All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S10E04.Cowboy.Mountain.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates):
An appalachian dream

that conjured the
spirit of the old west.

The romance of cowboys
and lawless frontier towns

are etched into the
American psyche.

An extensive complex,

part of a project
that turned Guernsey

into the most fortified
place on earth.

And the channel
islands become the home

of what was known as
Hitler's island of madness.

In the caucuses,

a sky high solution to a
ground based problem.

One Soviet TV station
described chiatura

as the venice of the air.

And a Chinese
island of simple means

stranded by a
revolutionary tide.

It was a brutal time of mass
incarceration and murder.

Decaying relics,
ruins of lost worlds,

decaying relics,
ruins of lost worlds,

sites haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

In Maggie valley, north Carolina

set high in the
appalachian mountains

is a ruin that once
promised fun and adventure.

There's what looks
like an old western town.

There's a main street in
the middle and on either side,

there are general stores,
saloons, and even a jail.

America's full of
deserted towns.

And this place is high
up in the mountains,

so it could be the remains
of an abandoned mining town.

But somehow this
feels a bit different.

That's because this is
a world of make believe.

That's because this is
a world of make believe.

When you really look, it's
very clear this is not old.

None of this is real. It's
just been made to look old.

The real giveaway is
this massive structure

that was obviously
a roller coaster

and there are different
amusement rides

throughout the place.

So, this was a theme park,
but what happened to it?

Inside there are smashed
up arcade machines.

There's a stage for performers

and the costumes
have all been left out,

which suggests that people
upped and left here in a hurry.

A theme park with
no people is spooky

and eerie and some of the
locals even say it's cursed,

which begs the question,
why did everyone leave,

why did it close?

Dave angel lives
in Maggie valley.

Dave angel lives
in Maggie valley.

As a child, he loved
nothing more than a day out

at this much
treasured attraction.

This is magical place to
everybody that grew up here.

I have vivid memories
from five, six years old

all the way up 'till
I was a teenager.

Coming up here to see friends

that would perform and dance
up here and family members.

The people that worked up
here just had a community.

A lot of them would hang
out together after work.

When the park would
close, they'd play softball,

which is sort of hard in here,

but they'd play softball right
here down town with each other

just to have fun
with their friends.

When this theme park
opened, it was the largest

tourist attraction in the area.

And it was all made possible
by one man with a dream.

The original owner was
Ronald Braxton coburn,

and he was inspired to
build a wild west theme park

after visiting a number of
abandoned ghost towns,

real ghost towns,
on a family vacation.

Real ghost towns,
on a family vacation.

The idea of a wild
west theme park

wasn't exactly new.

But this one, perched
on the side of a mountain

at around 4,600ft,
was certainly unique.

Now, that's almost a mile
high, hence its nickname

the mile high fun park, 'cause
that's exactly what it was.

Construction started
in September 1960,

and it was an enormous
task, to say the least.

To accommodate the old west
town, they had to literally shave

about 50ft of dirt and rock
off the top of this mountain.

It took 200,000 plus feet of
plywood to build this town.

Over 20,000 pounds of nails
just to construct what was here.

People believed in
this vision though.

The community, members
of the town, investors,

they bought bonds to help them

making this come to life.

Making this come to life.

Coburn called his creation
ghost town in the sky.

When finished, it was the highest
wild west theme park in the world.

Yet for the guests that came
here, the magical journey began

at the foot of the mountain.

So, this is the ticket booth.

This is where your day at
ghost town would get started.

Big space here where
people would start lining up

early in the morning, wait
in line to grab their tickets.

In its heyday, thousands of
people would come up to ghost town.

This would have
been the gift shop.

During that time, all kinds
of souvenirs were sold.

T-shirts, hats, they had
sheriff's deputy badges,

cap guns, all kinds of things

that fit the western
theme of the park.

Next up, punters had to
ascend the mountainside.

The only way to get up there

was by a chair lift
or a funicular train.

Was by a chair lift
or a funicular train.

I mean, what a great
way to start the day.

The higher you climbed, the
more your anticipation grew.

At the summit, visitors were
transported to another world.

There was a mining village
where they could pan for gold.

