Original subtitles

Tom ward (narrates): A once lavish theatre in america

that saw the house brought down.

The decibels were so crazy loud

that they were doing physical damage to the building.

An ancient Turkish city with a poisonous secret.

Those who approached the deadly grotto

dropped dead immediately

and were dragged away to the underworld.

Pock marked sicilian ruins snared in an ingenious trap.

There was a massive feat of misdirection,

of sleight of hand with thousands of lives hanging in the balance.

And a war torn shell in the Balkans

given new purpose by a blockbuster series.

No spoilers, but once you see it,

you can't unsee it.

You can't unsee it.

Decaying relics, ruins of lost worlds.

Sights haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting to be revealed.

In the usa, on Cleveland's Lorraine Avenue

is a forgotten treasure.

There's some older homes, there's some empty storefronts,

it's all just a little bit rundown.

Then you see this marquee with the word variety on it.

This could only be a theatre.

Despite its modern sign, the interior has seen better days.

When you step inside, it's like you're going back in time.

You have turnstiles, massive mirrors,

rusting machinery.

There's plaster that's peeling off the walls,

there's giant chandeliers.

The main hall is kind of a beautiful wreck,

but clearly in its heyday, this was quite the place.

Having entertained generations in majestic surroundings,

a surprising event would spell its downfall.

It was deafening,

I mean, there were chunks of the ceiling

literally raining down on top of the crowd.

The only way you could stop it

was to run in and pull the breaker,

ending the power for the whole thing.

Rose zitiello first came to the variety theatre

more than 35 years ago.

Pass the turnstiles here

pass the turnstiles here

where you would have given the attendant your ticket,

you would have walked into this inner lobby

and this is where the concessions were sold,

so, the popcorn and the beverages, candy bars,

so this was a popular area just to sort of be a meet

and greet area before you went to take your seat.

When it opened in 1927,

the huge main auditorium was the height of luxury.

This would have been one of the aisles

to walk to one of your seats.

There was 1,900 seats in this main floor.

You can really see the vast size of it.

This theatre was a very opulent

and extravagantly appointed theatre.

I mean, you could still see some of the velvet curtains

and the wall treatments still hanging on the walls here.

I mean, most people in 1927,

I mean, most people in 1927,

maybe they had emigrated here,

just within the last 10 to 15 years

with the large wave of immigration that Cleveland saw at that time,

so, for them to be able to come to a theatre

for a modest ticket price and be in a luxury theatre for an evening

I think, was a very grand event.

The house was regularly packed out

to see the latest vaudeville shows.

Vaudeville acts included musicians,

singers, trained animals, magicians.

People would pay their nickel or dime at the door

and get an evening of what was literally a variety show,

a little bit of everything.

But the theatre hadn't only been designed for live performances,

vaudeville was competing against a new and exciting medium,

moving pictures.

So, to my right here

so, to my right here

is where the magic happens,

this is the peerless magnarc high intensity lamp.

The first film that they opened at the variety theatre

was 'hula' with Clara bow.

She was a big sex symbol

and this movie was a little controversial.

She swims nude in a lagoon, she wears pants,

she does a little striptease behind a bush.

She's trying to seduce a married man and wins,

which is not the way it's supposed to turn out.

It was considered scandalous.

The crowd was standing clear around 118th,

up 119th to get in this theatre to see that show.

When silent films became talkies in the late 1920s,

even more people were drawn to the variety.

And its success attracted a new owner.

The Warner brothers studio decided to buy it in 1929.

Warner brothers was really making a play

for theatres all over the country

so, that they would have a built-in audience for their films,

we think it was part of their business model

probably made them an offer that they could not turn down.

This is right in the middle of Hollywood's golden age

and everyone would come to the variety

to see the latest blockbuster movie.

After decades of entertaining the people of Cleveland,

vast social and cultural changes in the late 1940s

began to undermine its success.

During this period,

a lot of the American middle class was moving

out of centre of cities and out to the suburbs,

that's spelled a real problem

for these great old downtown theatres.

With multiplex cinemas opening out of the city centre

with multiple screens, several movies playing,

with multiple screens, several movies playing,

the variety just couldn't compete.

