All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S04E03.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

[narrator] The remains of a site
that produced the weapons

that tamed the Wild West.

These buildings are what made
America what it is today.

[narrator]
A facility that revolutionized
communications on this

world and beyond.

What happened here kicked off
the space age.

[narrator]
And the ruins of a socialite's
mansion, where the revelers

would bring down the house.

The parties she held here
are legendary.

She scandalized
the entire region.

[narrator]
In Hartford, Connecticut,
a set of abandoned structures

once armed the nation.

[Hale]
These buildings represented
the work of a real hero,

not the man,
but the woman.

[narrator]
Less than a mile from downtown,
an architectural anomaly

sticks out in the skyline.

[Prof. Zarsadiaz]
This dome seems like it's
quite out of place for America.

It seems like it's something
you'd see in Russia.

[narrator] This blue dome's
aesthetic isn't the only

strange thing around.

Derelict buildings are
scattered across a revitalized

industrial complex.

[Morgan] They have broken roofs,
shattered windows.

They're obviously not in use.

[Dr. Mitchell] This must have
been one big sight.

About half a mile away,
across a nicely mowed park,

there are at least two more
abandoned buildings.

[narrator]
Once, this place forged a new
way of life for America,

and the world.

[Glaser]
Forget Henry Ford and his Model
Ts, this is where America's

real manufacturing
revolution began.

[Morgan]
These buildings ultimately
became so successful that

the enemy had only one option,
and that was burn them

to the ground.

[narrator] Jack Hale first
visited this site in 1980.

He spent the years since
learning about its creator.

I call the founder of these
buildings the first

international arms dealer.

He was an incredible salesman,
you might say hustler.

[narrator]
This man is credited with
inventing a gun that helped

shape the modern world.

[Morgan] The big innovation that
the revolver introduces is that

it makes it possible for
an individual to fire multiple

shots before needing to reload.

[narrator]
Opening in 1855, this place
produced 250 revolvers a day.

This is Coltsville.

The whole site was a 200-acre
company town really made to

manufacture Samuel Colt's guns.

[narrator]
Leah Glaser has studied
the secrets of how Samuel Colt

began his revolver
revolution here.

[Glaser] He came up with
a machine-driven factory where

machines did each piece of
the process and that workers

were trained just simply to
operate those machines.

Like in modern factories,
this place would have different

areas making different parts of
the gun, and they would go down

the line and essentially be all
assembled together.

[Morgan] Over 50 years before
Ford begins this assembly line

productivity, Samuel Colt is
implementing that with

the production of revolvers.

[narrator]
Many claim this was the first
time anyone successfully

implemented assembly
line manufacturing.

But while Coltsville
revolutionized how things were

made in America,
Colt himself revolutionized

how they were
sold abroad.

[Hale]
Samuel Colt figured out how
to sell his product by giving it

away to influencers.

[narrator]
Colt gifted lavishly engraved
and gilded revolvers to heads

of a number of states,
knowing that mass orders for

their national armies
would follow.

The story is he sold guns to
the Russian czar and then

he went to Turkey, that was
an enemy of Russia,

and sold to them.

[Dr. Mitchell] In Turkey,
he presented the Ottoman Sultan

with a golden revolver,
which led to them ordering

5,000 of his guns.

[narrator] This success in
the East is reflected in

the buildings here.

[Glaser] The Blue Dome is said
to be having been inspired by

Russian architecture.

It was definitely an attempt on
his part to prove

his international credibility.

[narrator]
While the dome was built to
display Colt's international

prowess, other structures here
were constructed to boost

his workers' morale.

[Morgan]
Colt attempted to realize
Coltsville as a place where it

was pleasant for the workers to
live, rather than living in

some awful godforsaken hovel.

Coltsville was meant to
provide for the workers.

There was housing,
there was a community center.

[Glaser]
There was a library, there
were lectures for his workers,

there were greenhouses half
a mile long that were growing

any kind of fruit that
you can imagine.

I guess it was like the modern
campuses of Silicon Valley.

[narrator] However, for the
workers, these perks came

with high demands.

Colt worked them hard,
and he worked them fast.

It was repetitive work.

[Morgan] He insisted on
a 10-hour workday.

And if anybody didn't like
that, they could hit the bricks

and leave, because this was
before labor organizing was

a significant force within
the United States of America.

