All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S13E07.Episode.7.1080p.UKTV.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-FFG_track3_[eng]

af Afrikaans
ak Akan
sq Albanian
am Amharic
ar Arabic
hy Armenian
az Azerbaijani
eu Basque
be Belarusian
bem Bemba
bn Bengali
bh Bihari
bs Bosnian
br Breton
bg Bulgarian
km Cambodian
ca Catalan
ceb Cebuano
chr Cherokee
ny Chichewa
zh-CN Chinese (Simplified)
zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)
co Corsican
hr Croatian
cs Czech
da Danish
nl Dutch
en English
eo Esperanto
et Estonian
ee Ewe
fo Faroese
tl Filipino
fi Finnish
fr French
fy Frisian
gaa Ga
gl Galician
ka Georgian
de German
gn Guarani
gu Gujarati
ht Haitian Creole
ha Hausa
haw Hawaiian
iw Hebrew
hi Hindi
hmn Hmong
hu Hungarian
is Icelandic
ig Igbo
id Indonesian
ia Interlingua
ga Irish
it Italian
ja Japanese
jw Javanese
kn Kannada
kk Kazakh
rw Kinyarwanda
rn Kirundi
kg Kongo
ko Korean
kri Krio (Sierra Leone)
ku Kurdish
ckb Kurdish (Soranî)
ky Kyrgyz
lo Laothian
la Latin
lv Latvian
ln Lingala
lt Lithuanian
loz Lozi
lg Luganda
ach Luo
lb Luxembourgish
mk Macedonian
mg Malagasy
ms Malay
ml Malayalam
mt Maltese
mi Maori
mr Marathi
mfe Mauritian Creole
mo Moldavian
mn Mongolian
my Myanmar (Burmese)
sr-ME Montenegrin
ne Nepali
pcm Nigerian Pidgin
nso Northern Sotho
no Norwegian
nn Norwegian (Nynorsk)
oc Occitan
or Oriya
om Oromo
ps Pashto
fa Persian
pl Polish
pt-BR Portuguese (Brazil)
pt Portuguese (Portugal)
pa Punjabi
qu Quechua
ro Romanian
rm Romansh
nyn Runyakitara
ru Russian
sm Samoan
gd Scots Gaelic
sr Serbian
sh Serbo-Croatian
st Sesotho
tn Setswana
crs Seychellois Creole
sn Shona
sd Sindhi
si Sinhalese
sk Slovak
sl Slovenian
so Somali
es Spanish
es-419 Spanish (Latin American)
su Sundanese
sw Swahili
sv Swedish
tg Tajik
ta Tamil
tt Tatar
te Telugu
th Thai
ti Tigrinya
to Tonga
lua Tshiluba
tum Tumbuka
tr Turkish
tk Turkmen
tw Twi
ug Uighur
uk Ukrainian
ur Urdu
uz Uzbek
vi Vietnamese
cy Welsh
wo Wolof
xh Xhosa
yi Yiddish
yo Yoruba
zu Zulu
Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,920 In Poland, a fairy-tale castle 2 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:11,760 at the heart of a modern-day treasure hunt. 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,560 The world's media descended on what brought them all here - 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,360 it was the promise of Nazi gold. 5 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:26,640 An American millionaire's mansion, caught in a web of controversy. 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,920 We're talking about insurance claims and alcoholism. 7 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:31,960 Murder. 8 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,280 A ghostly shell in Lebanon with an influential past. 9 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:43,520 A group met here that would shape the modern Middle East. 10 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:52,080 And an Irish country estate drawn into a brutal fight for freedom. 11 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,960 Owned by one of the most hated men in Ireland, 12 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,600 some say that this house was cursed. 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,120 Decaying relics... 14 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,480 ...ruins of lost worlds... 15 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,240 ...sights haunted by the past... 16 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,600 ...their secrets waiting to be revealed. 17 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,400 In southern Poland is a commanding residence 18 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,400 rumoured to harbour a precious secret. 19 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,120 Up on the hilltop, kind of above the tree line, 20 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:48,080 is this grand, majestic structure. 21 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,720 Inside, that splendour continues. 22 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:54,720 Red carpeted staircases lead up to huge hallways 23 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:56,480 with marble floors. 24 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:02,320 Yet this opulent citadel has hidden depths. 25 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:08,040 Behind an ordinary-looking door is a secret subterranean world. 26 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,560 As your eyes adjust, you start to get a sense of 27 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,680 just how large this space is. 28 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,720 It's like you're walking through a railway tunnel. 29 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,160 Some of the tunnels even seem to have collapsed 30 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:26,360 or have been deliberately destroyed, perhaps to hide something. 31 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,760 For decades, tales were told 32 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:35,200 of a brutal regime's riches that went missing in this exact area. 33 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,920 In 2016, it appeared the truth would finally be revealed. 34 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:44,600 And everybody's waiting for the moment 35 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:50,200 when we finally get to see the thing we're looking for - 36 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:51,880 Nazi gold. 37 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,440 There's been some sort of fortification here 38 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:00,920 since the late 1200s, 39 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:04,720 but over time, it's been destroyed and rebuilt. 40 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,600 In the early 1500s, the Hoberg family took control, 41 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:14,000 and their descendants owned it right up into the 20th century. 42 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,200 {\an8}But in 1941, the Nazi regime 43 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,040 {\an8}confiscated the castle from its owners. 44 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,160 When the Germans invaded and occupied Poland 45 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,240 during the Second World War, 46 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,800 they seized many lavish residences. 47 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:33,760 This one is called Ksiaz Castle, and it was intended to serve as 48 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,880 the Fuhrer's imperial headquarters in this region. 49 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:45,280 They wanted to make it a palace fit for Hitler himself, and in 1943, 50 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,120 work began on remodelling the interiors to fit his tastes. 51 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:55,080 The Nazis are going to rip out everything they think of 52 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,960 as decadent or over-decorative. 53 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,280 But it was below ground that the biggest changes were made. 54 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:08,000 To ensure his safety, a private escape elevator was installed 55 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,960 just opposite Hitler's bedroom door. 56 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,720 The elevator led to a vast underground network, 57 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:17,680 excavated at great human cost by inmates 58 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,080 from a nearby concentration camp. 59 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,120 The sheer scale of the tunnel system 60 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,560 suggests it was much more than just a place for Hitler to hide. 61 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:33,040 Germany is under immense stress, by this point, in the war. 62 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:39,000 Scarce war materials like concrete, reinforcing bar, all of these things 63 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,160 which could be used anywhere in the German Reich, 64 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,360 are being used here. 65 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:51,640 What is it that justifies their use in this place? 