All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S10E08.Castle.Of.The.Occult.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Narrator: A vast complex
built on grand ambitions.

This was going to be a place

that would represent
the highest aspirations

of the Soviet union.

A Liberian hotel haunted
by a tumultuous past.

At one point this former five-star
hotel housed thousands of squatters.

Indigenous ruins in Arizona given
new life by an explosive event.

It must have been a truly
awe-inspiring thing to witness.

And a creepy clifftop
castle in the Czech Republic

concealing a gateway to hell.

To the locals,

it could only mean that the
ss were practising a cult magic.

(Suspenseful music)

Decaying relics,

ruins of lost worlds.

Sites haunted by the past,

sites haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

(Pacing music)

In the disputed
region of abkhazia,

is the wreckage of a site where a
nation's dream became a nightmare.

(Tense music)

We're on the coast of the black
sea and not far from the beach

we come upon this
complex of concrete buildings

that are crumbling into ruin.

There's this Soviet
constructivist architecture,

very practical, very
heroic, very grand scale,

it's hard to say at first
glance what this thing is.

(Tense music)

There's something unmistakably
apocalyptic about this site.

But what was it for and
why is it now in ruins?

At one time this location
promised to deliver heroic victory

over western rivals.

When you go inside it, it very
much has the look of a dormitory,

a hotel, a barracks

because you've got
these long hallways

with you know,
small rooms off each.

At one end the roof
is completely gone

and that exposes a
massive swimming pool,

certainly, no hotel would need
an olympic-size swimming pool

so this was clearly
something else.

This was once a
centre of excellence

but something
catastrophic destroyed it,

the legacy of which
is still being felt today.

(Suspenseful music)

(Speaks Russian)

Daur arshba is the
director of this site today.

Spanning nearly 160 acres,

four wheels is the
only way to get around.

(Speaks Russian)

The first thing to say
about where we are

is that the country
we're in abkhazia

doesn't really exist

doesn't really exist

but try telling that to the
240,000 people who live here,

and you're not going to get
the warmest of welcomes.

It's not recognised as
an independent nation

but it sees itself as a distinct
people and a distinct land.

During the days
of the Soviet union,

this region was part of
the republic of Georgia

which itself was
part of the ussr

and that's where the story
of this complex really begins.

Initiated in the mid-1960s

the project was part of a
grand and ambitious plan.

If buildings can represent
dreams and aspirations,

then this one
certainly did that.

This was going to be a centre
that would bring together the best

and the brightest from
all across the Soviet union

and train them for a very
distinct type of world domination.

And train them for a very
distinct type of world domination.

This is the eshera
sports complex,

the central olympic
base of the ussr.

This place was chosen because
it sat along a stretch of coastline

that was favoured by the Soviet
elite because of the weather.

Athletes could get away
from the darkness and cold

of the endless winters

and train and
focus on their sports

in this beautiful temperate
warm environment.

(Speaks Russian)

Well, the place
was, was a marvel

because it had you
know, four football pitches,

it had an olympic
size swimming pool,

it had basketball courts, it
had a couple of running tracks,

it had basketball courts, it
had a couple of running tracks,

it had you know, facilities
for 40 different sports.

At one point the pool
would have been kitted out

with all the latest technology

and packed full of hopeful athletes
training to be the best they could.

Daur had the privilege
of seeing first-hand

what it took to be the best.

(Eerie music)

(Speaks Russian)

To house all the athletes

there was a nine-storey
accommodation block

which also had a huge canteen

serving the very best food,

you know there was no expense
spared in this pursuit for victory.

You know there was no expense
spared in this pursuit for victory.

It was the perfect place to
psych up the athletes to do well

for, you know, mother Russia.

There was also another factor

driving the relentless
pursuit of sporting excellence.

At this time the
cold war is raging

and more often than not we
associate that with the nuclear arms race

or the space race.

But sport was the other great
arena that this conflict played out, in.

