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Tom ward (narrates):
Forgotten, yet famous.

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Empty, but iconic.

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Five abandoned sites
deep-routed in our popular culture.

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An overgrown ruin in India

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immortalised by
world-renowned musicians...

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What do the lads

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from liverpool have
to do with all this?

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..A shattered
compound in Columbia

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linked to a criminal
mastermind...

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When you're the seventh
richest man in the world,

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you got to watch
your back at all times.

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..The launch pad

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for a sporting
superstar in Germany...

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You can actually
see the long jump pit

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where one of the
greatest American athletes

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of all time trained.

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..Disintegrating
remains in Poland

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where real-life heroes
inspired Hollywood...

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Looking around, it's
very redolent of that movie

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and this is actually the
site that it was based on.

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..And mythical
strongholds in Romania,

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home to a legendary villain.

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All sorts of tall tales swirl
around about these sites.

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He was far more
bloodthirsty and brutal

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than his fictional counterpart.

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..These five derelict locations
set the stage for moments

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that captured the
world's imagination.

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(Dramatic music)

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Decaying relics...

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Ruins of lost worlds...

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Sites haunted by the past.

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Their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

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(Dramatic music)

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At the foot of the
himalayas in northern India,

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a far-out site once attracted

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some of the world's
most famous faces.

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It could have been a resort,

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but you can kind of tell
that even when it was new,

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it was pretty rough
around the edges.

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The deeper you go, the
stranger things become.

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Wherever you walk
through the trees,

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another unique structure
pops up in front of you.

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It's like some kind
of magical land.

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You're not quite sure
what to expect next.

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Sprouting from the forest floor

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is a collection of
small roundhouses.

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There are these
dome-like structures.

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It's quite a jumble

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and some of them
even look like caves.

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There are a lot of
these small spaces

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and there's not much there

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to give you clues as to
what these were used for.

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Inside, there's hindi
writing on the walls.

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One clue is all this,
kind of, spiritual graffiti.

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This is not the normal world.

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It's like you're entering into
a whole different dimension.

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There's a very relaxing
feeling to the whole site.

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It's a calm place to be.

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But what was it for?

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So, how did this decaying
site in an Indian forest

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come to play a vital
role in western culture?

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(Eerie beat)

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Below this clifftop ruin

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is one of the world's most
sacred rivers, the Ganges.

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(Traditional music)

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Raju gosai knows
this compound well.

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This is a very spiritual place

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with nice, beautiful
setting and all.

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This is a place where
pilgrims from far and near come

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and they take holy
bath in the Ganges.

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(Traditional music)

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These structures sit
high above the throng

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of the legendary
Indian city of rishikesh.

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Rishikesh is a place

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of considerable
religious significance.

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Pilgrims have been
coming here for centuries.

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This site is different.

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People come here, were coming
here for a very particular purpose.

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If you want to understand

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what this place
was really all about,

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it's those small domed
cave-like structures

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that are the real clues.

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More than 100 domes
hide in this forest.

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Each one built from
thousands of stones.

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All the material for building
this domes and other structure

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are collected from river ganga.

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All those stones
used was from the...

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Collected from the riverbank.

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These crumbling structures

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were once the height
of spiritual luxury.

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This place was created

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by a famous
Indian spiritual guru,

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maharishi mahesh yogi in 1961.

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The maharishi was known for
developing his particular brand

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of transcendental meditation.

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And in 1955, he introduced
that transcendental meditation

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to India and the
rest of the world.

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The maharishi created this place

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with western habits in mind.

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This is the chaurasi
kutia ashram.

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An ashram is a centre
of religious study.

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The maharishi's ashram was a
place that people came to study

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and to meditate, to
hear lecturers from him,

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to get away from the pressures
of daily life and the world.

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It's quiet. It's calming.

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It's private.

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This is a place to
meditate, to find peace,

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to make inner explorations.

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He created all the
modern facilities

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that was required for
his student to learn,

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his disciple to learn
transcendental meditation.

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This is a cluster of
domes, you can say.

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It only lacked a proper shower

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and maharishi used
to motivate people

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to go and take
bath in the Ganges.

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When these meditation
domes were built in 1970,

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they were unrivalled in India.

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But thanks to one of
the biggest pop bands

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in history, this
now-forgotten ashram

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become the most
sought-after place on earth.

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You round the
corner and, suddenly,

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there's a massive
image of the Beatles.

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What do the lads from
liverpool have to do with all this?

