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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,440 Narrator: A Kentucky ghost town caught in the crossfire. 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:12,000 In some cases people were literally killed in these fights. 3 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:13,480 There was always conflict. 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,560 In Japan, a once opulent retreat reclaimed by nature. 5 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,840 The decoration here is fantastic, 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,960 this place must have been absolutely amazing. 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:32,560 A mountain top ruin in Italy with a harmful legacy. 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,800 What they left behind wasn't just documents, 9 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,240 machinery and equipment, it was an ecological nightmare. 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,880 And in Scotland, fragments of a bridge foundation, 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,160 all that remains of a terrifying disaster. 12 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,960 This just shook up the whole of the UK. 13 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:57,760 Decaying relics... 14 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:03,400 ..Ruins of lost worlds... 15 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,800 ..Sights haunted by the past... 16 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,080 ..Their secrets waiting to be revealed. 17 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,040 The remote backwards of Harlem county, Kentucky, 18 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,640 hide the remnants of a grand looking town. 19 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,120 This was a confident town, a proud town, 20 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,680 there's buildings here made of beautiful stone, 21 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,520 these are buildings made nicer than they needed to be. 22 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:52,760 People wanted to get here, 23 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,640 there was something there that was drawing them. 24 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,240 Scattered ruins point to an industrial purpose. 25 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,280 One of the more impressive derelict sites 26 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,720 is this big house with a huge chimney. 27 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,720 It's hard to know what it is exactly. 28 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,640 Just looming over these abandoned railroad tracks. 29 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,040 The operation is even more extensive below the surface. 30 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,400 You can see these tunnel entrances, 31 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,440 they look like New York's Lincoln tunnel or Harlem tunnel. 32 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:42,880 Among these relics lie signs of catastrophe. 33 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,920 So what spelt the end for this once imposing town? 34 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:59,600 This deserted settlement of a 1,000 homes is lynch Kentucky. 35 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,680 It dates back to the early 20th century. 36 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,440 With it's wide streets and fine municipal buildings, 37 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,160 lynch was once one of the richest towns in the state. 38 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:15,720 Michael o'bradovich worked here. 39 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:19,960 This town was so big and so impressive 40 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,440 that people were coming from Chicago and New York, it was impressive. 41 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:31,480 Constructed in 1917, this was the town's department store. 42 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,240 We who live here call this, the big store. 43 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,160 All of this here in the front 44 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,240 was women's apparel or men's apparel, 45 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,080 over on this side there was a diner, 46 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,720 in my time, soda shop. 47 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:00,880 On the far end over there was sporting goods and home goods. 48 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,720 Within eight years a large town had been built around it, 49 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,160 powered by an enormous state of the art generating station. 50 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,200 Its owners spared no expense building this grand place 51 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:19,520 in the middle of nowhere. 52 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,040 Us steel bought up hundreds of acres 53 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,400 under black mountain in this part of Kentucky. 54 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,320 In 1917, 55 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,040 the demand for steel was skyrocketing, 56 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,560 you had all the armaments that were being used in the war, 57 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:38,200 everything was made of steel, 58 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,760 ships were being built, you know, rail carts were being built. 59 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,200 Even though there's no iron ore nearby, 60 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,840 us steel invested millions of dollars in to these Kentucky back woods. 61 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,840 The real thing that made lynch was actually underneath the town 62 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,040 and that was black gold, coal. 63 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,400 Lynch was created for one reason 64 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:07,280 and that was to provide a reliable 65 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:10,280 and massive supply of coal 66 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:14,080 to the country's leading steel producer us steel. 67 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,040 This part of the appalachian mountains 68 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,720 is very, very rich in carboniferous coal, 69 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,840 this is a famous coal deposit that stretches 70 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:24,520 all along North America 71 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:26,176 and it's been mined for many, many years. 72 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:28,176 The thing that makes the coal at lynch so special 73 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,080 is it's low in sulphur so it's very good for making steel. 74 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,120 These turned out to be some of the wealthiest coal mines 75 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:36,360 in the country. 76 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,760 As the son of a miner, Nick sturgill 77 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,000 knows the hazards that lie below ground here. 78 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,160 This is portal 31. 79 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,120 Once part of the largest coal complex in the world. 80 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,720 Portal 31 even by today's standards is enormous. 