At the same time, a new form of entertainment

was gaining the upper hand.

With the rise of television,

people were staying in and just weren't going

to the theatre much anymore.

They could see great entertainers

in their own living rooms.

In 1954, Warner brothers sold the theatre

and the coming decades would see its fortunes decline yet further.

The theatre was sold to different owners

and it was really starting to fall apart.

But it wouldn't go out quietly.

In 1976, a new owner bought the variety

with a plan to reverse its fortunes.

A burgeoning music scene would provide him

with a much needed revenue stream.

During the '80s,

there was quite a Cleveland presence of independent labels

there was quite a Cleveland presence of independent labels

and punk rock bands and they actually found a home here

at the variety theatre.

Through the '80s,

the theatre hosted whole series of rock concerts, bands,

everything from rem to metallica.

One of these shows would go down in music history.

One of the most infamous events was on December 2, 1984.

And on that evening everybody knew that motorhead was playing here,

there were at least 1,900 people on the main floor

and a couple hundred people more in the balcony.

Now, this is a band that is proud of how loud they are.

That evening was no different.

The volume started out loud, it got progressively louder,

the volume started out loud, it got progressively louder,

louder than the management had pre-authorised

and negotiated with the band and the sound was deafening.

The band's volume reached

a literally ear splitting 130 decibels

which would have set the record

as the loudest rock performance ever measured,

beating a previous performance by the who.

They played song after song at top

volume and the audience kept wanting more,

so they kept playing.

But the thunderous noise of the band

inside this aging theatre was a recipe for disaster.

The performance was so loud that chunks of plaster

started falling from the ceiling.

The plaster began raining down on the audience,

the plaster began raining down on the audience,

as you know the theatre was not designed

for heavy metal music,

so, the maintenance man sees the plaster falling

and at that moment,

he doesn't know if it's just superficial plaster falling,

is it a structural problem,

does he have to get this crowd out of here.

He tried to get the band to turn down to no avail.

They were loud, they were proud,

they were gonna be as loud as they could.

And it finally got so bad that he went

and he just pulled the breaker and shut the whole thing down.

The damage to the ceiling was in fact only superficial,

but the fallout wasn't over yet.

Incensed by the noise, local residents took action.

The theatre, this rear wall where we're standing right here

abuts right against a residential district,

abuts right against a residential district,

so, it's a densely populated neighbourhood here.

And the neighbours could hear the band,

they also found out later about the falling plaster.

They began to complain, file lawsuits,

and eventually the theatre had to stop hosting rock shows.

One of the neighbours actually recorded

one of the concerts from their house.

And it was so loud that they could listen to every word

and every beat that was going on and they used that recording

as a tool to go to court to shut the whole thing down.

Struggling to survive without the income from live music,

the theatre limped on until closing as an entertainment venue in 1990.

Today, thanks to a dedicated group of local campaigners,

the future looks bright for the variety theatre.

The future looks bright for the variety theatre.

They're really enthusiastic about saving this building

that was once so beautiful and making it really at the heart

of a rebirth of this neighbourhood.

With modern technology and sound attenuation measures,

the theatre can now be restored for live music

and without upsetting our neighbours.

Hidden on the Italian island of sicily

are traces of a bitter conflict.

So, this is an idyllic part of sicily,

looking out towards the mediterranean sea.

A modern road cuts its way through the countryside,

and there's a dusty ride and if you look closely

it seems like there's something built into the hillside.

Somebody has built infrastructure

to defend this place against a modern attack.

50 miles east is a church that at first doesn't appear

to bare any scars of this conflict.

Like a subterranean world,

another sicily lays under this church.

You see evidence of ancient devotion,

ancient fear of death and then aeroplane.

Although these places are 50 miles apart,

they were part of a make or break moment in the war.

This moment relied on a grand deception

unlike anything that had been attempted before.

Nobody would ever believe

somebody could try something so desperate.

And that's just what they were counting on.

And that's just what they were counting on.

Roberto piccione is a historian

who has lived in the ancient walled city of Syracuse

for more than 50 years.

This is the church of San filippo,

in the middle of the old Jewish quarter

and underground there is something special.

It seems to be going down and down until you're in this,

this labyrinth that might stretch underneath the entire city.