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(Upbeat music)

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In 1968, the Beatles came here

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and it was a
worldwide media hype.

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Also along for the
ride was Mike love

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from the beach boys,
the singer Donovan,

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the actress Mia farrow
and her sister prudence,

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and all sorts of other people.

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This big entourage
all showed up here.

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George Harrison was really
dedicated to transcendental meditation

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and threw himself into it
and he said, at one point,

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"we have all the money
you could dream of.

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"We have all the fame
you could wish for.

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"But it isn't peace, is it?"

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When the Beatles came here,

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there were hardly
any infrastructure here.

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The owner, maharishi
mahesh yogi,

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made sure his esteemed
guests got what they needed.

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You know, the
maharishi was no dummy

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and he recognised that
when the Beatles showed up,

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this was the best thing
that ever happened

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to his movement.

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We are at the Beatles bungalow.

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These are some of the rooms
where the Beatles used to stay.

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The bungalows allotted to
the Beatles were more spacious

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and better equipped
than those assigned

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to the other students.

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(Traditional music)

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So, this place was
known as rishikesh Hilton

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because it had wall-to-wall
carpet, it had curtains,

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it had bunk beds
with mattresses.

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They had an attached
toilet here with bathtubs.

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And this is the room

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where John Lennon and
Cynthia Lennon used to stay.

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John Lennon and Cynthia
Lennon came here together

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and they used to
stay here, in one room.

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But after a few days,
John and Cynthia separated

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and they used to
live in another...

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Different rooms.

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The compound also
had a post office.

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John was often
leaving his wife Cynthia

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who was there with him to
go down to the post office

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and see if there'd
been any new telegrams

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from Yoko Ono, who he was
beginning to become involved with.

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Although there had
been tensions in the band,

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this site fuelled
their creativity.

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We are on the roof of
the Beatles bungalow,

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where the Beatles used to
come and play music here.

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The white album, many of the
songs which they composed here.

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Between hanging out with
the maharishi and meditating,

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they wrote roughly 40
songs in just seven weeks.

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"Back in the ussr"

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and "I'm so tired"
were composed here.

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The latter, apparently, by
Lennon after he was suffering

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from weeks of poor
sleep at the ashram.

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This is the room where
prudence farrow used to stay

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and which inspired the Beatles

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to compose here one of
the most memorable song,

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"dear prudence".

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Mia farrow's sister,
prudence, spent so much time

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in her room meditating

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that people started
to worry about her.

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So, this period in the ashram

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is linked to one of
the most creative times

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for the Beatles.

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After the "fab four"
returned to britain,

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the ashram continued to flourish

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thanks to the
attention it had gained.

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New meditation pods were built

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to accommodate the
tourists who flocked here.

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The whole enterprise was
resting on shaky foundations.

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Maharishi mahesh yogi took this
land from the forest department in 1961.

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That lease expired in 1981.

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And after that, the maharishi
mahesh yogi foundation

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made several attempts
for the renewal of the lease,

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but the process
never got completed.

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The former ashram
fell into disrepair

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as a result of vandalism
and the encroachment

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of the jungle.

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(Traditional music)

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Today, this atmospheric site

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is controlled by the
rajaji tiger reserve.

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But it will always be synonymous
with four lads from liverpool.

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Intellectually, this
site, these bungalows,

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these strange halls,
had a serious influence

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on who the Beatles
became as a band afterwards.

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In Germany, west of
Berlin, a unique complex

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is linked to a seminal
moment in sporting history.

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Few Germans realised
that the site even exists.

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It's almost as if it's been
forgotten on purpose.

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A silent swimming
pool awaits guests.

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(Eerie beat)

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A lone pommel horse sits
in an empty gymnasium

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and meadows stretch out in
front of carefully positioned huts.

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(Eerie beat)

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Jan bejsovec is an expert
on the history of this place.

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This site really mirrors
much of our past.

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They have the beauty
of youth on one side

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and they have the tragedy
of death on the other.

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This complex dates back to 1934,

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just one year after Adolf Hitler
had become chancellor of Germany.

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He understood the
power of propaganda

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and planned to use it

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at the forthcoming
Berlin olympic games.

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Now, in 1936,

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he has an opportunity
to show to the world

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a new and rebuilt, completely
new kind of Germany.

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This is the olympic village

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for the 1936 Berlin games,

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built to impress
the 4,000 athletes

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who would be flocking
in from all over the globe.

