All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S09E03.The.Beached.Leviathan.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates): A
revolutionary craft in Russia

that sent shock
waves across the west.

It absolutely terrified the
defence department, the CIA,

all of which could
not believe this.

An argentinian experiment
built on a great promise.

Maybe trusting the old Nazi
was not such a good idea.

A mystical complex shrouded
by the Cambodian jungle.

It's almost like the forest
is growing through it

or is the forest
growing it itself?

And an institutional
ruin in america

that offered hope
to its occupants.

It was regarded as a success,

the true story is much darker.

Decaying relics...

Shadows of lost worlds,

ruins haunted by the past...

Their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

In the Russian
republic of dagerstan,

at the edge of the caspian sea

lie the remains of a
secret Soviet project.

Washed up on the beach

is this amazing
strange structure.

It's not a ship but
it's not a plane,

it's some place in between.

And if you ramble around inside,

it's got seats for the
pilot and the co-pilot

and separate compartments
for radar operators

and probably weapons operators.

1.5 mi from the beach
leviathan is another structure

it's connection and purpose
not immediately clear.

It seems to be in the
middle of nowhere.

And how better to keep a secret

than to have it far
away from prying eyes.

At first glance it almost looks
like a vintage airport terminal,

it even has a tower
but it's out in the water

with no obvious or
easy way to reach it.

And when we penetrate
in to the interior

it looks like a
tumble down factory

or some kind of
industrial installation.

What links these
two hulking beasts?

And why did this strange
machine strike fear

in to the hearts of
western governments.

Even the CIA was
a little freaked out

by this Soviet invention.

This decaying machine

was once at the forefront of
Soviet cold war military research.

You can see it was very
high tech piece of equipment,

the cockpit is enormous
with just a mind boggling array

of gauges and controls.

Former pilot, Ali-gadzhi Abdul
spent many years at these controls.

But this is no normal aircraft,

its pilots had to adapt or
face deadly consequences.

Dr you have to be very precise,

it's going to be operated
in a different way

than other aircraft.

There was one accident
where the crew pitched down

and flew like a dart in to the
sea and... and sadly were killed.

The revolutionary
design of this craft

was intended to give the
Soviet military superiority

over their American rivals.

It would do it using a scientific
principle called ground effect.

When a plane flies
very close to the ground

or say to a flat
surface like the ocean

a cushion of air builds up
between that surface and the wing

and that gives the plane
a little bit of extra lift.

Which means you can
float very close to the ground

and at very high
speeds and never touch it

and that's going to make
it much easier to go faster

and further and more
efficiently than ever before.

Prof all the militaries of
the world were looking at this

but it was the Soviets
that really you know,

worked on it intensively
from the 1950s on, why?

'Cause the us
Navy ruled the world

and none of the communist navies
had the resources to go toe to toe

with American carriers.

The clandestine project

was the brain child of
distinguished Russian engineer...

This part plane part ship
is called an ekranoplan.

Testing of the prototype began
on the caspian sea in 1966.

What the Soviets didn't know

was that American spy
satellites were closely monitoring

the secret tests.

When the Americans got
a look at this amazing craft

zooming across the caspian sea

they were really
pretty blown away.

It absolutely terrified the
defence department, the CIA,

all of which could
not believe this.

Its fierce some reputation soon
earned it an ominous nickname.

But the Soviets wanted
something that could go faster

than the caspian sea monster

and they replaced it with
a craft they called the loon

which was this behemoth we see
on the beach of the caspian sea.

In 1987, the lun was
first put through its paces,

at 240ft long it was
almost as big as a jumbo jet

and could travel at speeds
of over 310mi per hour.

The lun is the most
potent of the ekranoplans

and of course it was
impossible for radar at the time

to detect the lun

because again it's flying
so close to the surface

and you've got the use
of advanced missiles.

When NATO commanders got
wind of this craft's development

they all knew exactly
what it was designed for.

To conduct lightning
fast sea born attacks,

the crew of the ekranoplan

needed somewhere to
test its deadly weapons.

Aligadzhi first came
here in the early 1980s.

It was called the
dag diesel plant.

When it was originally built
it also had a military purpose.

In the 1930s, the Soviets
needed a place to test torpedoes

and the caspian sea was
the perfect place to do this.

But this test facility had
actually been abandoned

by the time the ekranoplan
was being tested.

So, they said hey why
don't we fire at this place

which has no more
useful purpose.