There was what they
called an Indian village,

where they could
learn more about

indigenous life.

But the most popular by
far was the old west town.

So, this is the
silver dollar saloon.

Back in the day, this
room would have been

filled with customers wanting
to see a can-can show.

There'd be a table over here
with gunfighters playing cards.

A gentleman would be playing
piano with some kind of ragtime music

and the can-can dancers
would come out on the stage

and dance for
everyone's entertainment.

But what the guests
really came for

were the staged gunfights.

They waited all day to see it.

It would happen at high
noon and when it happened,

the explosions from the gun,

the bang, bang, bang,
it was just so loud.

You could see the kids jumping.

Somebody dropped
their ice cream.

Somebody would
grab their mum's leg.

It was just a thrill to see

live action gunfight
right here in town.

The idea of the old west is
so important to Americans.

It's just one of those ideas
of strength and independence

and it all gets wrapped
up in this mythology

of the cowboy and
his lasso and his hat.

Coburn also had some
other tricks up his sleeve

to tempt in wild
west loving visitors.

One of the tools coburn used

was he brought in well
known actors of the day

to be there signing signatures.

Ghost town was host to
many celebrities in its heyday.

The group from the
'beverley hillbillies',

the cast of 'bonanza'
would come here.

They'd stay for
days, even weeks,

making sure everybody
had a good time.

They'd be parts
of the gunfights.

One of the most
well known celebrities

to come up here
was Burt Reynolds.

In fact, the reason he left was
when he got a part in the movie

'deliverance'.

When Burt went to
shoot 'deliverance',

the bad guy in the movie,

you remember the line
"you got a pretty mouth, boy,"

that was a gun slinger
here at ghost town.

The original actor
came from Hollywood.

He just wasn't authentic enough.

Burt said, "hey, I've got the guy if
we can get him off the mountain."

His name was cowboy coward
and he was perfect for the role.

Reynolds may have left,
Reynolds may have left,

but ghost town in the
sky was a roaring success

and by the 1970s

was regularly attracting
over 500,000 visitors a year.

Things were going great.

So great, in fact, coburn
sold the park in 1973.

After he sold the site,
the number of visitors

started to decline quickly.

This park was coburn's baby

and he didn't really
like the direction

where it was going.

And his son actually says that
he wished he had never sold it.

And so in 1986,
coburn buys it back.

One of the first things he did
was to add more attractions,

including this roller coaster
that's quite spectacular

and called the red devil.

It was amazing to come
whirling down this roller coaster,

making this loop and
looking way over the valley.

Looking at the blue
Ridge parkway over there.

Looking at the blue
Ridge parkway over there.

Twists and turns that
went all over the place

and it would make
its way back up

to the top here where you would
get on and off of the roller coaster.

Coburn's investment
seemed to work

and people started coming
back in huge numbers.

For years it remained

one of the state's
biggest attractions.

But as the new millennium
dawned, it turned out frontier town

guns lingers were no longer
the draw they once were.

Cowboys had just
lost their appeal.

Those old westerns were
something your parents did

and grandparents did,

not what the young people of
the 2000s wanted to be doing.

Visitor numbers
continued to fall and coburn

just didn't have the money
to keep up the maintenance.

In 2002, the
chairlift got stalled,

in 2002, the
chairlift got stalled,

stranding passengers
for over two hours.

This was kind of a
last straw for coburn.

After the incident when
the chairlift broke down,

he knew then it was time
to put the park up for sale.

For the next five years, ghost
town's gates remained closed.

It was in desperate
need of renovation

and the high maintenance costs

made it a hard sell
to prospective buyers.

In 2007 the park reopened
under new ownership.

They poured $38 million into it,
creating new rides, attractions,

shops, and restaurants.

Even with all that investment,

even with wanting it to succeed,

they were just
papering over the cracks.

All those old problems returned.

In 2009, the roller
coaster ultimately failed

some safety tests
and that was the point

where it was decided it's
just not worth the investment

where it was decided it's
just not worth the investment

to continue to have
the red devil cliff hanger

as an attraction.

Things weren't
getting better here.

If anything, they
were getting worse.

