All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S03E09.The.Real.Shawshank.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator: a haunting facility
Saved from destruction

By a remarkable
Hollywood connection.

Puff: the same day that
The wrecking balls

Came to tear this place down

Was the same day that
The filming company showed up.

Narrator:
Vast monolithic structures
That dominate a tiny island

And speak of a brutal
Time in its past.

What are these
Things doing in this

Otherwise pristine landscape?

Narrator: a mysterious island
Where compasses flicker

And shrapnel scars its remains.

And shrapnel scars its remains.

All the structures that exist
Are riddled with bullet holes

And signs of explosions.

It's like you're walking
Through a war zone.

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?

And why were they abandoned?

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

*

In the center
Of the state of ohio,

Just to the north
Of the city of mansfield

Stands an ornate
Yet foreboding building.

Stands an ornate
Yet foreboding building.

*

Gough: from the outside,

It looks like some
Kind of palace

Or even a castle.

It appears to be
The kind of structure

That you would create

That would have
A lasting impression

On anyone who set eyes on it.

Meigs:
When you see this building,

You know it was built
For something important.

And clearly, whoever
Built it meant it to last.

And clearly, whoever
Built it meant it to last.

Selwood:
The building is vast and grand

With very detailed
And fancy architecture.

It's definitely
A statement piece.

Meigs: it's built with this
Massive, massive stone,

So clearly, it's not
A very inviting place.

Gough:
Kind of gives you the shivers.

It's sort of like
A haunted house

And it definitely gives you
The impression

That something bad
May have happened here.

That something bad
May have happened here.

Narrator:
Behind this impressive exterior

Hides a dark secret.

How can the interior
And exterior

Be so catastrophically
Different?

Gough: what it originally set
Out to do and what it ended up,

Those bookends couldn't
Be further apart.

Selwood: this was to be
A place of spiritual

Regeneration and rebirth.

Regeneration and rebirth.

It's about salvation.

This is a righteous building.

Gough: and you have to imagine
That those who conceived it

Had no idea what a horror story
Of a legacy they had spawned.

*

Narrator:
Why go to such lengths

To build such a dramatic
And righteous structure?

What was it used for
And why was it abandoned?

*

*

The origins
Of this building's story

Stretch back to the
Late 19th century.

It was built in the mid-1880s

As a beacon of
Hope for the state.

Selwood: this site at mansfield
Was chosen in 1885

For a very special reason,

A very particular project.

It was one that was going to
Be liberal and progressive.

They wanted to take
Young offenders

And rehabilitate
And reeducate them

And rehabilitate
And reeducate them

In the most positive
Way possible.

Meigs:
It was a reformatory.

So the notion was, you
Weren't just punishing people.

You were helping them learn,

And then you would release
Them out in the world

And they would
Commit crimes no more.

Narrator: this is
The ohio state reformatory.

With the first brick laid
In 1886,

Soon after,
A stream of young offenders

Soon after,
A stream of young offenders

Were brought here to begin
Their rehabilitation.

Meigs:
They started housing prisoners

In the complex before
It was even finished,

And the prisoners themselves
Did a lot of the work

To complete the building,

Including building
The sewer system.

Narrator: not until 1910

Was the reformatory
Finally complete.

While the facility began life
With the best of intentions,

While the facility began life
With the best of intentions,

Its stark interior
Reflects how this

Reformist zeal was soon replaced

With a more brutal approach
To life inside.

Gough: the place had taken a
Completely different direction.

This was now a place
Not of rehabilitation,

But a place of incarceration

Where you would
Lock up the baddies

And throw away the key.

And throw away the key.

Narrator: this wing demonstrates
The new direction

The reformatory was taking,
As expert ron puff explains.

Puff: we're currently in
The west cell block.

The west cell block was a
Housing unit for your inmates.

This has five tiers,
Originally 350 cells,

Meant for one inmate to a cell.

Ended up from the very
Beginning with two inmates,

So we housed 700 inmates here.

It wasn't so bad
Early on living here.

Now in later years,
They could be in their cells

Now in later years,
They could be in their cells

20, 22 hours a day.

Can you imagine being there?

Walking through those corridors
Into your caged cell,

And hearing
The sound of the door

Slammed and locked behind you.

And then the riotous sounds
Of other inmates.