81 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,120 The north heading of portal 31 82 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,440 goes approximately 13 miles, 83 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:11,800 the east heading actually goes in to Virginia just a little way. 84 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:15,440 Back in the 1930s, 85 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,520 extraction continued to pace despite the risks. 86 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,960 No matter how well a mine is run, 87 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,040 it's still very dangerous and difficult work. 88 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:32,160 The coal company also wanted to showcase, 89 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:37,240 to show off their high standards, they also stressed safety a lot. 90 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,280 They even named this place after the father of mine safety, 91 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:44,600 Thomas lynch. 92 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,240 They wanted to counteract this image 93 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:54,920 that mining was this terrible dangerous occupation 94 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:56,760 where people were exploited. 95 00:06:58,400 --> 00:06:59,840 It worked. 96 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,280 Lynch attracted workers from all over the world. 97 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,640 With a German mother and Montenegrin father, 98 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:11,200 former mine manager Michael o'bradovich's own family 99 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,120 is typical of those who flocked here. 100 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,120 In it's heyday, lynch had around 10,000 people... 101 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,800 ..With all those different nationalities, 102 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,600 most of the families here had five, six, seven, eight kids. 103 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:33,960 The schools, churches and hotels of lynch accommodated them well 104 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,000 but the relentless objective here was to dig coal. 105 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:45,360 They engineered the town to move the coal as efficiently as possible. 106 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,080 They built a structure called the tipple. 107 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,760 This is like a giant bin that holds coal 108 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,440 and then loads it onto rail cars. 109 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:57,920 They built the biggest tipple in the world. 110 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,120 This tipple could handle 15,000 tonnes of coal a day. 111 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,000 Lynch was actually world famous, it held the record 112 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,720 when miners produced nearly 13,000 tonnes of coal 113 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:15,920 in one single nine hour shift 114 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,080 and that's pretty impressive statistics. 115 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,760 But the miners were dissatisfied with the low wages and the risks. 116 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,560 Coal dust is so fine and so volatile, 117 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:35,080 that it can combust with any little spark, 118 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,560 it can catch on fire, cause an explosion. 119 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,440 And at one point, in the history of this building, 120 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,000 they actually stopped using it 121 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,240 because there was so much dust being created 122 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,560 and some spontaneous combustion with that dust 123 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,240 that created some issues. 124 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,320 Working inside the mine was even more dangerous. 125 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:04,360 The leading cause of death here at portal 31 126 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:06,040 was by rough falls 127 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,520 and believe it or not, a lot of coal car accidents... 128 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:13,640 ..Of men being run over 129 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,240 or pinned against the rib by a coal cart. 130 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:22,320 The air will kill you, miners could contract black lung. 131 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:26,040 There's a lot of different ways 132 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,640 that a man or woman can perish in a mine. 133 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:33,800 The owners of lynch 134 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,000 refused to compromise the efficiency of their production. 135 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:42,520 No amount of grandiose town planning could make up for the dangers 136 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:44,200 and low wages of mining. 137 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,560 The miners were gearing up for a fight. 138 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:53,680 There was always conflict between miners and owners 139 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,000 and the owners often responded to that conflict 140 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,800 with overwhelming force. 141 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,440 Skirmishes broke out across Harlan county. 142 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:08,000 This is where battles between the coal companies 143 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:11,680 and the miners came to a head. 144 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,280 We had these clashes between miners fighting for more rights 145 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:19,880 and owners trying to keep up production and keep wages low. 146 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,280 In lynch rumour has it that the violence didn't end there. 147 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:30,840 One eye witness told Nick sturgill 148 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,000 what she believes she saw back in the 1930s. 149 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:38,520 She would be sitting out on the porch 150 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:43,120 and company officials would walk or ride up black mountain 151 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,120 with known union members or union sympathisers, 152 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:48,480 what have you, 153 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,680 and after a few minutes she would hear gunshots 154 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,200 and a few minutes later the company officials 155 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:58,880 would come down the mountain and they would come alone. 156 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:03,120 No one knows for sure what happened in those troubled times 157 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,160 but the mine owners eventually quashed the discord. 158 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,960 And the enormous underground complex at lynch 159 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,000 continued to produce coal for many more years. 160 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,080 Total mileage of tunnels in this mine, 161 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:19,560 if I had to guess, 162 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,680 would be upwards or exceed 1,000 miles. 