All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S13E01.Blood.Wedding.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

A Spanish settlement
stained in innocent blood.

What begins as
an unpleasant scheme

leads to bodies

lying in the dust.

In Wisconsin,
a serene institution seized

out of righteous anger.

As the National Guard
surrounded the area,

there were reports of
the back and forth shooting

that happened.

And a subterranean
lair in France,

designed with
a disturbing objective.

Hitler is convinced
that German technology

can still win the war,

and Joe Kennedy, heir to an
American political dynasty,

is going to die
on his way here.

In America's Midwest,
lies an isolated structure,

caught in the crosshairs
of a tribe's mission to reclaim

what was once theirs.

Tucked away from the road
is a wide, open clearing.

And in the middle of it,
there is this colossal,

Georgian style mansion.

It's far too big, too grand,
to be a single-family residence.

But who built it and why is it
standing empty today?

When you go inside,
the stark concrete

offers few clues
to its former purpose.

It's bare and cavernous.

This was once a place
of religious devotion.

It would become the symbol

of a bitter struggle
to be heard.

Some said that it existed
on stolen land,

and that conflict
would come to a head

in a very dramatic
confrontation.

This land is Menominee
ancestral lands.

As a people, we've been here
since time immemorial.

On a cold January day,

a group descended
onto this compound

with shotguns and rifles.

Their motto was
"Deed or death."

This was a month-long,
armed standoff

and soon it gains
national recognition.

Suddenly, you had everyone,

from national grassroots
organizations

to movie stars
like Marlon Brando,

showing up to the protests.

Chris Caldwell is president

of the College of
the Menominee Nation.

His family was involved
in the battle that unfolded

in this building
in the 1970s.

My Aunt Chris
talks about being in here,

ducking from gunfire,

you know, trying to make sure
the kids that were with them

knew to duck.

It's been a process
to reconcile those things.

When this site
was first built,

it stood on territory

that had been taken away
from the Menominee.

Its original function belies

what would eventually
transpire here.

This grand building was
originally constructed in 1939,

as a private residence for
a wealthy widow from New York

and her sick daughter.

But sadly, she died before
it can be completed.

Then, in the 1950s,
the woman donated

the unfinished house and the
land to the Alexian Brothers,

an organization that was close
to her heart.

The Alexian Brothers
are a Catholic group

devoted to religious study
and taking care of the sick.

And they turned the property

into what's known
as a "novitiate",

somewhere where inductees
would come to study

and learn and prepare
to take their vows.

The Novitiate operated like this
for over 20 years,

but in 1972, they moved their
operations to Chicago,

and this building
is left empty.

This could've been
the end of the Novitiate story,

but events were underway
that would send it

on a collision course

with an unfolding crisis

at a nearby
Native American reservation.

The Menominee historically
inhabited a vast area

that stretched across Wisconsin

to the Upper Peninsula
in Michigan.

A series of treaties with
the US government in the 1800s

saw their land shrink
from 10 million acres

to just 230,000.

Still, the Menominee remained

one of the wealthiest Native
tribes in North America,

because they had large interest
in timber.

But in the 1950s,
their way of life and land

would be threatened once more.

The tribe was doing so well

that the Bureau
of Indian Affairs

decided that they were
ready to be relieved

from federal government support,

and, in the term of the time,

assimilated into
mainstream US society.

The government establishes
a policy of termination,

which ends the tribe's
sovereign status

and changes the responsibility
that the federal government

has towards them.

With termination came
an instant tax bill

for the 230,000 acres
of our reservation lands.

We had to find a way
to pay for that,

and our communities declined.

They went from being

one of the most affluent tribes
in the nation

to being desperately poor,

with all the social ills
that come along with poverty.

It just pushed the Menominee,
I feel, over the brink

to "we really need to figure out

"how do we get back our lands,

how do we get back
that connection."

One faction of the tribe

felt the only way
to get their voice heard

was direct action.

These were members of
the Menominee Warrior Society.

During this period,
the same political activism

that we saw on college campuses
and Vietnam War protests

was also sweeping Native
communities across the country.

Many of the members
of the Warrior Society

were inspired
by activist takeovers,

like that of Alcatraz
in 1969.

In 1975,
the Menominee Warrior Society

decided to make their stand.

The target was
the Alexian Novitiate,

which had been vacant
for three years,

apart from a lone caretaker
and his family.