It must have been
A terrifying existence.

Narrator:
Juveniles were increasingly

Incarcerated
Separately from adults,

Incarcerated
Separately from adults,

And societal changes
Dramatically altered

The character
And purpose of this facility.

The boys were forced to leave.

Puff: so they keep this
As an adult facility,

And all those
Juveniles have to go to

Another facility altogether,

And now you've got
A prison full of space.

What do you do with it?

Selwood: in wider society,
Evermore people were being

Convicted of increasingly
Violent crimes,

Convicted of increasingly
Violent crimes,

And prisons across the country

Were becoming overfilled
With inmates.

So, mansfield became
Just another prison.

In fact, it became one
Of the hardest prisons,

The worst of the worst,

With some of the most
Violent offenders

From around the country
Being kept there.

Narrator: over the years,

Conditions became
Evermore extreme

As the prison
Expanded and became

A maximum-security facility.

As inmate numbers escalated,

As inmate numbers escalated,

The depths of depravity
Grew to a whole new level.

Gough: violence was part
Of everyday life.

You could be beat up in a fight,

You could be stabbed,
You could be mugged.

You could be thrown off
A high walkway.

I mean, the place was
Such that you were

In fear of your life
Each and every day.

Puff: inmates were told,
When you came here,

Make yourself a weapon
And hide it in the backyard.

So if everything goes crazy,

So if everything goes crazy,

You at least know
Where your shank

Or your rock or whatever it is

You placed is so
You can be safe.

And they feared coming
In the gates here.

Narrator:
This violence would lead

To its self-destruction.

But how would hollywood
Come to its rescue

And save it from demolition?

*

Narrator: despite starting
Out as a facility

To rehabilitate young offenders,

By the 1930s,
The ohio state reformatory

Had become a brutal
Adult prison.

One of the most frightening
Places to find yourself

Was at the end
Of these dark corridors.

A place no one wanted to be.

A place no one wanted to be.

Puff: for the worst offenders,

There was solitary confinement
Here at the reformatory.

When you came in here,
It was punishment.

And so, the whole
Time you were in here,

You weren't supposed to talk.

They might keep the lights on
24 hours a day.

They might keep the lights off
24 hours a day.

There was no reading.

Your meal schedule
Would be moved around

So you never knew
What time it was.

And so, early on, they came
In here with no clothes.

They were naked.

They had a bucket that
Was their commode.

They slept on the cement floor.

Narrator:
A combination of violence,

Riots, and a spiraling
Population

Ensured that the hole,
As it was known,

Was crammed full of prisoners.

Meigs:
In one case, they had a riot,

And they wound up
Putting 120 prisoners

Down in the hole at
The same time for 30 days.

Gough: in this instance,
They actually found a body

That had been
Murdered and stuffed

Into a mattress for several days

Before anyone realized
He was dead.

Before anyone realized
He was dead.

Narrator:
Yet, endemic violence continued,

Until in an unlikely twist,
The tables were turned.

Selwood:
Inmates finally took matters
Into their own hands,

And they filed a lawsuit
That the facility was violating

Their constitutional rights
By dehumanizing them.

In the end,
The problems at the site

Were so widespread
That it was all too much,

And the facility was abandoned.

And the facility was abandoned.

Narrator:
In its 96-year history,

Over 150,000 inmates
Had walked through its doors.

Over 200 of them died
On the inside.

Selwood: these days,
There are many accounts

Of it being haunted,

Of there being paranormal
Activity at the site,

But that's hardly surprising

When you think
Of the degree of violence

That the building
Had seen for so many decades.

Puff: is the ohio state
Reformatory haunted?

Puff: is the ohio state
Reformatory haunted?

And if you ask a number
Of our staff members,

They will say yes.

They'll snap their fingers
Just like that.

Me?
Things happen here.

Why?
I'll let you figure it out.

*

Narrator:
Today, this grand facility

Has become
A major tourist attraction,

In no small part,

Thanks to an extraordinary
Twist of fate.

Meigs:
It was scheduled for demolition.

Meigs:
It was scheduled for demolition.

But just before that,

A film crew came
To shoot a movie that,

Of course, has
Become world famous,

"The shawshank redemption."

Puff: the same day that
The wrecking balls

Came to tear this place down

Was the same day that
The filming company showed up.

