All language subtitles for Mysteries.Of.The.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S01E02.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Abandoned structures hold the secrets of
America's past.

A house of God reveals how
salvation was beamed into
every living room.

During that time to broadcast
a crusade

in prime time was a
revolutionary idea.

A towering
structure explains who really
built Motor City.

They were typically
hired on the spot to work on
the Ford assembly line.

This was very much known as
the Ellis Island of Detroit.

And one mansion
tells the tragic story of a
man who transformed Manhattan.

There was a controversy on how
his hand could've shot him in
the head.

So that's why we're thinking
it might've been a murder.

Scattered across
the United States are
abandoned structures.

Forgotten ruins of the past.

Monuments to a bygone era.

Each shines a light on the
story of this land
and its people.

These are the secrets of
hidden America.

In the heart of the Bible Belt
is a city with a surprisingly
art deco downtown.

Tulsa experienced two huge oil
booms early in its history

and because of that reason,
there's a lot of prosperity
in the downtown area.

And it is an area where
Protestant Evangelical
Christianity reigns supreme.

In fact, there are churches
on nearly every street corner.

But one building
here stands out.

Seemingly unrelated to the
city's oil field wealth or
religious routes.

This building is an icon
in Tulsa. Lot of people
recognize it

and a lot of people think it's
an eye sore.

The first thing you notice is,
it has no windows.

Instead it has these kind of
gold tinted diamond shapes
all around it.

It looks like
something from a
science fiction movie

from the 1950s in which
they're imagining what the
future looks like.

It's unique design
makes sense when
you learn of its creator

and his controversial masterplan.

The man behind this building,
much like the building itself
divides opinions.

What happened inside
was revolutionary to
American culture.

Millions of
Americans would be
personally touched by

what went on
inside this building

even though many of them
would never step foot inside
of it themselves.

Entering the
building in its current state

is not for the faint hearted.

Inside of course it's
pitch black because there
are no windows.

But once you bring a flashlight,

you see this spooky array of
tunnels and rooms.

Everything's painted white.

But there is one
floor that feels very
different to the rest.

Wow!

It's amazing how big this
auditorium is.

I mean, this is a massive,
massive room.

From the outside you'd never
know that there's a huge
auditorium up here.

Daniel Isgrigg is
an assistant professor
at a local university

and knows all about the
history of this building.

But until now,
he hasn't been inside.

This room would've been filled
with seats from this area here
up towards the front which

there would have been a
stage up here.

I can only imagine this room
packed with people

and the energy,
the singing and the organ,
and just the electricity.

Everyone had come
to hear the words of one man.

A preacher called
Oral Roberts.

Roberts was a
constant showman.

Someone who can bring in
thousands of people and
hold them

in a state of enraptured
connection with God.

In his time,
everybody knew
who Oral Roberts was.

This was a man whose fame
extended far beyond Christians.

As a little boy, who wants his
eye sight...

Oral became a
household name in the
late '50s.

Because of his pioneering
exploitation of a new
form of communication.

Television.

I didn't mean to hurt you but
God's spirit came in my
hand then.

How many fingers is that man
holding up?

- Four...
- Four is right, four is right.

Roberts was a real early
adopter when it came
to television.

Ratings were pretty small at
first but as TV sales took
off across America,

so did Robert's
television show.

Roberts realized
that these mass
media broadcast

could bring hundreds of
thousands, if not millions
of people together.

To the miracle of television,
you have been in our
great tent cathedral...

The fact that there's
Christian television today,

that it's one of the primary
means by which people
receive the gospel

is a tribute to what he did

so many years ago by putting
the gospel non TV,
in prime time,

and that the world,
religious or non, can watch.

By 1957, his TV
show was airing on over
135 stations.

Oral needed a building to run
what was now a national operation.

In 1958, work began on
his new HQ.

The Abundant Life Building.

So here on the first floor was
the destination for those who
would come

and to visit this head quarters.

This particular area here was
a giant mural

called the
Abundant Life Mural

which was painted by a
famous sculptor.

He wanted to make this
visitor's center,

a place where people
will come in, just be in awe

of the magnitude of
this ministry.