It's impossible to overstate

how important global competition
in sports was to the Soviet union.

The cold war was about a lot
more than just a military build-up,

it was an ideological war,

the Soviet union wanted to
prove they had a superior system

to that of the west

if they could show that their people
were the fastest and the strongest

that would be a
kind of confirmation

that the Soviet system
was the superior way

to organise a society.

At the 1980 summer
Olympics in Moscow,

that ideological clash was supposed
to play out on the world stage.

In 1979,

the ussr invaded Afghanistan to
prop up a communist government,

in response, the us decided
to boycott the 1980 Olympics

and ultimately 65 other
countries around the world

also refused to
attend those games.

Well, this was a very tough decision
for president Jimmy Carter to take

because all these American
olympians had been training for years.

(Speaks Russian)

(Laughs)

In the absence of
the United States,

the Soviet team
dominated the games,

securing a record
80 gold medals.

Some of that
spectacular performance

was partly due to the training
that took place at this centre.

(Speaks Russian)

(Dramatic music)

But the boycott of the games was
not the only thing to raise eyebrows.

It was the first and
only games since

not to disqualify
a single athlete

for using
performance-enhancing drugs.

Now, this was unheard of.

Clearly, when you look at their
medal haul in the 1980 Olympics

you have to question
whether this was all clean

and there was a lot of controversy
at the time of how clean were they.

And there was a lot of controversy
at the time of how clean were they.

Whatever the truth,
one thing is certain.

For the next decade,

this facility continued to churn
out world-beating athletes.

But it wouldn't be long before the
whole thing came crashing down,

change was coming.

By the early '90s,

the eshera sports complex
was becoming an arena

for a very different
kind of battle.

As the Soviet union collapsed

its control over the very
Soviet states collapsed as well

and many of those states began
to dissolve into warring factions.

Georgia emerged as
an independent state

including this abkhazia province

and so in 1992,

the abkhazia population of Georgia
tried to separate from Georgia

and form their own state.

And of course, the
Georgians resisted

and they used you know,
the most merciless tactics

to put the abkhazia down.

(Speaks Russian)

For over a year there was
vicious fighting in the streets.

The conflict claiming the
lives of over 15,000 people.

(Tense music)

The war got very ugly,

people of Georgian
backgrounds were killed

and driven out of
abkhazia by the thousands.

And it's suspected that
much of the violence

between the abkhazia and
the Georgians in the civil war

was fostered by the Russians

who had a vested interest
in keeping Georgia unstable

and sort of in the
de facto Soviet grasp.

In the chaos of war,

both sides were accused of
committing terrible atrocities.

Both sides were accused of
committing terrible atrocities.

This building was caught
in the deadly crossfire.

This sports complex, unfortunately,
sat in the cockpit of the war

between the abkhazia
and the Georgians

and it's in that
westernmost area

and so it becomes yet
another front in the fighting.

(Speaks Russian)

These buildings were so damaged
that they were really beyond repair.

(Suspenseful music)

All around abkhazia
are the scars of conflict,

none more so than
at this prestigious site.

But daur is confident the
days of glory will return.

(Speaks Russian)

Whether that happens
or not nobody knows

and until then well, it's empty

and it remains isolated
much like abkhazia.

(Pacing music)

In a dense forest 30 miles
north of the Czech capital Prague,

in a dense forest 30 miles
north of the Czech capital Prague,

stands a castle with a
supernatural attraction.

(Eerie music) (Birds chirp)

A deep orange forest
stretches out in every direction.

Then through a
clearing in the trees,

you see this
monumental structure.

It feels still, eerie.

Inside the unnerving atmosphere
becomes ever more acute.

As your eyes become
accustomed to the darkness,

you start to see horrible
metal instruments.

And symbols of the occult.

These thrones are adorned
with satanic symbolism

and there are these grotesque
faces carved into the structures.