66 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,640 Historians have theorised that they could have been anything, 67 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,440 from bomb proof underground factories to chemical, 68 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:00,600 or even nuclear research labs. 69 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,480 There is another theory that might explain what these tunnels 70 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:07,520 were used for. 71 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,920 Ksiaz Castle has long been linked to a legend 72 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:17,080 forged in the dying days of the Second World War. 73 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,000 It began when the Soviet Red Army 74 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:25,480 approached the Nazi-occupied city of Breslau, 60 miles from here. 75 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,920 It's said that during the chaos of the evacuation, 76 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:34,120 an armoured train was loaded up with more than 330 tonnes of gold, 77 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:41,080 a vast array of jewels, weaponry and priceless works of art. 78 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:45,720 So the train supposedly left the city just before the attack 79 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:50,760 and started heading down the line nearby, that ran to the castle. 80 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:56,560 The legend has it that this armoured train rattled through one station, 81 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,880 but never came to the next station. 82 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,480 But huge armoured trains don't just disappear. 83 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,880 The story goes that there was a railway line 84 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,160 leading into these tunnel networks, 85 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,200 and that once the train had passed through, 86 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,080 the entrance to the tunnel was blown up, 87 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:18,800 hiding the train inside. 88 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,120 Piotr Koper is a treasure hunter who has spent over a decade 89 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,840 searching for Hitler's lost gold. 90 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:31,320 He suspects the tunnels below Ksiaz Castle 91 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,760 were a secret underground train line, 92 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,400 once connected to the main railway line, 93 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,040 only two miles from here. 94 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,000 Is. 95 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,720 In August 2015, Piotr and his business partner 96 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,240 made an exciting discovery under an earthen embankment 97 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,320 next to the main railway line. 98 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,720 The fortune hunters used ground-penetrating radar 99 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:27,000 to build up an image of what was hidden below ground. 100 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,600 Pyotr applied for permission to start digging, 101 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,200 and the next year, access was granted, 102 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,080 but the local authorities gave him just seven days 103 00:07:58,080 --> 00:07:59,800 to complete his investigation, 104 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,440 because the train line running next to the excavation site 105 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,160 had to be shut down during this time. 106 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,920 On August 16th, 2016, work began. 107 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,120 The world's media descended. 108 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,080 I mean, they were following every moment. 109 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:23,880 It's so exciting the idea that at long last, 110 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:28,120 after decades of tales of Nazi gold, 111 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:31,080 we're finally going to find some. 112 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,160 There was a lot on the line for Piotr and his partner. 113 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:41,360 Not only had they invested a reported $131,000 in the dig, 114 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,080 their reputations were also at stake. 115 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:03,800 The clock was ticking. 116 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:34,840 So after seven days of digging, they found nothing. 117 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,560 No tunnel, no gold, no train. 118 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,040 In the spotlight of the world's media, 119 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,760 Pyotr and his team were forced to give up. 120 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:07,360 Although Peter's hunt for the Nazi gold train didn't go as planned, 121 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,600 the media attention did provide an unexpected boost 122 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:12,920 to the region's economy. 123 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,280 An official from a nearby town actually admitted 124 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:21,880 that during the year of the dig, tourism was up 44%. 125 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:26,840 And who knows, perhaps the Nazi gold train is still out there 126 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,480 waiting to be found. 127 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,040 In Atlanta, Georgia, is an extravagant home 128 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:41,200 built from the riches of one of the world's 129 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:43,440 most famous business empires. 130 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:52,160 We are in the leafy suburban neighbourhood of Druid Hills, 131 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:55,840 and if you go about 500ft back from the road, 132 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,800 there is this enormous mansion. 133 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:04,320 It sits on Briarcliff Road in an area known as Briarcliff Village. 134 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,200 I'm guessing that Briarcliff has something important 135 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,200 in the history of this region, but what does it mean? 136 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:15,000 Inside are these huge rooms with carved wood panelling, 137 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,840 a grand, like, Gothic ballroom, 138 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,160 numerous bedrooms. 139 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,880 And on the top floor, there seems to be a hidden door 140 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:25,640 in one of the wall panels. 141 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,920 The curiosities of this mansion can only be explained 142 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:36,160 by the eccentricities of its owner, the heir to a vast fortune. 143 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,960 He was often at the centre of a lot of different controversy. 144 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,920 He did whatever he wanted and he didn't care. 145 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,120 This story's sort of like a real life version of Succession. 146 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:54,680 I'm talking powerful people, narcissism... 147 00:11:54,680 --> 00:11:59,680 Greed, sibling rivalry and abuses of power, all of which left 148 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:02,720 a permanent legacy in the city of Atlanta. 