All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S04E04.Bodie.USA.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Narrator: Dark tunnels filled with
the remains of millions of bodies.

It's like a place
of satanic worship.

A site of sacrifice maybe or
somewhere to contact the dead.

A heavily fortified building
that's been ripped apart.

We're used to seeing
engineering imposed on the land,

but here we see a natural revenge
of nature against engineering.

An empty town that's
been frozen in time.

It almost has a
surreal feel to it.

It feels like it's sort of
a haunted ghost town.

And alien looking
structures on the open ocean.

There's no road access,
there's nothing else around.

And that might be a clue

as to why it was built
here in the first place.

Sometimes they are engineering
marvels now abandoned

or ruins shrouded in mystery.

But within these decaying
structures are the echoes of history.

While some are
associated with dark times,

they all remind us of human
ingenuity and endeavour.

Each haunting shell is
now ready to be unmasked

to tell it's own unique story.

Near the border between
California and Nevada usa,

are the ghostly remains
of a once dangerous town

built on greed.

It's like you've just walked
on to the set of west world.

You're expecting to see
outlaws and gun slingers

coming around the corner.

There's something spooky
about seeing a town that looks

like the buildings are intact,
but there's nobody around.

The wind just blows through.

And you can just see this big layer
of dust over the tables and chairs

that have been
left there for years.

It almost has a
surreal feel to it.

I mean there's buildings
there just abandoned,

but completely how
they were back then.

Other things are just
rusting and deteriorating.

Some parts are
buildings just falling down

or shacks that have
kind of collapsed.

Other sections like, you could
move in to some of these buildings.

On the edge of town,

you've got what looks like the
guts of some kind of industry

and I think that that is the clue
to what happened in this town.

But for everything that is here,
it feels like something is missing.

What's interesting about this
place is you come to this point

which seems like it should
be the start of the main street,

but there's no buildings on it.

You get this sense that the
structures that do remain,

were part of a much
larger community.

So that begs the question,
what happened to the rest of it?

Where did it go?

Despite it's eerie
emptiness today,

in the late 19th century,
these streets were awash

with the hopes and
dreams of prospectors.

Exploring the open
lands of the west.

You're really in the middle
of nowhere, even today,

you are miles and miles
away from anything.

The motivation for coming to
such a remote and desolate location

clearly it was money.

It was all about finding something
precious and then selling it.

The dusty remains of this
town suggests that something

was clearly worth
sticking around for.

But this could be a
deadly place to set up shop.

The west was
unchartered territory.

There was no law enforcement,
this was the wild west.

Everyone for themselves.

Preserved for decades
by the dry climate,

the remaining structures offer only
a glimpse of the town's true scale,

as park ranger,
Catherine Jones, explains.

What we see today, is only
5% or so of what was here.

So there are many homes left,

but there would have been many,
many more as far as you can see.

Especially down to main street
which would have been virtually,

wall-to-wall buildings
for over a mile.

What transformed this
empty wilderness was gold.

This is the ghost town of bodie.

It was once home to
around 10,000 inhabitants

who filled the streets
with feverish activity.

What's really interesting
is not what's left,

but what's missing.

Clearly a lot is gone but
where did it go and why?

After bodie's initial discovery,
there wasn't much activity.

Probably wasn't a whole lot of
hope of discovering a lot of gold here.

They were mining
up on the hillside.

You can see the rock piles upon
the hill indicate where mines were.

But these early mines
offered up little gold.

Then in 1875, a dangerous
collapse changed everything.

They went to investigate
and found that a collapse

had exposed a
very rich vein of ore.

And that's what started
the boom here in this area

and formed the town of bodie.

All of a sudden,
bodie was on the map.

Everybody heard about bodie.

Everyone wanted to get there
and be part of this exciting operation.

Processing plants like this
one began running non stop.

That building on the edge of town,
that is what really gives you a clue

as to the scale of the operation
that was happening in bodie.

This is the main processing
room of the stamp mill.

The gold and silver ore
makes it way into these boxes

that contain the
1000 pound stamps.

Each of these stamps is lifting
and dropping 90 times a minute.

It was a very,
very loud process.

If you can imagine
metal crushing rock

24 hours a day, six days a week.

Apparently you could hear
bodie from 3 miles away.

Operating 24 hours a
day, six days a week,

money and profits
rained down on bodie.

It was rumoured that the boom
years earned the mining companies

around $100 million.