For centuries this
isolated stronghold

has been a magnet for those
obsessed with its dark power.

(Foreboding music)

(Foreboding music)

Evil men have come to this place

and they have committed
unspeakable acts.

(Tense music)

For zuzana pavlikova simonkova,

houska castle is more
than a historical bastion,

it's a family heirloom.

(Speaks Russian)

Houska castle has been confiscated
from its owners at least three times

in its history.

The reasons why
aren't immediately clear.

There is never really been
any strategic value to this castle,

it's not near any borders

and it's not near any routes
that an army would take.

There aren't even any
important trading routes nearby.

So why build it at all?

As the castle keeper,

miroslav konopasek knows at
houska the devil is in the detail.

(Speaks Russian)

He's long been associated
with good overcoming evil,

the battle between
heaven and hell.

There's a very good reason
why he's painted on these walls.

It's a story that dates
back to the ninth century

before the castle
or chapel existed.

(Foreboding music)

(Speaks Russian)

Determined to explore what
lay in the depths of this pit,

a powerful local lord turned to
those desperate enough to find out.

Prisoners sentenced to
death could earn a pardon

if they agreed to be lowered
into this allegedly bottomless pit

if they agreed to be lowered
into this allegedly bottomless pit

and then come back
and report what they saw.

When the first man
was lowered into the pit

he began screaming in
horror after just a few seconds

and he begged to
be pulled back up.

When he was hauled out

it was reported that his
hair had turned shock white,

that he appeared to
have aged 30 years

and he was extremely
wrinkled all over.

(Speaks Russian)

Real or imagined,

the local's terror was genuine
enough for them to seal over the pit,

building the chapel
and castle on top.

What better to cover
an entrance to hell

than a chapel dedicated
to the archangel

who does battle
with Satan himself.

Although the pit was sealed,

the malevolent spirit of houska
continued to attract attention.

The malevolent spirit of houska
continued to attract attention.

During the 30 years
war in the 1600s,

houska castle fell under the
control of a Swedish army.

Their commander, oronto,
remained after the war

and sought to harness the
power of hell for his own gain.

He was obsessed with
legends surrounding the castle

and it is rumoured that he even
performed black magic rituals

to try to achieve immortality.

His looting of the local area
soon riled up the villagers,

putting his claims of
immortality to the test.

(Speaks Russian)

With a sizable
bounty on his head,

he was shot to death by two
opportunistic local huntsmen.

(Gunshot)

Oronto wouldn't be the castle's
last occupant with sinister ambitions.

In the late 1930s,

it attracted the attention of
some notorious occultists.

(Tense music)

There was another evil
force coming to houska

one that would do anything
to achieve total domination.

(Suspenseful music)

When the second world
war broke out in 1939

the wharton ss took the
castle for themselves.

Their leader Heinrich himmler

is said to have been
fascinated by the supernatural.

It's theorised that
himmler genuinely believed

that the power of
the old occult masters

would help the
Nazis rule the world.

Himmler is said to
have used his power

to collect as many books
about witchcraft, the supernatural

and the occult as possible,

his collection totalled
approximately 13,000 books

and manuscripts.

The castle was soon used
in service of his obsession.

(Ominous music)

(Speaks Russian)

But stories persist that the ss used
houska as more than just a library.

Locals claimed to have heard
moans, screams and cries

in many different languages
coming from the castle at night.

And the rumour went around

that it was being used for
some fringe scientific experiments

on human subjects.

Some claim that the ss were
attempting to create super soldiers

some claim that the ss were
attempting to create super soldiers

by performing
black magic rituals.

(Speaks Russian)

Once the war had ended,

the castle was used
as a children's home,

one of its former residents
told miroslav an unsettling story.

(Speaks Russian)

(Tense musical sting)

The truth of what happened
here may never be known.

But there is no doubt

that a very real evil
did stalk these halls.