163 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,680 During the height of us steel's operations 164 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,560 here at portal 31 on any given day, 165 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:35,960 you would have approximately 1,500 men on one shift. 166 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,960 But this boom time couldn't last forever. 167 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:46,280 The last piece of coal left the colossal portal 31 in 1963. 168 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,320 And the other mines in lynch closed during the following decades. 169 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,280 Us steel pulled out of here 170 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,720 simply because they pretty much mined out 171 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,920 what they could mine easily and economically 172 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:05,120 but also because, you know, this coal was needed for steel. 173 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:08,760 Well, you know, in the last few decades 174 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,120 steel is really not in demand like it used to be 175 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:16,640 during world wars or during the industrial revolution 176 00:12:16,680 --> 00:12:20,280 or the building of skyscrapers or anything like that, 177 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,640 so this grade of coal is just not sought after 178 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:25,440 as it once was. 179 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:28,480 By the late '80s, 180 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:33,120 the economics were changing and the mines eventually shut down. 181 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,560 In those 46.5 years, 182 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:42,120 us steel they mined approximately 120 million tonnes of coal here. 183 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,720 Today, this ghost town echoes 184 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,360 with the memories of the industrious residents 185 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:54,720 who mined this land. 186 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,400 A lot of people tend to forget the blood sweat and tears, 187 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,360 the struggle that these men put up with every single day 188 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,360 to bring this rock out of the ground. 189 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,480 In the city of cobi in Japan, 190 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,160 buildings stand tightly packed together 191 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,480 but one empty structure looms above the rest. 192 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,800 Right at the edge of the city, suddenly the buildings stop 193 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,840 and this hill just climbs up away from you. 194 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,800 It's heavily wooded with very, very dense foliage 195 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:43,520 and so it's really extraordinary 196 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:47,680 to find in the middle of it, this striking decrepit building. 197 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,840 It's like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, 198 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:56,800 where its half man made and half just taken over by nature. 199 00:13:57,560 --> 00:13:59,200 The only way to reach it 200 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,120 is to step on board the old funicular railway. 201 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:09,200 Translator: "Above here there's a structure that's about 90 years old. 202 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,240 "The building sits on top of a very high precipice. 203 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:18,560 "With an incredible view over the whole of cobi city." 204 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,680 The unrivalled position the site holds 205 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,720 was matched only by its elaborate interiors. 206 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,320 The decoration here is fantastic, 207 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,240 it's so many brilliant details 208 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:40,280 and you can tell in it's time this place must have been 209 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:44,240 absolutely amazing but now it is falling to pieces. 210 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:50,136 Translator: "The building has suffered 211 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,360 "with all sorts of events over the years." 212 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,120 It really looks like it's been through wars or hell, 213 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,960 but the question is, what ended this place? 214 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:13,880 From the top of the railway on Mayan mountain, 215 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,760 a solitary path leads towards the old abandoned structure. 216 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,960 Utsumi kenichi works for the heritage group 217 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,480 now in charge of the building. 218 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,880 Translator: "Originally, Mayan mountain was a religious site. 219 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:42,600 "Then a large temple called tennoji temple was built here 220 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,080 "and it needed a funicular to bring all the materials up. 221 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:49,960 "After that many visitors used the funicular 222 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,760 "to come up to worship, 223 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,880 "so this structure was built to welcome them when they arrived." 224 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:04,520 The original art deco features point to the early ambition 225 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,360 of this place which opened in 1929. 226 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:14,080 Translator: "In Japan at that time, art deco was seen as futuristic, 227 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,200 "it was the latest cultural import from the west 228 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:19,880 "and this building reflects that fashionable trend." 229 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,520 There's a lot of enthusiasm about the future 230 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:27,120 and a lot of the design aesthetic 231 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:31,240 really reflects that machine age perspective. 232 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,720 You see it in New York, in Paris, in London 233 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:37,000 with these beautiful lines 234 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,840 trying to imitate the same clean lines 235 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:42,920 of a locomotive or an aeroplane. 236 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,320 That style, you see it all over Japan 237 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,600 and that enthusiasm is expressed in this building as well. 238 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:56,816 Translator: "Over there around the stage, 239 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,880 "it's designed with curves, that's the style. 240 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:02,760 "If I had been alive at the time, 241 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,560 "I would have loved to have seen it in all it's glory." 