[narrator]
Employing over 1,000 people,
Coltsville became the largest

private armory in the world.

Yet Samuel Colt would soon find
himself at a crossroads,

where he had to choose between
the success of his company

or his personal beliefs.

[Hale] The Civil War started in
April of 1861.

At that time, Colt was selling
guns to both the Union Army

and to the South.

[narrator]
Colt's factory was in the Union
heartland of the North.

But his political beliefs firmly
aligned with

the Confederate South.

[Hale] Samuel had to figure out
where he was going to land.

He's an opportunist.

He took advantage of whatever
was happening, and it became

clear that where his bread was
being buttered was on
the Union side.

[Prof. Zarsadiaz]
During the Civil War,
Coltsville manufactured about

27,000 guns per year,
and this became one of

the largest manufacturers of
guns for the Union.

[narrator]
But Samuel Colt wouldn't live
to see the impact his weapons

would have in this conflict
that shaped America.

[Dr. Mitchell] On the 10th of
January, 1862, Colt died from

complications with gout.
He was just 47 years old.

[narrator] From his shadow,
an unlikely leader emerged.

[Glaser] After Samuel Colt dies,
his wife, Elizabeth,

is obviously devastated.

It's compounded by the fact
that 10 days later,

their youngest child,
Henrietta, also passes away.

And so she's obviously dealing
with a lot, and she kind of

funnels that grief into making
sure that her husband's

legacy remains.

[Dr. Mitchell]
At a time when she couldn't
even vote, Elizabeth took

the reins of Coltsville.

At its peak under Elizabeth,
it's said the company was worth

over $100 million in
today's money.

[narrator] Elizabeth took the
Colt Company to new heights.

But while the Civil War was
still raging, grave danger was

brought to her doorstep.

[narrator] In Hartford,
Connecticut, Elizabeth Colt had

taken the reins of
the Coltsville Armory in

the midst of the Civil War.

But shortly after her husband
Samuel's death,

another catastrophe was just
around the corner.

[Hale] In February of 1864,
the main armory building

caught fire.

The building went up
like a tinderbox.

There is some indication that
it could have been an arsonist

from the South.

[narrator]
The truth of whether the fire
was set by a Confederate

arsonist has never been proven.

Yet ironically, thanks to
Elizabeth, it only made

Coltsville stronger.

She had insured the company.

Sam didn't believe in
insurance, but she did.

So she had the money
to rebuild.

[Glaser] When they rebuilt it,
they were replacing

all the machinery.
They were now state-of-the-art.

So it gave the Colt Company
a big, big leg up coming out of

the Civil War.

[narrator] Even with a new
state-of-the-art factory,

no one could have predicted
the popularity of a gun

Elizabeth's company would begin
manufacturing here in 1873.

When people talk about iconic
American weapons, The Colt.45

is right up there.

These guns are so evocative of
the Wild West.

[narrator]
Jesse James, Billy the Kid,
and Butch Cassidy

all carried Colt.45s.

People begin to refer to it as
"the gun that won the West."

[narrator]
Despite this success,
the 20th century ushered in new

challenges for Coltsville.

In 1905, Elizabeth Colt died at
the age of 78.

[Hale] She had sold the company
the year before, but her death

was a huge impact
on the community.

Under the new ownership,
these buildings continued to

make weapons, supplying guns to
the American war effort

in both World Wars.

But just before the turn
of the millennium,

their story came to an end.

[Glaser] By 1994,
the company left Coltsville.

It just wasn't able to keep up
with the newest

technology anymore.

[Hale]
It became clear that the Colt
factory here was not the right

kind of building for
the manufacturing process.

[narrator] These buildings were
left abandoned, and much of

the company town was turned
over to the city of Hartford.

Today, over 30 years later,
many of Coltsville's buildings

have been converted into
apartments, and the remaining

structures are entering
a new chapter of their life.

In 2014, Congress passed
legislation that authorized

the establishment of Coltsville
National Historic Park.

[narrator]
The National Park will
celebrate the history of this

groundbreaking establishment
with some of the abandoned

buildings serving as
visitor centers.

[Glaser] It is my hope that the
National Park will expand

the conversation about firearms
beyond the Second Amendment

and understand their place in
American history as

a 19th century industrial
phenomenon.

[narrator] In the Garden State,
one complex of buildings

changed how we communicate
across the globe and beyond.