(Foreboding music)

It's clear that himmler and
some of his crackpot henchmen

in the ss were
profoundly into the occult

but there's also a
lot of exaggeration

around how widespread that was.

Sometimes it's difficult
for us to understand

how people could be so evil

so we conjure these
wild conspiracy theories

to try to explain human psychology
that we can't comprehend.

(Ominous music)

After the war,

houska was seized
by the communist state,

it was finally returned to
zuzana's family in the 1990s.

It was finally returned to
zuzana's family in the 1990s.

Today she is working
to preserve the castle

and all its legends
for future generations.

(Speaks Russian)

(Pacing music)

On the coast of west Africa

is a scarred structure that
embodies a country's devastating past.

(Suspenseful music)

Liberia is one of the oldest
nations on the continent of Africa

and its capital is a
city called Monrovia.

Monrovia is a vibrant city
with mainly low-rise buildings

so this abandoned structure
really stands out from the crowd.

It's nine storeys
tall, 300 rooms,

judging by its size
and organisation

it might have been a
hospital at one point

or maybe a
high-end office block.

It looks like the place had
been looted from top to bottom.

This picture of the
building is complicated

by the structure
that's next to it

which is in this
strange circular shape,

it almost looks like a
spaceship of some sort.

One feature reveals
what this place used to be.

An empty swimming pool

tells us that this building
must have been a hotel.

What ripped apart this once
luxurious holiday hotspot?

This hotel bears the scars
of a catastrophic event.

This hotel bears the scars
of a catastrophic event.

(Soft music)

Liberia is one of the
poorest countries in the world

so it's easy to forget

that it was once one of
Africa's richest nations.

In the 1950s and '60s,

Liberia's economy was thriving
due to its rich natural resources

such as rubber, iron
ore and diamonds.

With that came an appetite
to tap into another industry.

Liberia wanted to open the
country up to more foreign tourists

and this was the hotel
to realise that ambition.

(Dramatic music)

This was the ducor palace hotel.

Henry buckle used to
work here as a bartender.

(Pacing music)

(Pacing music)

Built-in 1960

the ducor palace was operated
by a well-known hotel empire.

The intercontinental
hotel chain took over

and it became one of Africa's

and even the world's
most luxurious hotels.

Africa's first five-star hotel

changed the face
of Liberia's capital.

The hotel illuminated
Monrovia's skies

and it was the heart
and soul of the city.

And it was a stomping ground
for many of the rich and famous.

And hosted important
African leaders.

One caretaker claimed he even
saw idi armin the Ugandan dictator

one caretaker claimed he even
saw idi armin the Ugandan dictator

swimming in the pool
while still wearing his gun.

It offered its guests
whether from home or abroad

the very best from the
moment they arrived.

(Soft music)

The architecture was
big, bold and modern,

it had a covered circular driveway
with these beautiful blue tiles

so the guests really
got dropped off in style.

From the lobby, you could
ascend the grand circular stairway

to the main restaurant.

And the creme de la creme,
a 360-degree rooftop bar

from which to enjoy the vista.

Henry's career in
the hotel evolved

from bartender to chef.

In the 1960s and 1970s,

it was a place of prosperity
and extreme privilege.

However, by the 1980s

a radical change
was on the horizon.

Intercontinental ceased
management of ducor palace.

It was only the start
of the hotel's troubles.

In 1989,

a civil war was about
to break out in Liberia

a civil war was about
to break out in Liberia

and the hotel reacted by
closing its doors to visitors.

Trained rebels invaded Liberia
from the neighbouring country

the Ivory Coast, they
were led by Charles Taylor

who wanted to overthrow
Liberian government and take over.

Taylor a sacked government
worker had fled to the us

where he was imprisoned,

only to escape and return
home as head of a rebel militia.

But they weren't the only insurgents
determined to topple the regime.

(Gunshots)

In 1990

a rival guerrilla
force beat them to it,

torturing and
murdering the president.

Once that was done,

both groups turned
against each other

and plunged Liberia
into a civil war.