242 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,360 This vision of modernity was the Maya club. 243 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,760 Boasting public baths, a restaurant and a theatre. 244 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:18,040 This was a destination in its own right. 245 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,360 Translator: "This is the screening room, 246 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,040 "it used to be a cinema where they showed films every day. 247 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:33,240 "Chandeliers hung from the ceiling. 248 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,480 "And there was a red carpet on the floor, 249 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,920 "this was a place where people in Kobe came to enjoy themselves. 250 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,320 "Those people who visited weren't rich or anything, 251 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:49,800 "this place was for everyone." 252 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:02,800 It was built on the promise of a prosperous future 253 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,920 but the rumble of war which could be heard in the distance 254 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,320 began to threaten the hilltop haven. 255 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:12,760 Those rooms that had been packed, 256 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:14,360 the grand dining hall, 257 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,560 the entertainment room, once filled with people, 258 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:22,000 slowly began to quieten and empty out. 259 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,880 During the early decades of the 20th century, 260 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,280 Japan had been pursuing a policy of imperial expansion. 261 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:35,720 They entered world war ii 262 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,760 after attacking the us in December 1941, 263 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:41,680 Japan's mainland cities 264 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,440 were in direct line of fire 265 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,200 when the us fought back 266 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,760 most infamously in 1945. 267 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:53,640 The skies above Kobe were filled with us bombers. 268 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,000 Tonnes of explosives were dropped on the city. 269 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,640 So in the last few months of the war, 270 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:05,960 the city is devastated. 271 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:09,280 Almost 9,000 people 272 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,840 and three square miles of Kobe were obliterated. 273 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,000 The destruction went right to the foot of Mayan mountain. 274 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:21,520 The club itself escaped the worst of the carnage 275 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,600 and amid the devastating aftermath of war, 276 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:26,600 it would soon prove invaluable. 277 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:34,680 Translator: "So this was the guest room floor 278 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,520 "for the original facility. 279 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,200 "After the war, soldiers who came back from overseas 280 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:45,080 "and those people who lost their homes in Kobe 281 00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:47,160 "began living here in these rooms." 282 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:58,320 So the site is turned into a kind of barracks 283 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:00,720 and they can use this as a base 284 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,000 from which they search for their lost family members 285 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,200 amidst the devastation of what used to be Kobe. 286 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,160 Their task, their terrible task 287 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:14,120 was to try to find in all of the rubble their families 288 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,960 and their lives and to try and put those back together. 289 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:26,760 After somehow, making it through to the other side of the war years, 290 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,160 for this building there was hope for a brighter future. 291 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,120 Yes, it was damaged and derelict 292 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,560 but actually throwing a little bit of money at it, 293 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:38,840 it could be bought back to it's glory days 294 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,720 but with a slight twist as a hotel. 295 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,080 The whole site's been restored to it's former glory, 296 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:48,720 it's vibrant, it's luxurious 297 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:53,000 and people can once again enjoy these magnificent views of the city. 298 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,040 But as the damaged writ large across the building 299 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,720 shows this story had no fairy-tale ending. 300 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,400 Just when it looked as it's future was assured, 301 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,120 disaster struck again. 302 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:16,320 The year was 1967, the storm was typhoon Billy. 303 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,680 A typhoon hits Kobe, killing hundreds 304 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,400 and causing catastrophic mudslides, 305 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,640 those mudslides damage the building beyond repair, 306 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:31,976 it probably could have been fixed 307 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,280 but the new owners, the cost was just too much, 308 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:35,840 so it's abandoned again. 309 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:39,440 It had a second life but it was painfully brief. 310 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,480 Translator: "Those mud slides came inside here, 311 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,200 "it was such a mess that they couldn't run it as a hotel anymore." 312 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:54,480 While the site has seen 313 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,880 a few other short lived uses through the years, 314 00:21:57,920 --> 00:21:59,680 it would never fully recover 315 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,320 from this devastating natural catastrophe. 316 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:11,720 Now, being watched over by 317 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,160 the Mayan mountain revitalisation association, 318 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,280 the building is about to enter a new phase. 319 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:26,000 Translator: "I was born and bred in this city. 320 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,280 "And this building has always been here, 321 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,680 "I believe tangible things will eventually return to nature. 