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People met here to
celebrate their youth,

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their physical strength.

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These were the most elite
sportsmen of their time.

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Among them was the
American Jessie Owens.

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You can actually
see the long jump pit

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where Jessie Owens,

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one of the greatest
American athletes

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of all time, trained.

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This site had everything
the foreign athletes needed

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to ensure they sent
favourable reports back home.

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Here, we can clearly see
how the Germans improved

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00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,280
by building an olympic village
which nobody had seen so far.

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It's not just having little
houses for accommodation.

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00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:47,600
It's having real houses
with a terrace for sunbathing,

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with a central
heating system inside,

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and all the luxury
of that period.

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And all the people who were here
in 1936 were really impressed by it.

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The athletes could also watch
their colleagues performing live

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on the big screen.

253
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,600
The cinema rooms are
a major breakthrough

254
00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,400
in technology because
here on this wall

255
00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:19,040
was a TV set and
was for the first time

256
00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,600
in sports history, that
you had a live broadcast.

257
00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,240
The games videos were
the first video games.

258
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,440
The first real propaganda games.

259
00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,320
So, incorporating
everything they had.

260
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,960
But outside of the
luxurious olympic village,

261
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,560
the racial purification of
Germany continued at pace.

262
00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:44,800
While the Germans allowed Jews

263
00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:48,120
to participate in the
games, they were,

264
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:49,480
behind the scenes,

265
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:51,720
continuing to pass
anti-semitic laws.

266
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:57,880
Meanwhile, in the
olympic stadium,

267
00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:01,040
an African-American athlete
was about to make history.

268
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,040
Here, Jessie Owens took
the first of four gold medals

269
00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:12,800
from Hitler's Aryan athletes,
humiliating the fuhrer.

270
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,640
Once the Olympics were over,

271
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:21,600
the village was handed
to the German army.

272
00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:26,640
After the war, it fell
under Soviet control

273
00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:28,600
until the ussr collapsed

274
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:30,640
and this site was
left to disintegrate.

275
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,640
Now, the village is
being re-purposed

276
00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:42,120
into modern apartments.

277
00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,120
But the events of the
1936 olympic games

278
00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:49,600
leave an enduring legacy.

279
00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,320
There are important lessons
offered by a place like this.

280
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,080
One is that we can have

281
00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,440
peaceful competition
between nations,

282
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,840
even nations that are about
to engage in terrible war.

283
00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,680
But possibly the most
important lesson is,

284
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,560
you shouldn't be betting on
demonstrating white supremacy

285
00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:12,160
when Jessie Owens
is in the same room.

286
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:18,560
(Eerie beat)

287
00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:22,840
In Romania,

288
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,480
the mystical carpathian
mountains sit cloaked in legend.

289
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:33,200
You got these incredible valleys

290
00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,520
with the rivers running
along the bottom.

291
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,160
It is stunning,
absolutely stunning.

292
00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:44,600
Atop one forested peak is a
blood-soaked cluster of ruins.

293
00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:48,440
This is a proper fortress.

294
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:50,360
It looks impregnable,

295
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,240
but there's an incredible
amount of damage as well.

296
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:59,240
It certainly looks like it had a
dramatic downfall in the end.

297
00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,880
Local folklore tells
of a shadowy link

298
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,280
to another medieval
castle nearby.

299
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,440
It has turrets. It
has battlements.

300
00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:17,800
It's every single fairytale
that you've ever heard.

301
00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,440
Every fairytale has its villain
and this one's no exception.

302
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,320
All sorts of tall tales,

303
00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:31,520
legends and rumours swirl
around about these sites.

304
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,080
Some are old and some are new.

305
00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:35,520
But what do we know for sure?

306
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:40,040
(Eerie beat)

307
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,960
The man who links these two
castles is known the world over.

308
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000
('Dracula' movie plays)

309
00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,640
I am Dracula.

310
00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:04,880
Dracula is one of the
most famous villains

311
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:05,920
of all time.

312
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,960
It's a story that's been
told over and over again

313
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,520
in various interpretations
of what vampires are like.

314
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:14,680
(Long roll of thunder)

315
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,520
This is castello bran
otherwise known

316
00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:25,800
as the fabled Dracula's castle.

317
00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:31,640
Matei petrisor has
spent the past eight years

318
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:33,600
establishing
what links this site

319
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,120
and the legendary "count" to
the mysterious ruined fortress

320
00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:38,240
in the mountains.

