All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S07E09.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
They're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites
Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new,
Mysterious phenomena

That defy explanation.

Dungeons of the apocalypse,

The men who were planning
The end of the world.

What is under these trees?

Kiarszys: look what I found.
Oh, god.

Narrator:
Flaming fields of freaky fires.

Rows of flames erupted
Across this vast area.

But why?

Narrator: and the town
Being swallowed whole.

The major disaster is
Playing out before our eyes.

Baffling phenomena.

Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

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

[ beeping ]
[ camera shutter clicking ]

[ whirring ]

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

On my mark, it will be
T-minus five seconds.

Narrator:
September 25, 1967.

A thor-agena rocket
Carrying a corona satellite

Takes to the skies
From vandenberg air force base

In california.

Ruben: corona is an amazing
Program for its day.

Launching something
Into space, period,

Was a brand-new concept.

Wawro:
It was a real game-changer

'cause now it allowed
American spy satellites

To traverse airspace undetected

And take very
High-resolution photographs

Of anything they wanted to.

[ camera shutter clicking ]

Narrator:
Two years into its mission

As the spy bird scans western
Poland, it captures this image.

Chamberlain: among this
Really heavily wooded forest

Are concrete structures.

This looks like
A whole complex,

Almost like a mini city here.

Morgan: the fact that a spy
Satellite was designated

To photograph this means
It ain't no girl scout camp.

We're probably looking
At something

That was of significant
National security interest

To the united states military.

Narrator: yet declassified
Cia documents revealed

The massive structures
Baffled their top analysts.

Investigators turn to
Recent satellite images.

It just deepens the mystery
As far as I'm concerned.

In one area, these structures
Are visible to satellites.

And in another, the forest
Has reclaimed them

And overgrown them.

Ruben:
What is under these trees?

Why did somebody
Build something so big

And then just abandon it
For decades?

Narrator: intrigued by what
Could lie in the forest,

Polish archaeologist
Grzegorz kiarszys

Is traveling to the site
In the satellite images.

Something could be concealed
In that dense forest.

And it raises the question
About why cia was interested

Specifically in that place.

To find out, I need to go there

And see what features survived
Until the present day.

Narrator:
During world war ii,

The nazis build concentration
Camps in poland's forests.

After the war,
This vast woodland falls

Under the dark shadow
Of soviet communism.

Kiarszys:
It looks like we are here.

Narrator: to locate up close
What the cia

Were looking at from space,

Kiarszys is turning to
The latest aerial technology.

Maybe when we look
From above, we'll see more.

*

Narrator: the drone uses laser
Pulses to scan the forest,

Effectively stripping away
The canopy

To create a lidar image
Of what lies beneath.

*

And for the first time
In decades,

The mystery structure
Is mapped in detail.

It tells me that there is
A lot of remains

Around the landscape.

This is very interesting.

*

Kiarszys heads towards
The first of the features

Revealed in the lidar image.

*

Moving north, an unusual
Feature in the forest floor

Catches the archaeologist's eye.

*

Kiarszys:
This looks like a trench.

Narrator: the presence
Of a trench suggests

That whatever was kept here
Needed protection

From ground assault.

And the lidar data
Reveals this was just

One of many trenches surrounding
The central structures.

This shows that whatever
Was kept in the zone

Had to be secured
For all the time.

*

Narrator: yet when kiarszys
Gets closer to the central zone,

The mystery of what
Took place here deepens.

Kiarszys: oh, god.

*

Narrator: the forest floor
Is littered

With decaying
Personal possessions.

Some belong to women
And young children.

As kiarszys explores further,

He finds chilling clues to what
May have happened to them.

*

The macabre collection
Sheds light

On who the structures
Were built for and when.

Look what I found.

That was a soviet army
Uniform

And that's original button.

This is a bag,

And there is a date inside.

It's 1982.

All those artifacts

Are not only evidence of
Presence of soviet soldiers,

But also whole
Russian families here.

