Original subtitles

[suspenseful music]

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Underneath Scotland's capital

city of Edinburgh, a hidden world lies in darkness--

a world of lions dens--

There was an actual lion here in this pit?

In this pit.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): --seedy vaults--

I'm standing in a den of thieves and drunkards, huh?

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): --and paved over,

This looks like you've got an underground city.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): This modern metropolis is literally

supported by over 10 centuries of its dark past--

That's the floor level of the City Chambers up there.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): --from secret Masonic meeting places

and illegal whiskey distilleries,

to rumored underground sex parties and massive dungeons,

and even a possible resting spot for the Holy Grail.

Edinburgh's underworld is a secretive city of its own.

We're peeling back the layers of time

to uncover the "Cities of the Underworld, Scotland's Sin

City."

[music playing]

Located in the heart of the Scottish hills,

Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh

has a history that stretches through the ages.

From its secret bunkers to its seedy past,

there's an underworld here that can

rival any place in the world.

I'm Eric Geller.

tells two very different stories.

There was the enlightened and educated capital

that flourished up above, while a world

full of the poor and plague ridden

lived simultaneously down below.

1,000 years of Scottish secrets are

buried beneath these streets, and they're

about to be revealed.

[suspenseful music]

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): It all began over 300 million years

ago, when a glacier eroded this extinct volcano to create

a nearly 450 foot high plateau with sheer cliffs

along each side.

This terrain may have made this city a nearly impregnable

fortress.

There's limited space and lack of flat foundations.

To make matters worse, constant attacks from outsiders

made it nearly impossible to live outside the city walls.

The fortifying wall built to protect the Scots from attack

seriously limited building space.

So residents had to get creative.

The rich built up, and constructed the first high rise

apartments in the world in the late 16th century.

And the poor went down, creating their own mini city

beneath the streets.

And these cities are all still there.

You just have to know how to get to them.

[suspenseful music]

The Royal Mile is the main thoroughfare of Edinburgh's Old

Town.

With a castle at the top and the Royal Palace at the bottom,

it's one of the steepest and oldest streets in the city.

Now, today the mile is bustling with life.

But 400 years ago, it was the site

of Edinburgh's darkest days.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): In 1644,

the last of several plague epidemics

ripped through the city.

It was an extremely painful disease,

with vomiting, bleeding, and infected boils, and a mortality

rate of up to 75%.

And I was going to ground zero of the deadly plague epidemic.

[suspenseful music]

Chris.

Nice to see you, as well.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): I met with archaeologist Chris A.

Kelly.

If you follow me through here, we'll

have a look around Mary King's Close.

Oh, great.

Thank you.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Chris was going to take me over

Almost 80 feet beneath the Royal Mile

sits a street called Mary King's Close.

It's just one of dozens of streets buried

beneath the modern ones.

But instead of being filled in, this street

was sealed up and forgotten until now.

[suspenseful music]

CHRIS A. KELLY: Here we are, Mary King's Close itself.

This looks like you've got an underground city.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): It was a massive underground city, now

buried 80 feet beneath the streets.

This hidden neighborhood, still lined with apartments,

was once 350 feet long.

That's more than a football field.

Today, almost 200 feet of it still remain.

But this underground world wasn't always underground.

When the city was constructed nearly 900 years ago,

it was built up around one main thoroughfare, the Royal Mile.

Off the Mile where closes or narrow alleyways

like Mary King's, the one I was about to explore.

Closes as were lined with high rise apartments and shops.

The alleyways made the hilly terrain

and cramped quarters more manageable to maneuver.

They extended out from the mile that ran down

the volcanic hill, down the steep hills of the growing

city.

The word close comes from enclosure.

And today these passageways are found all over the city,

both above and below the ground.

So is this the idea-- that this would have been the actual

close, as it were?

Indeed, it was.

Open air, open to the sky, but not

necessarily open to the sun.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): 300 years ago, I

would have been walking down the open air Mary King's Close.

The high rise apartments along the close

could have been up to 14 stories high,

and would have blocked out most of the sun.

But for the poor who were unlucky enough to live

at the bottom, lack of sunlight was the least

of their problems.

For the common folk, there was no sewage system or garbage

pickup.