321
00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:45,720
So, we are now in transylvania,
the land of legend and mystery.

322
00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,120
A place that will give
you a perfect feeling

323
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,840
for the legend of Dracula
hiding here in this castle,

324
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:56,960
in transylvania.

325
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:00,600
In this part of the world,

326
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,080
fear of vampires is
a very common thing.

327
00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:09,920
Transylvanians have been
known to practice a ritual

328
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:11,880
that stops the
dead from returning.

329
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,200
We go at the graveyard.

330
00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,200
We dig into the tomb.

331
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,800
And then, after that,
in order to make sure

332
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:22,920
that he will never
come back again,

333
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,720
we have to cut the head
with the silver dagger.

334
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,240
And then, we place the
head between the legs

335
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,480
to make sure that he will never
come and kill people in the village.

336
00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:41,160
The local law fired author
bram stoker's imagination.

337
00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:43,680
When he describes the castle,

338
00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,920
it's perfectly just
like in the book,

339
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,080
up on the cliff, a
little river nearby.

340
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:52,400
It's gothic.

341
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,320
It's got this haunted
feeling about it.

342
00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:59,920
It's the quintessential
transylvanian castle.

343
00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:03,360
But this wasn't the
real Dracula's home.

344
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,840
(Eerie beat)

345
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,760
That accolade lies with
the run-down hilltop citadel,

346
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:12,440
where a true-life
Dracula did exist.

347
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,160
In fact, he was far
more bloodthirsty

348
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,040
and brutal than his
fictional counterpart.

349
00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:27,080
Looking at it, you can see
these incredible, strong walls

350
00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:30,880
heading up from vertical cliffs.

351
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:32,720
Absolutely vertical.

352
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,000
And then, there's no
easy way to get up there.

353
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,920
There's no defined road.

354
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,120
Just inaccessible.

355
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,960
This is poenari castle.

356
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:49,520
Historian nicolae ionescu
has extensively studied

357
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,160
the defensive structures

358
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,000
which have stood here
for nearly 1,000 years.

359
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:00,696
Nicolae (translation):
"The tower behind us

360
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,560
"is the first part of
the castle to be built.

361
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,360
"It was probably built
in the 13th century.

362
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,560
"They chose this
location to build a castle

363
00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:13,520
"because of the close
proximity to the road.

364
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:18,760
"In trading routes like this,

365
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,080
"castles were built to
control borders and customs,

366
00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:24,800
"where local rulers wanted
to collect taxes from traders."

367
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,720
In the 15th century,

368
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,440
this site earned the
blood-soaked reputation

369
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,200
that easily outstripped that
of the fictional castle Dracula.

370
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:46,440
Poenari castle

371
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,120
lay in the medieval kingdom
of wallachia, a buffer state

372
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,280
between the expanding ottoman
empire and the kingdom of Hungary.

373
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,720
The castle sat on a flash
point in the border lands.

374
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:05,480
And this site was the domain

375
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,720
of a wallachian
prince, Vladislav III.

376
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,160
He had inherited his
father's honourable title,

377
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:14,480
"order of the dragon".

378
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:18,440
In Romanian tradition,

379
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,520
the word "dracul"
translates as dragon or devil.

380
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:27,120
So, for most Romanians,
Dracula means the son of the devil.

381
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,920
Vladislav III became
known as "vlad Dracula".

382
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,120
But it wasn't just the name that
earned the real "count Dracula"

383
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,040
his notorious place in history.

384
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,680
Holed up in this
hilltop fortress,

385
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,080
"vlad Dracula" was
known far and wide

386
00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:50,000
for his blood-curdling cruelty.

387
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,760
He earned the nickname
"vlad the impaler"

388
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,040
or "vlad tepist" in
the local tongue.

389
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,720
The stories of
brutality litter his reign.

390
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:05,840
Within these walls,

391
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,640
Turks who refuse to
remove their turbans,

392
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:10,280
had them nailed to their heads.

393
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,600
The local nobility was
invited to a banquet

394
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,320
where vlad impaled them.

395
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,000
And rumours of
cannibalism were rife.

396
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,880
As you can imagine though,
such wholesale slaughter

397
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:27,920
didn't make vlad the
most popular person

398
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:29,840
at the time.

399
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,160
His brutality was
most often focused

400
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:33,680
on the marauding ottomans.

401
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,240
Translation: "His most
iconic historical episode...

402
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,400
"Was when he seized a
part of the ottoman army

403
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:47,760
"that was pursuing
him and impaled them."