[Carl] This building was filled
with state-of-the-art equipment.

It's all forgotten history,
because, except for

documentation in archives,
No one alive knows about
this history.

[Bell] We're close to the Jersey
Shore, but this doesn't look

like a vacation complex.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] This site is
huge, with dozens of buildings

in a state of disrepair.

[Meigs]
A lot of the structures have
that low slung, quickly-made

feel that you see on a lot of
military bases.

[narrator]
What was accomplished here
would win wars and start a new

era of human exploration.

What happened here kicked off
the space age.

[narrator] On the Shark River,
near the Jersey Shore,

lies a huge complex of
neglected buildings.

Retired school teacher Fred
Carl has been coming here for

over 30 years, seeking to
reveal its mystery to others.

[Carl]
It is vitally important to tell
the tale of our nation, and how

people use technology to
conquer the issues of the day.

This site was marsh
and farmland, but it was

acquired in 1912 by one of
the great telecommunications

companies, the Marconi Company.

[Meigs] Marconi was fascinated
by the science of

electromagnetism, but he was
more than a pure scientist.

He also had a practical streak.

With each breakthrough,
he wanted to figure out how it

could be applied to
human communication.

We wouldn't be where we are
today with modern

communications without
his technological advances.

[narrator]
Marconi had proved that long
wave radio signals could be

sent across oceans by
using a layer of the Earth's

atmosphere known
as the ionosphere.

Long wave wireless was very
important because that

wavelength would bounce off
the ionosphere and make it

across the Atlantic.

[Meigs] Once Marconi showed that
he could transmit telegraph

signals long distances over
the air, he immediately wanted

to turn that into a global
communications business.

He began buying up properties
around the world and building

telegraph transmitting
and receiving stations.

[narrator] This was Marconi's
primary receiving site on

the East Coast of North America.

This place would become known
as Camp Evans.

[Carl] Why did Marconi
pick this site?

Because it was the highest
elevation site available near

New York City.

[Bell]
This station had six 400-foot
towers built on the hill close

to the Atlantic coast,
which meant that for the first

time, America could receive
messages from Europe.

[narrator]
But soon, simpler shortwave
radio technology would make

this site obsolete,
and it was put up for sale.

Its new owners would turn this
place of innovation

into a den of hatred.

[narrator]
Near the Jersey Shore,
Camp Evans was home to

the Marconi Company and its
successors for 13 years.

It was bought by
an organization in 1925,

not for its engineering
history, but for

its scenic location.

[Meigs] And here the story
gets really weird.

A group called the Monmouth
County Pleasure Seekers Club

took it over for
their weekend retreats.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] The club
acquired the land

and began to erect
bungalows, tents,

and a number of crosses.

[narrator] This club was a front
for the Ku Klux Klan.

The leader of the New Jersey
chapter of the Klan was

a wealthy attorney named
Arthur H. Bell.

He organized fairs and marches
here and started an association

with the overtly Nazi
German-American Bundt.

[narrator]
The Monmouth Pleasure Seekers
ran this property for a decade,

but Bell would be removed from
his position due to his close

links to the German-American
Bundt, which put ownership of

the old Marconi site
in dispute.

They lost their court cases
and their appeals and were

evicted for non-payment of
rent, and then they faded away.

[narrator] The site would become
a military camp in 1941,

named the Camp Evans
Signal Laboratory.

[Bell] Most of the low buildings
that you see on site today were

built during
the Second World War.

It was basically a one-stop
shop for their experiments

with radio.

[narrator]
Immediately after the war,
the scientists here would start

to answer a question posed by
Nazi Germany's most successful

wonder weapon.

[Bell]
Germany's V2 rocket program
had produced the world's first

long-range rocket that flew
within the ionosphere at

the edge of space.

[Meigs]
Was there any way to track
objects that were going past

the ionosphere and into space?
That was the big question.

[narrator]
But many scientists at the time
thought it was impossible to

communicate with objects in
space because radio waves could

not penetrate the ionosphere.

[Carl] A long wave radio wave
will bounce off that and go

across the ocean.

And that's what this Marconi
station was built on.

The fact that radio waves did
not go into space,

as theorists said.

[narrator]
The scientists stationed here
came up with an audacious

project to prove the ionosphere
was not impenetrable.

