prisoners were in
Solitary confinement,

But they did have enough food.

But they did have enough food.

They weren't threatened by
Violence from other prisoners.

You can see why the founders
Of the prison

Thought it was a step forward.

Narrator: so will this
Revolutionary prison design

Actually rehabilitate
The inmates?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator:
In the heart of philadelphia

Lies a forsaken complex
Specifically designed

To rehabilitate prisoners,
The eastern state penitentiary.

But after only a few years
Of operation,

Problems begin to surface
In the 1830s.

To accommodate a growing
Number of prisoners,

Engineers must expand
The penitentiary

Engineers must expand
The penitentiary

And alter the original design.

They had to double the cells.

They had to bring in
A whole lot more prisoners.

So all those nice design
Features about,

"Solitude would foster
Reflection,"

That was gone.

The prison kept working.

It kept functioning, but it was
No longer the idyllic prison

Of the future it once was.

Narrator: even the advanced
Features of the cells

Narrator: even the advanced
Features of the cells

Failed to work as planned.

There were furnaces at the end
Of the cell blocks,

And they were to heat the
Tunnels underneath the cells,

And then the air was to flow in,

But the people closest
To the furnaces

Were getting
Carbon monoxide sickness,

And the people on the other ends
Were getting frostbite.

Gough: the flush toilets
Were flushed twice a week

By the prison guards,
Twice a week!

And hence, the stench that this
Created, it was legendary.

Narrator:
On a practical level,

The whole idea of rigid
Separation of prisoners

Proves impossible to maintain.

Cells designed for one man
Soon have to house two or three.

By the end of the century, after
Numerous decades of operation,

The notion of solitary
Confinement,

Originally intended to make
Prisoners reflect and reform,

Has been replaced
With overcrowding

And harsh,
Unsanitary conditions.

And harsh,
Unsanitary conditions.

But in 1929, the prison
Still manages

To employ solitary confinement

To try to rehabilitate

One of the most
Notorious criminals

Of all time.

The eastern state
Penitentiary actually

Had quite a few famous
Prisoners in it,

The most famous
Being al capone,

Who spent a few years
There for a minor charge.

Now, he was serving 8 months,

Now, he was serving 8 months,

Although his original
Sentence was longer.

He described his time
There as easy.

Well, it would be easy
When you have your own sofa,

Your own bookcase
And your own record player

That you play waltzes on.

It couldn't have been
That easy, though,

Because we know he spent a good
Deal of his bootlegging income

Trying to get that sentence
Even further reduced.

Narrator: for four more decades,
The prison continues to operate

Despite its notorious
Conditions.

But in 1970, because
Of overcrowding,

But in 1970, because
Of overcrowding,

The once revolutionary prison

Finally closes
Its doors for good.

Today, the dilapidated
Eastern state penitentiary

Lies deserted in the middle
Of bustling philadelphia.

Gough: after it was closed,
The whole site became abandoned,

But then a consortium
Of concerned citizens

Got involved and said,

"No, this is
A historic landmark.

We need to make it
Into a museum."

We need to make it
Into a museum."

And that's what it is today,
And that feels about right.

Narrator:
Despite its many drawbacks,

Its groundbreaking design
Was copied all over the world.

More than 300 central
Hub prisons are built.

But the whole concept
Of solitary confinement

Comes to be seen not as a way
Of reforming criminals,

But as punishment in itself.

At the time, it was thought
To be this very enlightened,

At the time, it was thought
To be this very enlightened,

Gentle way to treat
These prisoners,

Give them time to reflect,

But in fact, it was
Solitary confinement,

A very cruel punishment
To isolate people.

You're spending months and years
In these cells all by yourself.

It's really hard to imagine.

Narrator: over 4,000 miles away
Across the atlantic

In schipkau, east germany,

South of
The capital city of berlin,

An abandoned, corroding mass of
Steel towers over the landscape.

An abandoned, corroding mass of
Steel towers over the landscape.

Surrounding this monster machine

Are empty fields
And silent pine forests,

Which veil the purpose of
This extraordinary structure

Or why it's here.

You're just completely
Flabbergasted

At the enormity
Of this thing in front of you.

Megs: this thing looks like
Something out of "Star wars."

It's a giant superstructure.

It's a giant superstructure.

It's 160 feet high.

It's got this evil-looking
Wheel at the front of it.

Narrator: the vast bulk
Of this rusting hulk

Stretches for more than 500 feet

And is made of up
Of three grid-like arms

All connected by a spider's web
Of steel cables

Stretching over the
Towering superstructure.

It's very science fiction.

You'd be forgiven for thinking,
"This is definitely

You'd be forgiven for thinking,
"This is definitely

Some kind of contraption
Built by an evil genius

Planning to take over
The world."

It's just unbelievable.

Narrator: incredibly, this metal
Leviathan was once mobile.

Two tank-like continuous
Tracks support

Around 4,000 tons of weight.

And control cabins perched
Among the girders show

And control cabins perched
Among the girders show

That it even carried a crew.

But what was this
Mysterious machine?

Who built it, and why
Was it abandoned

In the middle of nowhere?

In the 1960s, the communist
Country of east germany

Is changing
Its economic policies

To boost its industrial growth.

But to fuel its power stations
And meet energy demands,

But to fuel its power stations
And meet energy demands,

This communist dictatorship

Must tap into its
Key energy deposits --

Brown coal.

Without increasing
Its mining efforts,

The country will come
To a standstill.