*

Narrator: as kiarszys pushes
Further into the forest,

He spots
One of the large structures

That intrigued and mystified
The cia during the cold war.

It looks like there is
A little opening on the side.

Maybe we can get into it
And explore.

*

Oh, god.

*

Narrator: coming up,

Inside the secret
Soviet compound.

Kiarszys: this is incredible.

Narrator:
And buried dead or alive.

The sheer scale and horror
Of it is mind-boggling.

Narrator: archaeologist
Grzegorz kiarszys

Is in the forests of poland

Searching for a long-lost
Soviet compound,

Rediscovered
Using new aerial images.

This is one of the structures
That was visible

On the classified
Satellite imager.

Narrator: cia files reveal
The purpose of these structures

Baffled intelligence agents
During the cold war.

Kiarszys hopes
A narrow entranceway

He's found will help
Solve the mystery.

Kiarszys: oh, wow.

*

Narrator: the structures
Discovered from the air appear

To be just a small part of
A massive subterranean compound.

Kiarszys:
This is incredible.

*

That looks like a diesel tank.

Narrator: whatever was once here
Is long gone.

But it appears to have
Been manned

And guarded
By a huge number of people.

Kiarszys:
That would be a septic tank.

And bathroom.

So that would be the main
Electrical room

And some wires there can be
Seen hanging from the floor.

Narrator: one of the larger
Rooms yields clues

To what the russians
Were doing here.

Kiarszys: and then the both
Sides of this room

Were very thick
Blast-proof doors.

There are some relics
Of a ventilation system.

Whatever was kept here

Required
Very specific conditions.

The temperature
And the humidity

Had to be controlled
For all the time.

*

Narrator:
In a blast-proof chamber,

The archeologist spots
Some artifacts on the floor.

Okay, so those are seals.

Narrator:
As an expert of the cold war,

Kiarszys thinks he recognizes
This type of seal.

I'm pretty sure
That those were used

To seal containers
With nuclear warheads.

Narrator: kiarszys' aerial data
Has uncovered a secret facility

Capable of securing
A massive stockpile

Of the most devastating weapons
Known to mankind.

But something about the size
And shape of the missiles

Kept here is unusual.

The storage rooms are actually
Quite small,

Which tells me
That they could be used

Only for storage
Of tactical nuclear warheads.

Narrator:
Tactical nuclear weapons

Can unleash a destructive force
20 times more powerful

Than the bomb
That destroyed hiroshima.

But what's even more
Terrifying is how they're used.

The cold war is well known
For the threat

Of the use of nuclear weapons.

The tactical nuclear weapon
Would be used in the presence

Of your own troops
On a battlefield.

Narrator: the use of tactical
Nuclear weapons on a battlefield

Is almost unimaginable.

With the push of a button,
Commanders devastate key targets

Before deploying thousands
Of troops to fight it out

On an apocalyptic,
Radioactive landscape.

Imagine the reality of combat
Where everyone

Is from head-to-toe

In their nuclear
Protective suits

Using machine guns

And they're lobbing tactical
Nuclear weapons at one another

All the while.

Narrator:
Recovered cold-war files

Reveal that in the late 1960s,

The kremlin secretly moves
Dozens of nuclear missiles

To the site in the image,
Just a few hundred miles

From the soviet-controlled
Border with western europe.

They disguised
The missile bunkers

And surround the compound
With barracks,

Housing young families.

Morgan:
The soviet union wasn't stupid.

They knew that we were
Watching.

Wawro:
The soviets work hard

To make this look like just
An ordinary military base,

Concealing the fact that there
Are tactical nuclear weapons

Stored all over the place.

Kiarszys: it was well hidden
In the woods.

And it was well kept from
The people who lived nearby.

Narrator: from here,
It seems the communists

Intended to wage nuclear war,
The war to end all wars.