149 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:11,000 I moved to Atlanta in 2000, and I lived here for about 15 years 150 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,840 before I read about this abandoned mansion in the suburbs and thought, 151 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:16,000 I've got to go out and see it. 152 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,040 Sarah Butler is an author and expert on the history 153 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,080 of this century-old property. 154 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:28,200 Her first visit inspired a five-year journey of discovery. 155 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,040 I found all of these stories about the man who built it, 156 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:32,800 and the stories were kind of wild. 157 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,360 Everything in this house was designed to impress. 158 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,840 In order to understand the man, you have to understand the house. 159 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:43,760 This is the home of Asa Griggs Candler Jr. 160 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:45,960 {\an8}Or, as his friends and family 161 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:47,960 {\an8}referred to him, as Buddy. 162 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:53,520 He had a life of immense privilege, given that he was the second son 163 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:58,440 and namesake of Coca-Cola founder Asa Griggs Candler. 164 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,960 But the journey that motivated Buddy to build such a sprawling estate 165 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,520 was not as simple as it might appear. 166 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,840 As the story goes, Buddy was a troubled kid. 167 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:14,480 He was mischievous, according to everyone. 168 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,240 He was just really difficult to discipline. 169 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:22,560 Around the time that he turned eight was when his father closed the deal 170 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:26,120 to take full ownership of Coca-Cola and really take it on. 171 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,360 And that's where he needed his attention to be. 172 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,440 The only solution, they felt, was to send him away 173 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,440 to an all-girls school. 174 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,880 The reason for that is, Asa Sr, his sister, ran the school. 175 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,400 {\an8}His status as the black sheep of the family 176 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,240 {\an8}only got worse as time went on. 177 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:46,840 During college, Buddy moved in with his older brother, Charles Howard. 178 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,680 Buddy soon developed a reputation for bad behaviour. 179 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:53,480 He made so much trouble that his brother, 180 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,680 whose grades were great during his freshman year, started going down, 181 00:13:56,680 --> 00:13:59,400 so he was kind of dragging his brother down with him. 182 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:01,280 His father wrote a letter that said, 183 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:02,800 "I don't know what I'm going to do with Buddy, 184 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:04,440 "but I got to find something to do with him." 185 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,040 And they shipped him off to California for a year. 186 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,880 Fresh out of college, Buddy was given a shot 187 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:14,120 at running the family business on the West Coast, 188 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,400 overseeing manufacturing, orders and fulfilment. 189 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,120 It didn't go well. 190 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,520 It probably didn't help that he spent most of his time 191 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:26,960 drinking and partying. 192 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,840 Asa Candler Sr never let him have a part of Coca-Cola 193 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,080 as a business ever again. 194 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,440 His older brother was always the son who did things right, 195 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,280 and Buddy was sort of the son who did things wrong. 196 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:44,760 And that put Buddy in a position of always trying to outshine him. 197 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,680 That motivation prompted Buddy to build 198 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:52,520 an attention-grabbing property just to compete with his brother. 199 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,320 But he'd made so many failed investments 200 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:58,560 that he didn't have the money to buy the land 201 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:00,520 to build his new house on. 202 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:03,320 Yet Buddy always found a way. 203 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,440 So in 1911, a big fire broke out in his garage 204 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:11,520 and destroyed all of his very valuable cars, 205 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:14,680 all insured and conveniently, within about a month, 206 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:16,920 he's moving his family out to this property 207 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:20,440 that he couldn't quite afford to close on until that moment. 208 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,680 Buddy may have owned the land, but he still didn't have the funds 209 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,400 to build his dream house. 210 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:32,080 He would have to wait until the Coca-Cola company was sold in 1919, 211 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,880 when each of the Candler siblings was paid out handsomely. 212 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,880 Buddy finally got the cash he needed to start building the house 213 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,200 that would put his siblings in the shade. 214 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,200 It was called Briarcliff Mansion. 215 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:49,760 By 1922, when Buddy was 42 years old, 216 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,400 it was ready for he and his family to move into. 217 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:54,840 One of the things that I love 218 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,160 is that his brother already lived on this road. 219 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,560 He built this house and renamed the road, 220 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,840 so he renamed his brother's address Briarcliff. 221 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:07,240 It was a nice little kind of... finger to his brother. 222 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,840 The name Briarcliff actually comes from 223 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:16,480 Buddy's most beloved sports car, the Lozier Briarcliff. 224 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,440 This, surprisingly, was one of the few cars to survive 225 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,400 the mysterious fire in his garage. 226 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:25,600 In 1925, 227 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,960 Buddy was still not content with his home, 228 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,120 and so he decided to build a music hall 229 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,320 that included an in-home organ. 