"The shawshank redemption" was
The redemption of this prison.

*

*

Narrator: just off the coast
Of normandy in france

Is the small british island
Of guernsey.

Looming over its coastline

Are bizarre looking
Constructions.

Bell: in the otherwise quiet
And picturesque surroundings,

You start to discover actually

A huge amount of these
Concrete, imposing structures.

Nusbacher:
The way that these concrete
Monoliths are stacked,

Nusbacher:
The way that these concrete
Monoliths are stacked,

They look a bit like the
Heads off of easter island.

Jerram: it's like "Star wars"
Has been filmed there.

These really strange
Almost monolith type

Constructions poking
Out of the ground.

Narrator: further inland,

A cavernous concrete bowl
Lies sunken into the ground.

It's huge.
It's like an amphitheater.

It's huge.
It's like an amphitheater.

I don't think
The locals would have ever

Envisaged structures like this
Being built on the island.

*

Narrator: beneath this
Monumental mass of concrete

Lurk other hidden features.

Jerram:
There's a railway track that

Starts to lead
You into a tunnel.

And when you follow
That tunnel inside,

You start going underground.

You start going underground.

When you get closer,
You see that there's

Actually a lot more to them.

There's networks
And you start to

Kind of see old paraphernalia.

Narrator: in amongst the maze
Of dark rooms

And mysterious symbols,

Writing emerges
Out of the darkness.

But these are not english.

Surprisingly,
They are written in german,

And they hint
At the wretched fate

That befell
Their former occupants.

That befell
Their former occupants.

Things started
To get really tough.

In fact, many of them
Began to starve.

*

Narrator: who decided to invest
In these gigantic structures,

And why were they
Finally abandoned?

*

Narrator: on the small
British island of guernsey,

Colossal concrete structures
Dominate the land.

How are they all connected,
And why were they abandoned?

*

The roots of this
Mystery can be found

In the early years
Of world war ii.

In the early years
Of world war ii.

By june 1940,
Hitler had crushed france

And was turning his attention

To his next target,
Great britain.

Lying just 20 miles away
Across the english channel,

Great britain
Was tantalizingly close,

But a small piece of british
Territory lay even closer.

The channel islands.

Bell:
Although the channel islands
Are british territory,

They're actually must closer
To the coast of france.

They're actually must closer
To the coast of france.

And hitler viewed them
As strategically important.

Nusbacher:
If you want to go from
Britain and invade france,

The channel islands
Are a great first step.

They get you most
Of the way there,

And the nazis could not allow
The british

To continue to control
Those islands

Right on the edge of france.

Narrator:
On the 28th of june, 1940,

Narrator:
On the 28th of june, 1940,

The luftwaffe bombers came
Swooping in over the islands.

Jerram:
A tragedy within the war

Was the fact that
The germans essentially

Bombed the channel islands,

Expecting there to be
Quite a lot of resistance.

They killed about 44 people
And they didn't need to do that.

Bell:
It was only a few days later

When the germans
Actually arrived.

They discovered
That the islands had been

Undefended the whole time.

[ bell tolling ]

[ bell tolling ]

Nusbacher: in 1940, britain
Was standing alone

Against the power
Of the third reich,

And churchill was not sure

He could defend
The island of great britain,

Never mind guernsey,
Jersey, sark, and alderney.

Narrator:
While churchill viewed

The islands as expendable,

Hitler had other ideas.

He desperately
Wanted them fortified

With the most
Impressive defenses

With the most
Impressive defenses

The third reich could create.

Here on guernsey,
This was part of their answer.

The mighty mp3 tower.

Local expert and
Preservationist paul bourgaize

Explains how the tower
Fitted into the nazis' plan.

Bourgaize: it was basically
A range-finding tower.

It was one of five.

And each level had range
Fighting capabilities

And each level had range
Fighting capabilities

To obviously
Find and observe targets

And send the data back
To the gun batteries inland.

Narrator:
The germans spent over a year

Building up their
Extensive network

Of defenses on guernsey.

Located a few miles inland
From the mp3 range tower,

This immense concrete bowl

Was to be one of its
Most important features.

Was to be one of its
Most important features.

But what was it used for?

A clue is the rail tracks
That snake underground.