Yet kiarszys'
Investigation reveals

That this is just one element
Of the soviet subterfuge.

This was a true
Armageddon bunker.

Kiarszys: this is proof that
There was nuclear weapon

Kept within the territories
Of poland.

And that's proof
That people lived

Once in the shade
Of nuclear holocaust.

Narrator:
For over three decades,

The secret site remains
Primed to unleash nuclear hell

On european cities and american
Bases just over the border.

Hymel: they have no idea
That in the woods,

There are all these
Nuclear weapons.

And so, their lives could change
Like that in one moment.

Narrator: following the collapse
Of the soviet union,

The soviet soldiers and their
Families abandoned the site,

Leaving the area strewn with
Their belongings and equipment.

Over the following years,

The clandestine base is
Reclaimed by the forest,

Only to be revealed
From the skies once more.

The truth about this facility
Has only just emerged.

And it makes me wonder,

"What else is out there?"

*

Narrator: coming up,
Mega inferno usa.

Ruben:
It's like living next to hell.

It is absolutely apocalyptic.

Narrator: and the forbidden
Tombs of the black pharaohs.

This site is
Absolutely extraordinary.

Narrator: september 13, 2018,

An aerial camera flying over
America's western seaboard

Photographs these features.

Ruben:
This is very strange.

They're like the craters
Of the moon in california.

Nelson:
The scale on them is massive.

It looks like the diameter
Is about a city block.

And not only that,
But above them to the north,

There's a whole bunch
Of other smaller circles.

Narrator: what's more,
The 300-acre site

Sits at the heart
Of san luis obispo,

A rapidly growing city
Where plots of land can sell

For around $1 million.

We're talking about
Prime real estate and here

To have an abandoned pit
Of circles, that's really weird.

It really makes me wonder
What has happened here.

Narrator: former intelligence
Officer trevor albertson

Has seen formations
Like these before.

Dr. Albertson:
It looks very similar

To a triple-a anti-aircraft
Artillery site

As it would have appeared in
California during world war ii.

Narrator:
California is militarized

In the immediate aftermath

Of japan's devastating attack
On pearl harbor

On december 7, 1941.

Fearing further attacks
On the mainland,

The army scrambles to move
Artillery regiments

To america's west coast.

Much of the american pacific
Fleet lay in ruins

At pearl harbor,
Therefore the west coast

Of the united states
Was largely undefended.

Narrator: the rapid deployment
Of anti-aircraft guns

Across california fuels paranoia

That a full-scale
Japanese invasion is imminent.

[ air raid siren blaring ]

Their worst fears appear
To be realized

When the weapons unleashed
1,400 shells

Into the skies over hollywood,

An incident later referred
To as the battle of los angeles.

It consisted of an air
Defense artillery crew

Believing that they saw
A japanese aircraft

And deciding to shoot it down.

Narrator:
It proves to be a false alarm.

The trigger-happy gun crews
Had mistakenly targeted

A u.S. Weather balloon.

Yet their spent shells

Claimed several lives
As they rained down onto l.A.

Dr. Albertson: in many ways,
It was one of the greatest

Friendly-fire scenarios

Ever experienced
By the u.S. Military.

Narrator: in california,
There are the remains

Of big, circular gun placements,
But not here.

I don't believe that we're
Looking at coast artillery

Or anti-aircraft defenses

Because they're way
Too close together.

We tend to disperse them.

Narrator: martin morgan thinks
The circle's precise arrangement

Is significant.

Morgan: the oil and gas industry
In the united states

Has regulations
So that each fuel storage tank

Must be spaced
An equal distance to its size.

So what you're seeing
In the image

Must have been
A fuel-storage facility.

Narrator: the larger circles are
A titanic 800 feet across.

Records reveal only
The san luis obispo tank farm

Had oil reservoirs this big.

This site is one of the largest
Oil-storage facilities

In the world.