Oral's extravagant
design choices reflected his

unconventional interpretation
of Christianity.

He encourages followers not to
feel guilty about success
but in fact

that their proper devotion to
God would help them be successful.

For Oral,
devotion means donation.

A huge portion of his
programming was fundraising,

it was imploring his audience
to make whatever
small contribution

they could for this
greater cause.

The power of
television meant the money
came flooding in.

But Oral's thirst for wealth
would one day be his undoing.

Oral Roberts had
created an extremely
profitable media empire.

And the Abundant Life Building
was specially designed with
incoming money in mind.

It contains an
enormous freight elevators
so large

that it can carry
thousands of pounds

of mail and packages that
were coming in.
People who were donating

to his ministry, to bring up
into the office portion
of the building.

So here's the part of the
building where they kept the
donations that came in.

And here's the safe here,
and the safe room.

There's literally hundreds of
thousands of dollars that
would come every month.

But it wasn't just
cash in the envelopes.

The amount of people
driving to Oral Roberts
to receive

prayer was just immense.

You would've seen this large
hall here filled with

just rows and rows of desks
of people

typing out letters.

The building's lack
of natural light

was part of Oral's obsession
with efficiency.

He didn't want his employees
gazing out the window.

He wanted a well oiled
religious machine.

So there was also
a number of prayer partners

who were on duty all the time

to pray not only for the
prayer requests that
came in through the mail,

but they had a 24 hour prayer
line that people could call
in and so

there was a room just for that
with a massive phone system.

The Abundant Life Building was
designed as kind of a central

nerve center of the whole
Robert's organization.

And in a way, you can almost
look at it kind of like it was

a data center or a server farm
in modern technology.

The scale of this
ministry is amazing,

there were seven different departments

operating out of here.

There were 600 employees who
were processing prayer
requests and mailings and

publishing and it was a
massive operation.

Oral reeled people
in with his TV shows.

His staff here, then connected
with them.

The size of his captive
audience was unprecedented
in the world of evangelism.

I mean, ministry
in general are churches
that are usually localized

but he found a way of taking
his ministry and growing it exponentially.

In 1962, Oral's
insatiable appetite for
growing his empire

led to ground being broken on
a new project.

His very own university.

But it ended up sounding the
death note for the
Abundant Life Building.

After he completed his
Oral Roberts University,

he decided it was time to move
his entire operation to that
new facility

and the Abundant Life Building
went silent.

Oral's popularity
continued to rise after
he had moved on

form the Abundant Life Building.

But in 1987, there was a
pivotal moment when it all
began to fall apart.

He called for his
followers to donate more than
eight million dollars

to his university or else
God would call him home.

Some people really viewed
Roberts as somebody who

was essentially a huckster or
even a charlatan.

I think perception of
Christians on television
was changing

and so by the 1980s,

the novelty of Oral Roberts
was wearing off

and so the more things
he was doing,

the more questions and
skepticism was there.

The income from his
ministry dwindled

and Roberts gradually faded
from public life

before passing away in 2009.

In the end, the legacy that
Roberts leaves

is a lot like the building in
downtown Tulsa.

Some people just don't know
quite what to do with it.

It may be an eye sore, it may
be something that is

connected to that town
and people feel a lot of
pride about.

But the Abundant
Life building will always be
a reminder

of a time when preaching in
America radically changed.

On New York's so called
forgotten island,

are the haunting remains
of a business empire that
molded the city.

We used to call this
the Psycho House,

because it was designed on
Psycho from the movie.

We used to come here and just
get close to the house, and
get scared, run, take off.

The architecture
is classic haunted
house there.

The wood work on the outside
is all old and faded

and the beams are starting to
lean over after years of
holding up the weight.

The rounded balcony
and needle point roof is
a really common feature

of this particular
architectural style.

But it really ups the creep
factor in this house.

Within are
artifacts of another century.

The inside is
almost like a parody
of a haunted house.

The walls are covered in this
material that looks more like
flesh than wallpaper.

But one clue
reveals the secret

of why this house was built
and how it was paid for.