Instead, the streets we were walking through

became a river of sewage washing up at people's doorsteps.

CHRIS A. KELLY: The only sanitation

The only way of getting rid of their rubbish

was literally to put it in the bucket and then chuck it out.

What they used to cry was gardyloo, from the French garde

a l'eau, mined out for the water, which of course, was not

what they were throwing out into the close.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): The emergence

Now, these people from above, they're just taking

their buckets of [bleep] and everything else.

They dump 'em down here.

Oh, indeed.

So if someone shouted gardyloo, you'd

have to dive for the wall or a door.

Now, let me guess that if you live down here,

this would not be the best place to live.

Oh, no, especially if the rain came washing all the filth

It might flodown.o

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): 350 years ago, this street

would have been a flowing river of waste.

With waste washing up knee deep into the houses,

disease spread like wildfire.

What made it worse was that the people who lived down here

hadn't discovered how the disease was spread.

CHRIS A. KELLY: They thought that the plague was caused

by invisible bad smells called miasmas,

or they believed it was down to witches and the influence

of the devil, and ghosts, and spirits.

They didn't realize that it was the filth they were living

in that was causing all the problems.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): This secret labyrinth

of alleyways and rooms was hit hard by the plague.

In an effort to contain the epidemic,

city officials put Mary King's Close on lockdown.

If you were infected, you were quarantined inside your home.

That meant it wasn't long before every member of your family

was a dead man walking.

Hundreds died in these apartments,

and the bodies were kept indoors until the plague cleaner came

down these very streets to cart them away.

Some say the plague is the reason this entire neighborhood

is now underground-- that the city bricked over

the closes, literally burying the plague victims alive.

But recent studies show covering Mary King's Close had nothing

to do with the plague.

My god, look.

It looks up, like, what--

of what building?

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): The City Chambers

is a massive structure that was sitting right above us.

Today it covers Mary King's and several other concealed

buildings and alleyways.

Covering the city of the poor was

one of the most drastic changes of street level in history.

In the late 17th century, as the small city began to grow,

they started to run out of space.

But instead of building outside the city walls,

they simply built up.

Three centuries ago, the people of Edinburgh

actually changed the way their city was shaped.

Using the mile as its backbone, they literally

raised the level of the steep hillsides

to run parallel to it.

This massive facelift used the existing structures

to hold up the weight of the new streets and buildings.

In turn, the closes and their tenements

became the vaults or basements below the new city streets.

2 and 1/2 centuries later, the walls of the basement

still hold up the six story building up above, but not

without reinforcements.

So what is this right here?

Ah, now that-- this is a savior arch.

When they put the vault here in the 18th century

to support the Royal Exchange, that

meant there was pressure coming from different angles.

And they were probably worried-- the architects,

that is-- that it could be cracked or even collapse.

And this thing, of course, was intended to take the weight

and spread it.

[music playing]

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): This subterranean neighborhood

turned modern day foundation was a feat of engineering--

an ingenious way to make the most of the limited space

the city had to work with.

At the same time, it buried a piece of plague ridden past,

creating a time capsule of darker days

80 feet beneath the streets.

[ominous music]

Edinburgh has seen tough times--

bloody wars, fierce fires, deadly epidemics.

But each battle has only made the city stronger.

Its population boomed, forcing Edinburgh

to expand and rebuild.

With the horrors of the plague behind it,

the city was ready for a facelift.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): This facelift

came in the late 1700s, when Edinburgh first began

to build past the city walls.

The threat of attack was over, and it

was time for the city to grow.

Five bridges sprung up around the Old Town,

allowing Edinburgh to stretch in all directions.

But these bridges weren't built over water.

They covered land.

That's because travel over the hilly terrain beyond Castle

Hill was too steep and dangerous to cross.

So engineers provided the connections,

and people moved freely between the old and new town.

But there's one bridge that did much more than link Old Town

with New Town-- the South Bridge.

And its unusual construction actually created another world.

[suspenseful music]

Des.

Des, thank you for meeting with me.

Not at all.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Des Brogan

See this bridge here?

Right?

Lovely, lovely, big bridge.

This is the only one of 19 arches

that you can actually see.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Des was one of the first

to enter the lost Blair Street Vaults--

vaults that had been forgotten and sealed up

for almost 70 years.