So, it becomes a target
for ekranoplans to practise

their missile skills against
potential adversaries.

The fact this structure is
still standing is a testament

to the Soviet brutalism

in built architecture
and design,

these guys did nothing half way,

the walls are 5ft thick, it was
used literally for target practise

by all kinds of different systems
including the ekranoplan for decades

and it still looks like
it's in pretty good shape.

After testing the lun was
declared a huge success

and the Soviet
military had big plans

for their devastating
new weapon of war.

The west could
only look on in fear.

It was an aircraft
carrier killer,

that's what they saw it
as and they were right,

this was a real threat.

If these ekranoplan's had
been deployed on a large scale

and sent against
us carrier groups

they would have inflicted
considerable damage.

Almost certainly.

Yet the father of the
ekranoplan programme

never got to see
this model in action.

The inventor was testing a new
smaller version of an ekranoplan

in 1980

when he met what was
perhaps a very appropriate end.

The craft got out of
control and crashed

and he received fatal injuries

and died two days
later in the hospital.

The ekranoplan's days
were also numbered.

Having never been
called in to battle,

the winds of change
were beginning to blow

and soon the iron curtain
would come crashing down.

By the 1980s the Soviet
union was on its last legs,

it was spending
every dime it had

trying to keep up with
the us in an arms race,

it's economy was falling
further and further behind.

When the Soviet
union fell in 1989, 90

gorbachev basically cut
funding for the ekranoplans

and the few that had been
assembled were just sort of left behind

as white elephants, one of
them here in the caspian sea.

So, it's sort of
heart-breaking in a way

that this experimental
ambitious beautiful,

strangely beautiful craft

was just left to kind
of rot and fall apart.

The abandoned cold war relic
is soon set to have a new home

at a military theme park...

Until construction
of the site is finished

the craft remains strained
in its coastal grave.

In western Argentina on the
chilly waters of lake nahuel huapi

is an island of
secrets and lies.

As you approach
this island it's big.

It's got a lot of tree cover

and it's right in the
middle of the lake

so it is comparatively isolated.

But as you get on to the island

you can see that there's a
number of different buildings.

There are collapsed warehouse
like ruins and industrial remains.

Any hint of their original
purpose has long since vanished.

You've got fairly
bare constructs

but things like
bolts in the ground,

there was something emplaced
there but it's no longer there now.

The buildings weren't
damaged by a natural disaster

or an explosion,

they were systematically
and surgically taken apart.

This was once the site
of a bold experiment.

One led by a man that
claimed his work could transform

the fortunes of
an entire country.

And there is every indication

that this might be
one of the big brains

who is going to make Argentina
even more powerful in the future.

Fabian kandel
is a local guide...

He's been bringing visitors
to this mysterious island

for the last 10 years.

When construction
first started in 1949

outsiders were
strictly forbidden.

In the late 1940s Argentina
was a largely agricultural nation.

President Juan peron wanted
the country to industrialise...

At the end of the second world
war he ceased an opportunity

to exploit the
fallen third reich.

Dr Juan peron tries to get
as many Nazi scientists,

Nazi engineers, Nazi builders

to come to Argentina

and help make Argentina
more technologically advanced.

In 1948,

Nazi physicist doctor Ronald
Richter arrived in Argentina

allegedly using a fake passport

supplied by the
Argentine government.

The president invited
doctor Richter to Argentina

to potentially talk about
powering plans with nuclear power,

but doctor Richter wanted
to talk about something else.

Richter wanted to begin a project
that would transform Argentina

in to a major super power.

What Richter is
pitching is far bigger

than a nuclear powered aircraft.

What Richter is pitching

is the power of
the sun and stars

at the service of the
Argentine government,

hydrogen fusion.

Prof now, nuclear fusion's
the holy grail if you will

because in principle it can
generate huge vast amounts of power

and also the bi-products
of it are not very radioactive.

Nuclear fusion is the
opposite of nuclear fission,

the destructive power
that fuels the atomic bomb.

Instead of splitting an
atom to create energy,

atoms are smashed together.

The reaction produces

a self-sustaining
limitless source of power

no other country had yet
come close to achieving.

The problem with
nuclear fusion in a nutshell

it's really, really hard to do.

Richter was trying
essentially to bottle the sun.

For peron, the risk
was worth the reward.

