All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S08E01.Heroes.And.Villains.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates):
Abandoned, but not forgotten.

Neglected, yet
known the world over.

Sites made famous
by global icons.

It was here where
someone truly became known

as the greatest.

Where the repressed
took a stand for justice...

It's not just a place of infamy

but a place of regeneration,
of reconciliation.

..Where leaders inspired
generations to follow...

When you know who spoke here,

you feel a certain
weight of history.

..Where revered heroes
revealed their darker sides.

It was whispered
that men practiced

all manner of black magic and
satanic rights in these caves.

Whether championed or condemned,
they've left a lasting legacy,

these are the top 5 abandoned
haunts of heroes and villains.

Decaying relics.

Ruins of lost worlds.

Sites haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

(Eerie music)

At number 5

in the Democratic
republic of the Congo

are the remains of
an outlandish legacy.

At the entrance of this complex

is this really peculiar
looking Chinese pagoda.

Whoever originally created this

obviously did so
at great expense.

There's also a
more stately building

and you wonder

whether it was commissioned
and built to house

very important visitors.

Nearby in the country's
capital Kinshasa

stands a rundown stadium

that once grabbed
the world's attention.

This site in the heart
of tropical Africa,

one of the greatest sports
heroes of the 20th century

took centre stage.

What World-Wide spectacle
connects the heroic gladiators

who fought here

to one of Africa's
most despotic leaders?

Kazuza bin kandolo has
worked here since the 1970s.

(Speaking in foreign language)

This grand edifice
was built by a man

who seized power in 1965

just five years after
the Congo broke

from colonial rule.

His name was Joseph
Desiree mobutu.

Coming out of the chaos

of the post-colonial era,

arose this new country
with a new name Zaire

and a new leader mobutu
who at first seemed like

a very inspiring
man of the people.

Mobutu was determined to bring

his newly independent country
of Zaire to global attention.

To his people mobutu
was a saviour of sorts,

he was supposed to help them
and guide them on this new path

but it wouldn't be long

before their opinions
of him would change.

Mobutu was a man who
would stop at nothing for power.

And the first signs of his
increasing megalomania

are scattered around this site.

He wanted a conference
centre, housing blocks,

foreign dignitaries were
going to come from all over,

he even had a four Lane
highway built to it from the airport.

(Speaking foreign language)

This is nesela palace,
mobutu's presidential domain.

Covering almost 2,000 acres

the compound is overlooked
by the magnificent pagoda,

allegedly paid for
by the Chinese.

He has a certain
type of politics

in that alignment where
he really is just looking

to attract resources to Zaire

and he's not really caring
where it's coming from.

Mobutu lured vips
from all over the world

with the luxuries on
offer at this bizarre retreat.

But he also presented
himself as a man of the people.

(Speaking foreign language)

What was meant to be a
show of power and wealth

and tremendous natural resources
and beauty actually disguised

things that were
far more terrifying.

Behind the scenes,

mobutu was said to
be committing atrocities

such as rape and torture.

But he still wanted to
attract international attention.

In 1974 mobutu hatched a plan

to use a fallen sports
hero to do just that

and his now abandoned
presidential domain

would provide the perfect
facade to hue his ambition.

He came up with a
perfect idea for an event

that could do just that,

that would really draw the
eyes of the world on to Zaire.

Mobutu found what he
wanted in an unexpected arena,

the world of heavyweight boxing.

When it was announced

that Muhammad Ali and George
foreman were going to fight,

mobutu stepped forward

volunteering the
country of Zaire.

The people's president
stopped at nothing

to get what he wanted.

Despite the fact

that people throughout
Zaire were starving,

each of the fighters was
going to get paid $5 million.

Mobutu cared far more
about how Zaire was perceived

by the west

then he did about the
sufferings of his own people.

It's going to be a big,
big, big surprise this fight,

big surprise, big shock,

I'll be declared as the
greatest of all times, listen.

The name that came
up with for the fight

was the rumble in the jungle.

Mobutu ensured his
compound would be fit for a king.

And he invited both Ali and
foreman to dine with him in this palace.