[Meigs] The problem was there
was no way to test whether

your signals were getting
past the ionosphere.

The scientists here came up
with a brilliant solution.

They decided they were gonna
bounce their signals

off the moon.

They called it Project Diana,
named after the goddess

of the moon.

So in January 1946,
they modified a radar antenna

that looks like a set of
mattress springs, jacked up

the power and aimed it
at the moon.

An echo was picked up
two and a half seconds

after the broadcast,
and that's the time it takes

for light to travel to
the moon and back.

[Meigs]
For the first time, humans had
communicated with, or at least

interacted with,
an object in space.

And it happened right here at
Camp Evans.

[narrator]
Project Diana's success would
have wide-ranging consequences.

[Bell]
The piercing of the ionosphere
with radio waves opened up

the possibility of space
exploration that up until that

point, had only been a dream
within science fiction films

and comic books.

[narrator]
The scientists of Camp Evans
would go on to work on projects

during the Vietnam
and Gulf Wars.

It always seemed to be
a convenient spot to tuck

secret projects away.

[narrator]
After more than half a century
of use by the Army Signal Corps

and 85 years after the Marconi
Company first came here,

Camp Evans closed its doors for
good in 1998.

Today, the accomplishments of
Camp Evans live on through

the work of Fred Carl
and many others.

[Bell] Now, part of the camp
is the site of

the InfoAge Science Learning
Center, housing a number of

different museums.

[Carl] Our partner, Princeton
University Physics Department,

they actually can control
the dish from their physics

building in Princeton,
and they helped train graduate

students on the study
of pulsars.

Pretty awesome for a site where
they started communication
in space.

[narrator]
In the foothills of Colorado's
Sangre de Cristo Mountains are

the remains of a town where
people fought for their rights

and paid the ultimate price.

[Butero]
Since I was eight years old,
my father used to bring me out

here when they would
hold a service.

I always hold this as
sacred ground.

[narrator]
Fifteen miles from the city of
Trinidad, near the border with

New Mexico, a cluster of
dilapidated buildings sits

fenced off behind barbed wire.

This looks like a set for
a Wild West dystopian movie.

[narrator]
The surrounding land still
bears the scars of an industry

that transformed the region.

[Morgan] As you look closely
at the landscape,

it's punctuated by flag heaps,
a pretty powerful indication

that there was mining here.

[narrator] But this canyon hides
the secrets of a terrible event

that changed the nation.

[Butero]
These people were fighting for
two things -- economic justice

and social justice.

They basically wanted to be
treated like human beings.

[Dr. Mitchell] This almost
brought down one of America's

most powerful families.

Everyone knew they had blood
on their hands.

[narrator]
In the shadow of Colorado's
Spanish Peaks, a remote ghost

town was the site of one of
the great untold labor disputes

of the 20th century.

Third-generation coal miner
Bob Butero is carrying on

the legacy of those
who fought here.

[Butero]
I've always maintained that
I stand on their shoulders.

The lives that they sacrificed
made mining a lot safer

and healthier for me.

[narrator] Coal was first
uncovered in Colorado in 1880.

And within a few years,
driven by

the Industrial Revolution,
mines were cropping up

all over the state.

Most of these mines were owned
by John D. Rockefeller Jr.,

through the Colorado Fuel
and Iron Company,

company, also known
as CFI.

[Morgan]
This is a company that was so
big, so prominent, that at one

point, 10 percent of the people
of the state depended on CFI

for their livelihood.

[narrator]
As the mining industry boomed,
communities began to flourish

across the region.

Among them, one town would go
down in history,

its name forever tied to one of
Colorado's darkest days.

This is Ludlow.

[Rodriguez McRobbie]
The town of Ludlow was
an important railroad junction

as it was near the mouths of
two canyons.

[narrator]
The coal mines in this area
were some of the most dangerous

in the entire nation.

The fatality rate for miners in
Colorado was more than double

the national average.

[Butero]
A lot of it was just because
the companies had no real good

concern with the miners.

There was numerous reports of
the bosses saying that a mule

was more valuable than a man,
because with a man,

they could just hire him,
where a mule,

they had to buy him.

[narrator]
By 1913, 30 years after
the first boom, conditions in

the industry had not improved.

Miners had to live in coal
camps where the companies had

control over all aspects
of their lives.