The Menominee Warriors saw this

as a visible symbol of land

that they believed
was rightfully theirs.

On New Year's Day, a band
of about 40 Menominee

armed with shotguns and rifles
arrived at the compound.

They were led by a man
they called "the General",

Michael Sturdevant.

They seize the property,
and they take the caretaker

and his family hostage.

The Novitiate was now
under the control

of the Menominee
Warrior Society.

The local police
came out in force

and surrounded the building.

The state government
acted quickly

to contain the takeover.

The last thing they wanted
was for the protest to spread.

Even the National Guard
are called in,

eventually grow into a force
of over 2,000 troops,

and then you have a standoff
at the Novitiate.

The situation had become
a powder keg

ready to ignite.

The Warrior Society believed
that they were really

in a life and death struggle

for the future of their tribe
and their rights.

2
In the early hours
of New Year's Day, 1975,

the Menominee Warrior Society
led an armed takeover

of the Alexian Novitiate.

A nerve-wracking
standoff ensued.

When the Wisconsin
National Guard

was called in
by the governor,

there were
different interactions

between the Warrior Society

and the different local
community groups.

And so, there was gunfire
back and forth.

The Warrior Society
is completely

outmanned and outgunned,

and the government doesn't want

any deaths on their hands,

especially
in this already tense situation.

The National Guard
had one key advantage.

They were able to cut off
the power to the building.

Soon, the heat was out.

It was cold at the time,
and supporters would find ways

to sneak into the building--
you know, bring supplies

and other things like that
to help.

The actor and activist,
Marlon Brando,

even arrived at the Novitiate

to support
the Warrior group.

Despite the celebrity backing,

local public opinion
about the takeover

was split.

In the surrounding white
community, of course,

many were outraged by what
they saw as an insurrection.

Even on the reservation itself,
there were those who thought

that it would undermine
their chances

to have their rights restored.

On February 2nd,
after a month-long occupation,

a deal was reached
between the Warrior Society

and the Alexian Brothers.

The Brothers agreed to sell
the Novitiate to the Menominee

for the sum of $1.

At that point,
the Warrior Society

peacefully surrendered,

and 39 of them
were arrested.

Looking back,
we have to give credit

to the cool heads
on both sides.

It ended peacefully

and did not erupt
in outright bloodshed.

Five members of the group
were charged,

including their leader,
Michael Sturdevant,

who was imprisoned.

In April of 1975,

three months
after the Novitiate standoff,

the US government restored
the Menominee's status

as a federally
recognized tribe.

This granted the Menominee
the right to self-govern

their existing 230,000 acres
of reservation land.

It's unclear
how much this occupation

influenced that decision.

Despite the efforts
of the Warrior Society,

the Menominee were unable
to maintain the building.

Eventually, they decided
that the best course of action

was just to give the building
back to the Alexian Brothers.

Over the next 50 years,

the property sat empty
and suffered damage,

including a fire
that gutted the mansion.

In 2021,
the Novitiate was purchased

by new owners,
who are restoring the property.

Its future use
is yet to be decided,

but the Menominee tribe
is being consulted.

It was only a building
in a moment of time

for the Menominee people,

but there's a lot
of significance

that came along with it.

There's a responsibility
to learn the lessons

from those events.

In Northern France,
tranquil green fields disguise

a conspiracy to lay waste
to an entire population.

We're not far from
the English Channel.

We're not far from Paris,
but here it's the country.

And then you start
to see evidence

that there's more here
than meets the eye.

There are these
huge chunks of concrete

that are really smashed apart.

What could have caused
these massive holes

in the quiet
French countryside?

Nearby, an entrance leading
into the hillside

reveals something unexpected
hidden below.

Parts of it looks like it could
be a railroad tunnel,

but as you look deeper,
it's a lot more than that.

The architecture is
very utilitarian,

and it tells you that

this was probably
a military facility.

Masses of concrete,

the smell of slave laborers'

blood and sweat.

This has got to be
Nazi engineering.

This subterranean complex
was built as a last resort

to save an evil empire.

The threat it posed
was unlike anything

the world had seen before.

It was a race against time.

Could the Allies
stop this weapon

before the Nazis
reign terror down on London?

In early 1943, things aren't
going well for the Nazis.

The campaign in Russia
is slowing down,

and the Allies are gaining
ground in North Africa.

Hitler thinks that if
he gets German scientists,

German engineers,
working in the right direction,

they will create "Wunderwaffen",
"wonder weapons",

and those wonder weapons
are gonna win the war.