322 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,440 "So I want to protect them." 323 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,560 In a blustery, Scottish estuary, 324 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,080 a world famous structure spans the deep waters. 325 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:06,160 The first thing you notice 326 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,720 is this big red giant of engineering. 327 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,360 This is a very dangerous place to build a bridge. 328 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:17,120 It towers over a craggy outcrop. 329 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:22,480 In the middle of this enormous estuarial river, 330 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,400 you find this tiny rocky island. 331 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,800 There's all sorts of things tucked away around the edges, 332 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,800 there's quite a lot going on. 333 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,760 An insignificant structure at the base of the bridge 334 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,960 could hold a clue to this small island's importance. 335 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,000 And its link to a fatal disaster that rocked a nation. 336 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,640 This waterway is known as the firth of forth. 337 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,800 The size and depth of this estuary 338 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,760 made it Scotland's most important trade artery for centuries. 339 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,560 Sitting below the forth bridge, 340 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,000 is the abandoned island of inchgarvie. 341 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:12,760 Historian, Ron Morris, 342 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,200 has been studying the site for decades. 343 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:21,200 We are approaching inchgarvie and it's about 500 yards long 344 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,840 and just maybe 30 yards wide at it's widest point. 345 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,480 It looks a very small island 346 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,440 but has a wealth of history attached to it. 347 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,440 Inchgarvie translates as rough island 348 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,120 and this place really lives up to the name. 349 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,840 The currents are terrible, the waves crash into it, 350 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,520 it's cold, terrifying and claustrophobic. 351 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:55,400 Evidence suggests inchgarvie had been inhabited since the late 1400s. 352 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,440 That's, you know, the early mortar 353 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:05,200 from 500 years ago 354 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,240 and it's still holding good today. 355 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,560 People have been building here, 356 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:18,080 clearly with an eye to defending this bare rocky island. 357 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:24,080 In the days when the only way to cross this estuary was by boat, 358 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:26,960 inchgarvie was an important staging post. 359 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,520 In 1491, king James of Scotland 360 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,600 granted a local laird the right to build a fort here. 361 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,840 So a castle here fortified with Cannon 362 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,960 could offer a safe Anchorage upriver for mercantile traffic. 363 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:49,800 But inchgarvie's ruins, 364 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,760 show that someone has defended the estuary much more recently. 365 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,840 Newer fortifications date back to world war I. 366 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,480 The first thing you notice is a gun emplacement 367 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:08,200 which is obviously 20th century and the gun battery faces east 368 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:09,840 which would be towards the north sea, 369 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,720 towards the entryway to this estuarial river. 370 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,160 Now see, this is the easternmost 371 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,040 four inch gun position. 372 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,080 There should be a ring of bolts in here 373 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,920 but really covered with the vegetation 374 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,000 which was the holdfast 375 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,240 for the actual four inch quick firing gun. 376 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,160 This was the original living quarters 377 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:33,680 for the original Garrison, 378 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:35,720 which was a very small number of men. 379 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,080 There was only about six or seven men 380 00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:40,960 actually stationed on the island to look after the battery. 381 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,800 Yet the disaster linked to this place 382 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,640 came not through war but in peacetime. 383 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:52,480 40 years earlier, 384 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:54,600 the advancing age of invention, 385 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,720 meant that Scotland's firth of forth had to be conquered. 386 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:06,000 The UK was exploding in trade and transportation. 387 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,800 The railway boom had kicked off, big style 388 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,200 and goods and people were moving all over the UK. 389 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:18,040 But the firth of forth is huge deep water channel, 390 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,360 was an unsurmountable obstruction. 391 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,600 To get from one side to the other, would be a 40 mile detour 392 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,600 or a tricky trip on the ferry. 393 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,320 So they commissioned a bridge but there was a problem. 394 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,120 The depth of the estuary made it very difficult to build. 395 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:42,960 The estuary's about a mile wide here. 396 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,280 It's where the estuary really narrows 397 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:49,440 that we have about 30 fathoms of water depth 398 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:51,320 on either side of inchgarvie. 399 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:54,760 In the 19th century, 400 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,000 inchgarvie was bought by the forth bridge railway company 401 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,200 to provide a foundation for a bridge. 