And certain locals started to
claim that the place was cursed.

In 2012, a new set of owners

tried their luck
but quickly found

they were fighting
a losing battle.

Perhaps the most disturbing
event happened in July of 2013

when one of the
veteran guns lingers

was actually staging a routine
and was shot and wounded

with what he said was
an actual real bullet.

This understandably
caused a lot of controversy.

And obviously it's something
that should never have happened.

Shortly after, the park was closed
and it's never reopened since.

In 2021, in 2021,

Dave angel was part of a
team that purchased the site.

Ghost town is a magical place.

It never felt like this
park was ready to close.

The new owners
are under no illusion

about the size of
the challenge ahead.

But it's one they are ready for.

The ghost town that's here today

probably won't be the
ghost town of the future.

We'll be building something
that's a little newer, safer.

But we'll still bring that feeling,
vibe that people loved to see

when they walk the
streets of ghost town.

Nostalgia is a
powerful commodity.

So, there is hope
ghost town in the sky

can come back from the dead.

In western Georgia,

high above the urban
sprawl of chiatura

is a puzzling relic from
the country's Soviet past.

You see a spider web network
of old, rusting steel cables.

Some of these cables

run up to the tops
of the steep cliffs,

others criss-cross the town.

Everywhere you look,
there's a cable line

going somewhere.

It's not exactly clear

what these are for
or why they're there.

At first you might think
they're power lines.

But then you notice
that there's cable cars

hanging off the wires,

so these were clearly
built for transport.

The cable cars look like
something you'd find at a ski area.

But there are no
ski slopes here.

The concrete remains
of a bygone era

betray the town's true origins.

The whole area has a
strong industrial feeling to it.

This was not a place that
people went for vacation.

This was a centre of industry.

Something is still
being produced here

and perhaps that's a clue

and perhaps that's a clue

to the original
purpose of this site.

There must have been
a very good reason

to invest so much in building

this elaborate
transportation network.

(Speaks foreign language)

Giorgi dvalashvili is
an assistant professor

at Tbilisi state university.

When he was young,

the city of chiatura
was his playground.

(Speaks foreign language)

The cable cars were
originally installed

the cable cars were
originally installed

to overcome the town's

extreme geography
of steep-sided cliffs

and river gorges.

What motivated their creation
was a valuable commodity

crucial to the production
of iron and steel.

In the late 19th century,

prospectors found large deposits

of manganese in the
cliffs above this town.

Manganese was an
essential ingredient

in making steel.

So, without it,

you don't have one of the
most fundamental building blocks

of the modern world.

In 1872, mining began

and the region was
swiftly transformed.

Chiatura quickly became

the most prolific site for the
production of manganese ore,

responsible for about 50%

of the world's supply.

A fact that, decades later,
didn't escape the attention

of bolshevik leaders in Moscow.

Of bolshevik leaders in Moscow.

After the Russian
revolution, the Soviets began

expanding their reach
and incorporating territory.

They took over Georgia in 1921

and almost immediately set about

nationalising
all the industries.

By the 1950s,

the officials in charge
of mining in this district

recognised they had a
huge transportation problem.

The daily trek up to the mine

was costing the company
valuable production time.

By the time the
miners arrived at work,

they were already exhausted,

dreading the journey back home.

At the same time,

their jobs were
absolutely brutal

and miners sometimes
would sleep in the mine shafts,

'cause it just took too long

to get back to their houses.

A solution was needed

a solution was needed

that would improve both
the lives of the workers

and boost the mine's output.

These are the rope
roads of chiatura,

a transportation network

that connected almost
every corner of the town.

The cable cars
were the brainchild

of the mine owners.

They realised if they
could get workers

from the town to
the mining sites

easier and with more
convenience, they could convince

more people to work here.

(Speaks foreign language)

By 1954

there were 17
different lines operating.

Not just to transport
people to the mines

but civilians all around town.

Of course the mine
workers travelled for free,

but everyone else had to pay.

The rope way system
was a resounding success

the rope way system
was a resounding success

and the town flourished.

(Speaks foreign language)

Soviet rule

didn't just bring
prosperity to the region.