On June 13, 1944,

seven days after
the D-Day landings,

Hitler unveiled the first wave
of a new destructive power

developed under
the wonder weapon program.

They were called
"vengeance weapons".

The V1 was a flying bomb that
buzzed when it went overhead.

And when it was about to drop,
it got totally silent,

meaning that the people below

knew it was about
to strike them.

Four months later,
the Führer revealed

the next stage of his plot

to wipe London from the map.

The V2 rockets were
essentially

the first ballistic missile.

They're going to hit
without warning,

and at speeds
that you just can't intercept.

Hitler really believes

that by sending
the vengeance weapons,

the "Vergeltungswaffen",
into England,

he is going to break
the British will to fight.

But the crazed dictator still
had one last piece

of his destructive puzzle
to complete.

It was called
the Fortress of Mimoyecques.

Caroline Albert is an expert on
this clandestine Nazi facility.

Construction on the site
begins in 1943.

Over 1,200 workers arrive
to begin

digging out those tunnels.

Despite all this natural
reinforcement, they went ahead

and put a 16-foot reinforced
concrete top over it.

The Allies were completely
unaware of the ferocity brewing

beneath the French countryside.

It was basically a huge cannon,

and it fired shells

using multiple explosive charges
along its barrel.

The round goes past firing
chamber after firing chamber,

going faster and faster

until it is able to fly
all the way to London

and bang!--
deliver a payload

right into the center
of the enemy capital.

But this complex wouldn't house
just one of these super guns.

Each of the five firing shafts
was meant to hold five cannons,

totaling 25 in all.

In theory, it could fire 600
shells an hour, 24 hours a day.

The Allies had no idea
what was coming.

Yet the French Resistance
spotted something sinister

was underway and alerted
British intelligence.

When Allied reconnaissance
flights discover this space,

they're not quite sure
what it is,

but they know that it's big,

they know that it's Nazi,

and they know
that it has to be destroyed.

2
At Mimoyecques Fortress
during World War II,

Hitler ordered the construction
of the V3 cannon,

a weapon of such fury

he believed it could turn
the tide of the conflict

in his favor.

Between November 1943
and the spring of 1944,

British and US airmen fought

through an onslaught
of anti-aircraft fire

to try and really take
this place out.

They drop over 4,000 tons
of armaments,

and it's still there.

Something else needs to happen
to destroy this.

The Allies turned
to the brilliant engineer

Barnes Wallis,

who created an innovative
bouncing bomb

to destroy German dams
earlier in the war.

Now, we need to destroy
a German concrete bunker.

He developed
a extra large bomb

that was called
"the Tallboy".

It would bury itself
in the earth before exploding,

and it would create
an earthquake.

It was the perfect weapon to
destroy underground structures.

Throughout the spring of 1944,

the Nazis rushed to complete
the V3 cannons.

But before they could be
deployed,

the skies darkened
over Mimoyecques.

On July 6, 1944,
the Allies send

over 100 Halifax bombers.

They're carpet bombing
the target

in order to destroy
anything on the surface.

And then, the Lancaster bombers
are going to fly in

with the Tallboy bomb.

Three near misses
and then a direct hit.

With that hit,
they've managed to smash

through that massive
concrete roof.

Yet the Allies still feared
the site could be operational.

They couldn't take the chance
that Hitler's weapon

could still flatten London.

US Navy airmen were tasked
with a top secret mission,

to take Mimoyecques out
once and for all.

It was codenamed
"Operation Anvil".

This is a project designed
to take worn-out bombers

and turn them
into an early form of drone.

They would have pilots on board
who would set the explosives,

parachute out, and the plane
would continue on

to its target.

One brave pilot steps up for
the mission, and that pilot was

Joseph P. Kennedy.

Joseph was the eldest
of the Kennedy children,

and his father had been
grooming him to be president

from a young age.

On August 12, 1944,

he and his co-pilot
took to the skies.

Kennedy radios in the code words
"spade flush" to indicate

that they were about to jump
out of the plane,

but then those ended up being
his very last words.

The whole plane goes up
into enormous explosions,

there is literally nothing left

of Kennedy
and his co-pilot.

It's sad that when JFK heard
the news, he said,

"And now the burden
falls on me."

Less than a month after
Kennedy's tragic death,

Canadian troops arrived
at Mimoyecques

and found it had been abandoned
by the retreating Nazis.