Narrator:
The mammoth facility

Is built
In the early 20th century,

Following a catastrophic
Sequence of events

During the birth
Of california's oil industry.

Dr. Dennie: at the end
Of the 1800s, commercial oil

Was discovered, setting off
The california oil boom,

Which is like
The next gold rush.

Narrator:
Thousands of prospectors
Flock to the golden state,

Eager to turn the black gold
Into a fast buck.

Ruben: there are vast fortunes
To be made.

It's the new american dream.

Narrator:
But on march 15, 1910,

For one driller,

That dream descends
Into a nightmare

When he strikes a massive
Pressurized-oil reserve

Under the san joaquin valley.

The subsequent eruption

Unleashes
A 200-foot-high fountain of oil

Into the california skies.

The oil keeps flowing
For over 500 days.

It creates a lake of oil
Big enough to launch rafts on.

It's the largest accidental oil
Spill in history.

Narrator: in response, hundreds
Of men work day and night

To build the san luis obispo
Tank farm.

Three months later,

Oil from the gusher
Starts flowing

Into its 1-million-barrel-
Capacity reservoirs.

Morgan: something must
Have happened here

To wipe this facility
Off the face of the earth.

And what we're left with

Is just the vestiges
Of what was once there.

Narrator: the aerial photographs
Yield a clue.

Dr. Dennie: on the image,
You can see little black patches

That indicate areas
That have been charred.

Perhaps this area
Was at one point on fire.

Narrator: local historical
Records confirm the theory.

In 1926, a lightning strike hit
The tanks here at the tank farm

And set the whole thing on fire.

Boom.

Narrator: six giant reservoirs
Of oil ignite.

The resulting blast sends
1,000-foot-high flames

Into the heavens.

The explosion is so powerful,

It creates
Its own weather system.

Eyewitnesses report seeing
Hundreds of fire tornados

Erupting from the blaze.

It's like living next to hell.

It is absolutely apocalyptic.

Dr. Dennie:
This inferno raged for five days

And burned
Over 6 million barrels of oil.

It was a catastrophe.

Narrator:
A century after the blaze,

The land here remains caked

In a toxic cocktail
Of charred crude oil

That will take another
25 years to clean up.

Until then, the circles
Will endure as a grim memorial

To the forgotten disaster
Visible from space.

*

Coming up, pharaoh csi.

Janulis: the skeletons are laid
In a position

That implies that these people
Were probably buried alive.

Narrator: and things heat up
In rural france.

French farmers have even gone
As far as to set sheep on fire.

Narrator:
January 10, 2019,

An orbiting camera
Above the nile valley in sudan,

Northern africa,
Captures this image.

Paul: in the center of all
Of this fertile land

Is a massive patch
Of desert area.

Narrator: for archaeologists,
A seemingly empty patch of land

In this part of the world
Is highly unusual.

The fact that we've got
This huge, vacant area

Along the fertile nile valley --

I mean, this
Is very valuable property --

It shows that there is something
Extremely significant here.

Narrator: closer analysis shows
There is something in the sand.

Janulis: the shapes I see
In the sand here

Remind me of other images
I've seen from sudan,

Which show pictures
Of burnt-down villages

That were destroyed
By militia groups.

Narrator: for decades, this land
Has been the scene

Of terrible violence

That has left
Two million people dead.

Dr. Hunt: this area has been
So enormously destabilized.

Seceding regimes have
Pretty well destroyed sudan.

Narrator: in recent years,
Many communities

Have fallen victim
To a new form of terror

At the hands of a government
Militia called the janjaweed.

Meaning "Devils on horseback,"

The janjaweed rape, pillage
And burn villages to the ground.

This has led to genocide
And war crimes

On a really massive scale.

These have often resulted
In destruction of villages.

So this may be an area that
Has been destroyed by conflict.

Narrator:
Other analysts don't think

The structures are casualties
Of recent violence.

Dr. Hunt: you'd expect to see
Ash, blackened walls,

Soot, even some residual timber.