[Rodriguez McRobbie]
These towns were patrolled by
company-appointed marshals.

They would enforce curfews,
inspect the miners' houses,

and crack down on anybody
who might be complaining about

the workers' conditions.

[Butero] All the way through
our history,

in the US Constitution,
you have the freedom of speech,

but in a coal camp, you had no
freedom of speech.

[narrator]
While mine bosses went to great
lengths to discourage

dissenting and organizing,
unions could only be

kept at bay for so long.

The United Mine Workers of
America arrive in Colorado in

August 1913, and help the miners
set out their demands.

[Morgan] First and foremost,
they wanted CFI to live up to

the legal standard that was
already required by the state

of Colorado in terms of health
and safety on the job site.

They were requesting a 10%
increase in compensation,

which actually was a nickel.

[Morgan]
The president of Colorado
Fuel and Iron refuses to meet

with their representatives.

That shuts down any
possibilities that may have

existed toward reaching
a peaceful settlement.

On September 23rd of 1913,
the miners informed the coal

companies that
they were striking.

And there was over 10,000
coal miners that did this.

So it wasn't like it was only
a handful of

disgruntled people.

[narrator] And so began
the Colorado Coalfield War.

And the mine owners' response
would be brutal.

[Dr. Mitchell]
The Colorado Fuel and Iron
Company evicted the workers

from the company towns,
but the union had anticipated

this move, and they erected tent
colonies all across the region.

[narrator]
The tents, used to house
the miners and their families,

were built on wooden platforms,
each outfitted with

a cast iron stove.

The largest of these colonies
was erected on one of the few

areas in Ludlow not owned by
the mining companies.

This is the site of
the Ludlow tent colony.

There was about a thousand
inhabitants here.

[narrator]
The union paid minor stipends
to keep them going, and they

furnished coal,
food, and clothing.

[narrator]
To keep the mines in business,
the coal companies hired

replacement workers, known as
strikebreakers or scabs,

as well as security guards to
protect the mines.

Many of these guards came from
the notorious Baldwin-Feltz

Detective Agency,
who had a reputation for

violent repression.

They would just basically
antagonize the miners.

They would bring what
they called the death special.

It was an armored type car that
they would come, drive by

the miners and shoot bullets
into the tents.

This forced the workers to dig
pits and trenches underneath

the tents for safety.

[narrator]
As tensions escalated over
the next month, several miners

and guards lost
their lives in gun battles.

On October 28th,
the governor of Colorado sent

in the National Guard to impose
order in the strike zones.

[narrator]
While the miners welcomed this
at first, they soon discovered

that the National Guard was
actually there to

break the strike.

Many mine guards and
Baldwin-Feltz agents even joined

their ranks and were given
National Guard uniforms.

On April 20th, 1914,
tensions came to a head.

[Butero]
The National Guard accused
the miners of holding three

scabs against their will.

There was no evidence of that,
but they started opening fire

on the tent colony.

Over the course of 14 hours,
the strikers traded gunfire

with the National Guard.

[narrator]
After hours of fighting,
when most of the colony members

had retreated,
the National Guard doused

the camp with kerosene
and set the camp alight.

[narrator]
The next day, the bodies of two
women and 11 children were

discovered in one of
the cellars under a tent.

The fire stole all of
the oxygen, and they sat down

there in their dugout
and suffocated.

[Dr. Mitchell]
They also found the bodies of
two union leaders who had been

shot in the back.
They had been executed.

More than 20 people lost
their lives that day.

[narrator] As news of the Ludlow
massacre spread,

outrage swept the nation.

The fallout would change labor
relations across America

and see the Rockefellers'
reputation tarnished.

[narrator]
After the massacre of striking
miners and their families by

Colorado's National Guard,
union leaders

issued a call to arms.

[Butero]
They basically ran the National
Guard out of Los Animas.

After that is when the US Army
came into the area.

[narrator]
Eventually, the United Mine
Workers of America ran out of

money and had to call
off the strike.

Ultimately, none of
their demands had been met.

[Dr. Mitchell] The Ludlow
backlash was a disaster for

the Rockefellers' reputation to
the point that they hired

PR experts to help with
damage control.

At the time, this was very
novel and it attracted quite

a bit of media attention.

[narrator]
Rockefeller would eventually
visit Colorado to hear

the miners' grievances,
and slowly, but surely,

things began to change.