The boxers lived and
trained in buildings

at the edge of the compound

where the press were invited

to watch them
prepare for the fight.

They worked hard,

every day to be ready
for this Titanic contest.

The people of Zaire adored
Muhammad Ali for his love of Africa.

I fight in Africa because
I'm fighting in my homeland,

america's not my original homeland,
my original homeland is Africa.

But back in the us Ali
had fallen from grace.

Many people had
loved Muhammad Ali

because of his skill in the
boxing ring and his bravado.

But he was also villainised

by some for his outspoken ways

for his resistance
to the Vietnam draft

and for his association
with the nation of islam.

This fight is really
important for Ali

because it's a chance for
redemption quite literally.

But at seven years younger,

George foreman was
a formidable opponent.

And the favourite to win.

Muhammad Ali was
having none of it.

Only last week I murdered
a rock in to a stone,

hospitalised a brick, I'm so
mean I make medicine sick.

I'm bad, fast.

Then, things took
a dramatic turn.

During training George foreman
gets a horrible cut above his eye.

The bout cannot happen
until that cut heals.

Mobutu refused to let foreman

leave the country for treatment,

he was worried that once
he left he'd never return.

The compound was
teaming with the world's press

and mobutu ensured he
controlled what they saw.

And with the fight
fast approaching,

his efforts extended
beyond its walls.

The contest would take place
in the capital's largest stadium.

Mobutu was determined to show

his country as a
crime free paradise,

he sent a gruesome
warning to its criminals

to ensure no
foreigners were attacked

while the world's
press was watching.

He rounds up 1,000 criminals,

they're housed in the...

In the bowels of the stadium

and then 100 of them are
selected and executed, randomly.

The boxers and the press were
unaware of mobutu's brutality,

below the very stadium

where the fight
would soon take place.

On the night of
October 30, 1974,

the two men met in
the ring at 4.30am.

Mobutu himself actually
didn't attend the fight

because he was afraid

that he might be
assassinated in public.

Ex-boxer kadima
Ibrahim was there.

Along with most of the
60,000 strong crowd,

he was rooting for Ali.

(Speaking in foreign language)

A global TV audience
of almost a billion

watched as the bell rang
out and the two titans collided.

Ali called that
strategy rope a dope,

he didn't look like
he was really fighting,

he was just allowing
himself to get pummelled.

For seven punishing rounds,

Ali absorbed foreman's
murderous barrages.

Having been on the
ropes for most of the match

he looked set to lose.

But by round 8
foreman was tiring.

Ali seized his chance.

Victory here changed
everything for Muhammad Ali.

After this fight Ali was seen

as an American champion,

he had been despised and
loathed though much of the '60s

but suddenly he was a
Victor for the American people

and he was even
invited to the white house.

Back in the Congo in 1997,

mobutu was finally overthrown

and his palace ransacked
in the ensuing chaos.

He fled the country taking
millions of dollars with him.

Today, the shattered
presidential domain

and shabby stadium
are fitting monuments

to Joseph mobutu's corrupt rule.

But these buildings will
always be associated

with Muhammad Ali's
sporting greatness.

This is a site

that epitomises the
contrast of history.

On one side you
have a terrible villain,

a person guilty of
tremendous crimes

and on the other
side you have a hero,

a man who stood
up for his principles

and who fought one way or
another, every day of his life.

At number 4, a depraved
subterranean world

that attracted a man
known as the first American.

There's this incredible
gothic entrance.

But you end up in these
sinister looking caves.

Dark chambers with
heavy metal gates,

almost like cells
are hidden away.

Here just 60 miles from
London an elite group

gathered to indulge in dark arts

and to perform
scandalous pagan rituals.

It's a place of legend,

world famous for the
debauched gatherings

that took place here.

There was one very
famous American

who was prepared to travel a
rather long way to join the party.

What stories make
these caves so infamous

and how would one of
america's founding fathers

become embroiled
in the controversy?

The origins of these
subterranean passageways

date back to the mid-1700s.

Jack orr is a
historian at the site.