One of the hallmarks
of Soviet communism

was focus on
ideology and children

were to be raised
up as true believers.

They developed a program
called the young pioneers

that was closely
modelled on the boy scout.

(Speaks foreign language)

Despite being guided

by the hand of their
communist overlords,

the people of chiatura
never had it so good.

Because it was producing
such a vital material

for the Soviet union,

chiatura became
something of a boom town

and the workers were
very highly valued.

(Speaks foreign language)

After the fall of the
Soviet union in 1991,

Georgia declared independence.

The civil war that followed

devastated its already
unstable economy,

devastated its already
unstable economy,

plunging the country
further into chaos.

The economic decline

was so sudden and so
dramatic that in many cases

the power plants
would just stop working.

The electric power would just
go off for hours or days at a time.

It was very difficult to keep
mines operating in those conditions.

The mines began to shut down
and the people began to move away.

(Speaks foreign language)

Now, the mines lay idle.

The rope roads of chiatura
gradually ground to a halt.

During the '90s,

no-one maintained or
repaired the cable cars.

No-one maintained or
repaired the cable cars.

There were actually
more pressing priorities

for the country of Georgia.

In 2019 they finally
made a decision

to shut down almost all
of the rusting cable cars

and replaced the
routes with buses.

Today the mines of
chiatura are still operational,

but the industry is a
shadow of its former self.

But that hasn't stopped
giorgi staying positive

about the future
of his home town.

(Speaks foreign language)

In the English channel

on the small island of Guernsey,

a terrible truth lies
buried beneath the ground.

Guernsey is the second biggest

of the five channel islands

lying in the sea between
britain and France.

It's a tranquil place
with quaint villages

and a rugged coastline.

Then in this lush countryside
you see the massive entranceway

into something underground.

The only way to
discover the secret

this doorway guards
is to pass through.

You descend

into these interminable
long tunnels,

just hewn out of the
rock and going on forever.

As you move
through the dim light,

you start coming to side rooms

off the main corridor
and you see bed frames,

off the main corridor
and you see bed frames,

you see ordinary
looking furniture.

It looks like a dormitory
or a barracks or something.

How did it come to pass
that this huge complex

was built on the British isles
by an invading foreign power.

Many people might
be surprised to learn

that a part of
britain was occupied

by the Nazis in the
second world war.

Paul bourgaize is the
custodian of this site

and has been working to
protect it for the last four years.

He first explored the vast
tunnel system as a child.

The place was very,
very daunting as a little kid.

You know, damp,
dark, wet, very gloomy.

So, even though you can't
see a lot from ground level,

obviously when we get in
here, you can see how vast it is.

75,000 square feet,

1.5 miles literally if you
walked on every chamber,

every tunnel.

Construction on this
subterranean network

started at the beginning
of the second world war.

And it's hard to
believe that at one time,

there was a massive
military presence there.

The channel islands
are closer to France,

but they have been
under the protection

of the British crown since 1066.

In the early days of world
war ii, britain's war cabinet

made a decision that
would seal the fate

of the island's people.

When the Germans
invaded France in 1940,

the British had to make a decision,
do we defend the channel islands?

And Churchill decided
they're indefensible.

They had no strategic purpose.

They had no strategic purpose.

So, the British government
gave up the channel islands,

including Guernsey,
to the Germans.

Yet despite being abandoned
by the country sworn

to defend them,
Hitler was convinced

the allies would attempt
to recapture the islands.

Hitler had this idea that

he had to cling to
the channel islands.

So, he embarks on this

massive construction
program of fortifications,

underground weapons
and ammunition storage.

Everything he would need
to use these island bases

as a weigh station on his
way to an invasion of england

or his outworks for his defence
of German occupied Europe.

So, work started in 1942

and really went on for 3.5 years

right through the
occupation of Guernsey.

It was the largest
single sort of structure

built in the channel islands
during world war ii, so huge scale.

Originally, this part of the tunnel
was designed as an ammunition store,

originally, this part of the tunnel
was designed as an ammunition store,

so you see efforts in
some of the chambers

with this asphalt
to waterproof it.