404
00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,760
In some ways,
vlad, the real person,

405
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,600
is a more terrifying figure
than "count Dracula".

406
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,880
Images circulated at the time
exaggerated vlad's appetite

407
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,480
for impaling and human flesh.

408
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,240
Wherever the truth lies,

409
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,960
vlad Dracula finally
met his match...

410
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:25,360
When the ottoman sultan
mehmed ii arrived at the gates.

411
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,640
So, 1462, we find
Dracula fighting

412
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,400
against mehmed
down in wallachia.

413
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,960
The capital was
conquered and destroyed.

414
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:40,800
He was running up poenari,
the fortress that he built.

415
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,960
But eventually, vlad was
driven out of poenari castle

416
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,480
and he fled here to seek refuge

417
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,360
in what would later become
known as Dracula's castle.

418
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:52,880
He hide here,

419
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:57,160
and then the spies of
the Hungarian king find out

420
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,280
he's trying to run away
using the secret passage

421
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:01,360
and they wait for him.

422
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:05,320
He was arrested at
the exit from the tunnel.

423
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,440
It's believed he spent two
months as a prisoner there,

424
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:13,600
rotting in the dungeons.

425
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:16,320
After his release,

426
00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:20,120
vlad Dracula swiftly
regained his lost territories,

427
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:22,600
but his reign was short-lived.

428
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,200
While marching to yet
another battle with the ottomans,

429
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,840
vlad and a small vanguard
of soldiers were ambushed

430
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:31,360
and vlad was killed.

431
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:38,320
His head was cut off and
sent to the sultan as a trophy.

432
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:45,800
The name Dracula may be synonymous
with the world's favourite villain,

433
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:50,840
but in his home country of Romania,
Vladislav III is a national hero.

434
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:55,720
Translation: "Vlad
the impaler was

435
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,600
"and always will remain in
the Romanian conscience

436
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,280
"as a lover of
truth and justice.

437
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,200
"Even though he
used brutal methods,

438
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,040
"he tried to make the
world a better place."

439
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,560
Here, he's admired as a leader
who protected his merchants,

440
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:16,160
rid the land of thieves and
stood up to oppressive empires.

441
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,960
Translation: "His
courage to do so,

442
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:23,400
"that's what got him to remain

443
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,360
"in the Romanian
national conscience."

444
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,800
Today, while "vlad Dracula's"
real-life home lies abandoned,

445
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,440
tourists flock to the castle
of his fictional counterpart.

446
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,200
Many movies were
made of this character,

447
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:53,520
so, I do believe that
this legend will never die.

448
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,080
(Eerie beat)

449
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,720
In guatape, Columbia,
a battered waterside ruin

450
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,360
was once home to
an infamous outlaw.

451
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,720
(Eerie beat)

452
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:14,976
It looks a little
bit like a cross

453
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,400
between a playboy mansion
and some kind of military fort.

454
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:26,720
Evidence of violence soon emerges
in this sprawling, 20-acre site.

455
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,920
There is signs of some
kind of enormous explosion.

456
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,920
So, this place clearly
has a story to tell.

457
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,400
William jimenez once worked
at this dilapidated compound.

458
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,296
William (translation): "It
took almost seven years

459
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,640
"to build the structures
that you can see here today."

460
00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,520
It had a swimming pool,
tennis courts, a football pitch,

461
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,000
none of which sound
out of the ordinary,

462
00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:59,600
but that football pitch
doubled up as a helipad

463
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,160
and it also had its own
private seaplane dock.

464
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,880
This place was
anything but ordinary.

465
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,880
It's just 25 miles from
the town of medellin...

466
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:16,160
Where the Colombian
drug lord Pablo Escobar

467
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,200
founded his infamous cartel.

468
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,680
When you're Pablo Escobar,
you can never really relax.

469
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,680
He was always
surrounded by security.

470
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:33,720
This is hacienda la manuela,
named after his only daughter.

471
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,640
Escobar built this luxury
retreat to keep his family safe.

472
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:41,320
He had armed guards.

473
00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:45,120
He had walls that were built
like the walls of a fortress.

474
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,680
Escobar wanted to
be ready for anything.

475
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:52,200
William remembers

476
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,800
the elusive drug
baron's visits here.

477
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:58,096
Translation: "Pablo
himself was here

478
00:29:58,120 --> 00:29:59,960
"only two or three
times maximum.