And that everyday,

ten new people would arrive
here seeking their fortune.

This was a part of what
was to become known

as the California gold rush.

The third major gold rush in
america during the 19th century.

At the time California was not
even a territory of the United States.

But after gold was
discovered here in 1849,

workers poured in from Georgia
and north Carolina to strike it rich.

Soon to follow, came
dozens of private companies

hoping to capitalise on the
enormous riches buried in the land.

As a direct result of
the California gold rush,

the territory was soon
made into a state of the usa.

Bodie had become the
sort of Las Vegas of it's day.

Anything you could sell,
anything that you want to buy,

you'd find it here.

Outlaws, they looked
at bodie and said,

"here's an opportunity to
make a lot of money very fast."

In bodie, over 2,000 new
buildings were built by 1879

to accommodate this
huge new influx of people.

But the quest for had a nasty habit
of bringing out the worst in people.

It was so wild that one year
the newspapers reported

the amazing news that
no-one had been killed

in the entire previous week,
apparently that was a first.

In bodie there was a
mix of both hard work

and maybe not so hard work.

Gambling was one of
the biggest pass times.

There were over
60 saloons in town,

and people liked to
celebrate holidays here.

They had many dances
and masquerade balls.

In the northern end of town
was the red light district,

filled with brothels
and opium dens.

This lawless settlement appeared
to be on a path to destruction.

And in 1892, a
devastating fire broke out.

Somehow fire started
and it spread quickly.

These are wooden buildings.

And as one began to burn,
the one next to it began to burn.

And before long, there wasn't
much left of that part of bodie.

But the fire wasn't caused
by the kind of debauchery

that bodie was famous for.

Times were changing.

With these boom towns,

they are literally
erected overnight.

But as soon as somewhere
where gold is easier to find is found,

people go.

So what you're left with are
abandoned wooden buildings

in an extremely dry climate,
that's a recipe for disaster.

By 1881, thousands
of people were leaving.

So when the fire
happened in 1892,

a lot of abandoned buildings
burnt down and were never rebuilt.

The fire was the first disaster,
but there was more to come

that would eventually wipe
most of bodie off the map.

The gradual decline
continued until 1932,

when yet another
huge fire broke out.

Ripping out the heart of this
struggling wild west settlement.

That fire just travelled
down main street

and wiped out almost everything.

A Hardy few continued
living in bodie until the 1940s

and the remaining structures still
bare the marks of those final days.

This is only a small
portion of what was here.

It's just a small glimpse,

but it's like their lives
were frozen in time.

Bodie is in effect a
microcosm of a boom town.

Wildly successful,
then fades into oblivion.

And that happened
all across the wild west.

In the beating heart of Paris,

lies a dark secret buried
deep beneath the streets.

This has got to be one of the
spookiest places in the world.

It's a bit of a labyrinth.

It's like you're disappearing
into an underworld.

There are no other places
you've been that are like this.

Decorated tunnels snake
endlessly through the damp rock.

It's only when
you look in detail

at what's making up
those ornate designs,

that you start realising this is
something completely different.

The walls around
you begin to change.

At first it's not clear
what's happening,

but then you begin to see that
around you is no longer rock,

but human bones.

You have human
skulls and big bones

stacked up in ways
which look nice and artistic,

but by their very nature,
they're human bones.

It's this confusing
mix of death and art.

You want to feel
horrified by what you see,

but somehow at the same
time you're drawn into it.

These bones weren't
simply thrown in a pile,

nor were they
simply being stored.

What a horror story to me,
that's a crazy kind of place to be.

It has to have been a
reason for doing this,

a reason that
involved the whole city.

'Cause there's just no way that you
could keep something this big quiet.

Why are there this many
bodies buried just meters below

one of the world's
greatest cities?

The long stacks of human
bones lining the tunnels

have been here for
around 200 years.

But for the majority,

this wasn't their
first resting place.

During the 18th century, Paris was
the second largest city in Europe.

The capital was the centre of an
explosion in science and philosophy,

that became known as
the age of enlightenment.

Between 1720 and 1760,

books published on
science and art doubled,

while religious
works became rarer.

These new ideas were spread
from Paris to the rest of Europe

and intellectuals started
to pour into the city

from around the continent.

But this new popularity put a
huge strain on the cemeteries.

There were a number of
cemeteries around the city

but they were swelling
under the weight

of the huge number of
bodies they contained.