In the living room
is the center piece,

the fire place which you would
think there's nothing really
significant about.

But if you take a closer look
at the bricks,

you will see a very
specific name.

This mansion
once belonged to a
multi-millionaire,

one whose name is all but
erased from history.

On Staten Island
is the former home
of a wealthy businessman.

Rick Rispoli came
here as a child.
Now, he's the caretaker.

This room is basically
the main room in the house.

It was used for entertaining,
stuff like that,

back in the day, probably the
high elites of the town

and of the island
back at the time

probably all met here,
and hung in this room.

But at the turn of
the century, happiness turned
to despair.

This house
has a dark, tragic history unfortunately.

In 1894, the body of a man was
laid there with a gunshot
wound to the head.

There is a mystery still to it
to this day

if it was a murder or not.
There's a little controversy
there if...

if it was a murder
or it was a suicide?

The deceased was an
heir to a business empire.

His father was a man named Kreischer.

Balthasar Kreischer was
born in a small village in Germany.

Kreischer was also
a businessman

and he would become a very
successful one.

In 1836, Kreischer
boarded a boat bound for
New York.

Just seven months earlier,
Manhattan's business
district was in flames.

It started on
warehouse and then because
of the winter wind,

it sort of spread and went everywhere.

Now, there was a fire
department but most of the
rivers were frozen, so

that hampered their efforts.

And the only thing they could
do was to create a firebreak

by blowing up the buildings
around the fire.

Hundreds of
buildings were lost.

New Yorkers lived in
constant fear.

But Kreischer saw an
opportunity to make money.

Kreischer was drawn
to Statten Island because
of rumours

of a treasure in the
wetland dirt.

That treasure was clay.

The western bank
had copious amounts of clay.

Enough for Balthasar to
build his fortune.

This is how the Kreischers
made all their money.

Right here with the bricks.

Balthasar Kreischer came here
as a German brick maker,

New York city was
burning down.

He came here,
got all the clay,
came built the factory.

Built all these bricks
and helped build back
Manhattan in the 1800's.

Even at this
early date, New York was
a major metropolis,

with commodities everywhere,

people packed in
and buildings built right
next to each other

and out of timber of all
things as well.

So, fires were inevitable,
especially devastating ones
like what they experienced.

Balthasar Kreischer
built a factory on the
river bank.

The factory was
straight across the street

which is right on the
waterfront here
with the whole factory

where they used
to make the bricks

and throw them on a boat
if they need to send in to
Manhattan up to New York city.

He set up his own
kingdom here.

Kreischer was so
successful that

eventually he was able to
build company town.

This town had everything.
Buyer service,

religious institutions and
community places for
people to gather.

Eventually it became known
as Kreischerville.

Kreischer's bricks
were used across Manhattan.

Helping ensure the city would
never burn down again.

There are still many buildings
in the city today that
still stand

that are made out of
his bricks.

The business made
Balthasar Kreischer
a multi-millionaire.

Back at kreischerville,
he built his family mansions.

They built this
one for one of his sons,
Charles Kreischer

and right next door, he built
another one for his son
Edward Kreischer,

identical mansions.

Crystal chandeliers
hung from the ceilings.

And oak staircase ascended
from the vestibule

and an expensive material
covered the walls.

This is
called microsta,

a combination of linoleum,

and leather and with
linoleum, it doesn't crack.

So this is running over 100
years right now

and still in very good shape.

This was the rich man's
wallpaper, back in the day.

Kreischer ensured
that his sons and heirs were
looked after.

His legacy appeared to
be assured.

He didn't know at the time,
but one of his sons would
eventually end up

laying in the mansion, dead.

But about a year
after the mansions were built,
Kreischer died.

The business fell to the
brothers to run and I cannot
stress this enough,

it was a massive undertaking.

Hundreds of employees,
moving the earth, baking it,
transporting it to clients,

I mean it was a lot.

But they ran it pretty successfully.

But eight years
after their father's passing,

Edward's body lay on the floor
of the house.

In 1894, the heir
to a construction empire,

lay dead
in his brother's mansion.