[Dr. Mitchell]
Over the following years,
working conditions improved

greatly, not only for miners,
but for the average

American worker.

They achieved an eight-hour
day, paid overtime,

higher wages, and benefits,
not to mention

better safety conditions.

[narrator]
Although working conditions had
improved for the miners in

Southern Colorado,
an overall shift to cleaner

and more efficient energy
sources would plunge the coal

industry into decline.

By the 1950s, most of the mines
in the area had closed down.

[Rodriguez McRobbie]
Rather than selling the homes
to the miners already living in

them, the companies instead
decided to evict the workers

and then raise the buildings.

This had a devastating
effect on the region.

And by 1954, Ludlow was
completely abandoned.

[narrator] Today, the site of
the massacre is owned by

the United Mine
Workers of America.

They have erected a monument to
the fallen and hold a service

here every year to pay
tribute to the miners.

[Butero] This is not taught in
the US history books.

It's not even taught in
Colorado history books.

We need to preserve it so
everybody that comes out here

understands what happened on
this date, April 20th, 1914.

[narrator]
In the shadow of Mount One
Testicat, a set of ruins were

once a den of debauchery for
one of America's

greatest eccentrics.

[Stanway]
This is a place you would not
expect to find in the woods in

the middle of New Hampshire.

What happened here was sex,
alcohol on the tap,

and behind it all were all of
these crazy people.

[Dr. Thomas] This is 500 acres
of deep, dense forest.

[narrator]
Within this labyrinth of trees
hides a forsaken structure.

[Alcock] There are fragments of
crumbled ruins, bits of stone.

These are simply the bare
foundations left behind.

[narrator] Yet one feature
has survived.

[Meares] You see this elaborate
stone staircase that leads

to nowhere.

It's like something from
a fantasy movie or a fairy tale

gone wrong.

There's a lot of stories about
this place, but you have to

sort out what's true
and what isn't.

[narrator]
Whether fact or fiction,
every story centers around

one woman.

She was well-known for pushing
all types of social boundaries.

She really kind of identified
herself as a queen.

[narrator] In New Hampshire,
the stone carcass of

an abandoned building lies
hidden deep in the forest.

It's something Eric Stanway has
grown to love.

[Stanway] I found out about
these ruins by accident.

I just came up here one time,
and then I found out the actual

story behind them is far more
interesting and far more

licentious than anything
you can possibly think of.

[narrator] This is
Madame Sherri's castle.

While today it's associated
with an American legend,

its story begins in the City of
Love, where Madame Sherri was

known by another name.

[Stanway] Madame Sherri was born
Antoinette Bremer in

Paris in 1878.

Antoinette was a complete
extrovert, and she was

determined to become famous
on the stage.

[Dr. Thomas]
Paris at the turn of the 20th
century was a place of style,

elegance, and daring.

For young Antoinette, it was
a time for her to
truly blossom.

[narrator]
Antoinette found work dancing
and singing cabaret in

bars and clubs.

Yet fate would take
her across the Atlantic.

[brassy music playing]

[Stanway]
She met an American and they
got married and they decided to

move to the Big Apple.

[Meares] When Antoinette moved
to New York, she opened

a costume house and it rented
out elaborate costumes, both to

individuals and most
importantly,

to Broadway reviews.

[narrator]
Just off Broadway on West 47th
Street, Antoinette wanted

her store to stand out.

[Dr. Thomas]
Antoinette decided she needed
a flashy new showbiz name to

promote her business,
and she was inspired by

Otto Harbach's play,
"Madame Sherri."

[narrator]
To grab people's attention,
Antoinette changed her name to

Madame Sherri.

[Alcock] Because of
her wacky dress sense,

the name Madame Sherri
really stuck.

It was what she became known
by, a bit like Lady Gaga today.

[narrator] With her new name,
Madame Sherri was soon mixing

with New York's
movers and shakers.

It's something Matthew Scaccia
knows well.

[Scaccia]
Madame Sherri and her husband
lived a life in the main social

circle of A-list people in
New York.

Madame Sherri was definitely
an it-girl.

[narrator]
But Madame Sherri's time in
the bright lights of

Broadway wouldn't last.

Soon, heartbreak would cause
her to begin a new chapter of

her life in the forests of
New Hampshire.

[narrator]
In the woods of New Hampshire
is the home of eccentric French

socialite Madame Sherri.