You can imagine
the stench of death

that was sweeping through the
streets being utterly unbearable.

Although it's paved over today,

in the 18th century, les innocents
was the largest cemetery in Paris.

It was a dumping ground for dead
bodies for more than 800 years.

An estimated two million
people had been buried here.

Even the biggest cemetery
eventually gets full.

But the parisians continued to
stuff ever more bodies in to them.

They'd run out of
space in the ground,

so they were digging up old bones
and packing them into the roofs

and walls of the buildings
surrounding the cemetery.

And it was only a matter of time

before this would come
back to haunt them.

In the spring of 1780,

unusually heavy rains began
to put even greater pressure

on the cemetery walls
that were already buckling

under the sheer
weight of the bones.

These rains soaked into the
ground expanding everything,

but the terrible consequence
that the cemetery walls burst

causing a mixture.

A slurry of sodden earth
and decomposing bodies

to slide out into the streets and
into the neighbouring properties.

Archaeologist sylvie, Robin,

explains how the French authorities
reacted to this grizzly event.

Translation: "A doctor
was sent on location

"to perform a health
and safety assessment.

"And a decision was made
to evacuate the entire area

"for public safety."

News of this gruesome and filthy
sight seemed to be the final straw.

A solution had to
be found and fast.

This dark subterranean
place provided the answer.

The Paris catacombs.

Some of the best loved
attractions like the louvre,

are built out of
parisian limestone.

This came from
quarries that originally,

were on the outskirts of Paris.

But as the city expanded,
came to be under Paris.

Rumours are that it's around
about 170 miles of tunnels.

And man made
excavations of the rocks

which were now beneath
the feet of parisians,

they didn't really
know they were there.

Mapping of the mines,
showed a vast network of tunnels

and access shafts
across the city.

Eventually, nearly a mile of these
passages were linked together

and allocated as the
new catacombs space.

And in December 1785, the work
of moving the bodies there began.

It was a gruesome, but a
very sophisticated operation.

Bodies had been buried
in Paris for centuries.

All of these had to be dug
up, placed into carts at night

and taken to the catacombs.

Where an estimated two or
four million bodies were placed.

Translation: "We are stood at
the bottom of the original shoot

"used for disposing
of the bones.

"It is through this well,

"which was initially
used to extract the stone,

"that all the bones
were disposed of.

"You can imagine the 20m
drop that they experienced.

"Once they piled
up on the ground,

"they were then distributed
throughout the quarry."

The process had to almost
be on an industrial scale.

Every night for night after
night, moving many, many bones

through the system and
down in to the underground.

Really quite a
bizarre undertaking.

It took decades to move
all of the rotting corpses

from les innocents and the
other cemeteries around Paris.

But the bones down here don't
look like they were just thrown in

or simply stacked to save space.

So was there a strange secret
behind the design of the site?

Translation: "We are currently
20m beneath the parisian streets

"in the district of
denfert-rochereau on the left bank.

"We can see here a
decoration which is cross shaped

"inserted into
the wall of bones.

"We can also see a
repetition of femurs and skulls,

"some of which are
presented facing outwards,

"and others showing
the back of the skull.

"And just behind there, behind
this wall is a build up of bones."

The extraordinary
attention to detail,

seemed to go far beyond
merely solving a space problem.

It appears to have a
symbolism and meaning to it.

Translation: "This decoration
was the idea of an inspector

"for the general quarry
inspections called aurica duchere.

"He imagined this whole
underground walkway

"with a slightly morbid display,

"destined to make us think about
death and to welcome visitors."

What he did was to change it
from just being a collection of bones,

into an experience
that had soul.

He gave these people back a life
that modern visitors can reflect on.

In 1860 the last bones were
placed inside the catacombs.

And ever since, the
only bodies to enter

have been the very much
alive members of the public,

hoping to explore the dark
depths beneath the city streets.

Today, the catacombs
still draw visitors

into it's spooky quiet interior,
sometimes with surprising effects.

The catacombs have succeeded

in doing something
truly extraordinary.

Which is that most visitors
leave with a sense of sereneness

and having been uplifted.

There is something
deeply soulful and powerful

about what they've
achieved in the catacombs.

Makes for a strange contrast
of experience and emotions.

Death, art, worship,
history and remembrance.

On the outskirts
of liege in Belgium,

not far from the border
it shares with Germany

are the shattered
remains of a vast structure.