There'd be no need for
the combustion engine,

you wouldn't have to wait for a
very sunny day for solar power

or a very windy
day for wind power,

it would go a long way
to solve our energy crisis.

If Richter can produce
hydrogen fusion for Argentina

then Argentina becomes
the energy capital of the world

and the industrial
capital of the world.

This is island, once a top
secret nuclear fusion lab

with the potential to
alter the course of history.

Peron offers Richter a
billion Argentine pesos

and that was a lot of money,

he's effectively allowing
Richter to spend anything,

unlimited budget virtually.

And it's an interesting fact
that in order to get nuclear fusion

you actually need a lot of
energy and a lot of power

so Richter himself would need
to have a big power station,

he would need to be able to
generate large amounts of power

in order to try and get
the reaction to happen.

Estimates suggest Richter used

up to 40,000 freight car loads
of bricks, stones and concrete.

In just two years,

Richter's project racked up
a bill of 200 million pounds.

Peron needs to keep
the news of his investment

in hydrogen fusion under his hat

because the last thing
peron wants is uncle Sam

coming down to South
America and stopping him.

So, Richter had
built this reactor

but for him he said

the key part of it was this
thing called the thermatron

which was the thing that
generated the vast amounts of energy

to cause nuclear fusion.

But doctor Richter kept
the design of his thermatron

a closely guarded secret.

In February 1951, Richter told
peron his revolutionary machine

had successfully
demonstrated fusion.

On the 24 march, 1951,

just two years after
the project started,

president peron announced
to the world's media

that Argentina had managed
to achieve nuclear fusion.

But not everyone was convinced
by peron's bold declaration.

The international scientific
community is sceptical.

One guy can't do this,

a little economy can't do this.

So, after the announcement
clearly reporters and scientists

really wanted to get
on the island to find out

but even after a year they
weren't allowed access

and Richter had not
provided any evidence

for what he claimed he'd done.

And peron has got to
find out what's going on.

Peron has trusted
Richter implicitly

and maybe trusting the old
Nazi was not such a good idea.

The failed project was
immediately cancelled

and the island abandoned.

Richter goes from
being the leading man

in Argentine science

to nobody.

And he was forced to retire
and live the rest of his life out

in Buenos Aires in disgrace
really his name was in tatters.

In the following years
the buildings were stripped

and... and some of them were
actually destroyed completely.

Richter's fraud was a
national embarrassment

and one of the costly
scientific deceptions in history.

Despite the failure and the
fraud of the huemul project,

it wasn't completely worthless.

In the 1970s huemul island was
used by the argentinian military

for bombing and target practise.

But today, it faces
a brighter future.

In Georgia, usa, lies a
facility strangled by the forest.

You're in a pretty built up area
but then there's this one spot

that it is wooded, overgrown,

cutzo is covering everything

and in the middle of it there's
this compound ruins really.

You can no longer
tell what this was

but you can clearly see

that it's been empty
for a long period of time.

Other remains here have better
survived the ravages of time.

Inside they offer a glimpse
of what this place once was.

The buildings that
are intact are creepy,

you've got these long corridors,

they are very, very dark,
there's a lot of metal.

You see some doors with bars,

you see something that
suggests an institutional nature.

This complex once
stood as a beacon of hope

for the people that came here.

The authorities were
more than happy

to push this narrative but
the reality was far different.

Scott Peterson lives nearby

and has been exploring
this place for years.

He became interested in its
history from a very young age.

This place is
surprisingly well-known

because of its nefarious past.

So, many of us have colourful
uncles and colourful grandfathers

and colourful great,
great-grandfathers

who shared stories of
what happened here.

It's story begins in 1918,

when Atlanta's bureau
of prisons bought the land.

At one end they built a
conventional penitentiary,

but here created a different
kind of correctional facility.

Over many, many
years this overgrown path

was the final walk many
men took in to this prison.

And they would come slowly
in chains up this walkway.

The convicts soon discovered
this was no ordinary prison.

Notice in this great
distance there's no fences,

there's no walls...

There's no guard towers.

A prison without walls
sounds like a recipe for disaster.

But this was a unique
experiment based on liberal ideals.

This prison was
also a working farm,

prisoners were
expected to tend pigs

and the... the chickens
and the dairy cattle

and to work in the
fields raising crops.

The people in
charge of the prisoners

were not normal prison guards.

They were agricultural experts
armed now with guns but with farm tools.

So, there's not only the
hope to rehabilitate prisoners,

to help them learn a trade,

there's also the
sense of having them

not hold up in dark cells.