479
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,280
"He'd only spend a few
hours here and then leave.

480
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:03,680
"He wouldn't even
stay the night."

481
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:06,720
When you're the seventh
richest man in the world,

482
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,480
you got to watch
your back at all times.

483
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,880
Escobar had become a target
not just for columbian authorities

484
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,440
and the us government,
but also rival cartels.

485
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:23,240
And in 1993, devastation
came to hacienda la manuela.

486
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,520
Some of Escobar's rivals
managed to infiltrate the compound.

487
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:32,776
Translation: "What happened
was that six more pick-ups

488
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:34,400
"and one Van
came full of people.

489
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:38,400
"It was around midnight.

490
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:40,880
"They placed two
bombs, one on that side

491
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:42,000
"and one on the other side.

492
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:47,600
"This was where they
placed the biggest bomb.

493
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:50,880
"There was a huge explosion.

494
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:52,960
"You can imagine
everything was shaking.

495
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,200
"In this area, there
was a bathroom

496
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:00,160
"and that's where the
bomb exploded upward

497
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,000
"and destroyed
the walls around it.

498
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:05,880
"It was such a
powerful explosion."

499
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,360
This bombing was
kind of the beginning

500
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,240
of the end for Escobar.

501
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,960
Although Escobar survived
the assassination attempt,

502
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,000
his luck would soon run out.

503
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,120
In December 1993,

504
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,080
Columbia's national
police finally pinpointed

505
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,520
the gangster's whereabouts

506
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:35,760
and shot him dead as he tried
to flee across medellin's rooftops.

507
00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,920
Today, Escobar's
complex legacy means

508
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,680
his once-glorious
mansion lies abandoned.

509
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:53,360
(Eerie beat)

510
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:55,560
In the woods of western Poland,

511
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,000
an unassuming
collection of ruins

512
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,400
saw a heroic endeavour
immortalised by Hollywood.

513
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:09,960
You see some concrete
vestiges of the past,

514
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:14,080
but it seems that the forest has
reclaimed whatever was here.

515
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:20,560
So, at some point, years
ago, this was cleared.

516
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,440
But why did somebody clear

517
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:27,920
a space in this forest?

518
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,360
You actually come across some
concrete pillars in the ground.

519
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,760
They're clearly the constructs
of something that's repeated,

520
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:38,960
something quite large.

521
00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:45,400
Below-ground a series of
passages seems to go nowhere.

522
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:49,240
And deeper in the words,
a curious feature emerges.

523
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,440
On a pathway, you
see this line of stones

524
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,040
with names inscribed
on the stones.

525
00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,200
Then, you arrive at the end

526
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,080
and there's a big stone
and it says, "Harry."

527
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:06,080
Harry, here in the middle of
a forest somewhere in Poland.

528
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:07,200
Quite the mystery.

529
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,600
Marek lazarz has scoured
these woods to piece together

530
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,200
what went on here,
back in the 1940s.

531
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:26,160
These are foundations
of the theatre,

532
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,440
large, large theatre, 350 seats.

533
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:33,520
What you see
here is orchestra pit,

534
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:37,680
stage, backstage
and few rooms behind.

535
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,680
Surrounding it are the remnants
of neatly built barrack buildings.

536
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:50,120
This was a military
camp and in the 1940s,

537
00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,640
this Polish wood was
part of Nazi Germany.

538
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,360
It was known as stalag luft III.

539
00:33:57,600 --> 00:33:59,440
"Stalag" is short
for stammlager.

540
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:00,840
This is where
they kept prisoners.

541
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,880
"Luft", because it was
run by the luftwaffe.

542
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:09,080
And it housed various prisoners
from the allied air forces.

543
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:12,560
From 1942,

544
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:15,760
it held more than
10,000 prisoners of war.

545
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,440
One of the biggest
officer's camp for the army.

546
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,760
Risky allied air raids
in the early years

547
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:28,120
of the second world war

548
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,440
resulted in many
daredevil airmen

549
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:32,440
caught behind enemy lines.

550
00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:37,120
Prisoner of war
camps were filled

551
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:41,920
with brilliant, highly motivated
officers and sergeants.

552
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:46,720
And these guys were
able to make life miserable

553
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:48,120
for the German soldiers.

554
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,080
There was a code of
honour among officers

555
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,480
that, in world war ii,
that if you were captured,

556
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,000
you had to try to escape.

557
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,840
And it was clear that the
German luftwaffe knew this.