But getting at the huge deposits
Lying just below the surface

Is costly and incredibly
Labor-intensive.

So in 1964, the heavy
Engineering east german firm

V.E.B. Lauchhammerwerk
Developed something radical.

V.E.B. Lauchhammerwerk
Developed something radical.

When designing structures
At such a scale,

Engineers face many challenges,
Mostly due to the sheer size.

Things weigh so much
That modern materials

Are almost at their limit.

When you take a closer look
At some of the elements

On the extremities
On this giant monster,

You can slowly figure out
What the purpose of it was.

Narrator:
This is schaufelradbagger,

Or bucket-wheel excavator 258.

It is one of the largest
Machines ever built.

Nicknamed bagger 258,
This is a strip-mining excavator

Designed to efficiently
Remove the layer of earth

And rock above veins
Of brown coal

Running close to the surface.

There is nothing delicate about
Strip mining with bagger 258.

This thing removes yards
Of earth at a time

This thing removes yards
Of earth at a time

In this great big, long trench
Following the coal

Underneath the earth's surface

Until you get down
To what you're after, the coal.

Narrator: though the company

Manufactures
13 types of these machines,

They only make one bagger 258,

And they unleash it in 1965.

The key element of the bagger
Is its immense cutting wheel.

The key element of the bagger
Is its immense cutting wheel.

40 feet in diameter,
Each of its 10 buckets can hold

Over 50,000 cubic feet
Of earth and rock,

Allowing it to cut deep into the
Surface at astonishing speed.

This thing is shoveling up
Thousands of tons of earth

And rock at a time

Before dropping it
Onto its own conveyor belt

To shift it away,

All the while trundling
Along on its tracks

All the while trundling
Along on its tracks

To continuously eat up
The earth in front of it.

Machine doesn't do it justice.

This thing is a factory
On tracks.

Dr. Dickrell: bucket-wheel
Excavators are amazingly complex

In terms of their abilities
To move, function

And otherwise just do their job

With a minimal amount
Of human involvement.

Bell: when you see the size
And the complexity of bagger,

You'd imagine it would need
An army of people

You'd imagine it would need
An army of people

To actually operate it.

That's not the case.

It only takes
Five people to run,

And all of them
Are situated onboard

In its own little control room.

So whilst it might have cost
The earth to build,

Running it comes
Relatively cheap.

Megs: there's a trade-off
Between building one machine

That's really big
And using dozens

Or hundreds of trucks
And shovels.

Obviously if something breaks,
You're in trouble,

Obviously if something breaks,
You're in trouble,

And you need to shut down,

But overall the
Bucket-wheel excavator

Is so much more efficient
That it's worth the risk.

Narrator: but will bagger 258
Be able to deliver enough coal

To fuel the needs
Of communist east germany?

And why is it abandoned?

*

Narrator: rusting away

In a remote field
In rural east germany

Is the massive bucket-wheel
Excavator bagger 258.

Under communist rule,
It begins work in 1968,

And though it's designed to
Extract coal with efficiency,

It's slow.

At around 4,000 tons,
It's only able to move

At around 4,000 tons,
It's only able to move

At 6 yards a minute,

And moving is no simple matter.

That's hardly going to beat
Any world land speed records,

But it's actually
Extremely impressive

When you consider the size
And the weight of this thing.

In fact, it weighs so much,
As it moves,

Any ground ahead of it
Needs to be specially prepared,

And any roads it crosses
Needs to be prepared

So it doesn't just
Pulverize the surface.

So it doesn't just
Pulverize the surface.

Yes, bagger is mobile,
But mobility comes at a cost.

One of the big challenges is,

You've got to move the bucket
Constantly

So it's always digging into
Fresh soil or fresh coal.

The bucket excavator
Has to pivot as the wheel

Is turning into fresh soil.

Then the whole thing also
Has to creep forward

In order to move into
New areas to be excavated.

Narrator: however, that's not
The only operational hazard

Narrator: however, that's not
The only operational hazard

This engineering
Giant must face.

What strikes me about bagger
Is the number of appendages

That it has sticking out
From its main body.

You've got a spoil arm
Sticking out of the back

That then spits out
All of that earth into trucks

Waiting to take it away.

But crucially, you also need
A counterbalance arm.

Now, this counterweights
The forces and the stresses

At the front of the machine

At the front of the machine

As it digs through the earth.

Otherwise, the whole thing
Would just topple over.

Narrator: for decades, bagger
258 successfully mines coal

Across eastern germany,

And even after german
Unification in 1990,

It's still used to fuel
The country's energy

Needs until 2002.

Then it simply runs
Out of things to dig,

So operation is halted,
And the machine is abandoned.

Today, bagger 258 is
Rusting away in a remote

Today, bagger 258 is
Rusting away in a remote

And empty field.

And in more ways than one,

It's left an indelible
Mark on the landscape.

The problem with large
Bucket-wheel excavators

Is that they're made
Of man-made materials, metals,

That do not weather very well,

So preserving them
For future generations

Would be very expensive,
Very costly,

So just leaving them
In the field

Is probably the only
True solution we have for us.

Bagger 258 has been left to rot.

Bagger 258 has been left to rot.

It has been abandoned.

But maybe that's not
Such a bad thing.

Rightly or wrongly, we're still
Massively dependent

On fossil fuels today,

And bagger 258, for me,

Is a reminder
And a monument to the effort

And the ingenuity
Requited to exploit

The earth's resources
In the way we do.