They also made another
chilling discovery.

The fortress had already been
destroyed beyond repair

by the earlier
Tallboy bombing raid.

Today, the upper level tunnels
of Mimoyecques

can be visited by the public.

But the lower levels
were so badly damaged,

some of the secrets
of Hitler's vengeance fortress

will never be known.

In a remote region
of southern Spain,

an isolated structure conceals

a story of forbidden love
and ruthless retribution.

We're in this landscape of
rugged hills and dusty plains.

It feels like something more
from the Wild West than Spain.

It's an arid, barren place.

Even in the best of times,
eking out an existence here

must have been hard.

Yet signs of life reveal
somebody settled

in this unforgiving landscape.

All the way out here,
there's this structure.

It's kind of hauntingly
beautiful, standing alone

against this vast,
empty scenery.

Walking around, you can see
a lot of the rooms

are just empty shells.

It's hard to tell what
this place once was.

Then you start to see clues.

With its bell tower and
raised area inside for an altar,

you quickly realize
this was a church.

You also get the feeling
that this is a home.

You've got the kitchen
and the pantry,

but apart from these details,

many of the traces
of whoever lived here

have long since disappeared.

In the beginning,
this was a peaceful dwelling.

It became the scene
of a shameful crime of revenge.

This place has been
immortalized

in books, in plays,
and even Hollywood films.

Grooms jilted at the altar,

lovers fleeing in the night,

violent confrontations...

this story has it all.

It's like the original
telenovela.

2
In the desolate plains
of Almería, Spain,

is a crumbling ruin
that would become infamous.

Miguel Jaume Mora is a guide
in this arid region.

Growing up as a child,
I've heard

so many stories
about this place.

The first time I came

was roughly 17, 18 years ago,

and I was so impressed, actually.

Like many locals,
Miguel was drawn

to the tale of intrigue

that unfolded
within these walls.

This building is well known
all over the country

for all its tragic happenings.

It is a very important part
of the local culture.

It's a shame, actually, to see
the state in which it is.

Essentially, it's a kind
of farm complex

common in the south of Spain.

It was originally built in
the 1700s by Dominican monks,

and that's why it has such
an elaborate chapel.

They were given the property

because no one wanted
to live here.

Life here would have been
very difficult.

It was called
the "Cortijo del Fraile",

the "Farmhouse of the Friar".

But in the mid 1830s,
the government decides

it's gonna take possession
of many of the properties

that were owned
by the church.

They sold it to raise money,

and so the farm goes
into private hands.

For almost a century,
the rhythms of life

in this dusty outpost
remained the same.

Farmers growing and selling
their produce,

living in harmony
with the seasons.

But in the early 1900s,

a new family arrived
at the Cortijo.

With them,
came scandal and murder.

One of the families
that lived here, uh,

was a widower
with his daughters,

Carmen and Francisca,

who was known to everyone
as "Paca".

Paca was given
a cruel nickname,

"Paca la Coja,"

meaning "Paca the Lame".

While the family blamed
her limp on polio,

it's said that the real story

is her father beat her so badly
as a baby,

he permanently damaged her hip.

Well, we're just in the house
where Paca lived,

here at the farm.

This room was one
of the bedrooms,

and it could have actually been
Paca's bedroom.

Eventually,
the elder sister, Carmen,

got married
and moved out of the Cortijo,

and Paca grew
increasingly close

with her cousin, Francisco.

She was in love with her cousin
when they were children.

The usual thing
when they would play,

"well, you're gonna be
my boyfriend,

and when we're older,
we'll probably get married."

But Paca's father paid
no attention

to her youthful infatuation,

and in 1926,

began looking
for a suitable husband for her.

Whoever she married would
receive a generous payment,

called a "dowry,"

and they would play
an integral role

in the running of the Cortijo.

As it happened, Paca's sister
came up with a plan

for who she should marry.

There was a local laborer
named Casimiro.

He just so happened to be
her husband's brother.

How convenient.

It seems like this was all part
of a sinister plan to marry

her sister to someone
inside the family

that they could control.

Carmen was very ambitious.

She wanted to try to gather
all the properties

and get her husband
to be the farmer

that was in charge
of this farm.

Paca was completely unaware of
her sister's cruel intentions,

and agreed to the marriage.

It was a decision
that ended in tragedy.

On the evening
of the 22nd of July,

the year 1928,

is a reception of the wedding.