558
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:10,760
This place was
built in the heartland

559
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:11,960
of the German reich.

560
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,440
Even if you managed
to get out of this camp,

561
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,880
you weren't going anywhere.

562
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,680
But that wasn't enough
to stop the allied airmen

563
00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:24,800
trying to get out.

564
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,440
This camp, surrounded
by searchlight towers,

565
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:33,680
rows of barbed wire,
machine guns and dogs,

566
00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:37,680
meant there was only one
way to do that, by tunnel.

567
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:40,880
But the Germans
had that covered too.

568
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,440
They build the huts, the
barracks, off the ground,

569
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:46,520
with a clearance beneath.

570
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,240
So, that it's harder
to tunnel down.

571
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,800
Undeterred, a group
of allied officers

572
00:35:55,840 --> 00:36:00,680
led by squadron leader Roger bushell
came up with a daring escape plan.

573
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,560
Bushell's idea is that
you're going to build

574
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,600
three big tunnels nicknamed
Tom, dick and Harry.

575
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:13,440
You're going to assume
that the Germans

576
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,520
are going to discover
one or two of them.

577
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,000
But with three, you'll all
get out of the third one.

578
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,360
The hope was that
one of these tunnels

579
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,440
would lead 200 men to freedom.

580
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,960
It would become
the stuff of legend.

581
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,920
(Gunfire)

582
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:32,800
Give up your hopeless
attempts to escape.

583
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:34,096
We're going to
devote our energies

584
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,920
to sports and gardening,
all the cultural pursuits.

585
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:40,520
Meanwhile, we dig.

586
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,440
This is the basis of the
movie 'the great escape'

587
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:48,400
starring Steve
McQueen, James garner,

588
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:50,160
Charles Bronson
and other greats.

589
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,080
Man: They did manufacture.

590
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,120
(Dramatic music)

591
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:01,480
Remains on the
site still hold traces

592
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:03,360
of the true-life escape,

593
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,360
including the most
audacious tunnel, Harry.

594
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,400
We are now actually
in the north compound,

595
00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,800
where the hut 104 was.

596
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:18,000
Not much left except
few pieces of the concrete.

597
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:20,360
And it was selected
because it was almost

598
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,520
in the middle of the compound.

599
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:27,720
So, the Germans, they didn't
suspect there would be any tunnelling.

600
00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,320
Even so, the
Germans still left gaps

601
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:34,880
under their accommodation,

602
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,800
so tunnelling could
easily be spotted.

603
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:39,640
But there was a solution.

604
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:41,440
Inside all the huts,

605
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:45,800
solid stove bases stood
between two rooms.

606
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,000
These plinths went down
through the gap to the ground.

607
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,160
Two stoves were connected
to the one chimney.

608
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,600
After they removed the
stove from this place,

609
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,840
they used this area
to build the entrance

610
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:05,960
and, kind of, fake floor
was built using the same tiles

611
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,520
here to cover the
entrance of the tunnel.

612
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:16,280
Harry would be dug
nearly 10m below hut 104,

613
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:20,800
then travel more than 90m
under two barbed wire fences

614
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,000
and exit at the tree line
that bordered the camp.

615
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,880
At under 1m wide,
the tunnel was tiny.

616
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,880
So, two larger staging
areas were also incorporated.

617
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,320
These would aid the movement
of escapees and house

618
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,160
some of its
technical innovations.

619
00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:41,760
The diggers moved
into the tunnel

620
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:47,440
using a kind of underground railway
and they were able to illuminate

621
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,680
by using lamps made
with cooking fat scavenged

622
00:38:51,720 --> 00:38:56,000
from the camp's own kitchens
and from the prisoners own meals.

623
00:38:56,040 --> 00:39:00,680
In order to ensure that people
didn't asphyxiate in the tunnels,

624
00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:02,080
fresh air was pumped in.

625
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,920
They used a gym
bag as a set of bellows

626
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,520
to pump fresh
air into the tunnel.

627
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,720
Dug with only improvised
tools including cutlery,

628
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,480
even the earth they were
excavating was hostile.

629
00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:19,576
One of the reasons the
Germans decided to camp here is,

630
00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:21,560
the soil is very
weak, very Sandy.

631
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:22,760
It's prone to collapse.

632
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,320
So, the tunnels were
shored up with timber

633
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:29,880
that had been looted
from around the camp.