Let's go and see them.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): In fact, it's

entrance is so camouflaged by the 21st century

that we had to walk through a modern day office building

to get to it.

[ominous music]

DES BROGAN: Here you are in one of the covered vaulted

chambers.

And this keeps going.

I can see it right now it keeps going.

What That's right.

And this bridge was across a valley.

And then, on the outside of the bridge, they built houses.

And that's why you can't see the bridge, except for that one

arch where the road runs through.

So what you have just done there just now

is walk down a flight of stairs, through the old houses,

right under the bridge itself.

And that is where we are, right under the bridge.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): So the office

But how did these vaults get underneath the bridge?

It all started when space on the South Bridge

began to sell at a premium.

Businesses built shops on top of the bridge

to make the most of the foot traffic.

Soon tenement houses went up alongside the bridges,

covering all of the 19 arches except the one I had just seen.

To maximize space, floors and ceilings

were built beneath the blocked-in arches,

creating dark, vaulted chambers.

I was 50 feet beneath the busy South Bridge,

and had stepped 200 years back in time.

This vast labyrinth spanned over 1,000 feet,

making the bridge above as long as three football fields.

This whole area would have been filled with taverns, cobblers,

dressmakers, and glass blowers.

But not all of these subterranean businesses

were on the up and up.

Many believe whisky was invented in Scotland.

And it's always been a deep seated part of the culture,

keeping folks warm in the winter and even

"curing" common ailments like smallpox.

But in the early 1700s, a hefty government tax

made it nearly impossible to get.

That didn't stop the Scots.

They took their distilleries underground.

In the 1790s, there were only eight licensed distilleries

in the entire country.

But there were over 400 illegal ones,

just like the one I was standing in beneath South Street Bridge.

These vaults were the perfect place for distillers

to make their booze--

Now, this is one of our vaulted chambers with something

of a history to it.

This is one of the places where the whiskey was distilled

illicitly.

And, of course, you can see why this would be an ideal place,

far away from the public, very dark, narrow points of entry

It to it.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): It was a battle between the tax

collectors and the illicit bootleggers, much of it

plotted out underground.

An elaborate network of smugglers

was constantly on the lookout for tax men.

These clandestine groups came up with ingenious ways of skirting

the law, like transporting whiskey in broad daylight

inside a coffin.

But the hardest part came before the whiskey was even made.

Raw materials like grain, yeast, and coal for boiling

were bulky and not easy to sneak in past the public above.

But the criminals in this vault had that problem all

figured out.

It's simply through a hole in the street.

By that you can remove protective covering up

in the street and dump your coal,

heavy materials like coal down here.

And that then is used to boil up your mash for the distilling

of the whiskey.

So that's their illicit coal hole.

DES BROGAN: Yes, indeed, that's what it is.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Illegal whiskey

The engineering masterpiece that was the South Bridge

began to leak.

During construction, the budget was tight

and it was never waterproofed.

So legitimate businesses moved out,

and Edinburgh's poor moved in.

The vaults became Edinburgh's slums.

Evidence suggests that brothels and pubs opened up

in the damp abandoned vaults, creating an underground city

of homeless hookers and convicts.

It was so dangerous that no law abiding citizen, not even

the police, would dare set foot near the vaults.

But some may have been forced down here.

These very vaults are rumored to be the old stomping grounds

of the murderous duo Burke and Hare, better known as the Body

Snatchers.

When William Burke and William Hare were here,

the city was growing up above.

And the medical profession was flourishing just

beyond South Bridge.

The best and brightest came here to study medicine.

But this need for knowledge created an interesting problem.

By law, medical students could dissect the bodies

of executed criminals.

But with most of Edinburgh's criminals

hiding out underground, untouched,

there was a need for fresh corpses.

So entrepreneurs Burke and Hare got crafty.

They went on a murdering spree, killing nameless travelers

or prostitutes, whose deaths wouldn't cause much concern.

They traded in the corpses for cash.

Some say, before they made the deal,

the cadavers were stored right here underneath South Bridge.

The cool temperatures would have kept the bodies fresh,

and its proximity to the university

made it less likely they'd be caught in transit.