About 2,000 years ago,

this was an aqueduct, a Greek aqueduct.

But there are signs that these tunnels

were put to a very different use,

nearly two millennia later.

Here we can see a messerschmitt German plane,

an Italian plane, and a stucco.

An Italian plane, and a stucco.

And here we can see a parachute.

This kind of draw just describes what the people saw every day.

From early 1943,

they saw their city mercilessly bombed by the allies

and fled to these catacombs to wait out the onslaught.

People stay here, entire family

just try to wait the handing of the bombing,

talking, singing, praying,

playing with the young kids

for avoid that they be scared and try to stay together.

It must have been terrible

to have been in these air raid shelters

and to hear the sounds of war all around you

and be afraid that the bomb

that lands to the side of you

may in a minute land right on top of you.

May in a minute land right on top of you.

After months of terror, on 9 July, the cacophony ended.

So, when the bombing stopped,

I think, that the people ask themselves now

what is going to happen,

and what happened was the invasion.

50 miles west,

Italian troops tasked with defending a key route

in to the island's interior

nervously waited in the ponte dirillo bunkers.

Here we are inside the ponte dirillo position

and here there were about 30 men.

From this window, we have a really good view

of the sea just on the right, and in the other side,

we have the road that was really important.

The soldiers here were about to face

the largest allied invasion force yet deployed in the war.

The largest allied invasion force yet deployed in the war.

Yet this place was barely defended

and is one of the few remnants of access defences on sicily.

We have only light defence,

so, machine gun and gun

and there was only one small Cannon.

You have to ask the question

why do the Nazis fortify France

ahead of the 1944 invasion.

But...

They're not nearly as intensive about fortifying sicily.

It can in part be explained by a daring allied deception.

You have a dead body released from a submarine,

fake documents, it's really like something out of a James Bond film.

In 1943 with the Nazi's desert army defeated in Tunisia,

in 1943 with the Nazi's desert army defeated in Tunisia,

allied military strategists were looking

for a way to invade fortress Europe.

The only problem was that the Italian and German forces knew

that the allied attack would have to come

somewhere along the southern European coast.

Sicily was the obvious choice,

but a battle against a concentrated access force could be disastrous.

So, the allies turned to deception on a grand scale...

Operation mincemeat.

A Spanish fisherman fishing off the southern coast of Spain

pulls a badly decomposed dead body

out of the water

and the body is wearing the battle dress

of a royal marine major.

He had on his person a number of plans.

When the German commanders heard about this discovery,

they thought they had hit the jackpot.

This was worth its weight in gold.

What the Germans have got is a plan for the invasion

of Southern Europe through Greece

and the Balkans and it's a lie.

The bogus plans said that any troops

moving towards sicily were simply a decoy.

The access powers moved their attention

away from sicily and many of their armaments too,

and they weren't ready for an attack there.

You had two panzer divisions being relocated

from the eastern front,

you had seven divisions set up in Greece.

You had another ten set up in the Balkans.

It was a massive redistribution of forces for an invasion

that was gonna come in a completely different place.

Sicily's physical defences were also neglected.

The bunkers at ponte dirillo

are one of the few remaining signs of war on the island.

It doesn't appear as if it's a place ready

to defend itself from a major assault.

And it wasn't.

9 July 1943, in the dead of night,

thousands of allied paratroopers descend on to the island.

Their mission to secure key positions like ponte dirillo.

The Americans landed from these hills

that we can see in front.

There was a total of about 100 paratroopers

from different groups that attacked this front point.

All these marks...

Are American bullet...

Are American bullet...

Everywhere.

There were several German tanks.

We don't know exactly the number,

but it's sure that one was stopped

just in front of the Ridge.

After a very short but fierce battle,

they managed to capture the bunker complex.

It was supposed to take an entire infantry regiment to capture this,

but that hadn't even landed in sicily yet.

When the main landing force arrived on the nearby beaches,

access opposition on sicily's southern shores

was soon washed away.

During the allied landings,

this coast was really full

of boat everywhere.

The eye witness like my father told me

that it was impossible to see the sea.

Everywhere there were landing craft, merchant Navy ships.