It's a zone of destruction.

Clearly something very
violent happened here.

There's a sense that once
there was an immense tragedy.

And we're used to seeing
engineering imposed on the land,

but here it's as though
the earth has tried

to suck this piece of
architecture back inside.

There are sections of
triangular installations

with circular elements.

I's an incomprehensible, ugly
and rather distressing sight.

Vast area of mangled
concrete and metal.

All around the city
are other strange,

twisted concrete forms damaged
and abandoned for decades.

But this one seems to
have suffered worst of all.

The area is so vast, and
the destruction is so complete

that you're left with the
feeling that these ruins

have a big story to tell.

What turned something so
mighty into something so pathetic.

After seemingly endless European
wars during the 19th century,

the decision to strengthen
Belgium's defences,

saw the creation
of this fort in 1888.

It was built in the
late 19th century.

It was the last word on
fortification technology.

Was poured concrete,

quick fire artillery and
disappearing mounts.

It was the absolutely alchemy
of Europe's military technology.

The fort lay
untested for 25 years.

But storm clouds were
gathering over Europe

in the build up
to the world war I.

In the power vacuum left by
the decline of the ottoman empire,

Germany was eager to assert
control over the continent.

France already had a
deep mistrust of Germany

from recent wars
in the 19th century.

So when Germany agreed an
alliance with Austria Hungary,

France became deeply worried.

In retaliation France,
Russia and britain

strengthened their own ties

and became an allied force
known as the triple entente.

Belgium is invented to be a buffer
between Germany and France.

This means that Belgium has
got to be prepared for attack

from the east.

Suddenly Germany found itself
encircled by potential enemies.

Europe was dangerously divided
and tensions soon reached boiling point.

The small section
of the Belgium border

where the Germans
have the terrain to advance

and where the rail
lines run through is liege.

If you want to protect your
country against a German invasion

this is the obvious point.

The defences at liege were vital,
and this once state of the art fort

would soon face the full
might of a modern army.

This is fort loncin.

When these forts are designed
they are essentially invulnerable.

There is no weapon of the
1880s that can breach the walls

or destroy the
armour of this fort.

Victor vanderperre is a
local expert on the fort.

People were very
safe in their minds,

because there were no other
forts in the world made in concrete.

No other forts where the artillery
was under steel components.

In their mind, they
could not be taken.

It was designed
with a low profile

to make it harder to
target from distance.

And across it's surface,
were an array of retractable

and rotating artillery turrets.

And if an enemy did somehow
manage to get close enough to attack,

it would be faced not
with high walls to climb,

but deadly ditches to traverse.

These were
effectively, kill zones.

The ditch that you see here
is the outer defence of the fort.

If ever an enemy could come
into this breaking through,

it would be taking care of
by our close range artillery.

You have two guns there
in the corner shooting shells,

they broke open and 196 lead bullets
were flying away and sprayed out.

These guns were placed
behind armoured walls

with clear lines of sight.

And at the far end
were curved columns

designed to send the ricocheting
lead bullets around the corners.

There was simply
no place to hide.

The Belgians meanwhile,
would be safely tucked away

inside the underground
network of rooms and tunnels.

Here we had a
rapid fire gun, 5.7mm,

which took care of everybody
that come into the ditch.

There was no chance to survive.

In 1914, the first shots
were fired in the great war.

The war to end all wars.

Liege immediately found
itself in the firing line.

But fort loncin alone was never
enough to protect the whole city.

It was just one part of a
much larger fortified position.

If you can stop the Germans
getting across the river mose at liege,

then you can stop the
Germans invading France.

Because of the strategic
significance of liege

you couldn't defend
it with just one fort.

Liege was encircled
by a pattern of 12 forts.

Together, the outward facing ring
of forts was a formidable defence.

But the invading German army
had close to four million troops,

Belgium had just 200,000.

Germany had no respect for
Belgium as a military power.

They thought the Belgians had a
paper army and cardboard fortresses.

The Germans attacked quickly,
the Belgians send them away quickly.

That shows that
for a day or two,

the Belgian fortifications
around liege are pretty effective.

But when a heavier
attack followed,

that defence ring was pierced

and the Germans marched
straight to the heart of the city.

Bringing with them a weapon

for which the Belgians
were completely unprepared.

The big Bertha was the largest
gun in the world at the time.

It was a howitzer with
a shell size of 42cm.