Bourgaize: this little railway
Track was used

To bring the ammunition
From the storage bunkers,

And they would be stored
In this large room here,

And these would
Be loaded through

This flash proof hatch
And then stored in that room.

This flash proof hatch
And then stored in that room.

Narrator: more than
61,000 cubic yards of concrete

Were consumed
By these bunker systems.

They contained troop quarters,

Ammunition storage,
And electrical generators,

All built to withstand
An immense amount of firepower.

And deep in the darkness,

Slogans on
The walls indicate that

This structure was
Built with a real sense

Of pride and optimism.

Of pride and optimism.

Bourgaize:
You can see one side,

We've got a large german
Eagle painted on the wall.

And over on this side,

The emblem of
The naval engineers.

Then it's called, and we're
Marching towards england.

That was the motto.

Nusbacher:
"Wir fahren nach england."

We are going to england.

The germans intended
To invade england.

The germans intended
To invade england.

Why would they be
Painting that on a bunker?

Narrator:
This german confidence

May have been due
To what was housed

In the huge concrete bowl --

A behemoth of a gun.

This bunker complex
Was called batterie mirus.

*

Bell: it consisted
Of four gun emplacements

With huge great big guns
Disguised as houses.

With huge great big guns
Disguised as houses.

You can start to imagine
The size

And the scale of these guns.

Here we are,
We can see one of the four

Huge emplacements
For the 30.5 centimeter gun.

Mounted there
On that central position

Where those studs
Are sticking up.

Underneath the mount
Was a naval depth charge.

And that could've been detonated
In the event that

The emplacement was captured,

The emplacement was captured,

And blow the gun
Off its mountings.

*

Narrator:
What event led to desperate

Starvation at this facility,

And why did the soldiers
Eventually abandon this site?

*

Narrator: on the british island
Of guernsey

Lies the wreckage of a
Formidable nazi artillery site.

With a range of over 30 miles,

The four guns could
Protect the channel islands

And reach almost all
The way to the normandy coast.

Guernsey's firepower
Was devastating.

Guernsey's firepower
Was devastating.

In total, there were
17 coastal artillery batteries,

And 175 anti-aircraft guns
On the island,

But their construction consumed
An enormous amount of resources.

Jerram: this was part
Of the atlantic wall,

Which stretched all the way
From norway down to spain.

And it's estimated
That some 8% percent

Of all of the concrete along

All of those
Constructions was just

Housed in the channel islands.

Housed in the channel islands.

In fact, they fortified
The channel islands so much

That there were more guns
Installed here

Than there were
On the neighboring

600 miles of normandy coastline.

Nusbacher: german officers
Who were skeptical

About the strategic
And operational

Value of the channel islands

Refer to the dense resource
Intensive fortifications

As "Hitler's island madness."

As "Hitler's island madness."

Narrator: but why was
Batterie mirus abandoned?

Were its guns blown off
Their mountings,

Or was the incredible
Structure never finished?

The beginning of
The end was june 6, 1944.

D-day and the allied
Invasion of france.

After the d-day landings,
The german soldiers based

After the d-day landings,
The german soldiers based

In the channel islands
Became cut off

And had no access to supplies.

There were red cross packages

Delivered onto the islands,

But they were for locals
Only, for the british.

The germans had to go without.

Bourgaize: the troops themselves
That weren't

Allowed those rations
Were really starving.

They were trying to catch birds,

Eating limpets off
The beach, anything, seaweed.

Eating limpets off
The beach, anything, seaweed.

And some things even
Making themselves sick.

Eating things that really they
Shouldn't have been eating,

Just to stay alive.

Narrator:
After almost a year of hunger,

The german garrison finally
Surrendered guernsey

On may 9, 1945.

Batterie mirus fell silent,

And its colossal guns
Were sold off for scrap.

*

*

Today, these
Other worldly concrete

Structures of the third reich

Still dominate
The guernsey skyline,

And recall a time
When these islands

Became the most fortified
Place on earth.

Nusbacher:
Looking at these massive
Concrete fortifications,

It reminds us that
Even tiny corners of europe

That we barely even heard of

That we barely even heard of

Were really important
To some people

And to their lives as they lived
Through the second world war.

*

Narrator:
In southern finland,

On the edge of the baltic sea,

Is what's known locally
As the mysterious island.