By 1992 fighting had
intensified in Monrovia.

The hotel now housing
an interim government

the hotel now housing
an interim government

offered some protection
from the bloodshed.

Four years later, a seize fire
bought some respite from the violence

and a surprising winner emerged
from elections that followed.

In 1997 Charles
Taylor won an election

and became president of Liberia

but there were many who
were not happy with this.

Under a tyrannical regime,

the hotel would soon find itself
once again caught in the crossfire.

This hotel which had a
strategic view of the city

became a firing position
for Taylor's rag-tag army.

Liberia's second civil war was
finally bought to an end in 2003

after George w bush
called for Taylor to step down

and he was indicted by a
UN-sponsored war crimes tribunal.

This prompted Charles
Taylor's resignation

this prompted Charles
Taylor's resignation

from his office of president
and he was exiled to Nigeria.

Taylor was gone

but Liberia's economy and
infrastructure was shattered.

It was one of Africa's bloodiest
and most brutal conflicts,

it resulted in the fatalities
of a quarter million residents

and this is in a country
where the entire population

is just over 2 million.

The hotel found another purpose

as a home to thousands of displaced
residents from the slums of Monrovia.

They were moved in 2007

when the Liberian
government leased the hotel

to none other than the
Libyan despot colonel gaddafi

who was a keen purchaser
of African prime real estate.

Gaddafi was now in charge
of a multi-million dollar refit

of the hotel ducor
but not for long.

In 2010,

a clean-up of the
war-torn building began

but relations were turning sour
between the Liberian government

and gaddafi

and so the project
kept being delayed.

Gaddafi was killed
by his own people

and with his demise came
the collapse of his projects

including the rehabilitation
of the ducor palace hotel.

(Suspenseful music)

Liberia is in the midst of a
slow painful process of rebuilding

following its civil war,

hotels are once again starting
to open for business for tourists.

Although there are
still no plans to revive

what was once
the pride of Liberia,

it remains a special place
for Monrovia's residents.

It remains a special place
for Monrovia's residents.

Locals still like to visit,

they spend special
occasions here

such as Christmas
and independence day

so they can admire
its spectacular views.

In north central Arizona, usa,

concealed within
this barren land

is the story of a way
of life forever lost.

They call it the painted
desert for a reason,

the rocks and stones and spaces
just have so many different colours,

nature has created this space

that it looks like an
artist has taken to it.

It's just so beautiful.

Almost blending in
with the landscape

you start to pick
out these structures.

As you get a little bit closer

you can see that these
are definitely manmade,

they have stacked stones and
were once very carefully built.

They have stacked stones and
were once very carefully built.

As you go from room to room

it becomes clear that this was
part of a really large settlement.

Distinctive dark features
in the surrounding terrain

are a tell-tale reminder
of a violent past.

Nearby the geology around the
trail starts to look a bit different,

this rock looks
to be lava flows.

In the distance, you can
see a distinctly shaped hill

and as you get closer
you realise it's a volcano.

Could this have something to
do with these ruins in the desert?

(Suspenseful music)

Working in this
beautiful landscape,

this beautiful environment
is really enlightening,

I take a lot of
personal gratification

from being able to share
that with other people

especially when so
much of our landscapes

especially when so
much of our landscapes

surrounding cities and
towns is being developed

and being you know,
changed forever.

Ian hough is an archaeologist

fascinated by the
ancient communities

that once inhabited
this unforgiving terrain.

Decades of research have
helped uncover the mystery

of what bought life
to this arid region.

You look across that
landscape and it looks very harsh

and inhospitable
and indeed it is.

But people you
know, 900 years ago

found a way to live
in that environment

and thrive for
multiple generations

so it's a testament
to their resiliency

and their adaptability.

Just looking at this
it is very obvious

that these people
had a lot of skill,

that this was a complex society

that had a community that
was able to do something

at this sophisticated level.