Eventually, the damp vaults were leaking so much

they became uninhabitable, and weren't even fit for storing

cadavers.

with rubble.

Then, 12 years ago, the vaults were cleaned up,

and Des and other underground experts were allowed in.

The time capsule they found answered many questions

about Edinburgh's underground past.

A little glass pistol.

Now, this very well could have been filled with something.

You could have put a cork in there

Yeah, could well have been.

Because, of course, many of the people who lived in these rooms

were very poor, and they would make their living from theft.

I'm standing in a den of thieves and drunkards, huh?

So, now, what's above our head right now?

One more level of arches, and then you've got the road.

And, in fact, you can actually hear the traffic.

ERIC GELLER: Those people who are driving or walking

No, absolutely not.

This .

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): It began as an engineering marvel

meant to bridge old and new.

But instead, the construction of South Bridge

created a lively and lawless underground

inside its subterranean arches.

It was a world far more dangerous

than anyone could have imagined.

And both then and now, it's much closer than you think.

[suspenseful music]

Edinburgh Castle dominates the city skyline.

The castle dates back to the 12th century,

but the extinct volcano it rests on is millions of years old.

Mother nature created the ideal castle fortress here,

with steep cliffs to keep enemies out,

and plenty of underground to keep them in.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Each year, over 1 million people

visit Edinburgh Castle, the former home of Scotland's most

famous royalty.

But few know of the world that sits underneath this nearly

1,000-year-old fortress, and I had special access down.

You must be Charlie.

I am that, Eric.

Thank you, Charlie.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): I met with senior steward

Charlie Hutton, who was gonna show me down.

We've got to issue you a hard hat.

Hard hat.

Oh, this is hard hat, baseball style.

Set that on there.

How do I look?

You look grand.

[ominous music]

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Edinburgh Castle

has been damaged and rebuilt many times

in the city's turbulent history.

But a stronghold has existed here since the seventh century.

The structure has all the fittings of a superfortress.

It was the home of the Mighty Scots,

considered barbarians to the rest of Europe.

Through the years, the Scots earned their fair share

of enemies.

in the castle's bowels--

lots of them.

But the dungeons Charlie was taking me to first

weren't the barbaric medieval dungeons I was imagining.

And the prisoners these walls once held weren't the ones

you'd expect.

These subterranean rooms were first built in the late 1800s,

as a bakehouse, to feed the many soldiers living on site.

But when Britain found itself embroiled

in the Battle of the American Revolution,

this bakery took on a whole new use--

to hold captured American sailors.

ERIC GELLER: This looks like a dungeon down here, Charlie.

This is a dungeon.

This looks like a dungeon, huh?

Yes.

And they would have been the prisoners in this.

CHARLIE HUTTON: Yes.

And they would have been sleeping in these cots?

And they would have just gone on for rows and rows?

Yeah.

They'd been going for rows and rows.

And this room would have held how many people?

40 people.

40 people.

So your Americans might have been hanging out in this area.

Could be in this part here.

French probably had the nice hammocks there.

- Yeah. - You know how the French are.

[upbeat music]

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): 200 years ago, I

would have been standing inside of a two level dungeon.

Along with two solitary cells there were eight large cells,

each approximately 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall,

and carved out of the lava rock 600 years ago by hand.

At the height of the American Revolution, space was tight.

And upwards of 1,000 sailors would have been packed

in these very rooms.

Mutiny was always a concern.

But what were these Americans doing here in the first place?

The Americans began the Revolution without a navy,

but they quickly transformed their merchant ships

into war vessels, and ironically chose a Scottish born captain

as one of their naval leaders.

His name was John Paul Jones.

And today this Scotsman is considered the father

of the American Navy.

[explosions]

He took the revolution right to the shores of Britain

by planning to attack seaside towns and vessels.

But if one of his hundreds of wartime ships

was captured in the process, the captain and crew

were immediately jailed.

Those Americans captured off the coast of Edinburgh

were brought to these very rooms,

with no chance of escape.

If you even were able to get through here,

this is all of those steep cliffs that go down

over 100 feet.

CHARLIE HUTTON: Yeah.

You had a long climb.

It would be a deadly fall, wouldn't it?

Yeah.