402 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,920 What you see on the surface is just a tenth of it 403 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:11,080 but the geology underneath the water means that rocks extend out. 404 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:18,360 Over millennia, glacial ice scoured away soft layers of rock, 405 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,880 leaving behind hard rocky outcrops like inchgarvie. 406 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:26,680 And that provided a solid foundation 407 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:31,760 in order to get the cantilever for the centre of the firth bridge. 408 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,520 There was a natural column, 409 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:40,320 a stone foundation right there in the middle of the firth of forth, 410 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:44,120 inchgarvie, it was like a gift from the gods. 411 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,040 But an abandoned pier points to a complication. 412 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:54,440 To be quite honest, 413 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,400 people are so taken up with the wonder 414 00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:00,240 of the forth bridge itself that they tend to overlook this. 415 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:03,840 If you look at the bottom of the bridge, 416 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:07,400 there's like a stump as if an extra caisson 417 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,720 had been built and then discarded. 418 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,960 A caisson, is the first step in building a bridge, 419 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,920 this watertight structure allows the foundations to be laid. 420 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,280 The geology of the region here 421 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:27,240 makes it very hard to successfully build a bridge. 422 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,960 You've got to build caissons, 423 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,400 float them to just the right spot 424 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,800 and then sink them deeply on to the sea floor 425 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:41,600 in order to build the footings for the bridge. 426 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:43,760 Here on the island, 427 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,240 we can see that somebody has started to put caissons down. 428 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,120 The explanation for the abandoned caisson 429 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,040 lies 30 miles north. 430 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,560 On another windy Scottish estuary, the tay. 431 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,120 Here the celebrated engineer Thomas bouch 432 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:06,840 had built the tay bridge. 433 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,880 Sir Thomas bouch, he designs caissons, 434 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:17,280 the ability to sink a ring into a water body 435 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:18,600 and then put concrete inside it, 436 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:20,800 so you can build up these supports. 437 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,960 His next commission was to design another bridge 438 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:26,920 to span the firth of forth. 439 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,840 This brick pier was the first pier 440 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:35,720 that was constructed to hold the first design 441 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,640 of the rail bridge. 442 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,400 And there was to be eight of these piers 443 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,280 in which the centre of the bridge would be supported, 444 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,080 there would be two great spans. 445 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,640 Bouch's new design was hailed as the wonder of the age. 446 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,320 Until the howling winds of Scotland 447 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,920 sent dozens of helpless souls in to the waters. 448 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:04,840 One night, the wind got up really quite strong, 449 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:08,720 so a big, big load from sort of horizontal direction 450 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,520 pushing against the tay bridge 451 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,040 that sir Thomas bouch hadn't accounted for. 452 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:20,240 The central section of the tay bridge collapsed. 453 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:23,720 The train continued to carry on 454 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,080 and plunged back into the water. 455 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,920 More than 70 people died in the tay estuary that night. 456 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,400 This was bad news for the forth bridge. 457 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,320 The future of that new rail bridge was now in doubt. 458 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,480 Could they continue building the bridge 459 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:50,560 using the design of this now disgraced architect 460 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,760 or should they abandon the project? 461 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,360 Well, they decided to scrap it. 462 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,560 All you can see now and what's left behind 463 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,280 is one pillar sticking up out of the sea. 464 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,760 Thomas bouch was devastated, 465 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,000 his reputation was ruined 466 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,280 and he never recovered and he died a disgrace. 467 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:17,680 A few years later, a new bridge was commissioned 468 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,400 and it still stands to this day. 469 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,840 The forth bridge is now one of three to span the estuary. 470 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:35,400 If any structure was described as the eighth wonder of the world. 471 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,640 And if it wasn't for the presence of inchgarvie, 472 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,840 we could never have had the forth bridge built. 473 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,040 In the north of the mediterranean island 474 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:53,400 of sardinia 475 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:57,520 is the imperious granite massive of monte limbara. 476 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,520 You ascend up this winding steep mountain road 477 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:10,160 until you reach the peak 478 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:11,880 and then in a clearing, 479 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,600 these six massive structure appear out of nowhere. 480 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,720 All of a sudden, you see this compound 481 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:25,000 of massive antennas pointing off in all directions. 482 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,960 Some very large and ambitious communications centre was built here 483 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:32,720 but what was it for? 484 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,240 At almost 4,500 feet above sea level, 485 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,000 this mountain creates its own micro climate. 