230 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:39,720 The organ, for me, is a really key part of the story 231 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:40,960 to understand Buddy. 232 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:43,560 It was a little bit bigger than his brother's, 233 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:46,240 which was a little bit bigger than their father's. 234 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:47,880 So I like to say, in this family, 235 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:49,680 there was an organ-measuring contest, 236 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,320 but the organs were actually organs. 237 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,040 But Buddy was never satisfied for long, 238 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,120 and always needed something else to occupy his time. 239 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,240 One of the things that sort of marked out Buddy's life 240 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,600 was his obsessions. 241 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,960 You know, he always had to have the latest, shiniest toy. 242 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,960 He always needed an exciting new hobby, 243 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,720 and in this case, that exciting new hobby was magic. 244 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,960 He filled a room with his magic tricks, 245 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,480 and he would regularly take an aeroplane to New York City 246 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,880 just to buy more. 247 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,320 In one instance, instead of going to the magic store in New York, 248 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,640 he simply wrote out a $10,000 cheque 249 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:37,480 and asked for one item of everything in the catalogue. 250 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,240 His devotion didn't stop there. 251 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,600 On a family holiday to the Philippines, 252 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,640 he met a local magician named Jose Cruz. 253 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:50,040 Buddy was so impressed 254 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,880 that he actually took him back with him to America. 255 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:57,360 Cruz was officially employed as a butler, but his real job 256 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:00,480 was as Buddy's personal magic tutor. 257 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:06,760 But soon, a terrible scandal was going to engulf Briarcliff Mansion, 258 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,920 and Buddy's love of magic would be the least of the casualties. 259 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,280 On the 18th of January 1931, 260 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,040 Buddy was woken with the news 261 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:23,440 that Cruz had been found dead on the grounds of his property. 262 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,360 But this wasn't an ordinary death. 263 00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:31,160 Jose's body was found next to a young woman named Gladys, 264 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,440 and Gladys was also his lover, 265 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,240 and at first, it appeared that the two 266 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,760 had died in what appeared to be a double suicide. 267 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:44,800 Gladys's parents disapproved of the relationship 268 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,600 because Cruz was Filipino. 269 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,160 The suicide note suggested that the couple felt death 270 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,240 was the only way they could be together forever. 271 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:59,520 But things didn't quite add up. 272 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:04,240 Ultimately, what was determined by a jury pulled together very quickly 273 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,160 was that it was a murder suicide. 274 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:08,360 Jose Cruz was very troubled, 275 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:11,240 and he killed her and killed himself. 276 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,720 It made national news. 277 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:19,040 For Buddy, the press attention was a major embarrassment. 278 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,520 He went to great lengths to try and bury the story, 279 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,080 leveraging his many family connections 280 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,760 to try to make the story go away. 281 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:33,080 The whole affair kind of left a bitter taste in Buddy's mouth, 282 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,080 so he gave up magic completely. 283 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,480 The one thing, though, he did not give up, was the bottle. 284 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,400 It's even rumoured that the start of his next adventure came 285 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,240 because he was drunk and at a circus in Europe, 286 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:49,840 and bought a bunch of animals. 287 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:54,080 In order to fund his newest hobby, he began charging admission 288 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,320 for people to come visit his private zoo. 289 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,240 We're not just talking elephants, we're talking lions, tigers, 290 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:05,760 black panthers, Shetland ponies, a whole pack of bears. 291 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:12,160 But like many of his other projects, this one was doomed from the start. 292 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,880 What he didn't anticipate was how expensive it was 293 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:18,560 to run a zoo on your own lawn. 294 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,440 A dime a person was never going to make him enough money 295 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:22,920 to make this viable. 296 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,680 So within a year, he was already running in the red. 297 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,440 Within two years, he was starting to lose his temper with people - 298 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,000 this was heavy in the drinking years. 299 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,920 Buddy was so disheartened, he gave away many of the animals 300 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,400 to what would later become Atlanta City Zoo. 301 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,080 His life was spiralling out of control 302 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:45,040 and something had to give. 303 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,480 At some point, late '30s, early 1940s, 304 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,960 he has this realisation that he is an alcoholic 305 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:54,480 and he can't live like this anymore, 306 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:56,160 and he decides to get right with God. 307 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:57,640 All evidence points to him 308 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,080 successfully giving up alcohol completely, 309 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:04,320 so he spent that latter part of his life completely sober. 310 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:09,360 But by then, much of the damage had already been done to his health 311 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:11,160 and his finances. 