So it must be something
Immensely older.

Narrator: if the structures
In the image are ancient,

Another settlement nearby
Could help shed some light.

It's very close to a site
Called kerma,

Which has ancient roots
Dating back 4,000 years

To a mighty kingdom
Known as the kush.

Narrator: this region was once
Called nubia.

And for 3,000 years,

It was ruled by a warrior people
Called the kushites.

Their archers were famed
Throughout the ancient world.

This was known
As the land of the bow.

They were prosperous,
They were great warriors,

And they fought off those

Who would take their wealth
From them.

Narrator: the kush kingdom
Grows immensely rich

For its armies control

The main trading routes
Across north africa.

Dr. Bellinger:
They derive their wealth

Largely from gold and ivory,

And the kushites
Were the egyptians'

Greatest source of gold.

And we know how much
The egyptians love their gold.

Narrator: the structures
In the image bear the hallmarks

Of one particular
Kushite structure.

These circular shapes,
They resemble the tumuli

That we know the kush kingdom
Used to bury their dead.

And the only thing that could be
Important enough to retain

As open space
In this densely settled land

Around the nile
Is a burial site.

Narrator:
Yet image analysis reveals

This is no ordinary cemetery.

The necropolis contains
40,000 tombs

Up to 300 feet across.

This site is absolutely
Extraordinary.

It's like the city of the
Dead of the kushite kingdom.

Narrator: archaeologists
Discover some kushites

Are buried with treasures
To take into the hereafter.

For the funerals
Of elite sections of society,

Offerings of human sacrifices
Are widespread.

Dr. Bellinger: they are
Following egyptian practices

Which believe that's essential
After death to be served

And surrounded by all of
The people they were in life.

So family members,
Loyal retainers,

Even prisoners of war.

Narrator:
The largest mound,

Believed to belong
To a kushite king,

Contains hundreds
Of attendant bodies.

Janulis: the skeletons are laid
In a position

That shows movement
And distress.

It actually implies
That these people

Were probably buried alive.

The sheer scale and horror
Of it is mind-boggling.

Narrator:
As the kingdom grows,

So does the size
Of the kush tombs.

In 719 b.C.,
The kush conquers egypt,

Ruling it for 88 years

During a dynasty
Called the black pharaohs.

These black pharaohs
Are actually entombed

In pyramid-like structures,
Much like those seen in egypt,

Although the pyramids
Are smaller

With steeper sloping sides.

Narrator: to date, only around
10% of this city of the dead

Revealed from space
Has been excavated.

What other treasures or horrors
Of the mighty kush it contains

Remains to be seen.

This necropolis is just
Beginning to reveal its secrets.

What it may yet tell us
About the story of ancient nubia

Is an exciting prospect.

*

Narrator: coming up,

Weird happenings
In the hills of france.

Kourounis:
It looks like a city at night.

But this isn't nighttime,
And this isn't a city.

Narrator:
And even weirder happenings

In the hills of sweden.

It's slowly but surely
Swallowing the entire town.

Narrator: april 14, 2019.

A pilot on an early morning
Flight over eastern france

Captures this image.

Kourounis: it looks like
A city at night

With all of the street lights

Illuminating all the roads
And houses.

But this isn't nighttime,
And this isn't a city.

Narrator: closer examination
Of the image

Reveals something strange.

Dr. Spicer rice: you can see
Rows of flames that have erupted

All the way across this vast
Area in france.

But why?

Narrator: the blazes covers
Several square miles.

Ellis: what's really strange
Is these fires

Are very organized
Into neat patches.

Given the extreme regularity
Of the pattern of these fires,

It must be set on purpose.

Narrator: analysts learned
That this appears

To be part
Of a disturbing pattern

Of deliberate blazes witnessed
Across france in recent times.

Could this possibly be
A massive act of arson?

These hundreds of fires
Lit intentionally

To possibly destroy property

Or maybe get
Someone's attention?