He went to work that day,
8:00 o'clock in the morning,

he was in a good mood,

and his body was found
about 10:30 later on that day.

Uh, basically,
behind the factory

which is straight
across the street.

And then,
they brought the body

back into this mansion.

And then, they called
the doctors and stuff,

and they pronounced him dead,
here in the house.

Historians agree
Edward shot himself

for reasons we don't know.

Though there are some who
think that he was murdered.

There's a
lot of theories

because he was having trouble
at the factory.

His older brother George,

was put in charge
of the factory.

After Balthasar died,

Edward was still on with him.

So, he was buckin' heads
with George apparently

and still to this day
it's still a mystery

on who killed
Edward Kreischer.

After Edward's death,

Kreischer Brickworks continued
for another 30 years,

but in 1927,
the business folded

and the mansions were sold.

Uh, mansions
changed hands several times,

Balthasar's and Edward's
houses actually burned down,

so there was only
this one house, kinda left,

creepy, right above
the brickworks.

In the First World War,

Kreischerville was renamed Charleston.

The old mansion
is one of the few buildings

that remain
of the engineering empire

that helped build
New York City,

but in some corners
of the town

the legacy
of Balthasar Kreischer

is still etched in stone.

Today, no one lives
at the old mansion

but dark tourists
still visit the site

in search of the macabre.

We do everything
from drive-in movies,

to concerts,
to a haunted house,

which as you can see
this is one

of the haunted house rooms.

We do
paranormal investigations,

and now we do tours.

So, we're just tying
to make it work.

We're doing our best...
Keep it...

Little by little, we're
fixing up the whole place.

So, we're bringing it back.
Bringing it back.

Near the mid-point
of the Mississippi River,

the stage is set
for a battle for glory.

We're in Memphis, Tennessee,

the birthplace
of rock and roll,

and a place that
Mark Twain once called,

"The good Samaritan city
of the Mississippi."

On the edge of town

is a circular building
with a domed roof.

The structure sits
in the shadow of

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

So, it's pretty easy
to figure out

what this building
may have been used for.

Inside the building today,
it's a mixed bag.

You're gonna see ticket stubs,
trash strewn all around.

You're gonna see the remnants
of a once thriving place,

that had people
screaming and yelling.

You're completely sealed off,
there's no natural light.

It's tremendously dark,
except for a few bulbs

that flicker here and there.

The stands have been empty
for a long time.

For locals,

this building is an important
part of their history.

When this place was built,

America was divided.

But, an arena for combat

would become
a cradle for unity.

Jimmy Kimble has lived
in Memphis for 40 years.

He used to come here
every week.

The crowds came
to watch a violent spectacle.

All attention
would have been focused

on what was going on
in the center,

a battle royale
between two men.

This is
the Mid-South Coliseum.

The Mecca
for a bloody pastime.

Known locally
as Memphis Wrasslin'.

Professional wrestling
is about strength,

stamina, agility,

an incredible feat

of showmanship
and storytelling.

Back in the days,
professional wrestling

was made up
of regional markets,

and within those regions,
they can make their own rules,

and Memphis Wrasslin'
in particular

was pretty intense.

Everybody a bloody mess...

It was
a brutal style.

It was all about
taking things to the extreme.

You had metal chairs,
thumb tacks,

barbed wire, even fireballs.

But, Jimmy Kimble

wasn't watching
from the stands,

Memphians know him better
as "King Cobra".

Wrestling was an opportunity
to let off some steam,

but the Coliseum,

had an even more fundamental

impact on
the citizens of Memphis.

The story began
in a jail cell

with a wrestler
called Sputnik Monroe.

Sputnik Monroe

was one of the biggest names
in Memphis wrestling,

a guy with a shock of white
through his mostly black hair.

And this dude
really put the act on heavy.

He used to say,
"Hey, it's hard to be humble

with a body that women love
and men fear."

One day, Sputnik was arrested,

for being in
a bar for colored people,

was the term
that was used at the time.

Segregation was still
on the books,

and remember,
we're in the deep South.

We're in Memphis, Tennessee.