312 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:14,560 In 1947, 313 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,640 he was, by his standards, short of cash, 314 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,320 and so he was forced to sell off Briarcliff. 315 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:24,680 Now, according to those who knew him, it was a pretty crushing blow 316 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,160 for him to give up his beloved mansion. 317 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:35,760 Six years later, in 1953, Buddy died from liver cancer at the age of 72. 318 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,960 He may not have left the legacy that he hoped for, 319 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:44,280 but he definitely left his impact on the city. 320 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,600 Nobody is black and white, good or bad. 321 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,320 He loved his family and friends. 322 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:52,120 His family and friends loved him. 323 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:54,600 He really did care about Atlanta, 324 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,280 but he also cared about himself more. 325 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:03,400 The irony is that Buddy's mansion ended up turning into 326 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,160 Georgia's first alcohol addiction treatment centre, 327 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,000 and it functions in that capacity through the 1980s. 328 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,440 After that, it was abandoned. 329 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:24,160 In 1998, Emory University purchased the 42-acre estate 330 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,840 that included Buddy's mansion from the Atlanta government. 331 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:34,480 Now, a multi-million dollar renovation is in the works. 332 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,240 Gary Hauk is Emory University's historian. 333 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,800 I'm sure Buddy would have been heartbroken to see 334 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:45,960 {\an8}what had been done to the building 335 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:51,360 over the 100 years since the building was finished. 336 00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:53,800 Given the importance of the Candler family 337 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,240 to the development of modern Atlanta, 338 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,640 I think it's really vital to preserve the building as it is 339 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,920 and to restore it, perhaps as it once was. 340 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:14,360 In County Limerick, Ireland, stands a fallen symbol 341 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:16,760 of the nation's troubled history. 342 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:27,520 What we see is a patchwork of fields with cattle grazing. 343 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:33,120 It's quiet, idyllic, a picturesque part of the Irish countryside. 344 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:38,040 But right at the centre of it all is an unusual, imposing structure. 345 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:42,040 It could be a ruined Roman temple, abandoned for 2000 years, 346 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:44,640 but the Romans never made it to Ireland. 347 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,640 Whoever built this, at tremendous expense by the look of it, 348 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:52,520 didn't expect it to end up in the middle of a cow pasture. 349 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:58,080 Yet the sparse interiors retain a glimmer of faded prosperity. 350 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:04,600 You can still make out the outlines of big baronial fireplaces, 351 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:09,080 big heroic staircases winding up to a second storey. 352 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,320 It's got corridors and doorways everywhere, with countless rooms 353 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:14,680 and underground vaults. 354 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:19,560 So this was clearly a stately home of wealth and distinction. 355 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,200 The actions of its influential owner 356 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,760 made him one of the most hated figures in Ireland. 357 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,680 He did everything in his power to prevent 358 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:31,480 the emancipation of Catholics. 359 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:34,640 Inside this building, policies were formulated. 360 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,560 Decisions were taken that would lead to, you know, 361 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,400 an absolute bloodletting across the country of Ireland. 362 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,360 Little did he know, but he would end up sowing the seeds 363 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:47,960 for the destruction of his own home. 364 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,920 I visited this house over ten years ago. 365 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,160 It's in a derelict state at the moment, 366 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:03,160 and this has probably advanced in the intervening years. 367 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,760 David Hicks is an architectural historian with a passion 368 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,880 for large country homes like this one. 369 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,360 They were said to be 22 bedrooms, five reception rooms, 370 00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:15,080 {\an8}a six-acre walled garden. 371 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,120 And what is very interesting is the people inside this house 372 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:22,920 had a huge influence on the wider community, a huge influence 373 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,680 on the Catholic population nationally. 374 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,760 This is Mountshannon House. 375 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:35,440 It was bought and expanded in the 1760s by John Fitzgibbon, 376 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:40,240 an affluent lawyer and politician from nearby Limerick. 377 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:44,240 The origin of his fortune dates back to a time when Ireland 378 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:46,880 was a country under siege. 379 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:51,800 In the mid 1600s, the English leader Oliver Cromwell 380 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:56,120 led a brutal crackdown on Catholics in Ireland 381 00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,360 after they had rebelled 382 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:00,720 against the British crown. 383 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:02,920 As punishment for the uprising, 384 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,440 {\an8}vast tracts of land were confiscated 385 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,080 {\an8}and given to British Protestant settlers. 386 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:13,840 It also ushered in an era of strong penal laws against Catholics, 387 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:18,040 {\an8}designed to maintain the power of the Protestant elite. 388 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:20,880 There was huge restriction placed on Catholics 389 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,080 in terms of land ownership, education, 390 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,760 even the type of career they could pursue. 