It most certainly would.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): We were over 400 feet above sea level,

in a medieval castle built atop the volcanic rock.

And like any fortress worth its name,

it holds many carved out cells and hidden chambers

under the Castle Rock.

[suspenseful music]

Next stop-- an underworld fit for a king.

Today the east section of the castle

is a drum shaped building called Half Moon Battery.

But in 1547, this entrance tower was the first line

of defense in case of attack.

Beneath this battery sits an even older defense structure,

and this one is the textbook version

of what a fortified medieval castle would have looked like.

It has a lion pit, and even escape routes

carved into the lava rock.

All right.

Let's try not to bite it down here.

This is great down here.

Look at this place.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): This place was just

a small part of what was once a super tower.

The 700-year-old tower was a well fortified royal

stronghold, the size of a modern 10-story building.

Amazing, when you consider that it was built by hand.

It was built to be a castle within a castle.

The idea was if the main castle fell into enemy hands,

the king and his court would retreat into the immensely

fortified secondary building.

These rooms were big enough to hold not only the king,

but also his family and royal court.

There were 10-foot thick stone walls soaring 100 feet high

to ensure their safety.

60 feet below the ground level, an added safety measure

to protect the leader of the Scots.

This is a great room.

Look at this place.

This was the king's bedroom.

This was the king's bedroom?

King's bedroom.

stories, these arched ceilings helped to distribute the weight

of the heavy castle up above.

But what if an enemy did breach the castle's defenses

and find the king's hideout?

They were in for a deadly surprise.

CHARLIE HUTTON: Just below you here

we have a pit and a lion's den.

ERIC GELLER: There was an actual lion here?

There was a lion here.

In this pit?

In this pit.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): This last line

of defense was incredibly simple but deadly.

As the king withdrew into his chambers,

his guards would have removed the wooden planks

outside his door.

The invading soldiers were then left with a 6-foot jump.

If they didn't make it, they fell almost 10 feet

into the lion's den.

[growling]

If things got so bad that the lion was unleashed,

we can be sure that the king would have been long gone.

A secret escape route ensured that.

It was carved into the hillside beneath the castle, where

a tunnel led to a door that opened up outside the castle

walls.

But if David's Tower was such a protective fortress,

how did it get buried 30 feet within the Half Moon Battery?

It all started in the 16th century,

when David's Tower suffered heavy bombardment

from the English.

There was a 5-year siege on the tower.

In the end, the top of the tower collapsed,

crumbling through the inside and leaving

these subterranean rooms.

200 years later, the Half Moon Battery was built in its place,

burying what was left of this medieval fortress.

But over 60 years ago, and nearly 30 years after David's

Tower was rediscovered, these subterranean rooms

would be used for protection once again.

It was the year 1939, and war broke out all over Europe.

Bombing was a serious threat, and the Scots

needed a safe place to hide their most valuable possession,

the crown jewels.

What better place than deep inside a 14th century toilet

fit for a king?

CHARLIE HUTTON: This is the king's toilet.

This is it, huh?

This is the king's throne?

So the royal ass Oh, man.

I wouldn't say this is fit for a king,

but it's not too bad for 14th century, huh?

That's right.

In 1939, when the war broke, out the crown jewels

were moved from the crown room, brought in here

and they were buried.

Did they pick this area for a reason?

Well, the reason would be would

you like to go and dig in a toilet.

Well, for crown jewels I might think about it.

You know?

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): A nearly 1,000-year-old

subterranean dungeon carved into a nearly 300-million-year-old

volcanic rock.

I was at one of the highest points in the city.

But down these steep slopes of Castle Hill

were many more underground cities

just waiting to be explored.

[suspenseful music]

The History of Edinburgh's underground

occasionally relies upon a great deal of rumor and speculation.

But the key to unlocking the truth about the underworld

might just lie in the darkness of a long forgotten tunnel.

Hidden between a playground and a basketball court,

the remains of the city's once thriving railroad can be found.

But the Scotland Street Tunnel was much more than a railway

line from the mid-1800s.

It actually played a key role as a super bunker,

saving hundreds of lives during World War II.

[suspenseful music]

Duncan?

Hi, Duncan.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): And Duncan Frasier

You got something interesting to show me?