This is the wupatki pueblo,

this is the wupatki pueblo,

an ancient indigenous
American settlement

once home to hundreds of people.

So right now I'm standing
at the base of the citadel

and it's one of the larger
archaeological sites here

at wupatki national monument.

When this place was
built and occupied,

the walls would have been a little
bit taller than what you see today.

It was built up high for the,
you know, commanding view,

360 degrees around
that you can see.

It probably began its life as
the home of a single family

and then just grew over time

until it became this sprawling
hundred room pueblo.

Within the middle may
have been an open area

or a Plaza and people would have
been going about daily activities

and that could be anything
from preparing food

to you know, playing with children
to just going about daily chores.

The people that called this home

the people that called this home

were some of the first
to roam this parched land

and they came from far and wide.

Through oral tradition,

we're able to determine that
the builders of the wupatki pueblo

are the ancestors of the hopi
people and likely of the zuni as well.

There was a real melting pot
of different cultures and groups

who were living here and in
Harmony in these buildings.

And so the big question is,

how were these people
able to sustain themselves?

When the reality of the physical
space they're in is just so poor.

You need to have good farming
land in order to grow crops,

you cannot just live
on hunting alone.

It seems the key to life here

lies around 15 miles
southwest of the wupatki pueblo

at the sunset crater volcano.

Around 1085ad,
the volcano erupted

around 1085ad,
the volcano erupted

and it sent out a massive plume
of smoke and ash in this region.

We have some evidence that shows
the sunset crater volcano erupted

in the late 1080s

and it could have been an
eruption that lasted for several years.

Ash and cinder would have drifted
out across this entire landscape,

mostly due to the prevailing
winds coming from the southwest

and pushing that ash
plume out in this area.

This eruption was most definitely
witnessed by the ancestors

of today's pueblo Indians.

They're going to have seen it,
they're going to have fled from it

and we believe they survived it.

It changed the lives
of the people living here

but probably not in
the way you imagine it.

Instead of destroying life here,

it created the conditions
for a community to prosper.

It created the conditions
for a community to prosper.

At several points
during the explosion,

cindery ash was thrown
up to 18 miles into the air,

all of this volcanic material
settled on the landscape

and acted as a kind of sponge.

It helped the soil absorb water

and it made it possible for this
new community to grow food

and survive.

But the life-giving force that spewed
forth from the volcano's bowels

would soon be depleted.

It looks like people stopped
building additional rooms

and expanding the
pueblo in 1225 or 1250

and certainly by 1250

it appears people are
leaving that particular location

to set up pueblos in nearby
areas not that far away.

The theories today
about the wupatki pueblo

is that after 100 years or so

is that after 100 years or so

the soil had lost its fertility,

the ash had degraded enough

that it wasn't able to
sustain the soil anymore

and so the people moved on.

But that wasn't the end,

about 500 years later

navajo people took up
residence in the region.

In time a controversial
new government policy

threatened the
navajo's very existence.

In the 1860s,

the navajo were one of those
people who were moved by force,

they were made to
walk 500 miles away

from the area where they had
been living to a reservation system.

Peshlakai etsetti and his wives

were amongst the people who
were forced to march to fort sumter

and held there,

they were eventually
released in 1868

and they returned
to the wupakti area.

But the peshlakai
family's life at wupakti

ends with the death
of Stella peshlakai.

Ends with the death
of Stella peshlakai.

This bought an end
to the latest period

of indigenous American
settlement here

and the national park service
became caretakers of the land.

Today the park service continues
its work to preserve the integrity

of this ancient site and
its earliest occupants.

It's important to recognise places
like wupakti as not being abandoned

in the sense that the word suggests
nobody appears to be living there

but through consultation with
our associated tribal communities,

we've learned that they view
places like wupakti pueblo

as still being inhabited.

For the modern people who are
descended from the villages here

at wupatki,

it is still full of the
spirits of their ancestors.

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