486 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:44,840 This place is at high altitude. 487 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,040 The weather can turn on a knife edge, 488 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,160 one minute it's brilliant sunshine 489 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:53,720 and the next, you're enveloped by cloud. 490 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,120 They must have had an excellent reason 491 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:02,600 to want to build this kind of very ambitious high tech facility 492 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:04,080 in exactly this spot. 493 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:09,480 Inside you have row upon row of electronics equipment, 494 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,480 massive generators, living quarters 495 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,680 and of course, these six huge dishes. 496 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:17,080 Whoever built this 497 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,800 had access to some serious resources. 498 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:25,960 Kept top secret for decades, 499 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,600 speculation over the type of operations that took place here 500 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:31,280 has always been rife. 501 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,080 And rumours still abound. 502 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,920 The locals have no details, 503 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:41,560 so the locals make up their own stories 504 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:45,480 to explain this mysterious hulking presence 505 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:46,880 on top of the mountain. 506 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:03,240 Marcello moretto remembers well what this site looked like years ago. 507 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:09,656 Translator: "It is rather weird to see it today 508 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:10,976 "but at the time it was abandoned, 509 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,200 "it was left in perfect working condition 510 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:16,680 "even though, of course, it was no longer in use." 511 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:20,240 He works for an environmental agency 512 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,840 now trying to clean up the noxious mess 513 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:25,040 left by this decaying infrastructure. 514 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:30,840 Translator: "From an environmental standpoint, 515 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:33,120 "especially from a forestry standpoint, 516 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:36,760 "this is a dump of basically iron materials." 517 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:42,360 This is built at the top of a mountain, 518 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:45,520 everything that happens up here flows downstream. 519 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:49,640 And as this place starts to disintegrate, 520 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,080 it becomes a toxic threat to people living down below. 521 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,200 The long term environmental impact 522 00:35:58,240 --> 00:36:01,560 was the last thing on the minds of those constructing this complex 523 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:03,200 back in 1966. 524 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:09,520 When the world was split by two bitterly opposed ideologies. 525 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,200 It is no exaggeration to say 526 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:21,080 that this is a moment when the NATO countries, 527 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,440 the United States and its European allies 528 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:27,920 are convinced that at any moment, the Soviets are going to attack. 529 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:35,280 This place is born out of a very real expectation... 530 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:41,520 ..That the cold war is going to turn in to world war III, any day. 531 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,760 Both sides knew they needed excellent communications, 532 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:50,560 both to know what was happening 533 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,320 but also potentially to prevent a misfire, you know, 534 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,160 to prevent a false alarm. 535 00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:00,840 These six vast dishes date back to that time. 536 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:07,000 Inside, rusting machinery reveals the identity of their owners. 537 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,200 Built by the us air force, 538 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:14,840 this was one of NATO's most secret radio communication centres, 539 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,200 the monte limbara station 540 00:37:17,240 --> 00:37:20,360 was designed to plug a weak spot in NATO defences. 541 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,000 NATO's southern flank, 542 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:29,320 that is the NATO countries facing south 543 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,360 towards north Africa 544 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,960 was always the soft underbelly of NATO, 545 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,360 it was always a place where the Soviets, 546 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,240 where their allies might be able to strike. 547 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:48,160 The location of this facility reveals NATO's clandestine intention. 548 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,120 The island of sardinia is beautifully placed 549 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:56,760 for this kind of communication. 550 00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,360 For one thing, you're sitting in the mediterranean 551 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:01,000 between Italy and Spain. 552 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:05,360 To the east, it points to a similar station in Naples, 553 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,520 to the west, to the island of menorca 554 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:09,040 off the coast of Spain 555 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:12,560 and via those ultimately around the world. 556 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:19,760 This station was part of a vast network, 557 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,080 capable of transmitting crucial classified messages 558 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:24,800 over thousands of miles. 559 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:27,720 Until the 1950s, 560 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:30,960 radio communication beyond the curvature of the earth 561 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,840 which blocked the signal was impossible. 562 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,200 The ultra high frequency devices 563 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:40,480 and abandoned technology found here show how this was overcome. 