Everywhere there were landing craft, merchant Navy ships.

Over the next three days, the invasion involved 3,000 ships,

150,000 allied troops,

and 4,000 aircraft

and opposing them was a relatively modest German force

of only two divisions.

The German leadership still thought that the main attack

was going to come elsewhere.

In just under six weeks of bitter fighting,

the entire island was controlled by allied troops.

Operation mincemeat wasn't the only reason

that the access were defeated in sicily,

but it was a really important aspect of it.

They don't have an easy time of it,

but they have a much easier time

than if the Germans had concentrated force there to stop them.

The success of this invasion marked

a key turning point in the war.

A key turning point in the war.

For the first time,

the allies were beginning to take back Europe.

Today, a memorial stands at ponte dirillo

in tribute to the us troops who gave their lives there.

For Roberto, these sacrifices must never be forgotten.

Doesn't matter if they were British,

American, Italian, or German.

They were young guys that lose their life in sicily.

So, it's important to remember this part of history for avoid

that this will not happen again.

In Croatia, on the outskirts of Dubrovnik,

is a once opulent structure

that fell victim to tragic circumstance.

That fell victim to tragic circumstance.

Just a short distance from one of the oldest cities in Europe,

perched on the side of a cliff

is a very big and very modern looking building.

It doesn't appear to be in too bad shape,

but the closer you get,

you realise that's not at all the case,

the whole thing's an absolute mess.

Amidst the destruction are traces of a glorious past.

There seems to be sort of this panoramic restaurant

and then a terrace with swimming pools.

Inside all the rooms look identical

and they've been stripped bare except

for a few broken toilets and old bathtubs.

But the views out are still fantastic,

it's picture postcard stuff everywhere you look.

You can tell, in its day, this place was spectacular.

Yet the architectural style suggests a building

only four decades old.

And that makes you think that something very sudden

and quite terrible happened here.

But from the ruins, a pop culture legend was born.

A lot of people know Dubrovnik

from the series 'game of thrones'.

This is where one of the most shocking scenes

in the entire series was filmed.

Ivan vukovic grew up nearby

and has many fond memories of the time he spent here.

This is a place where I came with my parents,

it was my playground.

It was the part of my childhood.

Everybody loved to come here because it was a pure luxury.

Everybody loved to come here because it was a pure luxury.

And look at it now,

it's like the days of glory are over.

When construction began in the mid '80s,

Croatia was actually still a part of socialist yugoslavia,

and it was approaching a pretty important juncture in its history.

And this building has really come to represent that.

Croatia was one of the wealthier Yugoslav nations

and this construction was part of an ambitious plan

to further boost the local economy.

It's very unusual to get something like this

in the times of the '80s

or before because at that time everybody had to be equal

that some of the theories of socialism.

Under socialist rule,

the focus was on primary and secondary industries

like mining and factories.

This building was designed to make money

this building was designed to make money

for the country but in an entirely different way.

This was built to attract wealthy western tourists.

This is the hotel Belvedere.

It first welcomed guests in 1985.

This place is one of the rooms

of 200 in total of hotel Belvedere.

I found one list,

who was here,

how much money they spent,

and the date is July 25, 1990.

They are mostly people coming from the west,

Spain, us, United Kingdom.

Croatia never had a hotel like this.

This place had everything.

It had an indoor pool,

had an outdoor pool,

it had international cuisine, it had a discotheque,

it had international cuisine, it had a discotheque,

it even had a helipad.

I mean, imagine what it would have been like,

looking out over the adriatic, drinking a cocktail,

it must have been fantastic.

It wasn't just wealthy western tourists lured

in by all the luxury on offer.

My mother could come and spend her money

to buy some exclusive things in exclusive shops

and my father was freaking out

while he was sitting in this tavern just one deck below.

In its first six years of operation,

it gained a reputation as one of Europe's finest hotels.

The future was looking very bright indeed.

But by 1991, a new Yugoslav leader was emerging,

one that would tear apart the Balkan states

one that would tear apart the Balkan states

and Usher in the end of hotel Belvedere.

Slobodan milosevic's ideas

that he's going to concentrate Yugoslav power

in his own homeland of Serbia and its capital Belgrade

and he's going to take power

from the other regions like Slovenia,

Croatia, Montenegro, and transport it to Serbia.