OK, let's go.

dating back to 1847--

a tunnel whose mere existence helped to create the Edinburgh

we see today.

[suspenseful music]

Over 100 years ago, space was tight in the city.

But planners knew they needed a way

to get construction materials and equipment

in and out of the town center.

So they built Scotland Street Tunnel, an ingenious idea that

allowed freight trains to travel beneath the streets,

going from the city center to Scotland's bustling ports.

But new railway lines prompted Scotland Street to shut down

after only 20 years of train service.

The tracks were ripped out, leaving an empty cavity.

The city above quickly forgot about the world down

below until nearly 100 years later, when Hitler attacked,

and the gaping hole beneath the houses

was transformed into a super bunker.

ERIC GELLER: So there's all sorts of scattered debris

around here.

It looks like some poles of some sort.

Yeah.

This was occupied during the Second World War.

And-- and it was used for a number of things, including

storage of important documents.

And it was used as an air raid shelter, as well.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): In the 1940s,

World War II was raging through Europe.

This empty tunnel was over a half mile long--

the size of nearly 10 football fields--

making it the perfect subterranean

bunker to protect citizens from Nazi bombs.

60 years ago, thousands of terrified locals

filled these very walls whenever an air raid siren sounded

overhead.

The world they left behind is nothing

short of a subterranean city.

ERIC GELLER: Duncan, what is this?

Is this something for the railroad?

No, it certainly isn't.

This is a toilet block.

A toilet block?

You mind Yeah.

I need a few moments here.

[chuckles]

This is-- this is like the kind of urinal you'd see

at a sports stadium or something like that.

Don't bang doors.

Don't bang doors.

Look at this.

[chuckles]

OK.

So let's if this is--

This would be the ladies.

Right?

in a little better shape here.

They probably looked after them better.

- Look at that. - Oh.

Now, this is-- now, this is fine--

fine accommodations for the lady folk.

Huh?

Compared to Luxury.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): But people

weren't the only things protected

in this underground super bunker.

Evidence of filing cabinets, electrical wires

to bring in light, and storage spaces

were all along the tunnel.

Yes.

During the war, the civil servants

also found there was a need for storage.

And they were very worried about losing valuable papers.

So down here, they actually had storage rooms

with filing cabinets in it to store these papers.

What a wonderful idea.

even relocated down here, forming a little community.

That's because the risk of a bomb dropping

on this neighborhood was very real.

DUNCAN FRASIER: The German forces

were coming over and trying to hit the docks, which

are very close to here.

So people were very vulnerable living here.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): There were no reported injuries

inside this makeshift bunker.

And after the war, it was nearly forgotten until, oddly enough,

someone realized the lack of light

was perfect for growing mushrooms.

So in the '60s and '70s we would have seen a field

We'd be walking on of mushrooms.

We would have been-- all down the floor of the tunnel here,

yeah.

and the mushroom farm inside it was closed forever

in the early 1970s, after a robbery in one of the railroad

stations up above.

The bandits used this as the exit route

to escape the police.

And they ran all the way down here, got out, and got away.

And because of that, for security reasons,

they shut the tunnel.

What a shame.

But for all thos Yeah.

Huh?

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Sealed off and forgotten, this site

became a secret very few knew about.

It was so secret, that when a shopping center was built

in 1985, a pile was driven right through the roof.

So tell me about this.

Why is this here?

This is here because they damaged the tunnel.

The only time it was damaged, when they drove the piles down

through it, not realizing that the tunnel was here.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): The tunnel was repaired,

and mall construction continued up top.

Today shoppers have no idea we're down here.

Neither do the commuters, as they

rush to catch their trains.

Look, I got a train to catch.

Could we go in that way?

Yeah.

Let's go and see. - Will you take me through?

Let me lead on.

[train whistle]

You can hear the whistles blowing.

Now, watch out.

All right.

I see light.

Oh, man, do I see you light.

This is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Yeah.

So this is the train station right out here.

This is the platform.

and they take a peek at this, do they

have any idea what this is?

People don't know what this is about.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): It's a forgotten tunnel first built

for freight trains, that later became a super bunker that

saved lives.

This engineering marvel has withstood the test of time.