They're able to turn
up with effectively,

a 16 inch naval gun on wheels,

and they're able to fire
armour piercing shells

right into the walls of
the Belgian fortifications.

With a range of 9 miles,

big Bertha was now able
to reach the forts at the rear,

fort loncin the new command
centre for the defence

was soon in the cross hairs.

Was it big Bertha alone that
caused the complete devastation

we see today?

Or did something else
cause the carnage?

The Belgian forts around liege

were built to defend
against the very best artillery

of the late 19th century,
but time has moved on.

After being shot for about two
days by the German artillery,

the fort received a 25th
shot of the big Bertha.

It touches the powder
room that was down below

and everything went up in the
air, flames, blocks of concrete,

pieces of bodies.

It must have been an inferno.

That final shot had pierced
the 2,5m thick concrete roof

and ignited 12
tonnes of explosives.

It trapped and
killed 350 men below

and caused an enormous shock
wave that tore through the fort.

The forts went up in the air.

The concrete blocks were
smashed all over the place,

filling the ditch,
it was like a hell.

It was like a volcano here,
and it took only 15 to 20 seconds

and it was over.

The key vulnerability,
and it was a fatal one,

was that the concrete in
the 1880s that they used

did not have metal
reinforcing rods.

The concrete was simply poured
in, and this was in no way capable

of withstanding
20th century artillery.

So the Belgians were defeated.

Despite a courageous fight, they
were overwhelmed by an enemy

with far superior power
and far heavier weaponry.

But it was not all in vain.

Fortresses are created
to delay an enemy,

to slow them down, the
Belgians did a pretty heroic job.

The horrible, physical
failure of the fort

was a strategic success for
Belgium, France, britain and the allies.

Liege was able to slow the
German advance into France

for long enough for the
French and British forces

to reorganise and stop the
Germans achieving their aims

at the beginning of world war I.

Had it not been for fierce
Belgian resistance round liege,

the Germans might have won
world war I in a matter of weeks.

The bodies of those who
valiantly gave their lives in defiance

of the invading German
army, still lie beneath the ruins.

We try not to forget those boys.

And doing our best to
keep this place what it is,

a monument, a graveyard,
but also part of memory.

Standing near the
coastline of Florida,

is a strange row of structures
that appear to be lost at sea.

From a distance you see
these sculpted organic forms.

They're incredible, they're
from a different planet.

Such a spooky sight, was it
some kind of military installation?

Some research centre?

Maybe it looks like
something some crazy monks

would have built you
know, in the Greek isles.

There's something
timeless about it.

The unique design suggests

that this was intended to
be something revolutionary.

It feels like an ambitious
plan however you look at it.

Whatever someone was
trying to achieve here,

it was certainly
pushing the boundaries.

You've got to realise this is
really far away from civilisation,

there's nothing else around here,
you're out in the middle of nowhere.

Whoever built this
had a lot of confidence

in their ability to engineer
a structure in this wild place.

So what were the strange
dome shaped structures for?

And what unforeseen event
left them stranded out here?

Right now we're heading
down towards cape Romano,

it sits in the ten
thousand islands.

The average depth
here is about 3.5 feet,

so very tricky to navigate.

A lot of boats run
aground on a daily basis.

Makes a little more
difficult to get down there.

Captain Chris Reilly has been
navigating these waters for 20 years

and knows well the dangers
that lie hidden beneath the waves.

However, the waters aren't
the real concern down here.

One of the things about
this area is constantly,

we're getting hit by hurricanes.

It's just constant high wind
and rough seas to deal with.

Coastal Florida is not an
easy place to build anything.

If you're going to build something
here you have to really want it.

There's nothing between
you and a potential hurricane

or storm racing it's
way across that water.

This is a dangerous place to be.

To choose such an exposed
location may look like asking for trouble,

but for Bob Lee a retired
oil man with big ideas,

this thing needed
to be built at all costs.

When Bob Lee discovered
this area on the coast of Florida,

he fell in love with it
as many people do.

But for him it wasn't enough
to just live on some golf course

or in some condo, he really
imagined getting closer to nature.

Anyone who lives
or sails in that area

knows what a harsh
environment it is.

But for Bob to actually build
there on the edge of the earth,

I think everyone must
have thought he was crazy.

But these weren't just any old
structures, this was Bob's dream.

The cape Romano dome home.

What's fascinating
about these structures is,

you can see that
they're futuristic,

but they're kind of an
old idea of the future.