634
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:32,760
The bunks, the bed boards,

635
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:34,440
the benches, the chairs,

636
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,160
they disassembled all this stuff

637
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,920
and they'd take it underground
to shore up these tunnels.

638
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,560
And the soil at this site
created a further problem.

639
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:49,120
Topsoil of the camp
was actually dark grey.

640
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,960
Meanwhile, the dirt
taken from the tunnels

641
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,200
was extremely bright and yellow.

642
00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:59,640
So, you can see the top
soil, which is dark grey,

643
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:04,360
but if you try to dig, you
will find some yellow soil.

644
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,120
This could be soil dug out
from the escape tunnel Harry.

645
00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:13,840
You feel like you
are touching history.

646
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,320
So, the inmates

647
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:22,120
would conceal soil
inside their baggy,

648
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:24,560
second world war trousers

649
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,160
and they would walk
out across the camp

650
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:30,600
and they would spread
the soil from the tunnels,

651
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:33,280
so, that it wouldn't be
noticeable to the Germans.

652
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:38,560
It's estimated they removed
about 100 tonnes of material

653
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,000
with essentially, sort
of, handmade tools.

654
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,960
Before long, every
available area of the camp

655
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,240
was being used to dispose
of the excavated soil,

656
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,440
even the theatre.

657
00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:54,920
The theatre was
selected by the prisoners

658
00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:58,200
because there was
a large, empty space

659
00:40:58,240 --> 00:40:59,920
underneath the
floor of the audience

660
00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:03,240
and it was perfect place
to hide tonnes of the soil.

661
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:06,480
Oh, my god! They found Tom.

662
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:09,480
But the tunnellers'
luck would soon run out.

663
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:14,160
First, curious guards uncovered
Tom and destroyed it with dynamite.

664
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,080
Then, dick was abandoned
when the camp expanded

665
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:19,160
and covered its exit point.

666
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:21,360
Now, all hope rested on Harry.

667
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:23,160
But even that
wouldn't last long.

668
00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:26,160
They had to escape

669
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,360
because Germans were
very close to find tunnel

670
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:30,680
and they had to make a decision.

671
00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:33,400
"We have to escape
as soon as possible."

672
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,440
The airmen knew that
Harry wasn't quite ready.

673
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:39,040
A stone line running
through the wood shows

674
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:40,400
the tunnel's path.

675
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:44,800
They actually break out
through Harry in march 1944.

676
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:47,880
In reality, it was the tail end

677
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:50,640
of the coldest winter
in European history.

678
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:51,760
It was freezing cold.

679
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,720
They get to the end of Harry
and the hatch won't open,

680
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:58,680
'cause it's just frozen shut
beneath a carapace of snow.

681
00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:00,936
So, they're sitting there, they
spend an hour and a half...

682
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,560
An hour and a half, trying
to like knock this thing loose.

683
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,600
Another problem was that
the tunnel was too short.

684
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,200
Hold onto yourself,
bartlett. You're 20ft short.

685
00:42:10,240 --> 00:42:11,696
The wall is right
here on the opening.

686
00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:13,320
The guard is between
us and the lights.

687
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:18,400
So, it makes the
escape very difficult.

688
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,920
By the time guards
spotted the fleeing prisoners,

689
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:26,760
76 men had crawled
their way to freedom.

690
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,920
Tragically, the majority
were quickly rounded up.

691
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:34,680
When Hitler heard
about the great escape,

692
00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:38,040
he was absolutely furious.

693
00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:44,800
And Hitler wanted
to kill every airman

694
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,360
who escaped
from stalag luft III.

695
00:42:49,720 --> 00:42:54,240
Actually, only three of them
successfully escaped to england.

696
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:59,160
73 were captured by the
Germans and 50 of them

697
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,240
were executed by the gestapo.

698
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,160
The pows quiet determination,

699
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:11,200
spirit and resistance

700
00:43:11,240 --> 00:43:14,200
were stirringly
captured by Hollywood,

701
00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:16,880
although with a bit
of artistic licence.

702
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:19,216
You know, people would expect

703
00:43:19,240 --> 00:43:20,896
that there are a lot
of Americans involved

704
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,160
in this escape attempt
because of, you know, the role

705
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:25,520
of Steve McQueen in the
movie 'the great escape'.

706
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:27,960
But, in fact, all the Americans
in the camp had been moved

707
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,320
to a different stalag
before the escape attempt.

708
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,320
So, there are actually
no Americans involved

709
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:35,520
in this "great escape".

710
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:48,120
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