And 10 feet beneath the ground, it's

just one more example of Edinburgh's

saturated subterranean.

[music playing]

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Edinburgh's long history

is full of bias and corruption.

From the subterranean streets of Mary King's Close--

where thousands of plague victims

lived and died underground--

to the vaults of the South Bridge--

where thieves and illegal whiskey distillers

hid from the public eye--

I'd seen the dark and seedy underside of the city.

But there's one forgotten spot in the sleepy suburb

of Edinburgh that has a past no other site can rival--

a rumored past where Freemasons met in secret,

where an ultra rich sex club conducted sexual rituals,

and where the Knights Templar may

have even hidden the Holy Grail.

The site is called Gilmerton Cove,

and it lies underneath the small mining town of Watson,

just four miles from Edinburgh's city center.

Though the mysterious cove's history stretches back

hundreds of years, very little is actually known about it.

But I found the one person who could let me in.

Great tHi.

Nice to meet you.

Great.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Just 10 feet beneath the streets,

and directly beneath a local bookie joint,

was a carved out warren of rooms dating back centuries.

Come down here.

Do you want to put a hard hat on?

Some of the doors and ceilings are quite low,

so just to stop you from banging your head.

All right.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Mel Johnson

every story and legend surrounding

this secret suburban spot.

Watson is a mining town, so holes beneath the streets

are nothing special here.

But when this site was officially excavated in 2002,

experts were stunned.

[music playing]

There were seven subterranean rooms

that up until 225 years ago were still in use.

MEL JOHNSON: This is Gilmerton Cove.

ERIC GELLER: This is really neat.

This is really impressive down here.

Even just seeing this a little bit here, it's great down here.

It's quite bizarre, isn't it?

Yeah.

It's not-- it's not what you expect when you come down.

It really is a very odd place.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): But what

made Gilmerton Cove even stranger

was how it was constructed.

MEL JOHNSON: The whole cove has been excavated out

of the sandstone bedrock.

By using the bedrock they've created these rooms,

and passages, and spaces all the benches,

and all the tables, all the doorways,

everything has been carved away.

ERIC GELLER: So that's what this is, is a sitting space.

- Yes, it is. - Now, can I sit on this?

Or this one looks like it's gonna break.

No, that's fine.

All right.

Well, I'll have a seat on the bench.

That's my limestone bench that's carved out.

This is great!

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): The official version

the home of a local blacksmith named George Patterson.

He decided to build an underground dwelling where

he could work and live with his family.

It supposedly took Patterson five years

to carve out his home.

But some say the cove is too elaborate to be the work of one

man.

It's built around a main corridor that

stretches for 40 feet.

Carved entirely out of natural sandstone,

it has two entrances and six main rooms.

Each room is decorated with built-in,

carved out natural furniture.

The cove covers over 1,000 square feet,

and is 10 feet beneath street level.

After Patterson's death, the cove fell out of use.

And that's when his homey warren of rooms became a den of vice.

Away from prying eyes, the cove was an ideal spot for all sorts

of illicit activities.

There are rumors that it was used for illegal whiskey

distilling and smuggling of goods.

And there are even stories that these rooms were once

an underground brothel and pub.

But even more salacious, the cove

is rumored to be a meeting place for the notorious Hellfire

Club.

popular in the 18th century.

The club met in secret, and is rumored to have held everything

from orgies to satanic meetings in their subterranean

hideaways.

Their motto was, do what you will.

And Gilmerton Cove might have provided the perfect amount

of privacy to do just that.

There are a lot of rumors about what this place was used

Theories are that it was som for.

that it was, you know, ritual or occult type activities,

that the Covenanters hid down here.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): But the Covenanters

were around a century before the blacksmith Patterson, who

was originally thought to have carved out these rooms by hand.

That meant the history of these rooms

could actually date back even further than originally

thought, to an exceptionally bloody time in Scotland's

history.

The period was called the Killing Times,

and began in 1638, when the King of England

tried to crack down on the Church of Scotland.

The Scots rose up against the king,

and signed their version of the constitution

called the National Covenant, to confirm their opposition

to the king.

But few realized their signature could bring death.

Covenanters lost their homes.

They were harassed and tortured, driven

to exile, sold into slavery.

