1 00:00:27,096 --> 00:00:28,442 - [Narrator] Hidden in a misty forest, 2 00:00:28,545 --> 00:00:30,340 experts suspect that Nazis carved 3 00:00:30,444 --> 00:00:32,929 secret weapons facilities. 4 00:00:33,033 --> 00:00:35,621 - There is a strange feeling inside. 5 00:00:36,726 --> 00:00:38,141 - Even senior levels of government 6 00:00:38,245 --> 00:00:40,730 didn't know everything that was going on. 7 00:00:40,833 --> 00:00:42,387 - [Narrator] Over the course of the Third Reich, 8 00:00:42,490 --> 00:00:45,666 the Nazis unleashed terrifying new weapons. 9 00:00:45,769 --> 00:00:47,564 - Building things that no one else in the world 10 00:00:47,668 --> 00:00:49,187 were even imagining. 11 00:00:49,290 --> 00:00:51,051 - [Narrator] Developing hellish new technology 12 00:00:51,154 --> 00:00:53,191 to release on the world 13 00:00:53,294 --> 00:00:54,502 as the war progresses 14 00:00:54,606 --> 00:00:56,884 and the tide turns against the Nazis. 15 00:00:56,987 --> 00:01:00,784 - Hitler needs a new wave of super weapons. 16 00:01:00,888 --> 00:01:02,338 - [Narrator] Years later, 17 00:01:02,441 --> 00:01:05,134 experts attempt to wrestle truths from the project. 18 00:01:05,237 --> 00:01:07,515 - The Nazis could have been doing anything underground 19 00:01:07,619 --> 00:01:09,345 and no one in the world would know. 20 00:01:09,448 --> 00:01:11,001 - [Narrator] Why are there strange phenomena 21 00:01:11,105 --> 00:01:13,314 occurring here in modern day? 22 00:01:13,418 --> 00:01:15,523 - Weird sounds, weird sights, 23 00:01:15,627 --> 00:01:18,043 unusual cell service deep under a mountain 24 00:01:18,147 --> 00:01:20,908 where you shouldn't get any cell service. 25 00:01:21,011 --> 00:01:22,841 - [Narrator] And what is this strange ruin 26 00:01:22,944 --> 00:01:25,844 hidden in the middle of a mystic forest? 27 00:01:27,466 --> 00:01:30,193 [dramatic music] 28 00:01:46,658 --> 00:01:49,212 There are many stories of Nazi super technology 29 00:01:49,316 --> 00:01:51,559 and fantastical expeditions. 30 00:01:51,663 --> 00:01:55,045 It's sometimes hard to tell fact from fiction. 31 00:01:55,149 --> 00:01:58,290 - You realize that almost anything is possible. 32 00:01:58,394 --> 00:01:59,498 - [Narrator] Rumors persist 33 00:01:59,602 --> 00:02:01,845 of strange and fantastical weapons 34 00:02:01,949 --> 00:02:04,503 and terrifying new science. 35 00:02:04,607 --> 00:02:06,056 - The secret programs, 36 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,059 the weapons of vengeance as they're often referred to. 37 00:02:09,163 --> 00:02:11,407 - [Narrator] One such location where these whispers linger 38 00:02:11,510 --> 00:02:14,996 is here, the Wlodarz Complex in the Owl Mountains. 39 00:02:19,069 --> 00:02:20,830 The Nazis are losing the war 40 00:02:20,933 --> 00:02:23,522 as the Red Army takes control of the Eastern Front. 41 00:02:24,972 --> 00:02:26,698 - They are essentially fighting now 42 00:02:26,801 --> 00:02:29,804 a defensive war in the east against the Soviets. 43 00:02:29,908 --> 00:02:31,358 - [Narrator] The Allies are mere months away 44 00:02:31,461 --> 00:02:34,223 from gaining a foothold in Western Europe on D-Day. 45 00:02:35,810 --> 00:02:38,986 - It's a race against time, so Hitler needs something. 46 00:02:40,332 --> 00:02:42,472 - [Narrator] Deep in the sparsely populated Owl Mountains 47 00:02:42,576 --> 00:02:44,612 a top secret project takes shape 48 00:02:44,716 --> 00:02:48,409 with ominous goals that could turn the tides of the war. 49 00:02:51,550 --> 00:02:55,071 - The Owl Mountains are very lush, very green. 50 00:02:55,175 --> 00:02:58,350 There's dense forest that covers the entire area 51 00:02:58,454 --> 00:02:59,834 with heavy undergrowth 52 00:02:59,938 --> 00:03:02,078 and rivers that snake their way through. 53 00:03:02,182 --> 00:03:06,116 I mean, it's almost mystical and magical in some senses. 54 00:03:06,220 --> 00:03:08,740 It's not only the perfect hiding place, 55 00:03:08,843 --> 00:03:12,157 but defensively it's also very strong. 56 00:03:13,262 --> 00:03:14,504 - [Narrator] The mysteries of the forest 57 00:03:14,608 --> 00:03:16,920 and the abandoned Nazi relics on the surface 58 00:03:17,024 --> 00:03:20,407 give way to even more mystery underground. 59 00:03:20,510 --> 00:03:23,824 A labyrinth of tunnels carved into the mountain. 60 00:03:26,275 --> 00:03:28,898 - The Wlodarz Complex is the biggest one 61 00:03:29,001 --> 00:03:31,245 among all other complexes, 62 00:03:31,349 --> 00:03:33,592 but also the roughest one. 63 00:03:35,042 --> 00:03:38,114 The construction of Wlodarz began on the year 1943. 64 00:03:40,150 --> 00:03:45,121 Construction of such a facility in the middle of Europe 65 00:03:45,708 --> 00:03:46,674 was quite crazy. 