391 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,560 John Fitzgibbon was raised Catholic, 392 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,440 and the only way he could have owned an estate of this size 393 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,280 was by making a great sacrifice. 394 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,160 John changed his religion in order that he could pursue a law career 395 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,880 and also practice in the courts, as Catholics were banned 396 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,240 from practising law in the courts at that time. 397 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:51,760 He was very successful and he died a very wealthy man by 1780. 398 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,640 He never forgot his roots, though, and often defended Catholics 399 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,200 for fighting the Penal Laws. 400 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,400 But Fitzgibbon's son and heir, also named John, 401 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,360 was cut from a different cloth. 402 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:09,640 Being born and raised in the elite class of the Protestant Ascendancy 403 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,160 seemed to go straight to his head. 404 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,080 And curious thing about him, 405 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:18,720 he saw the dilemmas his father had wrestled with being a Catholic, 406 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,880 and instead of that filling him with a kind of compassion 407 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,120 and understanding for the plight of Catholics in their own land, 408 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:28,400 it made him even more bigoted, even more oppressive 409 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:30,640 than the English themselves. 410 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,440 Fitzgibbon Jr rose to become a powerful politician 411 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,120 and enforced his beliefs without mercy. 412 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:41,720 He did everything he could to ally himself to the Crown, 413 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,280 always desperate to fit in with the English aristocracy, 414 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:48,720 and spent his life opposing Catholic emancipation. 415 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:53,200 By the late 1700s, trouble was brewing. 416 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:57,120 Irish Catholics, increasingly frustrated by the injustice 417 00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,960 of the Penal Laws, were beginning to organise. 418 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:05,760 There's Irish nationalist groups like the Society For United Irishmen 419 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,040 who form and say, look, we need to, like, unite together 420 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:13,760 and take our land back from these British interlopers. 421 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,960 Unsurprisingly, Fitzgibbon threw everything he could at them, 422 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,440 outlawing the group and forcing its members underground. 423 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:24,280 The United Irishmen didn't give up so easily. 424 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,880 Inspired by the successes of the American and French revolutions, 425 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:33,280 they resorted to an armed rebellion across Ireland in 1798. 426 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,680 But after a few months, British troops had defeated the rebels 427 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,200 in battles around the country. 428 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:46,640 Fitzgibbon authorised the arrest and imprisonment of the Irish 429 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,760 without trial, and resorted to the most brutal torture 430 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,920 as forms of intimidation. 431 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:57,360 Hundreds were executed and many deported to Australia. 432 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:01,080 Fitzgibbon's greatest betrayal of his fellow countrymen 433 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,360 was still to come. 434 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,440 The rebellion prompted the Prime Minister to pass the Act Of Union, 435 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,160 which formally incorporated Ireland 436 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,760 into the Union Of Great Britain And Ireland. 437 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:18,520 Under the terms of the act, Ireland's parliament 438 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:20,520 was to be abolished. 439 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:24,400 Yet many British politicians felt the time had come to grant 440 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,840 Irish Catholics more freedom. 441 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,640 But fearing that more Catholic power would ruin the country, 442 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,600 Fitzgibbon convinced King George III 443 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,880 not to give his royal assent, saying it would violate his coronation oath 444 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,520 to maintain Protestantism. 445 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:45,120 And he is famous for saying that the Act Of Union 446 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,440 would make Ireland as tame as a mutilated cat. 447 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,560 The bitter irony was that Fitzgibbon's fanaticism would lead 448 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,280 to his own downfall. 449 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,760 His rule in Ireland was so harsh that he alienated even the British, 450 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,360 who said, you know, this is no way to knit together 451 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,000 Ireland and the United Kingdom, with these kind of policies. 452 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:06,960 So he wasn't kept on in the government. 453 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,840 He returned to Mountshannon deeply depressed. 454 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:12,400 Call it karma, 455 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,480 but the next year he died after falling off his horse 456 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,240 when he was riding around his estate. 457 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,000 The people of Limerick thought it would be a suitable memorial to him 458 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,480 to deposit a number of dead cats, not only on his coffin 459 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:26,560 but on his grave. 460 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,920 And this, I think, illustrates how much this man was disliked 461 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:31,920 in the locality. 462 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:36,560 Over the next century, the Irish nationalist movement gathered pace, 463 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:41,360 fuelled in part by the actions of men like John Fitzgibbon. 464 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:46,000 But ultimately, it would take a global conflict to pave the road 465 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,120 for lasting change in Ireland. 466 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,800 The First World War halted the passage of a new law 467 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:58,280 known as Home Rule, which was meant to give Ireland more local control. 468 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:03,840 In 1916, militant republicans staged an uprising in Dublin. 469 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:09,040 It became known as the Easter Rebellion or the Easter Uprising. 