And many thousands were killed.

As the king's army scoured Scotland looking

for Covenanters, many retreated underground in secret.

ERIC GELLER: What is this?

MEL JOHNSON: Well, it's always been referred to

on the early plans as the punch bowl.

The punch bowl?

Yes.

And it's mysterious.

It doesn't make any sense.

They've gone to some effort to--

to define.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): It doesn't look like much.

But this bowl, carved out in the middle of the table,

resembles a baptismal bowl.

Did the Covenanters risk death and hold mass

in this very room, while the king's army searched for them

just 10 feet above?

Could they have carved out these rooms and not

the local blacksmith?

In 1897, the first attempt was made to find these answers.

An extensive survey was launched in hopes of unlocking

the mystery of these rooms.

They discovered its history may have been older than expected.

The sharp chisel marks on the walls

pointed to a much older and cruder way of carving.

Experts guessed the cove dates back nearly 400 years.

This finding linked the cove to the time of the Covenanters.

But experts uncovered other clues, leaving more questions

than answers.

The cove is littered with graffiti

from throughout the centuries.

But only one symbol was repeated in numerous places.

One of the interesting symbols on this table is this one.

What it does resemble is a Masonic compass.

It sure does.

It sure does.

See the compass right there.

[suspenseful music]

symbols in Freemasonry-- onn

a secret brotherhood whose origins

are shrouded in secrecy.

But before elaborate lodges sprouted up around the world,

could the first Freemasons have met underground

in this subterranean cove?

In 2002, excavations here revealed another clue that may

link the Masons to this site--

a secret doorway.

There's some sort of entrance doorway in here.

But this blocking-- this was all in place when we came down here

to do the excavation.

We were told by the structural engineers

not to move that, because the street is just up there.

Literally right there.

Yup.

So if you keep digging in here, the street may come down.

Exactly, which is why we weren't allowed to.

But we don't know what this-- what this doorway leads to.

So it could be just a shallow as that

or it could go all the way underneath the street.

It could go all the way under the street.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): This tunnel

shrouded in mystery.

is carved in its stone.

The street might fall down if they dig any further.

But if Gilmerton and Rosslyn are connected underground,

then Gilmerton could actually be the final resting place

of the Holy Grail, brought here by the famous Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar was a powerful order

of Christian Crusaders, disbanded in 1307 when the Pope

charged the Grand Master with heresy

and burned him at the stake.

Many Knights fled to Scotland for safety,

along with their treasures and wealth.

Here they were far from the reaches of the Pope

and Inquisition.

So what happened to their Holy treasures?

No one knows for sure, but rumors abound.

And one rumor, like this filled in tunnel,

points directly to Rosslyn Chapel.

Rosslyn Chapel is just 7 miles outside

of Edinburgh, and 5 miles away from Gilmerton Cove.

Built in 1446, it's literally bursting with symbolism,

linking this small chapel to the Freemasons

and the ancient order of the Knights Templar.

Many believe it was actually built

to protect the treasures of the Templar,

including the Holy Grail.

But could Gilmerton Cove actually

be the Grail's final resting place?

What better place to hide something that everyone's

looking for than a sleepy mining town

far away from suspecting eyes?

And the key to putting these rumors to rest

may just lie beyond this wall of rubble.

MEL JOHNSON: We just don't know what--

it's too unsafe to find out at the moment, unfortunately.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): Today no one can say for sure what

Gilmerton was used for.

But finding these mysterious clues carved in the walls

beneath a bookie joint is sure to make anyone's imagination

run wild.

Mel says there are plenty of reasons

to keep these stories alive.

MEL JOHNSON: Edinburgh's famous for the vaults

and the underground city in the center of the city.

There's nothing else like this known at all.

It's completely unique, and nobody really

knows what its purpose was.

ERIC GELLER (VOICEOVER): From tales of body snatching

to secret societies, from engineering masterpieces

holding up the city to crown jewels stored down below,

Edinburgh's underworld has been a multipurpose place.

But down here it can be hard to distinguish fact from fiction.

And the only people who could tell us for sure--

those that once roamed these subterranean sites--

are long gone.

And most have taken their secrets to the grave.

That means modern day residents will just

have to keep on digging.