The tradition at the time
was to celebrate first,

and then hold the wedding
ceremony the following morning.

All the guests started to
arrive, and among these guests

that were invited
to the wedding,

her cousin, Francisco.

Francisco didn't come
to celebrate.

He was simply biding his time.

Francisco seizes
the opportunity,

and he sneaks
into her bedroom.

He begs Paca to
run away with him

so that they can be married
the next morning.

She never...

was in love with Casimiro.

That's when she started
to think about it.

And she told Francisco,
"It's now or never."

And that's when they escaped

through this passage
to the stables.

The lovers believe they will be
long gone before anybody

realizes what had happened,
but they were wrong.

Paca's sister
and her husband,

whose plan was going
very badly now,

also rode out
into the desert,

and it wouldn't be long
before they found them.

2
On July 23rd, 1928,

an infamous wedding
was set to take place.

Paca, the bride to be,
was not in love with the man

she was arranged to marry,

the brother of her sister's
husband, Casimiro.

Instead, she eloped
with her cousin Francisco.

Paca's sister, Carmen,
was furious.

She told her husband,
José, and they got a horse

and soon went chasing them.

It's said that they hid
behind some undergrowth

as the lovers approached,

and then they jumped out
to confront them.

José had a revolver.

He brought it out and he just
shot three times, three shots,

and killed Francisco.

And apparently,
Carmen told José,

"I'll be in charge
of my sister."

Carmen begins strangling her
until...

well, until
she stops moving.

The murderous couple fled
the scene and left the bodies

to be discovered by the other
guests, out looking.

They found Francisco
dead on the floor,

and Paca nearby,

desperately clinging to life.

At first, Paca was unwilling
to reveal who had attacked her,

fearing it would bring shame
to the family.

But she eventually identified
the assailants

to the authorities,
and a trial date was set.

Her sister Carmen was found
guilty of attempted murder,

but she served
just 15 months in jail.

Her husband,
who killed Francisco,

was sentenced to just

eight years in prison
for the murder.

The events of that night
were a media sensation.

Newspapers across the country
wrote about

this horrific incident.

The breathless coverage
also caught the attention

of a well-known
Spanish author.

It inspired one
of his greatest works.

Five years on, Federico García
Lorca premiered his play,

"Bodas de sangre",

or "Blood Wedding."

The play opens
to nationwide acclaim

and to this day it's performed
around the world.

And the story
of the terrible events

that took place on this
farmstead are immortalized.

Paca died in 1987.

She refused to ever talk
about what happened

at this remote farm.

She lived out her days
as a recluse

in a house
near the Cortijo.

She never married again,

and it's said she wore black
for the rest of her life,

in mourning
for her true love, Francisco.

After the events of the blood
wedding faded into the past,

life at the Cortijo
returned to normal.

Yet, that all changed
in the 1960s.

This is the age
of the Spaghetti Westerns,

Western movies with Italian
directors, great soundtracks,

and they're filmed
in Italy and Spain.

Of all the Spaghetti Western
directors, none is more famous

than Sergio Leone and his
iconic "Dollars" trilogy.

The Cortijo would be chosen
to play a key role

in two of those movies,

1965's
"For a Few Dollars More"

and "The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly" in 1966,

both starring Clint Eastwood.

It's even said that the harsh
Almería sun was so bright

it forced Eastwood to keep
his eyes half-closed,

giving rise to that famous,
intense, gimlet stare.

But its fame couldn't save it
from decay,

and the abandoned farm
slowly descends into ruin.

On the Albanian coast stands
the faded icon of an era

ruled by Europe's
most obscure dynasty.

It's neither
ancient nor modern.

It could be, from some angles,
a mid-century hotel,

but it also has the aspect
of kind of a Moorish palace.

The inside is just as stunning.

The ceilings are adorned
with ornate plaster,

and the staircases
are solid marble.

This was clearly built
to impress.

The man behind
this hilltop citadel

was infamous
for his iron will,

respected and feared
in equal measure.

He was considered a traitor,

a dictator,

and one of the most important
politicians of the country

during the 20th century.

His extravagance and his hubris
brought in great wealth.

It's what built
places like this.

But with a spectacular rise
comes a spectacular fall.

Andi Penari
is a state historian

and expert on the period
in Albanian history

when one man
revolutionized the country.

I mean, mixed feelings in here,

visiting the entrance
of this beautiful villa,

'cause it reminds us of a time
when aristocracy and nobility

managed to control the country.