470 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,960 The rebels were surrounded and bombarded. 471 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,760 Thousands were sent to internment camps 472 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,520 and 16 of their leaders were executed. 473 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,520 With this violent repression, mainstream Irish opinion 474 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,320 turned strongly against the British. 475 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:29,200 In 1919, the War of Independence broke out. 476 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:33,640 The Irish forces united under the banner of the Irish Republican Army, 477 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,920 more commonly known by its initials, the IRA. 478 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,960 The IRA only had a few thousand men and limited supplies, 479 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,680 so were forced to fight a guerrilla campaign. 480 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,080 Their tactics included ambush, bombings, 481 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:51,240 espionage, and assassinations. 482 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:54,720 The Irish feel that they've been kept down for centuries 483 00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,920 by the English, so it becomes a really nasty war. 484 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:02,040 The southwestern city of Limerick was an IRA stronghold, 485 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:05,760 which made it a target for British forces. 486 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:09,520 Mountshannon house would be caught in the crossfire. 487 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:14,640 The one thing to understand 488 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,520 in the political upheaval of Ireland in the 1920s 489 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:22,040 was that a house like this could be used as a barracks. 490 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,040 It sat within a demesne of 900 acres, 491 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,720 so therefore from the surrounding area, if anyone was approaching, 492 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:30,880 it could easily be defended. 493 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,080 As well as seen as being an asset to some, 494 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:37,160 it was also seen as a threat if your enemy took control of it. 495 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,520 With forewarning that thousands of British troops 496 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,400 were about to arrive in Ireland, 497 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,880 The IRA set out on a campaign to destroy structures 498 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:49,040 that might be used as barracks to house these troops. 499 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:54,520 On the 14th of June, 1920, John Fitzgibbon's once lavish estate 500 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,960 was razed to the ground. 501 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,720 A band of IRA volunteers snuck into Mountshannon. 502 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:04,840 They planted paper and hay around the building 503 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:06,800 and covered it in oil. 504 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,520 The house burned for three days, and a massive fire 505 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:12,560 could be seen from Limerick. 506 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,760 There's a real circular aspect to the story, 507 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:19,160 because Mountshannon House is burned to the ground 508 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:23,280 by the very Irish nationalists that are basically fanned into life 509 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,480 by the repressive policies of this guy Fitzgibbon 510 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,760 back in the early 19th century. 511 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:39,440 In 1921, a year after Mountshannon was destroyed, 512 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,520 a peace treaty was agreed. 513 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,640 The terms of the deal divided the country into Ireland, 514 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,520 which was independent, and Northern Ireland, 515 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,600 which remained part of the United Kingdom. 516 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,960 Mountshannon stands as a haunting symbol 517 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,240 of the turbulent history of Ireland 518 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,560 and its long struggle to achieve autonomy. 519 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:05,200 I think this house needs to be opened up, conserved, 520 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,240 studied and just another element of our history 521 00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:11,600 that maybe we need to become more familiar with. 522 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:19,840 In the mountainous region of Sofar, Lebanon, 523 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,760 an eerie ruin dominates the landscape. 524 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,520 Up here, there's a blizzard raging. 525 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:33,800 As you make your way up the road, 526 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,320 the outline of this palatial building comes into focus. 527 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,480 The roof is entirely missing 528 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,360 and snow is just piling up on the top floor. 529 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,160 You can see how well built it is, 530 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:51,200 that even though it's been empty for many decades, it still stands. 531 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:57,320 Inside, little remains of the structure's glorious past. 532 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,840 In one room, there's a plush, red sofa and a mirrored table. 533 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,720 There's no doubt, this was a room for entertaining. 534 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:11,080 In this lobby, you see these two grand, curving staircases. 535 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:15,160 Clearly in its day, it was a place to make an entrance. 536 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:19,880 In the beginning, this was a beacon for the rich and famous. 537 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:23,800 In the end, it became a tragic victim of circumstance. 538 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,080 The history here wasn't all happy. 539 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:30,960 These holes in the walls look a lot like bullet holes. 540 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,800 Carlos Haber's family has been the caretakers of this site 541 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:40,920 for almost a century. 542 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:44,440 Today, he continues that legacy. 543 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,880 The family that Carlos and his ancestors worked for 544 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:01,680 were one of the wealthiest in Lebanon. 545 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,600 The Sursocks are a Greek Orthodox Christian family 546 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,520 that have lived in Beirut since the 18th century. 547 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:12,880 They became powerful bankers, traders, importers, 548 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:14,640 all sorts of businesses, 549 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:16,880 {\an8}and of course, along the way, 550 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:20,120 {\an8}they acquired a great amount of power and influence 551 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:21,960 {\an8}in the political system. 