These caves go a quarter
of a mile underground

and it's completely
100% man made.

This underground Warren is
known as the hellfire caves,

home to one of the
most secretive societies

in British history.

The hellfire club

was made up of some
of the most famous

and respected men of the age,

it was whispered
that men practiced

all manner of black magic and
satanic rights in these caves.

It wasn't just dark
satanic worship

they also knew how to party.

Women were
brought in from London

to join the frolics
dressed as nuns

and comely local
nymphs were hired

and allegedly laid out on alters

so men could lick holy
wine from their navels.

(Dramatic music)

In the hellfire club's days

there would have
been curtains across

and beds inside this chamber.

If you look at the back wall,

we still have the
original tally marks

from where the men
were keeping score

when they took their...

Their prostitutes inside here.

The exclusive
club even attracted

one of the most eminent
men from across the Atlantic.

Benjamin Franklin,

one of the founding
fathers of the United States

would frequently visit the UK
and when he did he would attend

these scandalous
parties deep underground.

Franklin loved the fun
prankish nature of the club

that he found here,

he often wrote home to
his friends in Philadelphia

about the club.

Word of the nefarious
activities of these powerful men

soon leaked out in
to the wider world.

The public outrage took its toll

so in 1776 the club
was closed down.

(Eerie music)

With all his talk of virtue,

Franklin's association
with these caves

was hidden from view

but the hellfire club
left an indelible Mark.

Because of the dark,
debaucherous history

of the hellfire
club they have left

this lingering legacy behind

and now we are meant to be

one of the most haunted
sites in all of england.

(Eerie music)

At number 3, in
Johannesburg South Africa,

is an eerie facility

that once caged a
world changing hero.

If these high thick
walls could talk,

they would talk of injustice.

You get a really
foreboding sense

as you enter in to it

to really wonder what
went on in this site.

Divided into three
sinister compounds,

each of these areas
has a distinct character.

It's bleak and threatening and
designed to be soul destroying.

This is an imposing edifice,

a visible symbol of oppression.

There are watch towers,
there's heavy barbed wire

and there's bolted doors.

But those who were
once trapped here

would go on to
symbolise freedom itself.

It's not just a...

A place of infamy

but a place of regeneration
and reconciliation.

So, what happened
inside these ominous walls

and how did it take
one man from villain

to the world's
most revered hero?

This is constitution hill, a
complex of notorious prisons.

Sibongile mkhabela was
once incarcerated here.

It's really difficult today

to tell you what happened
in these courtyards.

And the cruelty.

As I think to a large extent
the brain kind of shuts it off

otherwise we wouldn't survive.

Constitution hill enforced

a system of strict
racial segregation.

It's strange that I
come back now,

I still feel the anger,
the unfairness.

This is a place where so
many women were held here.

They would become criminals

purely because they
were the wrong colour

and they were criminalised
for who they are.

There must have
been over 60-70 women

all on top of each
other in one small place

that was not even
properly ventilated.

I could hear their noise,
I could hear their pain,

I could feel them.

The first prison was
built here in 1893

but sibongile and many
of her fellow inmates

were victims of racist laws
bought in many years later.

It was known as apartheid.

(Eerie music)

It's defined a
system of segregation

in this country

that extended itself to education
and hospitals and even beaches.

The system of apartheid

that was created was thorough,
it was total, it was complete,

it was absolutely complete.

The black South African
woke up to find himself

a stranger in the
land of his birth.

And so we're going to see

a massive influx of these
people in these prisons.

Today, dawn robertson
runs this 100 acre site

which the apartheid system

turned in to a place of
terror and humiliation.

So, this prison complex

is really a microcosm

of South Africa in
terms of our history.

The prisons were segregated
along apartheid lines.

The buildings of the old fort
held white male prisoners.

Prison number 4
black male prisoners.

While women segregated
inside the building

were held in the specially
built women's block.

The infamous
South African police

trawled the city's
impoverished townships

hunting down those breaking
the country's racist laws.

The people from the townships

would have driven
through this tunnel,

this door would
have been opened up

and they would have
been bought into this space.