In the past few years, france
Has literally been on fire

Due to the yellow vest movement.

Narrator: since 2018,
France's yellow vest movement

Has engaged in a campaign
Of violence and arson

To protest against rising fuel
Prices and the cost of living.

We're talking about
100,000 people

Taking to the streets, causing
A really big amount of chaos.

Cars and trucks
Blocking the streets,

Windows being smashed,
Stores being broken into.

Narrator: in december 2018,

30,000 firefighters
Tackle blazes

Caused by a single day
Of rioting in paris.

Dr. Spicer rice:
The french citizens are known

To never take
Anything lying down.

Narrator: in 1789, workers
Rioting over the cost of bread

Kick-start
The french revolution.

Since then, the idea of power
Through protest

Has become almost
A national pastime.

Seems like their motto is,

"Well, if you don't like
Something, riot."

Kourounis: french farmers have
Been known to be very creative

With their protesting.

They've sprayed official
Buildings with manure,

Dumped loads of vegetables
In the street,

And even gone as far
As to set sheep on fire.

Could this image be showing us
The next stage of protest

Against the government
By the farmers in the area?

Narrator: yet if the blazes
Are protests by farmers

Against economic hardships,
They've backfired spectacularly.

Dr. Spicer rice:
This is the burgundy region.

The grapes grown here

Make some of the most
Expensive wines in the world.

Narrator: the burgundy region
Is at the heart

Of france's $17 billion
Wine industry.

Not even a very angry farmer
Would be mad enough

To torch one of france's
National treasures.

Narrator: first cultivated by
Savvy monks 1,000 years ago,

Vineyards here produce over
200 million bottles every year,

Some costing half
A million dollars a pop.

*

But in recent years,

Burgundy's wine industry
Has hit hard times.

Just a few years before,
A extreme cold snap

Devastated the great harvest
In this region.

The families growing grapes
Are on the brink

Of complete financial ruin.

Narrator: the date the image
Was taken corresponds

To one of these
Vicious cold spells.

Ellis: the date was abnormally
Cold for this area.

This is april,
And there was a late frost.

They're going to have to do
Something about it

To protect these grapes.

Narrator: records show
That during this month,

Temperatures plummet

To an unseasonal
19 degrees fahrenheit.

The aerial image has captured
A strange technique

The farmers employed to save
Their livelihoods from ruin.

Dr. Kays: farmers line their
Fields with torches

And then light them

So that these little fires
Right next to the grapes

Are able to warm up the air
Right around the grapes

And prevent the frost.

Cerveny:
But it's actually not the heat
Of the torches themselves

That's the primary factor
To keeping the crop safe.

It's the smoke
That's the critical thing.

The smoke acts like
Almost a layer of clouds,

Like a fog that traps
The heat of the earth

From getting out into space.

Narrator: the defrosters visible
From the heavens

Enable the farmers
To save vines

Worth about $120,000 per acre

And earn them a celebratory
Glass of the good stuff.

Their solution is creative,
Simple, and genius.

*

Narrator: coming up,
The town-munching chasm.

Whatever is happening here,
It's catastrophic.

Narrator: august 9, 2006.

An eye in the sky above a town
In sweden captures this image.

Nelson:
This is a massive hole

In what appears
To be the center of the town.

Dull: whatever is happening
Here, it's catastrophic.

A major disaster is actually
Playing out before our eyes.

Narrator: this is malmberget,
Population 6,000.

Image analyst ken joyce uses
Maxar secure-watch technology

To assess the scale
Of its town-center chasm.

It's over 400 yards,

So it's over four
Football fields

From one edge to the other

And several hundred feet deep.

This pit is absolutely massive.

Narrator: some analysts think
The town's arctic location

May be to blame.

Nelson:
Because of where this is,

This could actually be
A natural phenomenon

Known as a thermokarst.