*

Meigs: from a distance,
It looks like other

Meigs: from a distance,
It looks like other

Islands in the region.

When you get closer,

You can see there's
Something different about it.

Jerram: the island itself has
A kind of darkness.

Everything's
A little bit spooky.

And you wouldn't
Necessarily want

To find yourself
On the island alone.

Narrator: compasses flicker
Out of control.

Beaches are stained black.

And as you approach,
Things get even stranger.

And as you approach,
Things get even stranger.

Meigs: you can spot what
Looks like bunkers

Hidden along the shoreline,
Ruins of old pipelines,

Piles of broken up
Rock and concrete.

This isn't an ordinary island.

Jerram: the island itself
Is also riddled

With some ancient history
About tales of

Compasses not working
Quite correctly.

Meigs: there have been a whole
History of shipwrecks.

Meigs: there have been a whole
History of shipwrecks.

Narrator:
Wreckage and destruction

Is not confined to the waters.

On land too,
The carnage continues.

Meigs:
All the structures that exist
Are riddled with bullet holes

And signs of explosions.

It's like you're walking
Through a war zone.

Jerram: what is the problem
With this place?

Why is it so odd?

*

The answers
To this peculiar puzzle

The answers
To this peculiar puzzle

Can be found back in
The early 19th century.

By 1809, finland had
Been incorporated

Into the russian empire,

And this was
A strategically vital site.

Jussaro island.

Corum:
The southern part of finland
Is very important to russia

Because that is the gate to
The capital at st. Petersburg.

Because that is the gate to
The capital at st. Petersburg.

And so, controlling
The gulf of finland

Is an absolute defense
Requirement for russia.

Meigs: it sits in such
A strategic location

In the baltic sea.

Anybody trying to
Head to helsinki

Or the port of st. Petersburg
In russia

Has to sail right
By that island.

That makes it very valuable
From a military perspective.

Narrator: it's strategic,
But also extremely dangerous.

In the glacial periods,

In the glacial periods,

Jerram: it was covered under
Kilometers of ice.

It was pushed down.

Since the ice is gone,

The area is actually
Slowly lifting,

About four millimeters a year.

Meigs: so you might sail
Past a place that

50 years ago was free sailing,

And now, there's
A rocky island emerging

Right in your path.

Narrator: under russian rule,

A pilot station
Was quickly set up here

To help ships navigate
These precarious waters

Through to st. Petersburg.

Through to st. Petersburg.

But why do the remnants
Of an extensive complex

Litter this remote outpost?

An underground discovery
Quickly grabbed

The interest
Of the russian state.

Somara:
It turns out to have
Been an amazing find

Because it was the
Largest undersea

Iron ore reserve in finland.

Narrator: this explains
The centuries old mystery

Of why ships' compasses
Work so badly here.

Of why ships' compasses
Work so badly here.

Somara:
Compasses work by being drawn

To the magnetic field
Of the north pole,

But the iron ore
In this particular region

Had its own magnetic field,

And compasses were
More drawn to that

Than the north pole.

Narrator:
Did finland come to blows

With their mighty
Russian rulers?

Does this explain
The site's destruction?

*

Narrator:
On the southern tip of finland

Sits the iron-rich
Island of jussaro.

In the 1840s, russian prisoners
Were shipped to its mine

And forced to excavate
The valuable metal ore.

Meigs:
The miners were down there

With long metal drills
And sledgehammers,

Banging away, dislodging
The rock face bit by bit.

Banging away, dislodging
The rock face bit by bit.

And the conditions
Were so hellish,

Some of the prisoners reported

They would rather be sent
To labor camps in siberia.

Narrator: by the time finland
Declared independence

From russia in 1917, mining
On the island had stopped.

During the following
Decades, the young nation's

Relationship with its
Communist neighbor was marked

By tension and war.

By the 1950s, however,
Finland had settled into an

By the 1950s, however,
Finland had settled into an

Uneasy existence between
The west and the soviet union.

In these tense political times,
Mining at jussaro began again.

Finland reopened the mines,
And now they had modern

Equipment and they could
Mine on a much greater,

More industrial scale.

Narrator: does this explain
The extensive complex

Of buildings here?

Do the bunkers on the coastline
Speak of russian aggression?