You can see in the centre,
where the tracks would have been,

they were using a
narrow Gauge railway

to move the ammunition.

And the channel
islands become the home

of what was known as
Hitler's island madness.

At one point on Guernsey

you've got 12,000 German
troops on the island,

which is one German soldier
for every two inhabitants.

(Explosion)

At a time when conflict
was at its maximum,

what was the most
heavily fortified place

on planet earth?

It was not Moscow,
it was not Berlin,

it was not Washington.

It was the isle of Guernsey.

And the price of such an
ambitious building project

had a tragic human cost.

They used a combination
of highly qualified

they used a combination
of highly qualified

well-paid professionals

and volunteers and slaves.

And the slave labourers
came from France,

from Belgium, from Poland,

from Russia and
Spain for the most part.

They lived in various camps
scattered around the island

in horrendous conditions.

Many died of malnutrition
or overworking,

some had to use their bare
hands to excavate the solid rock.

Slaves were given a
simple choice, work or starve.

By 1944, the German war
machines initial success had waned.

The tide had turned in the war
and the allies were preparing

to launch a massive offensive
and regain territory from the Nazis.

To launch a massive offensive
and regain territory from the Nazis.

In anticipation of the
attack, Hitler's forces

transformed this site into
something else entirely.

They had to be prepared
for defending the islands

against a prolonged assault

and that meant
a lot of casualties.

They expected bloodshed
and so decided that the tunnels

would better
serve as a hospital.

And in 1944,

the Germans have experienced
so much man power shortage

that they are starting
to take greater care

of their wounded and they
understand much better

how much closer to the action

their medical care
facilities need to be.

This was the main
operating theatre,

this was the main
operating theatre,

you see the scrubs
room there to our right,

those sinks.

And then we have a
triage room at the end,

so all the treatment
was happening in here.

It was large enough to
house up to 500 patients

and included facilities
such as an X-ray room,

dispensary, laboratory,
it even had a cinema.

The countdown to
invasion had begun

and Nazi soldiers
stationed on Guernsey

were braced for the
anticipated attack.

But the allies had other ideas.

So, the western
allies hit the beach

in normandy on 6 June 1944,

it's d-day,

the largest operation of
any kind probably ever.

And the amphibious forces

sweep past the channel islands,

the channel islands

the channel islands

are not important to
defeating Germany.

Therefore, the channel islands

must wait to be liberated.

But wounded soldiers
injured in France

were bought here and
the hospital was put to use.

After d-day, the
French were soon freed

from their Nazi oppressors.

For the channel islanders
still under German occupation,

the consequences were grim.

Guernsey, still in the
hands of the Germans,

was cut off from
the rest of Europe.

The Germans are unable
to bring stuff in and out,

including food,
and so the people

are on the brink of
starvation in those last months

of world war ii.

On 9 may 1945,

two days after the
Germans surrender,

the people of Guernsey
were finally liberated.

The Nazi hospital,

no longer of any use,
was quickly abandoned.

No longer of any use,
was quickly abandoned.

The war was hard everywhere,
and it was especially hard

on that little green
gem of an island

in the English channel.

It's been over 80 years

since the Nazis imposed
their will on Guernsey,

a reality not always
easily recalled.

The experience of
occupation was something

everyone on Guernsey
wanted to forget,

nobody wanted to
remember the humiliation

of being a channel islander,

of being a loyal subject
of the British crown

and having the Nazis there.

I've met people from
various countries in Europe

and the UK

that did not know
that we were occupied

by the German armed forces,

it's quite amazing really
that they don't know that.

It's quite amazing really
that they don't know that.

For Paul bourgaize,

the mission is to make
certain no-one ever forgets.

Those people that were

living through the occupation
will sadly soon be gone,

so we need to preserve
these structures as a legacy

to that and the struggle
that they went through,

through five years
of occupation.

50 miles east of Shanghai,
the small island of shengshan

rises boldly out of
the east China sea.

It's remote and mountainous,

and at first there doesn't
seem to be much here,

just the odd dirt road
snaking through the hills.

As you get closer, you
see a village that looks like

it's clinging to the cliffs,
some of the buildings

are in tatters,

while others look like
they're being remodelled.