552 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:25,120 But this was not the Sursocks private home. 553 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,840 It was an ambitious business venture, 554 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,200 intended to serve society's upper echelons. 555 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:37,840 This is the Grand Sofar Hotel. 556 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:42,000 It first welcomed guests in 1892. 557 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,640 {\an8}Alfred and Michel Sursock 558 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:45,800 {\an8}had a vision for a lavish getaway 559 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,600 {\an8}catering to the rich and famous of the Arab world. 560 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,640 Their timing could not have been better. 561 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:54,040 A few years after the hotel opened, 562 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,560 the first railroad running from the coast in Beirut 563 00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:00,560 to Damascus in Syria opened. 564 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:04,360 Passengers could step right off the train and through the doors 565 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:08,760 of one of the most luxurious destinations in the Middle East. 566 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:30,200 You know, you think of the Middle East as being 567 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,200 quite culturally conservative, and much of it, of course, was. 568 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,600 But Lebanon was always different, 569 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,760 and this hotel really exemplified it. 570 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,360 You had gambling, you had drinking. 571 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:44,560 Lord knows what else was going on behind those walls. 572 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,240 The hedonistic mountain retreat became the place to be 573 00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:50,840 for fun-loving celebrities. 574 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:55,280 The hotel was a destination for big names across the Arab world, 575 00:37:55,280 --> 00:38:00,400 including the actor Omar Sharif and the Lebanese singer Sabah. 576 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:05,360 The hotel wasn't just a place for nightlife 577 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:09,280 and for the rich and famous to blow off steam. 578 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:13,760 It was also a meeting place for political leaders. 579 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:18,280 In the late 1940s, the luxury resort hosted a gathering 580 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,000 of presidents and kings. 581 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,800 The powerful group would come to shape the modern Middle East 582 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,440 and trigger a series of events that led to disaster 583 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:30,720 at the Grand Sofar Hotel. 584 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:37,120 After World War II, the whole world was, in a way reorganising itself. 585 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,000 Borders that had been established by European powers 586 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:41,840 were being renegotiated. 587 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:45,280 This was especially true in the Middle East. 588 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:50,120 The Arab League was formed in 1945 as a way for the Arab states 589 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:55,280 to develop their economies and coordinate their political aims. 590 00:38:55,280 --> 00:39:00,760 In October 1947, leaders from Syria, Jerusalem, Lebanon 591 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:05,480 and Saudi Arabia all met here at the Grand Sofar Hotel. 592 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:07,440 There was a lot happening in the region 593 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,160 that concerned them greatly. 594 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:13,600 In particular, there was the move to create the State Of Israel 595 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:15,480 in a portion of Palestine. 596 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,000 In the smoky rooms of the hotel, 597 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,280 they drafted an agreement for an Arab army, 598 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:24,600 discussed a United Arab currency, 599 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:28,200 and, most importantly, pledged support for Palestine. 600 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,440 In 1948, Israel declared its independence. 601 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,840 In response, the Arab League countries 602 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,720 launched a synchronised attack. 603 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:45,040 After almost a year of fighting, a fragile armistice was reached. 604 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:51,040 But over the next 25 years, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees 605 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,600 sought shelter in Lebanon. 606 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:57,600 Tension between the Muslim and Christian populations grew 607 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,440 until it finally boiled over. 608 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,440 When the civil war erupted in the 1970s, 609 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:07,000 every aspect of life in Lebanon was upended. 610 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:08,600 Even here in Sofar, 611 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,760 warring militias battled throughout the town. 612 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,680 As the casualties mounted, they needed somewhere 613 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:16,360 to house their wounded. 614 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,160 But the Grand Sofar Hotel 615 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:55,440 would soon be taken over by another invading force. 616 00:40:55,440 --> 00:41:00,240 In 1976, Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad 617 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:03,520 ordered his army to move in to neighbouring Lebanon 618 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:07,360 in a supposed Arab League effort to try to restore order. 619 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:10,920 The Syrians set up their headquarters 620 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,840 in the abandoned hotel, and as troops so often do, 621 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:16,520 they wrecked the place. 622 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:28,520 They even stripped tiles to line and reinforce their trenches. 623 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,800 The Lebanese Civil War raged on until 1990. 624 00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:39,160 Syria didn't withdraw their troops from the country until 2005. 625 00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:44,320 By that time, the Grand Sofar Hotel had been destroyed 626 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:46,000 beyond all recognition. 627 00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:57,160 The hotel is still in the hands of the Sursock family. 628 00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:59,880 Of course, it's a magnificent ruin, 629 00:41:59,880 --> 00:42:02,960 but a grandson of the family, in recent years, 630 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:10,320 has tried to restore it as a site for artistic exhibitions. 631 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:15,000 Carlos is optimistic about what the future holds. 632 00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:56,240 Subtitles by Red Bee Media 54382

Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.