As far as Croatia was concerned,

there was no way they were going to let that happen.

They wanted independence.

Civil war ensues

and there's battling over every key area including Dubrovnik

which the Serbs want because of its tourist potential.

At 6:00am on 1 October 1991,

the siege of Dubrovnik began.

It was attacked from the land, from the sea,

and from the air by the Yugoslav national army.

I remember clearly that day because it was sunny,

I remember clearly that day because it was sunny,

and I asked my mother

what is that thunderstorm coming from the south

because I was a kid, I was 11 years old.

Unfortunately the war started, hell broke loose.

Strategically positioned on the route

to Dubrovnik's old town,

Croatian troops rushed to fortify the hotel.

If Yugoslav troops broke through here,

the city would fall.

There was lots of direct hits from the cannons from their Navy.

And lots of the mortars were falling around and, you know,

the shrapnel are the ones making most of the damage,

so, when you walk around the hotel,

you will see any window that is still in one place,

you will see any window that is still in one place,

it's all shattered glass around.

Dubrovnik's vicious bombardment lasted seven long months,

but the hotel was never taken by Yugoslav troops.

You know, how Croatia won the war,

so, you have to be like relieved or happy

and then you see the aftermath.

Many people lost their lives for freedom.

It was very, very hard

because when the war ends it takes time to recover.

Yugoslavia built it and then yugoslavia destroyed it.

After the war, there's some thought to restoring the hotel Belvedere,

but the damage was so extensive that it was decided

that it was just not feasible.

Even after the bombing stopped,

terrible dangers remained for many years to come.

So, after this hotel was abandoned,

this became my playground.

I was playing here in these bushes

and I saw something which looked like a toy,

I picked it up and took it to my dad's place.

And dad said,

"don't move, it's not a toy, it's a cluster bomb."

There's no need for me to play any lottery to win any jackpots,

because I survived the cluster bomb,

I think, I won my jackpot like 40 something years ago.

If there's something eerily familiar about the amphitheatre,

that's because in 2013,

it became the location for something different

when 'game of thrones' came to town.

This is where oberyn fought the mountain

in what was an epic battle.

The scene was called trial by combat,

the scene was called trial by combat,

and they'd been fighting in this area

where all the extras were cheering

and being on the side mostly of oberyn martell.

No spoilers, but this scene was something that once you see it,

you can't unsee it.

The original 'game of thrones' series may now be over,

but the hotel's final chapter is yet to be written.

The hotel was originally built to attract wealthy western tourists

and it may live up to that dream.

In 2014, it was bought for 12 million Euros,

so, its glory days may yet still return.

I would love to see it brand new,

to look it through the brand-new window,

brand-new balcony, and still having this

amazing views of the city and surrounding areas.

Amazing views of the city and surrounding areas.

In western Turkey,

mysterious white rocks jut out over the landscape.

From afar these rocks look soft and ethereal,

like something out of a fairy-tale.

It's creased with stalactites

and tessellated with hundreds of pools

of sparkling turquoise water.

Though striking, these rocks are hiding something

even more extraordinary.

Behind this glistening hillside is a whole hidden world,

a world that dates back over 2,000 years.

If you just happen to be driving on the wrong side of the road,

you wouldn't even know that it existed.

It exudes a mysterious charm,

there are these tumbled down stone buildings.

There are these tumbled down stone buildings.

This city was once renowned across the ancient world.

People travelled hundreds of miles

to come and be buried in this place

because of the magical powers people said it possessed.

This sight helps develop one of the most powerful religions

of the modern world.

Until recently, it has been shrouded in secrecy.

This ancient city has a poisonous secret,

one that laid buried for thousands of years.

Doctor inci turkoglu is a historian,

who has been working to piece together the truth about hierapolis.

This is the northern city gate

and from it starts the main artery of the town.

This city was full of people,

a lot of textile business and industry,

and there was also a very strong tourism business.

And there was also a very strong tourism business.

The city grew because of the mysterious white rocks

that surround it.

These other worldly formations are travertines

and they're limestone cliffs that slowly formed

over 400,000 years due to bubbling mineral Springs.