It's all very strange.

The buildings are
made of concrete.

They're one or two
storeys, so it's obvious that

this is not some ancient village,
it's something that was built

probably within the
last 70 or 80 years.

The settlement size

suggests a substantial
population once thrived here.

Furniture and belongings
though decaying

bear testament
to a previous life.

Any time you see a place
where people used to live

and then they left,

we're always curious
what drove them out.

Why did they decide to abandon

what looks like a pretty
idyllic place to live?

This village weathered
one of the darkest periods

in China's history.

Husbands and wives
turned on each other,

children turned on their
parents and teachers.

But there was one
change it could not survive.

(Speaks foreign language)

Fu yuanfan was once a resident
of this now deserted community.

(Speaks foreign language)

When fu grew up,

he followed in his
father's footsteps

and became a part of the
industry that bought wealth

to this remote island.

(Speaks foreign language)

China is the world's
biggest fishing nation

and this village was
all at the heart of it.

This is houtouwan, a
once affluent settlement

built on the ocean's
generous bounty.

(Speaks foreign language)

At its peak, the village
probably was home

at its peak, the village
probably was home

to 2,000 to 3,000 people

and almost everyone there

was there because
of the fishing.

People all over China

knew about its reputation
and they came here to settle.

And you can just imagine how
alive it must once have been

with fishing boats
bobbing up and down.

Houtouwan was riding high

and the sea was providing
a good living for all.

But a storm was brewing
on mainland China

that threatened to destroy it.

It was a brutal time of mass
incarceration and murder.

In 1966, a deadly tide swept in.

The cultural revolution
was launched

under the direction of the
Chinese communist party

chairman mao zedong.

And what mao zedong
really wanted to do,

wanted to accomplish
was to route out

people considered
bourgeois infiltrators.

People considered
bourgeois infiltrators.

You had students
denouncing their professors

sometimes beating them to
death, you had husbands and wives

denouncing each other,

you had children turning
against their parents.

Houtouwan as an
affluent community

of entrepreneurial fishermen
did not completely escape

the cultural revolution's
destructive reach.

One facet of Chinese communism
is deep distrust of individualism,

so farms were collectivised,

raising your own plot
of tomatoes or rice

was really discouraged.

By the same token,

the Chinese government
tried to reorganise

the way the fishing
business worked.

And as happened in so many
other parts of the economy,

that ultimately made

the whole process
much less efficient.

The fate of the
successful village hung

in the balance.

The collectives
really didn't work,

the collectives
really didn't work,

in fact they led to a lot of
infighting among the people.

Why go out and fish for 18 hours

if your share is
going to be the same

as your neighbour who only
went out and fished for eight hours.

But as houtouwan's
fishing community

grappled with changes
forced upon their industry,

the architect of the
cultural revolution died.

And with mao's death
came fresh opportunity.

As the cultural
revolution faded,

so did some of these
government controls

over how different
fishermen could operate.

Ironically, mao wanted
to strengthen communism

and what it led to was a
strengthening of capitalism.

(Speaks foreign language)

Some of the people in houtouwan

got more prosperous
than others, and for a time,

the village did very well.

Tragically the newly
found freedoms

had an unforeseen consequence.

As fishing technology
began to advance

the stocks of fish in
the east China sea

began rapidly to decline and
the prosperity of the people,

which was built on fishing,
gradually slipped away.

Big trawler ships came
in with advanced sonar

and in this little harbour
these tiny fishing boats

simply could not compete.

(Speaks foreign language)

In the 1990s,

the government in Beijing
finally decided to act.

China imposed
seasonal moratoriums

to protect fish stocks
which were becoming

depleted but it really
was too little too late.

(Speaks foreign language)

By 1994, almost
everybody had left

and only a handful of
villagers remain today.

They renamed the
village wurencun,

which means no person village.

After the chaos of the
mao era, China transformed

after the chaos of the
mao era, China transformed

into an economic powerhouse,
second only to the United States.

Fu embraces the opportunities

the modern country provides

despite being forced to
leave his old life behind.

(Speaks foreign language)

Captioned by
ai-media ai-media. TV