They wouldn't know
where they were,

it was in absolute
pitch blackness

and the only light
they would actually see

would be the lights that
came out of these little turrets.

And on the other
side of these turrets

would be wardens with guns.

Ahead of them lay
an uncertain fate.

So, now we are in
number four prison

which is probably the
most notorious prison,

er, in South Africa.

This is the black male prison.

In the 1960s with
apartheid brutally in force,

this place was packed.

Number four was designed to hold

997 prisoners

when it held over 2,000

and so you can get a sense
of how overcrowded it was.

Conditions in number
4 were appalling

but the most
horrific punishments

were carried out in
the prisons hospital.

The law stated that you
could not lash anybody

without the district
surgeon being present

and the district surgeon would
have had his officers up here

so the lashing room was up here.

It was this, this place where,

you know, you would
be lashed and tortured.

This is a space
that is cruel, it's...

It's terrifying and
it's traumatising.

Many were flung
in prison number 4

for contravening an apartheid
policy called the past laws.

The past laws severely limited

the movement of
black South Africans.

This is a legacy of
the slavery period,

anyone caught
without their pass book

could be immediately imprisoned.

And where better
place to imprison them

than behind the thick high
walls of constitution hill.

By far the most famous person to
be held here was Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela
is a key activist,

he becomes very
prominent in the 1940s.

He advocated peaceful resistance

against the national
party's racist laws.

Mandela's policy of
non-violence shifted

following the barbarous
sharpeville massacre.

On march 21, 1960,

in front of the
sharpeville police station

you had around 7,000
black South Africans

who were meeting and amassing.

Police forces responded
to a demonstration

with a hail of
submachine gun fire.

You can just see dozens
of bodies on the ground.

And these people were shot in
the back as they were running,

they were fleeing and these
were peaceful protestors.

In response to this mandela
publicly burned his pass.

Thousands followed,

marching to police stations,
burning their passes.

1962, Nelson
Mandela was arrested

and bought through
the forbidding gates

of constitution hill.

Mandela was not taken down

to the number four prison

where other black male
prisoners were held,

he was rather held up here

in our fort which is
a white male prison.

They didn't want him
to serve as a model

or an inspiration
to other prisoners.

So, this is the courtyard

of mandela's cell
where he was held,

on the right here is
an old hospital ward

and this was the place
where mandela was held.

He talks about the fact

that the guard actually
gave him a hospital bed.

In 1964, mandela was
sentenced to life in prison.

He would not see
freedom again for 26 years.

Nelson Mandela was
finally released in 1990

by which time South Africa
was a very different place.

And 4 years later he
was elected president

in the country's first
multi-racial election.

Mandela's the
father of our nation.

The fact that he was
incarcerated here

is significant,

not many people realise

that this was a very,
very significant space

for him.

While president,

mandela oversaw
plans to turn this site,

once known for its
notorious injustices,

in to the new constitutional
court of South Africa.

It symbolised everything

that we'd been
through as a nation.

Because that's the
place of the worst indignity

that this country has suffered

but it's going to be
the place of hope.

At number 2, in Brazil,

deep in the Amazon rainforest

is a utopian dream
frozen in time.

An American style water
tower dominates the landscape.

And the buildings here wouldn't
look out of place in a mid-western town.

But why build this
remote outpost at all?

The roots of this town
can be traced back

to the technological revolution

at the dawn of the 20th century

and a giant of American
industry, Henry Ford.

Ford's expansion
of the motor industry

was hampered by
a global monopoly

on the rubber he
needed for his tyres.

His answer the problem
was this, fordlandia.

The purpose of
building the town there

would be to create a
rubber tree plantation

in which a large
concentration of rubber trees

could be cultivated and farmed

as a cheap source
of rubber for tyres.

In 1928 Ford began
his ambitious plan

to create the largest
rubber plantation

in the world.

The facilities at fordlandia
were unprecedented

but Henry Ford's insistence

on a puritanical
mid-western lifestyle

didn't go down well.

They weren't allowed
to drink alcohol,

they were expected garden,

attend regular square
dances, eat specific food.