And, here's a man
going against the grain

in every possible way.

But, this wasn't
Sputnik's first offence.

Sputnik Monroe would regularly
challenge segregation laws,

by attending
African-American bars,

and reaching out
to the patrons of those bars

and even giving them
free tickets to the shows.

Sputnik's arrest
made local headlines.

The case went to trial.

He did
what Sputnik would do.

Which was, an act of defiance.

And, how can you upset

these other white racists
even more?

You hire a negro attorney.

Go figure,
the man was brilliant.

He was brilliant.

Sputnik lost the case,

but his actions
made a statement.

At the same time,

the city was planning
the Mid-South Coliseum.

In the 1960s,
they begin drawing up plans

for the new stadium

which is gonna be
the home of wrestling

but also a stadium
for basketball

and music concerts.

And, one of the questions
they tackle in these designs

is where they're going to put
the African-American fans.

Venues like
this place and others

were definitely segregated.

The black folk all had to sit
in the balcony seats.

Possibly come in
the side entrance.

And not be treated equally as
the white patrons at a venue.

But, the Coliseum
would be different.

When the Mid-South Coliseum
first opened,

it was the first
racially integrated stadium

in that part of the country.

Over the following
four decades,

the Mid-South Coliseum
became legendary,

and in 1989,
King Cobra fulfilled

a lifelong ambition here.

This is largely
an unknown venue.

It's an unknown aspect
of civil rights.

It's an unknown story
of interracial activity,

based off of the shoulders
of a 235 lbs. man

named Sputnik Monroe.

The Mid-South Coliseum
was a place of unity

in an era of division.

But, Memphis wrestling,

was about to face
a bigger opponent.

By the 1990's,

professional wrestling
had gone national

and became
a billion-dollar industry.

But venues like the Coliseum
were left behind.

In the 1980s and 1990s,

professional wrestling was
going through a big change.

The smaller markets,
the more regional markets,

couldn't keep up
with these bigger brands

that had deeper pockets.

Unfortunately, smaller markets
like Memphis,

just couldn't keep up.

As local wrestling faded,

the crowds stopped coming
to the Coliseum.

And, in 2006,

it closed its doors.

Today, the Coliseum is silent.

Now, it stands
as a monument

to Memphis Wrasslin'.

And, legends
of the squared circle

like Sputnik Monroe,

who, in 2006,
passed away in his sleep.

We know about
Hulk Hogan,

We know about
"Macho Man" Randy Savage.

We know about
countless other folk,

but... we really need
to know about

Sputnik Monroe.

In my mind, he's a hero.

On the edge
of Lake Erie,

in a quiet neighborhood,
is the old gateway

to Motor City.

We are in Detroit, Michigan,

a city that in many ways
built America,

and, a city that has also
famously and tragically

declined over the decades.

In the satellite
neighborhood of Corktown

this building stands
above all others.

The most striking thing
about this building

is its sheer size.

It's something
you definitely expect to see

in the center of the city,

but not necessarily
two miles outside of it.

The grand architecture
continues inside.

This place
is absolutely beautiful.

I mean, the place inside
is very ornate,

there's grand columns
and the arches.

For three quarters
of a century,

the fate of this building
and Detroit were tied.

It's been empty for 30 years.

But, now
there are signs of change.

Not long ago this building
was a decaying hulk.

Today, there's a lot
of activity here.

Something's going on

to bring this old building
back to life.

Everywhere I go,
and I sit next to somebody

and I tell them what I do,

they have a story
about this building.

When you think about,

you know,
Detroit is the Motor City.

We were part of that
original revolution.

It's iconic and we want it
to continue to be iconic,

in a number
of meaningful ways.

Ashton Parsons,

first heard of this place
from an article

on the internet.

Now, he helps preserve
it's history.

The first time I ever
came into this space,

I couldn't believe
how large it was.

The scale is unbelievable.

It can be about
numbers and sizes

but the overall beauty
and attention to detail,

it's incredible.

The centerpiece
is it's domed ceiling.

What we're looking at
is the topside

of one of the three...

incredibly massive
arches or domes.