Do the bunkers on the coastline
Speak of russian aggression?

When mining started back up
Again, they had to put in

A whole new infrastructure,
Which included crushing plants,

Underwater railway lines,

Pipe networks on land,
Deep tunnels.

I mean, it became
A productive mining machine.

*

Narrator: former resident,
Goran wikstrom,

Arrived in 1956,

Arrived in 1956,

As modern mining operations
Were being prepared.

Interpreter: the tunnel went
Straight out from here

To the stone island.

The tunnel went straight out
From there from the shaft

Above at a depth of 550 feet.

Out there it was mining
Tunnels, in total,

1.8 miles of tunnels all
At a depth of nearly 600 feet.

Narrator:
However, mining on the island

Narrator:
However, mining on the island

Once again proved unsustainable.

Global iron prices were
Plummeting, and profits did not

Justify continuing operations.

The workers were sent packing.

Interpreter:
It was at christmas in 1967
When the final decision

Was made that everyone
Was to leave here.

It was over, in other words.

We just moved out, and then
The destruction set in.

We just moved out, and then
The destruction set in.

*

But what caused
This carnage and destruction?

The damage here is not
Simply down to nature

And the elements.

Meigs:
After the miners moved out,
The finnish army moved in.

The government realized this
Location was just too strategic

To leave unoccupied.

The 60s, 70s, and 80s,
Yes, there was a very genuine

The 60s, 70s, and 80s,
Yes, there was a very genuine

Threat from the soviet union.

They were pretty careful
To be pretty conciliatory

To russia during
Much of that period.

But a lot of the use
Of the island was really

For training
And military exercises.

And it was a place where
They could fire weapons

And drop bombs without any
Danger of injuring the civilian

Population, because there
Was no civilian population.

Narrator:
The russian invasion never came.

Narrator:
The russian invasion never came.

In 2002, the armed forces held
Their last shooting drill,

And the island was then
Abandoned once again.

*

Today, the battered site
Serves as a national park,

With half the island
Open to the public.

Jerram: it's a smorgasbord
Of mining and militarization.

Jerram: it's a smorgasbord
Of mining and militarization.

There's bullet holes everywhere.

It's actually seen a lot
Of action, this small island

In the middle of nowhere.

*

Narrator: on the suffolk
Coastline in eastern england

Are a string of abandoned
Buildings, strange mounds,

And intriguing
Pagoda-like structures.

Selwood:
It's incredibly isolated.

Selwood:
It's incredibly isolated.

It's bleak, it's cut off
From the mainland by a river.

But yet, there are
These strange mounds

And structures on it.

Narrator: within the
Dilapidated buildings,

The interiors
Are equally mystifying.

Selwood: inside the buildings
Have an abandoned

Quasi-industrial feel.

There are elements of metal
And machinery still there,

But long disused.

Pretty well all the work
That was carried out here

Was secret,
Ultimately top secret.

Was secret,
Ultimately top secret.

Nusbacher: you're still warned
To this day that you mustn't

Tread incorrectly
Or you can be blown sky high.

Narrator: what was the purpose
Of these battered buildings

And strange
Asian-inspired pagodas?

And why is this area
Still filled with danger?

Nusbacher:
You look at all of these
Solidly-built buildings,

And you look at the terrible
Destruction that's clearly

And you look at the terrible
Destruction that's clearly

Been wreaked on them.

You have to ask, what
Happened to these buildings?

*

Narrator: the first clues to
The site's use can be found

Back in the tension filled
Years surrounding world war I.

In 1913, the war department
Acquired this large area of land

Near a small village
In suffolk in order to harness

The latest technology
In warfare.

The latest technology
In warfare.

Nusbacher:
This is the corner of england
Where the experimenters came

To find out what happened
When you dropped a bomb

From the plane.

In a lot of ways,
This beach is where

Military aviation started.

Narrator: the race was on
To test and develop this

New military science,
And this pioneering site

Was leading the way --

Orford ness.

Orford ness.

Selwood: in world war I, aerial
Warfare was completely new.

People had to invent
A new military science,

And to start with it
Was very crude.

It was simply a question of
Dropping bombs out of windows.