You can see echoes of
the 60s and the 70s here.

This was all about
escaping the modern world

with a design that was intended
to utilise nature's resources.

He had a gutter system that
went around the base of the domes,

so that when it rained,

it would trickle down all sides and
get sent to a 23,000 gallon cistern.

If you look at the bottom
of this dome right here,

you'll see the concrete.

That's actually where that
23,000 gallon cistern was held.

It would filter the water,

and that's how he got his
drinking and bathing water.

Bob Lee must have just
been such a fascinating guy,

he was so imaginative.

He wanted to build
these houses off the grid

and he knew he had to bring
in all these supplies by barge.

But he also wanted
to use local materials,

so he worked to
develop a kind of concrete

that would take advantage of
the local sand and sea shells.

Today we talk a lot
about carbon footprint

and using natural
environments but back in 1981,

Bob is really at
the forefront of that.

He went for it, and these
experimental buildings,

that's where our inspiration
for the future comes.

But there was more to the domed
shape than just water collecting

and futuristic design.

The dome home was built to withstand
the brute force of coastal storms.

Being this shape,

there was no sharp corners
for the wind to catch on

and it would actually roll
right around the structure.

As well as the shape,
he also built it on stilts

so that if there was a hurricane
and a major storm surge,

it would actually flow
right under the property

and not affect the living space.

Despite all the storm proofing
and innovative features,

mother nature had something
unexpected up her sleeve.

Taking on a construction
project down here,

you'd be foolish not to
consider the impact from storms,

and hurricanes and waves.

But looking at it today,

it's clear that something
happened that wasn't planned for.

Four of the original six
domes remain above water.

But it wasn't just the strong winds
that knocked the other two over.

Here, change was
happening underfoot.

When he completed the
property in 1981 and moved in,

it was a three bedroom,
three bath house,

2,500 square foot that
sat a quarter mile inland.

So all of this was beach,

including a quarter mile
out in front of the property.

Built upon a deserted island,

the domes were never meant to
be completely surrounded by water.

So what happened to the land?

Reporter: The water
rises in a storm surge,

a wind driven tide
of rapid flooding.

In 1992, after ten years of use,
a category 5 hurricane hit Florida.

And a problem that had been
slowly brewing beneath the waves

began to surface.

Hurricane Andrew reached
winds of 175 miles per hour,

weaving it's way through The Bahamas
before making landfall in Florida.

It killed 65 people
and caused damage

estimated at more
than $27 billion.

Which at the time, made it
the costliest ever us hurricane.

The high winds created
havoc throughout Florida.

In one county alone, 117,000
homes were either destroyed

or badly damaged.

At cape Romano,

Bob Lee's dome home felt
the full force of the hurricane.

Buildings were flooded, the
beach started to wash away.

This beautiful dream
of this off the grid,

sustainable concrete home
turned into a bit of a nightmare.

A year later Bob Lee's
family abandoned the domes,

but the elements weren't
finished with them just yet.

Bob thought about the storms,

and he thought about the
severe climate in the area.

But what he didn't
take into account

was the shifting nature
of the ground beneath.

It was now becoming clear
the real problem was erosion.

The Gulf of Mexico has a
natural north to south current.

Now you have all this water
constantly every single day

pushing back and forth.

The inevitable storm surges
we get from the hurricanes

did erode a little bit of the beach
and changed the coast line here,

which caused more
current to flow north to south,

which has made the
sand shift a lot quicker.

The result was an
island that was quickly

being swallowed up by the ocean.

With each passing storm,
the problem became worse.

In the Bible, Jesus says,

"the wise man builds
his house on stone,

"and the foolish man
builds his house on sand."

Well, Bob Lee with all of his
great vision and creative ideas,

he choose to build
his house on sand.

You know, humans have short
life spans compared to geology.

So we look at a
beach and we say,

"great, what a nice
place to build a home."

We don't realise if you could see
a time lapse of that same beach

over the course of
100, 200, 300 years,

you'd realise it's
more like a sand bar.

Something that washes in
and out, that changes with time.

But now they appear
to be marooned at sea,

but who knows maybe one
day the tides will shift again

and the island will end up
back underneath these domes.

Now they lie abandoned.

But once, they were at the
cutting edge of engineering.

There are echoes from history
in these decaying structures.

Some remind us of dark times,

but also of great innovation
and human endeavour.

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