Each one of these domes is...

thousands upon thousands
of tiles interlaced together

to create not only
a beautiful look,

but, some of
the strongest domes

that you could imagine.

But the expensive
architecture is only a facade.

This structure was built
for a desperate need,

before Detroit earned the name
Motor City.

Detroit had always been

in a remarkable location

for all kinds of
economic activity.

It started as a trading post
for beaver pelts.

By 1910, Detroit was
already a major city,

known for its metalworks.

It also became home
to Henry Ford's

famous automotive factory
on Piquette Avenue.

Manufacturing in Detroit
was booming.

But to become
a true powerhouse

the city needed
a modern transport system.

This is
the Michigan Central Station,

connecting Detroit to the rest
of the United States.

Michigan Central Station

was meant to be
both a cutting edge facility,

to handle
all this rail traffic,

but also a symbol of Detroit's

growth and strength.

But, before
the station even opened,

tragedy struck.

On a freezing
December afternoon,

Detroit's existing
train station was on fire.

In 1913,

a fire at Detroit's
old train station,

cut off rail access
to the city.

Trains were pretty much
the only way

to get to a major city.

Not too many people
could afford to travel

any distance by car.

Passenger airplanes
were years in the future.

If you wanted
to get around this country,

you travelled by rail.

In an act of desperation,

the new
Michigan Central Station

was opened early.

Trains were going
in and out of the new station,

with only a few hours' notice.

This was a testament

to the ingenuity
of the people of Detroit.

Within a few months,

thousands of travelers
from across the United States

poured through the station.

We're here in the concourse.

You would have had
offices upstairs,

people walking to and fro.

You would have had...

all manner of people coming in
and out of their trains,

up this ramp, porters coming
in and out with their bags.

By the 1920s,

200 trains would leave
Michigan Central every day.

But the palace
of the locomotive,

would usher in
the age of the automobile.

Henry Ford
had introduced

his revolutionary
Model T automobile,

and as demand
for that car grew,

so did Ford's need
for workers.

The Detroit Board
of Commerce,
contacted New York's

immigrant reception center,

and asked them
to direct manual laborers

into their city.

Tens of thousands
of immigrants

passed through
Michigan Central Station,

and into Detroit,

where factory jobs
were waiting for them.

They would come here from
all different walks of life

all over the world,

and this is where
they would come to.

And, so because of that,
Michigan Central station has

sort of rightly
earned the nickname,

"The Ellis Island of Detroit."

Detroit's new workforce

created Motor City.

But, by the 1950s,

boom had already
turned to bust.

As more people
got cars,

they didn't need to live in
dense downtown areas anymore.

And, at the same time...

the growing
interstate highway system,

also made it easier
to build automobile factories

in other locations,
especially in the south.

All of this meant that Detroit
was no longer

the center of
the manufacturing universe.

And, employment began to fall

and it's population
gradually began to drop.

As the economy shrunk

so did the importance
of this main terminal.

The last train
left Michigan Central Station

in 1988.

For three decades,
the building stood silent,

but now,
another Detroit crown jewel

is bringing the station
back to life.

So I've been on the project
since March of 2020,

and really my role is
to deliver Michigan Central.

In 2018,
the Ford Motor Company

announced that
it was taking over

the Michigan Central Station.

The company
plans to take the neighborhood

and turn it into kind of
a automotive campus

for research, design, testing,

of the next generation
of automobiles,

electric cars,
autonomous vehicles.

We have really committed
to bringing 5000 employees

down to Michigan Central.

This main floor
will be open to the public.

So, we really want people
to feel welcome to come in.

The refreshed station
will revitalize

the neighborhood of Corktown,

and again be a jewel
in Detroit's crown.

Instead of building
something shiny and new,

why not bring it back to life?

And, build around it,
and support it,

and have it be that beacon
as it always has been,

and the focus of the new.

Michigan's
Central Station is to become

a defining feature of Detroit
once more.

There's kind of
a paradox here.

This is Motor City,
the city that...

built the automobile

and was built
by the automobile,

and yet,
the most visible symbol

of this city is
a train station.

Bit of an irony there.