That might lessen the possibility
of becoming institutionalised.

This is the old
Atlanta prison farm,

when it first opened

it also went by a different name,
one that reflected the principals

on which it was founded.

This prison was known
as an honour farm,

was intended for convicts

who were convicted of
relatively minor crimes

and the idea was that
this was an honour for them

to be able to serve
their time in a place

where they had relative freedom

and not be under
the thumb of guards

and very, very heavy security.

Even the dormitories were
clean and far from overcrowded.

Imagine a beautiful spring day

and the 50 or 60
honour farm prisoners

leave their dormitory which is
just the other side of the road,

they cross over the road
which is really just a dirt track

and get their tools and
start their day at work.

The idea was they could
reward positive behaviour

on the part of the inmates

through these good conditions

and the inmates knew
that if they screwed up

they might get sent somewhere else
and endure much harsher treatment.

Dr by the 1930s, this farm
was producing enough milk

and vegetables to
be self-sustaining,

it was able to
provide for itself

and the penitentiary nearby.

Escape attempts were rare

and the innovative programme
appeared to be working.

This prison was
regarded as a success,

it was seen as a modern
kind of humane way

to rehabilitate and it
was seen as something

that was really progressive.

But the prison farms
days of reform did not last.

One writer who did
a history of this period

said it was the
closest thing to slavery

that survived the civil war.

In the mid-1960s,

a new owner took over

and they would Usher
in a new age of brutality.

The federal government
sold the honour farm

to the city of Atlanta

and other government entities...

And a different era came in,

an era of chain gang,

an era of brutal retaliation,

corporal punishment,
even death by working.

The reality was that
most of the inmates here

were black Americans

and many of them were
housed in cell blocks

that were segregated
across racial lines.

Segregation was officially
ended by the civil rights act of 1964

but inside these walls the
inhumane practise continued.

The honourable experiment
that began here was over.

Much of what had been
unique about the prison

had... had gone

and people started being
treated more like regular prisoners.

The prisoners come in
and they are signed up

and they're bought over to this
area here through this sliding door.

This is one of the first...

Gates of hell that
they would experience.

They spent hours and hours
and hours in these holding cells.

It's kind of sad feeling here
even though it's been abused

and neglected for many
years and lots of graffiti,

you can still feel the angst
of the men that were here.

Not only were a disproportionate
number of prisoners

by the 1960s black,

not only was there segregation

but you have such
crowding for black inmates

where they might not
even be sleeping in bunks,

they might be
sleeping on floors,

some reported
sleeping on bits of cloth

that were soaked in urine.

Can you imagine being
in a building like this

with 700 800 men maybe
more on a July day?

It had quite an odour.

The food was bad, the
conditions were bad.

In the 1970s and 80s

there were attempts to
address the shameful conditions.

But its days as a prison
farm were numbered.

It seems like this place

went through several
different superintendents

who all had positive intentions

but for one reason or another
this never really came to fruition

and ultimately by 1995
this place was abandoned

and it's been falling
apart ever since.

Some areas you could
say they had success,

it was seen as a model at times

for a more enlightened
way to run a prison.

Sadly it also reflected

the common place treatment
of black prisoners in the south,

it was a especially
oppressive, especially difficult.

Today, the once fertile land has
become an illegal dumping ground

brimming with toxic waste.

Scott is fighting to save it.

The future of the Atlanta
prison farm is still up for debate.

The history points
us in the direction

of recycling this
beautiful old farm

for maximum benefit
to the neighbours

and to the people of Atlanta.

Concealed in the
Cambodian jungle

lie traces of a lost world.

As you move through
the thick trees of the jungle

you suddenly realise that
there is something else here.

It's not hidden,

it's not camouflaged

it's actually being taken
back over by the jungle.

Exploring deeper,

there is a distinct feeling
you are being watched.

All you see is these...

These eyes peering out
from behind the leaves.

We know that this place
held stores of gold and silk

and precious gems.

You really feel like

you're in an Indiana Jones
or a tomb raider movie.

The snaking roots,
and passage of time

have bought decay to this place

but there are indications

that someone else
has scoured this site.

Who or what were
they searching for?

Dr im sokrithyis an archaeologist
who has spent decades

uncovering the
secrets of this place.

This is... ta prohm

it was part of the
ancient city of angkor

the capital of the
vast civilisation.