As the water flows down a hillside,

it degases, leaving behind a bright white trail of calcium carbonate,

it's this process that creates the wonderland

of pools and terraces.

Said to possess healing powers,

when it came under Roman rule in the 2nd century bc,

hierapolis drew visitors from across the empire.

This was the health resort of the ancients.

The rich came here and the frail came here

to spend their final years.

Because of this, the necropolis reflects the cultures

of many different regions.

This is one of the largest cities of the dead

to have ever existed.

But the popularity of this city had a more bizarre side to it,

one that has remained a mystery for centuries.

It was said to be the location of a gate to hell,

a portal to the underworld

where the toxic breath of the three-headed hellhound Cerberus

flowed out of the ground,

claiming unsuspecting victims on behalf of his master, pluto.

Legends say those who dare to approach the grotto

dropped dead immediately

and were taken away to the underworld.

Known as pluto's gate,

pilgrims travelled from far and wide

to watch its priests performing arcane rights.

The main focus involved sacrifice of animals,

especially bulls, to the god and goddess.

Especially bulls, to the god and goddess.

An important part of the ceremony

was dragging in the live animal

and then dragging out the dead animal.

It wasn't only animals that entered this gate to hell

but also the priests themselves.

What they did was they walked into the cave

and they came up alive and this was very shocking

for the common people

because no other living beings came out alive.

The priests sold birds and other animals to the visitors

so they could try out for themselves to see

just how deadly this area was.

It's hard to imagine these dramatic scenes even being real,

surely they're just a fable.

Its existence was debated for millennia,

until a series of miraculous discoveries

were made in the early 2010s.

The head of the excavations

started surveys and when they reached down,

they found the arch

and they found the inscription stating

that it was dedicated to pluto.

The myths were indeed based on fact.

There is a round arched gate,

a doorway where the poisonous gas come out

and they would find birds fallen dead underground.

Though pluto's gate existed, one major mystery remained.

How did the priest survive when the animals all died?

The man to solve the ancient mystery

was a volcano biologist from Germany.

He discovered that whereas normal air contains just .04% co2,

the air around the shrine contained 80%,

the air around the shrine contained 80%,

just a few minutes exposure to 10% carbon dioxide can kill you.

How the priest survived was actually very simple.

They realised that if they held their breath while inside,

they survived while the animals died.

But the grotto's days were numbered.

A new religion was sweeping across the Roman empire

and hierapolis was about to change forever.

The building behind us now is the martyrdom of st Philip,

one of the two apostles of Christ.

Philip challenged the worshippers of the serpents in the nearby temple

and so he was arrested and hung upside down.

According to one story,

the ground cracked open and bystanders

nearby watching this execution

also were swallowed down in to the earth.

Philip was one of many of Jesus' followers

Philip was one of many of Jesus' followers

who upon his death set out to spread the word of christianity.

At the beginning, christianity was somewhat underground,

persecuted, but finally in 313,

constantine the great decided

to give freedom...

To Christian faith.

With the new religion came the end of the grotto.

Christians filled pluto's gate with stones

due to it being a symbolic location for paganism.

Hierapolis continued to thrive under Christian belief,

but it was about to be dealt a severe blow.

The very thing that made this place

so, prosperous and renowned

was the very thing that destroyed it.

In the early 7th century, a massive earthquake hit the region.

In hierapolis, all the big monuments fell down,

in hierapolis, all the big monuments fell down,

the many people died.

It can be considered ironic

that the reason for the thermal Springs

is the seismic fault line

and it led to its final abandon,

but it's not the only reason.

Due to its geographical position, earthquakes were inevitable,

but another force was about to hit hierapolis

and this time the city couldn't bounce back.

The ottoman army advanced and invaded hierapolis,

by 1334 when yet another devastating earthquake hit,

hierapolis was finally abandoned.

With no-one here to maintain the city

and control the spring waters,

the ruins were slowly submerged in their own calcified waters.

For centuries, the city laid buried and forgotten

until it was rediscovered in 1887.

Today people still flock to its hot Springs,

but many secrets are believed to remain hidden

below these white hills.

(Dramatic music)

Captioned by ai-media ai-media. TV