It belongs to the most powerful
men of the period.

In the early 20th century,
Ahmed Zogolli

was a regional governor
in northern Albania.

But his ambition stretched
far beyond his home region.

Starting especially from the end
of the First World War,

he became
the Minister of Interior

and slowly started to gain
more and more power.

But in 1924, Zogolli was ousted
after a leftist revolt.

He returned seven months later

with the backing
of a mercenary army

and seized control
of the country,

later installing himself
as president.

But he was not
an enlightened leader.

He was a brutal semi-dictator.

He had no qualms about killing
off his political opponents.

The power-hungry tyrant,

who had by now changed
his name to Zogu,

was still not content.

His dream was to be recognized
as actual royalty.

2
In the 1920s,

Albania was ruled over
by Ahmed Zogu

with an iron fist.

Yet he wanted to be much more

than just
the country's president.

With plenty of enemies,

Zogu realized that he wasn't
gonna succeed

without backing from abroad,

and he found a willing partner
in Mussolini's Italy.

Mussolini saw Albania
as a strategic asset

in the Balkan region

that could strengthen
his own fascist dictatorship.

He was happy to pour money
into the country

in exchange for influence
over its economy and society.

Zogu now had
the support he needed

to fulfill
his despotic desire.

In 1928,
with Italian approval,

Zogu refashioned the governance
of the entire country

and named himself Zog I,
King of Albania.

So he was the man
who controlled

almost everything.

He even developed
a Zogu salute,

which was a flat hand

placed at the chest with
the palm down.

Next, the newly crowned
King Zog

embarked on a series
of costly building projects.

This one was called
the Royal Villa of Durrës.

The palace was
finished in 1937.

It had Italian marble,

elaborate plaster work,

all the best finishings in art.

The idea was a place for
the royal family to come

during the summer
to escape the heat of the city.

But trouble was brewing.

Mussolini had loaned Albania
in excess

of approximately $20 million,

worth around
$400 million today.

And he wanted to see a return
on his investment.

Mussolini wanted to exert
more control,

not just over the government,

even over
Albanian culture.

They were even mandating
that Italian be taught

in Albanian schools,
but the king refused.

Mussolini became
increasingly frustrated

with Zog's refusal to comply.

In April 1939,
he ordered his troops

to invade Albania.

They landed
a small military force,

and after some minor resistance,

quickly took over the country.

This was a stunning fall
from grace.

Zog had created a monarchy

out of sheer force of will
and political power,

but he was deposed and exiled

by his greatest ally.

King Zog would never again
step foot in his homeland

and live the rest of his life
as an exile

in England, Egypt, and France.

After World War II,

another political earthquake
swept Albania

when it was taken over
by a communist regime

that operated
under the protective umbrella

of the Soviet Union.

A royal palace had no place in
the new People's Republic,

so it was repurposed as a civil
government building.

But when communism crumbled
in the early 1990s,

Albania's switch to democracy
created a new set of problems.

Zog's former palace
would be drawn

into the turmoil
that followed.

Like so many other previously
communist countries,

they didn't have the economic
or legal infrastructure

to really make the transition
to free market capitalism.

Corruption was everywhere.

The rudimentary financial
system was soon dominated

by Ponzi schemes,

and even
government officials-backed
pyramid schemes.

The pyramid schemes quickly
began to default on payments

and declared
themselves bankrupt.

Almost overnight, hundreds of
thousands of people

saw their savings vanish.

The government collapsed,
and anarchy ensued.

Protests spread like wildfire,

and arms depots
began to be looted

across the country.

One report estimates
that every Albanian male

from the age of 10 upwards

had at least one firearm
in their possession.

This was absolute chaos.

In the harbor below the villa,

people streamed onto ships

to flee the country.

In March 1997, with Albania
on the brink of civil war,

the violent disorder reached
King Zog's lavish villa.

People came in,

they took almost everything
in here.

There were poor people
trying to steal

to get some money.

So after that, the villa was
totally, let's say, abandoned.

And it remains like this.

When you see it, you feel sad.

And you see that,
yeah, we built it.

We have destroyed it.

Today, King Zog's villa
sits neglected

above a modernizing city.

His family came back to Albania
in 2002

and later reclaimed
the property.

They then sold it
to private owners in 2023.

King Zog's grandson is the head
of the royal family,

but any return to power at this
point seems pretty unlikely.