Completely alien to the people
that were living in fordlandia.

Ford's dream quickly
became a repressive nightmare

for the towns' residents

and in 1930 it
reached boiling point.

The workers rebelled
and the Brazilian army

had to be bought in
to restore the peace.

The people of fordlandia

just refused to live
in such a fashion

that was so strict
and draconian.

Ford's bid to industrialise
the biological world,

faired little better.

Packed unnaturally close
together in plantations,

disease spread rapidly
through the rubber trees.

But Ford's high
hopes for fordlandia

finally came crashing down

when synthetic rubber
flooded the market.

In 1945, fordlandia was sold
back to the Brazilian government,

its saw mill, hospital, houses
and streets were abandoned.

For all of Henry Ford's
$20 million dollar investment,

virtually no rubber
was produced.

At number 1, in
Oakland, California

a forgotten gem that holds traces
of a conflicted American hero.

In the midst of
Oakland's urban sprawl

is this massive white building.

It's this huge
hulking structure,

almost like a giant
concrete aircraft hangar.

At first you might mistake it

for a warehouse but
it's too ornate for that.

This is maybe a
stadium of some sort

but it seems pretty
highbrow for a stadium,

there's definitely elements of
Neo classical architecture here.

Once grand niches and statues

are now surrounded
by fencing, graffiti

and boarded up entrances.

As ornate as the outside is,

the inside is in
total disrepair,

it looks like it's been
abandoned for years,

possibly even decades.

You can see seats
that are still intact

but you can see also
trash in other places,

you can see signs
of a very recent fire,

that it's been vandalised
and broken into.

And given the
scale of this place

you have to think that
there were some pretty,

er, iconic figures

who must have spoken
to an audience this large.

The atmosphere
in the whole arena

was alive at all times, it
was like electricity here.

Heroes to some,
villains to others

in a fight that
started as a stand

against police brutality

a group of revolutionaries
took centre stage here

and shook American
society to its core.

Historian Billy Jennings
first came here in the 1960s

to see the godfather of soul.

Nobody had a ticket
and so we decided

we were going to
jump the turnstile,

we were dodging security
and we found empty seats.

Billy would return to
this arena many times

but he was no longer
dodging security.

He was the security
for an organisation

that would take
Oakland by storm.

And it's roots were
sewed here in this arena.

It opened in 1915 as
the Oakland auditorium,

but it wasn't long before
this gathering place

brought the cities racial
divisions into sharp focus.

In the 1920s it actually hosted

a massive ku klux klan rally.

At this rally klan's
members came together

for ceremonial cross burning.

During the second world war,

Oakland's burgeoning shipyards
drew an influx of African Americans

from the south

and in the racially
charged years of the 1960s

tensions between Oakland's
predominantly white police force

and its black
population were sky high.

So, when one of america's
greatest orators took to this stage,

his words fell
on fertile ground.

In late 1962,

Martin Luther King
gave a speech there

commemorating the 100th anniversary
of the emancipation proclamation.

Part of his speech was addressing
the need to boycott local companies

that refused to hire
people of colour.

King's focus that day
was wonder bread,

one of america's most
famous food brands.

King was an incredible
public speaker,

he really knew how
to engage his audience

but he also knew
how to turn a phrase

and he had a good sense of
humour and what he said was,

"we're going to make

"wonder bread wonder
where the money went."

The speech had a dramatic impact

on one young man sitting
in the audience that day.

His name was Bobby seale.

But seale would take a less
mainstream view than king

and he used this stage to
deliver a revolutionary message.

And this passionate fire
brand would soon earn

the unwelcome
attention of the FBI.

Seale was very
moved by king's words

but he took that message
in a different direction

and a few years
later he would found

the revolutionary
group the black panthers

which was
headquartered in Oakland.

That moment, that
speech, that space,

he himself, seale
himself acknowledge

was absolutely
foundational and instrumental

in his own emergence
as an activist.

In 1966, Bobby seale

founded the black panthers
with college friend huey Newton

to tackle the issue
of police brutality.

Following the killing of an
unarmed young black man

in the bay area,

they decided to take
matters into their own hands.