Narrator: thermokarsts occur

When subterranean permafrost
Melts,

Causing the surface to collapse.

Nelson: quite literally,

It's like yanking the rug
Out from under you.

Except here we're talking
About ground.

And you fall in
And you could die.

Narrator: vast swaths
Of the arctic,

Frozen for thousands of years,

Are beginning to thaw
With disastrous consequences.

Nelson: we know the arctic
Is changing quite rapidly.

Ice is melting

And whole villages
Are falling into the ground.

Narrator:
However, geological records

Cast doubt
On the thermokarst theory.

While thermokarsts
Are appearing in sweden,

They're way further north.

It makes me think

That this is caused
By human activity.

But what is anyone's guess.

Narrator: analysts search
Scandinavian records

For projects that could account

For this massive scar
In the landscape.

The swedes have
A history of digging holes.

In fact, some unusual ones.

In the '60s,
They built a secret naval base

Literally into the cliffs
Along the coast.

Narrator: in 1969,

Military engineers excavate
1 1/2 million tons of rock

To create the musko
Nuclear base.

Churchill:
It may sound strange,

But sweden is stuck right in the
Middle of two nuclear powers.

They have russia on one side,
The allies on the other.

And if it all kicks off,

You want to keep your most
Valuable weaponry safe,

So you park it
Inside a giant cave.

Narrator:
During the cold war,

The swedes build over
60,000 nuclear shelters

Across the country,

Capable of accommodating
7 million people.

Churchill: possibly
What we're finding here

Is one of these old bunkers
In such disrepair

That it's just collapsed
In on itself.

Narrator: others disagree.

These things are built
To withstand a nuclear attack.

They're not just
Going to collapse.

Whatever this is,
It has to be something else.

Narrator: analysts turn
To historical images.

Looking at satellite images
Between 2006 and 2019,

What I see are stark changes.

The pit is getting much bigger.

Narrator: whatever activity is
Causing this crater is ongoing

And shows no sign of letting up.

All of this is evidence
That what we have here

Is a very large
And complex mining operation.

One clue is to the north.

We have a town called kiruna.

And that town shares its name
With the kiruna deposit,

One of the largest and most
Valuable iron deposits on earth.

Narrator: yet mining operations
Do not take place

In the center of thriving
Communities like this one.

Devin dennie learns

That the story of iron
Mining here begins in 1888,

A few miles outside of town.

Dr. Dennie: these mines were
Originally surface pit mines,

But over time,
Miners have chased those seams

Into deeper and deeper levels.

Narrator:
Over the following decades,

As the miners follow the
Highly valuable seam of iron,

It leads them under malmberget.

Dr. Dennie: what's very unusual
About this mine

Is the fact that these miners
Have literally chased

This good rock
Right under this town.

Narrator: in 1971, a hole begins
To form in the town.

Miners continue extracting
14 million tons a year

From the seam,

Equivalent in weight
To six eiffel towers every day.

Dr. Pepper: which leaves
These big cavities

That causes collapsing,

And they just keep mining
And collapsing as they go.

Narrator: in march 2012,

Another 500-foot-wide
Section caves in.

This is a classic example
Of a hand giveth

And a hand taketh
Because the mines

Are providing economic security
For the people.

But all that is rapidly
Falling down in the hole.

Narrator: mining employs one
In six inhabitants here,

And it's led the mine's owners
To take extraordinary measures.

The quality of the iron ore
Under the town is so valuable

That it's actually more cost
Effective to move the town.

[ helicopter blades whirring,
Siren wailing ]

Narrator:
Specialist hauling companies

Are moving dozens of buildings
Weighing up to 230 tons each

And relocating them
To a village 4 miles away.

Yet many other residents remain,

Watching as their hometown

Is consumed by the giant hole
Seen from space.

Dr. Pepper: this iron ore is
So precious to the economy

That they're willing
To sacrifice everything,

Even if it means
Your house falling within it.