564 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:45,480 This was a microwave communications base 565 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,000 that used microwaves to communicate 566 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:52,040 by using the troposphere part of the atmosphere 567 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,280 to send microwaves over the horizon 568 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:59,600 and the best way to communicate long distances 569 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,800 at this time was called troposcatter or tropospheric scatter. 570 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:07,800 With the invention of troposcatter, 571 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,240 stations like monte limbara 572 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,400 could transmit to a receiver station 573 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:13,920 out of the line of sight 574 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,600 by using particles six miles up in the earth's lower atmosphere 575 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:20,120 to reflect microwave signals. 576 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,040 That system can amplify the signal, 577 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:25,640 send it up again and repeat the process. 578 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:28,760 So instead of sending your radio signal, you know, 579 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:34,080 30, 40, 50 miles, now you can send it 250 miles. 580 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:39,000 That meant fewer costly relay stations 581 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:41,680 and much faster long distance communication. 582 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:48,240 We were ready to coordinate the nuclear forces 583 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:52,240 that were going to have to smash a Soviet advance 584 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:53,440 into Western Europe. 585 00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,840 The amount of communication and coordination 586 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:03,640 that was required by the supreme headquarters, 587 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,920 allied powers in Europe by NATO, 588 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:11,400 by the vast American commitment to defending Europe, 589 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:15,560 all of that required an immense amount of coordination. 590 00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:23,720 Thankfully, they never had to but the fact that we were ready 591 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:26,720 maybe is part of the reason on both sides 592 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,160 why the cold war never turned hot. 593 00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:32,400 Yet legend has it, 594 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,480 this base did play an active role in war. 595 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,800 A us fighter bomber was supposedly guided 596 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:42,120 by monte limbara antennae on a controversial mission. 597 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:48,200 In 1986, a disco in Berlin is bombed 598 00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:50,120 by Libyan sponsored terrorists 599 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:52,240 and American servicemen are involved. 600 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:56,920 President Reagan orders muammar gaddafi, 601 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:01,000 the Libyan dictator that his family compound 602 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,360 be bombed by American aircraft. 603 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,920 Gaddafi's private residence was struck 604 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,600 and dozens of civilians were also killed. 605 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:16,520 The claim that the station facilitated the strike, however, 606 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:18,000 remains unproven. 607 00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:27,200 Even as the iron curtain was lifting across Europe, 608 00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:29,960 it hadn't yet outlived its usefulness. 609 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:37,760 As late as the first Gulf war in 1991, 610 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:39,840 this system was still very much in use 611 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:43,640 and useful during that period when all kinds of secure traffic 612 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,680 had to travel around the mediterranean and Europe. 613 00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:53,520 The monte limbara station was finally retired in 1993. 614 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:57,840 It had been made obsolete by satellite communications 615 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,280 which communicate with any point on the planet. 616 00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:04,080 When the us forces left, 617 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,640 it was like they just vanished into thin air, 618 00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:09,480 but what they left behind wasn't just documents, 619 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:13,760 machinery and equipment, it was an ecological nightmare. 620 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,840 For the locals, there was one final insult. 621 00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:26,080 There's this revelation of exactly how much the us paid 622 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:27,800 the Italian government 623 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:31,880 for the use of this mountain top site for 27 years. 624 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:34,840 Just five lira a year. 625 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:39,360 That's less than $1. 626 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:50,040 Environmentalists like marcello moretto 627 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,080 are attempting to clean up monte limbara 628 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:56,800 and transform into a place of historical significance. 629 00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:02,856 Translator: "We would like this place to become a museum 630 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:04,360 "about the cold war, 631 00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,480 "a museum of industrial and military archaeology, 632 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:09,560 "it would have its own importance." 633 00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:12,960 In a more recent turn of events, 634 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,680 tropospheric scattering is experiencing a resurgence. 635 00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:19,480 And military experts see renewed potential 636 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:21,120 for sites like this. 637 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:26,160 As NATO weakens 638 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:30,720 in the face of American disinterest, 639 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:34,440 as Russia becomes more powerful, 640 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:36,760 it is not difficult to see a scenario 641 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:42,160 in which someone desiring to dominate the mediterranean 642 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,520 could deploy anti-satellite weapons. 643 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:49,160 And could create a situation 644 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:52,320 in which this mountain top might again be useful 645 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:54,000 as a communication station. 646 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:57,040 Captioned by ai-media ai-media. TV 53334

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