At its core the
black panther party

advocated freedom by
any means necessary.

So, they're carrying
guns in public,

they're wearing leather,
they're wearing berets,

they're wearing black,
they're wearing military boots.

Was their vision radical?

Absolutely.

Were the black panther party members
rightly accused of violent crimes?

Yes, they were.

But and we have to
remember that this is a time

when beatings and
extra judicial murder

of black people
in america were...

Were an everyday experience.

The auditorium and
this area of Oakland

would became the focal point
for a new black power movement

with the panthers at its heart.

But soon huey
Newton was arrested

for the shooting
of a police officer,

an allegation that was
overturned two years later.

In the meantime, in 1968,

Bobby seale and the panthers
descended on the auditorium

to campaign for his release.

This room was more
or less a dressing room,

a green room for
Bobby being back here

in preparation of his speech.

Seal took to this
now dilapidated stage

and reiterated the
black panthers manifesto.

(Applause)

Bobby seale, bring him on.

Bobby seale: Brothers and sisters
I want to tonight have the chance

to tell you in large mass

something about the organising
of a black peoples party

that dealt with black
people's problems.

We want an immediate
end to police brutality

and murder of black people.

(Applause)

That alignment on
that stage right there,

kind of put this Oakland
auditorium on the map.

That bought together an
alignment of black leaders

that america had
never seen before,

after that conference
and during huey's trial,

black panther party
enjoyed a tremendous growth

like we went from
one to two officers

to 40 officers
throughout america.

But with that growth
came unwanted attention.

We had to be aware
of provocateurs,

we had to be aware of people
starting trouble and we had, er,

be aware of undercover police

coming in to start
trouble, you know.

So, we had to be on our
toes when we were down here.

J Edgar hoover, head of the FBI

wasted no time making the
panthers public enemy number one.

And his counter
intelligence programme,

or 'cointelpro',

made the panthers
their number one target.

Cointelpro infiltrated

a range of civil
rights organisations

including mainstream ones like

the southern Christian
leadership conference

that king led.

But they really went after
the panthers with a vengeance.

Seale was soon in court himself

for the famous trial
of the Chicago 7

on trumped up
charges of inciting a riot.

And while in court,

two fellow panthers
were assassinated

by hoover's henchmen.

After seale was
released from the trial

the FBI had him
charged with murder,

again the charges were dropped

and Billy remembers
seale's triumphant

return to this stage in 1971.

He came back to
Oakland as a hero

and when he announced
that he was going to run

for mayor of Oakland
and took off his hat

and threw it in to
the arena as a symbol

of I'm entering this
race that was chilling.

People was electrified, you
know, 'cause one of theirs,

somebody they knew was
going to change the city

and the whole arena went crazy.

The party was starting to turn

towards an embrace
of electoral politics

and doing voter
registration drives.

Seale used the auditorium

to focus on his work
for the community.

On this stage,

Bobby seale, he asked
everybody to get in a single file line

and we had panthers lined up,

maybe about ten panthers
handing out bags of groceries

to people

but at the same time back
here in this area we had, er,

tables set up to
register people to vote.

They tested for
sickle cell anaemia,

they held workshops for young
people known as panther cubs.

Seale narrowly lost
his mayoral campaign

but his efforts bought
about lasting change.

Next election you
had asians running,

you had Mexican
Americans running

and you had women running,
Bobby opened the door.

A young girl who worked out of
my office during the campaign,

she's a house of
representatives right now.

However splits in the
party fostered by the FBI

soon followed and public support
for the panthers gradually declined.

Just over a decade
later the party dissolved

and the Oakland
auditorium later renamed

the kaiser convention centre
experienced a similar decline.

Today, the future of
the Oakland auditorium

maybe uncertain

but the black panther's message
has never been more relevant.

The difference between
the black panther party

and black lives matter is
that we had a programme,

we're not just focused
on the police department,

we were dealing with
hunger, healthcare, education

but we command people
in the black lives matter

for standing up and
doing the right thing.

All power to the people.

(Instrumental music)

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