The empire was at its
height in south east Asia

between the 11th
and 13th centuries.

And their kings ruled

over much of what is
today Laos, Cambodia,

Thailand and Vietnam.

Ta prohm was a focal point

for many of this
ancient cities people.

It was in effect at the heart
of a city block of the capital...

Dr we know that over
12,500 people were living here

but it also took
some 80,000 people

in the neighbouring
villages and towns

to ensure that the people
here had adequate supplies.

And it housed a share of
the empire's enormous wealth.

It once held over 1,000
pounds of gold plate,

35 diamonds,

tens of thousands of pearls

and a host of other
luxurious goods.

Ta prohm was commissioned

by a great king called
jayavarman 7th...

Before a single stone
could be laid here

he had to come out of exile
and rid the empire of occupiers

who had deposed his father.

..Was probably in his 50s
when he assembled an army

and overthrew the invaders.

He found the city
in complete disrepair

but through skill and diligence

he became one of the most
powerful of the khmer kings.

Completed in 1186 ad

ta prohm was part of jayavaram's
new vision for his subjects.

Yet there is something
that marks the temple out

as different from the remains
of the civilisation around it.

When you take a
look at the carvings

that you can find
around this structure,

they represent iconic moments
from the Buddhist tradition.

But the vast majority
of the buildings

at the angkor watt complex

are dedicated to
hindu principles

so what can account
for that discrepancy?

During this time in exile,

jayavarman the 7th
not only raised an army,

but also strengthen
his faith in buddhism.

Ta prohm was the ultimate
expression of that faith.

Mahayana buddhism is
one of the two great traditions

in Buddhist thought.

At the core of mahayana buddhism

is an ideal that we
should all try to reach

to live a life free of desire,

free of attachment
to material things.

Throughout the site there
are over 260 statues to gods

and over 40 different temples
where people can leave offerings

of flowers and gifts.

Even the layout of this site is
an embodiment of the beliefs

of the mahayana Buddhist.

The different enclosures represent
different levels of enlightenment.

Yet, this was more
than just a temple.

The king's faith drove
him to affect real change

in the lives of his subjects.

His beliefs in mahayana buddhism

meant that he was
deeply invested

in reducing the
suffering of his people.

One inscription at this
temple even suggests

that he felt the pain of
his people more deeply,

he felt it on a spiritual level.

One structure here shows
the length he would go

to to put his beliefs
in to practise.

They were places where
the travellers could cook,

shelter, feed their
animals, sleep, pray

and they were open to everybody.

Although many of these structures
have since been lost to time,

ta prohm was at the centre
of another kind of network.

He built over 100 hospitals
across the breadth of his empire

and these were fairly
complex institutions,

they would have
included managers,

drug combiners, drug
distributors, water boilers,

it was almost like an early
form of universal healthcare.

As well as the spiritual and
mental wellbeing at the temple

people were also treated

with medicines, with honey,
butter, oil and molasses

for their physical health.

But the scared walls here

suggest there was a
more immediate threat

to his benevolent vision.

You would expect there
to be more Buddhist relics

and engravings

but there are surprisingly few,

it's almost as if they've
been disappeared on purpose.

Soon after the
jayavarman 7th death

a name sake ceased his throne.

Jayavarman the eigth,

was a hindu and a
fervent anti-Buddhist.

So, he's going
to destroy or alter

a lot of the older carvings.

After the death of
its Buddhist king,

the khmer empire
entered a terminal decline

but the exact reasons why angkor
and ta prohm were abandoned

still remain a mystery.

Some people have
suggested that it was climate,

others have thought that
it might have been famine

or even pandemic but
whatever happened,

people left and the site
gradually was reclaimed

by the jungle.

Thanks to its abandonment

and the arrival of a new empire

ta prohm would get a new
lease of life many centuries later.

So, it is actually a French
naturalist and explorer

who is credited with
discovering ankhor and ta prohm

but the people never
forgot it was there.

The French diligently
and carefully preserved

much of the remains of ankhar

but at ta prohm they
decided to leave it as it was

in its natural state as
they found it picturesque.

And not only has the
picturesque setting drawn tourists

from all over the world

it bought the bright
lights of Hollywood too.

This place made the headlines

when it was used as the setting

for the Angelina
Jolie tomb raider film.

But that fame comes at a cost

and as the years go on

and more tourists arrived

it becomes harder and harder

to preserve the delicate
beauty of this place.

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