But this lady of intrigue was
brought here by tragedy.

In 1924, Madame Sherri's
husband tragically died.

[Stanway]
Everything came crashing down
when her husband died.

Sherri was completely bereft.

And eventually, by the
invitation of Jack Henderson,

a silent film star,
started coming to his parties

up here in New Hampshire.
And she loved it so much.

In 1929, she decided to pull up
roots in New York

and move here.

[narrator]
With the support of her wealthy
friend Charles La Mer,

she bought nearly 600
acres here.

Yet, she didn't want to live
an ordinary country life.

[Stanway] She was going to
build a castle.

And it was going to be
something that no one in this

area had ever seen.

[Meares] Madame Sherri had no
blueprints, which drove

the local builders crazy.

She would just stick sticks in
the ground, showing where

she wanted rooms to be.

[narrator]
By 1931, this trendsetter's
vision was finished.

The real piece de resistance
was the outside staircase.

This allowed Madame Sherri to
make grand entrances,

showing off the latest
eccentric fashions that she was

styling herself in.

[Alcock]
It was said that this place
was built to host parties that

matched Madame Sherri's
eccentric personality.

[narrator]
Due to the clandestine
nature of the parties here,

the reality is hard to decipher
from the legend.

[Stanway] These parties were in
the middle of prohibition,

and all of the liquor that came
here was totally illegal.

All the people who came to
these parties were not local.

Once state justice was
rumored to party here.

There were rumors of gangsters,
Al Capone, Legs Diamond.

[narrator]
Whatever the truth, many claim
it wasn't just booze

on the menu.

[Stanway]
Imagine the wildest party
you've ever been to --

sex, booze, all sorts
of licentiousness.

And then multiply that by 10,
and you get an inkling of what

happened here.

[narrator] Yet in 1933,

when Prohibition ended,
the party didn't stop here.

[Dr. Thomas] Madame Sherri's
castle was a unique

and stylish party spot.

Even after Prohibition,
people were still looking for

those crazy, wild,
debaucherous parties.

[narrator]
But now, the depravity
spread out of this forest into

the local town.

Madame Sherri scandalized
the entire town.

[Alcock] The people of the town
were traditional rural folk,

people who went to church
on Sunday.

This was the complete opposite
side of the spectrum to

Madame Sherri.

She would go about town with
a monkey on a leash and wearing

a fur coat with nothing
on underneath.

[Stanway]
And she'd have all these crazy
young people around her.

And she used to go buy
her groceries down there.

She pulled the cash out
of her cleavage.

[narrator]
This cash that funded Madame
Sherri's eccentric lifestyle

came from her protege,
Charles La Mer,

a costume designer known
across Hollywood.

But in the 1940s,
everything changed when

he thought she began suffering
from delusions of grandeur.

Her associates stopped sending
her checks that funded all of

her lavish lifestyle.

When the money ran out,
everything went
straight to hell.

[narrator]
Broke and destitute,
in the late 1950s,

Madame Sherri did
something unexpected.

In 1958, Madame Sherri felt
a pull towards religion.

She became a Jehovah's Witness
and moved to Vermont.

[narrator]
In her absence, this building
was left to fend for itself.

It was a fight it would lose,
as Madame Sherri discovered

when she returned.

[Stanway] In spring of 1959,
she came back here.

The entire place had
been trashed.

And she ran from room to room,
screaming and howling, some in

English, some in French,
saying, "This was
our love nest!"

And she locked the doors,
and she never, ever came back.

[narrator] Three years later,
vandals returned to the castle

and burned what remained
to the ground.

All that's left of the castle,
say, after that fire, is what

you see here today.

[narrator]
Today, the parties that were
held here nearly a century ago

are still legendary,
although the details may be

a little fuzzy.

But Matthew is part of
an organization that looks

after the remains of the castle
and allows thousands to
visit each year.

[Scaccia]
The property and surrounding
500 acres are owned by

the Society for the Protection
of New Hampshire Forests.

It's a space that people love
to come and enjoy.

[narrator]
Despite dying in 1965 at
the age of 84, these ruins have

given Madame Sherri what
she always desired, a place in

America's history book.

[Stanway]
If there's anything to learn,
it's that you only go through

life once, and you should
really just grab it with both

hands, because
she sure as hell did.