Nusbacher: we didn't know what
Happened to a bomb dropped

From a plane until the guys
At orford ness watched it

And measured it
With their instruments.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

Narrator: from pioneering
Research to a top secret

Narrator: from pioneering
Research to a top secret

Super weapon,
Could a catastrophic accident

Have led to the site
Being abandoned?

*

Narrator: in suffolk, england,
Orford ness established itself

As a prime ballistics
Testing site,

Critical to britain's
Aerial forces.

However, after world war ii,
Mistrust and paranoia

Were prevalent as
A new era was ushered in.

Selwood:
During the second world war,

Selwood:
During the second world war,

The uk and us had
Collaborated very closely

On weapons development,

But as the cold war
Emerged after 1945,

The two parted company
Fairly spectacularly,

And britain was left alone
To develop its own weapons,

Including nuclear weapons.

The west goes into
Overdrive in developing

Nuclear weapons in 1949.

This is the height
Of the cold war.

Narrator: britain was now
Engaged in a nuclear arms race,

Narrator: britain was now
Engaged in a nuclear arms race,

And this site was transformed

Into the atomic weapons
Research establishment.

Nusbacher: you don't want an
Atomic bomb to go off

Between the factory
And the airfield.

You don't want the atomic bomb
To go off on the plane

On the way to the target, and
You don't want the atomic bomb

To go off at the wrong time
After you drop it.

To go off at the wrong time
After you drop it.

All of those problems
Needed to be worked out

With experimentation
And that required

An experimentation site.

Narrator: so did an accidental
Explosion or chernobyl-style

Radiation leak lead
To the site being abandoned?

What experiments
Took place here?

The site's manager,
Grant lohorr, explains.

*

*

Lohorr: the first test carried
Out here was on vibrations,

So they were trying
To replicate the vibration

In an aircraft or
In a lorry on the road,

Or they were subjecting
Them to shock or g forces

Or humidity or temperature.

Narrator: each laboratory was
Designed to test different

Components of nuclear bombs.

So this is what was called
The hard target

So this is what was called
The hard target

Or the high-impact facility.

And this is essentially where
They were rocket propelling

Atomic bomb cases, nuclear
Bomb cases, into a very hard,

Concrete wall,
Which was effectively

Replicating the impact of
The weapon when it was dropped.

Narrator: yet the two most
Intriguing facilities

At orford are at
Its farthest point.

They are the pagodas.

Do these mysterious
Structures hold the key

To the site's abandonment?

Nusbacher: this looks like
An ancient temple.

It's got columns holding up
A pyramid.

It's got arcane markings
On the walls,

These strange,
Cruciform brackets.

Narrator: were these strange
Structures some kind

Of defensive bunker?

The work done here
Was shrouded in secrecy.

The work done here
Was shrouded in secrecy.

Lohorr: during that period from
The late '50s into the 1960s,

The most paranoid period
Probably of the cold war,

Everything really
Was extremely secret.

And it appears as if
The site was constantly being

Monitored and surveyed
And photographed

By the soviet union.

And so everything around it
Was cloaked in secrecy.

The architecture of
The buildings is highly unusual,

But very specific.

They were created
Explicitly for the purpose

They were created
Explicitly for the purpose

Of understanding the behavior
Of weaponry and explosions.

Nusbacher:
This is a place designed
So that if the pillars are

Blown up, the roof drops
Down and clamps all

Of the explosion and debris
Down into the ground.

Narrator: research conducted
At orford ness

Remains largely secret.

Yet, ironically,
Its success helped bring about

Yet, ironically,
Its success helped bring about

Its own demise.

The u.S. Were so impressed by
The work, they re-established

Their old relationship with
Britain to help advance both

Nation's weapons programs.

Corum:
This facility that concentrates
On britain's separate

Nuclear development is
Really no longer needed

Because essentially the british
Will work together with the

Americans on nuclear weapons,
Which is how it works today.

Americans on nuclear weapons,
Which is how it works today.

Narrator: orford ness was
Finally abandoned in 1987.

*

Today, the site is maintained
By the british national trust

As a peaceful nature reserve,

But its explosive past
Has left a dangerous legacy.

But its explosive past
Has left a dangerous legacy.

Selwood: after so many decades
Of weapons testing at that site,

It's simply not possible to
Guarantee that all devices

Have been found.

It is essentially impossible
To ever clean it out.

*