66 00:03:47,882 --> 00:03:49,712 - It's said that if an atomic bomb 67 00:03:49,815 --> 00:03:51,783 had exploded above these mountains 68 00:03:51,886 --> 00:03:54,303 then nothing underground would have been touched. 69 00:03:54,406 --> 00:03:57,754 Now I don't think the Nazis had atomic bombs in mind, 70 00:03:57,858 --> 00:03:59,342 but it's very clear that they built here 71 00:03:59,446 --> 00:04:01,689 because the rock formations, it's igneous rock, 72 00:04:01,793 --> 00:04:03,346 is so hard. 73 00:04:03,450 --> 00:04:06,453 - [Narrator] Over 70 million cubic feet of hard igneous rock 74 00:04:06,556 --> 00:04:08,834 were blasted and hard-carved out of the mountain 75 00:04:08,938 --> 00:04:10,526 to create these tunnels. 76 00:04:13,114 --> 00:04:15,185 - We're talking about moving 77 00:04:15,289 --> 00:04:18,499 tens of millions of tons of material out. 78 00:04:19,707 --> 00:04:20,915 - [Narrator] With dwindling resources 79 00:04:21,019 --> 00:04:22,917 and losing on multiple fronts, 80 00:04:23,021 --> 00:04:25,541 why would the Nazis invest in this effort? 81 00:04:26,818 --> 00:04:29,165 - Hitler realizes the complexion of the war 82 00:04:29,269 --> 00:04:30,684 has turned against him. 83 00:04:30,787 --> 00:04:34,032 He needs a game changer, he needs a wonder weapon, 84 00:04:34,135 --> 00:04:36,483 he needs new scientific research, 85 00:04:36,586 --> 00:04:39,693 so it forces the Nazis to go deep underground 86 00:04:39,796 --> 00:04:41,902 to conduct whatever they're conducting, 87 00:04:42,005 --> 00:04:44,939 and it's a race against time. 88 00:04:46,941 --> 00:04:49,737 - There are advantages to hard rock tunneling. 89 00:04:49,841 --> 00:04:52,222 When you excavate through the system 90 00:04:52,326 --> 00:04:55,950 you don't necessarily have to re-support that tunnel. 91 00:04:56,054 --> 00:04:59,471 The rock itself can hold itself out through arching action 92 00:04:59,575 --> 00:05:02,750 so that this rock is stable under its own weight basically 93 00:05:02,854 --> 00:05:04,925 and it can support anything that's above it 94 00:05:05,028 --> 00:05:07,307 without you having to introduce concrete 95 00:05:07,410 --> 00:05:10,620 or other shoring requirement into this tunnel. 96 00:05:11,552 --> 00:05:12,450 - [Narrator] Even so, 97 00:05:12,553 --> 00:05:14,348 the Nazis go to extreme lengths 98 00:05:14,452 --> 00:05:16,454 to reinforce the tunnels with concrete. 99 00:05:17,938 --> 00:05:19,871 Though only a fraction of the complex is finished, 100 00:05:19,974 --> 00:05:23,909 documents show nearly 1.3 million cubic feet of concrete 101 00:05:24,013 --> 00:05:26,429 was commissioned for the structures in the region, 102 00:05:26,533 --> 00:05:29,329 and the majority of it for this complex. 103 00:05:33,091 --> 00:05:38,027 - It's the equivalent of a cube that's 210 feet on site, 104 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,652 so essentially think about a giant skyscraper 105 00:05:42,756 --> 00:05:44,447 21 stories high 106 00:05:44,551 --> 00:05:47,105 that's entirely solid concrete. 107 00:05:48,555 --> 00:05:50,764 So this is an immense amount of concrete 108 00:05:50,867 --> 00:05:52,352 that went into this structure. 109 00:05:54,215 --> 00:05:55,734 - [Narrator] Brought in from concentration camps 110 00:05:55,838 --> 00:05:57,149 all over the Reich, 111 00:05:57,253 --> 00:06:00,774 more than 13,000 slave laborers worked in the tunnels. 112 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,225 - After the explosion of the rocks 113 00:06:04,329 --> 00:06:08,471 they had to remove all of those rocks outside. 114 00:06:08,575 --> 00:06:12,889 - Between removing the rubble and debris from the explosion 115 00:06:12,993 --> 00:06:16,168 and prior to putting in that reinforced concrete, 116 00:06:16,272 --> 00:06:19,275 that zone at the front of the proceeding tunnel 117 00:06:19,379 --> 00:06:21,277 is exceptionally dangerous. 118 00:06:21,381 --> 00:06:25,212 - Because the tunnel could collapse at any moment, 119 00:06:25,315 --> 00:06:30,113 so many people died doing this extremely hard work. 120 00:06:30,217 --> 00:06:32,909 - How hard it would have been for those workers 121 00:06:33,013 --> 00:06:34,255 to work in that environment 122 00:06:34,359 --> 00:06:36,119 and then to put that on a scale 123 00:06:36,223 --> 00:06:40,089 of how ginormous these structures are? 124 00:06:40,192 --> 00:06:43,955 - Third Reich had almost till the end 125 00:06:44,058 --> 00:06:46,578 unlimited human resources. 126 00:06:47,993 --> 00:06:50,996 - [Narrator] 5,000 of the workers died from malnutrition, 127 00:06:51,100 --> 00:06:53,309 disease and executions. 128 00:06:55,035 --> 00:06:57,209 - Arms of the SS who managed the camps, 129 00:06:57,313 --> 00:06:59,729 who were the ones who would have been in charge 130 00:06:59,833 --> 00:07:01,559 of moving that labor around, 131 00:07:01,662 --> 00:07:03,353 and they were ruthless enough 132 00:07:03,457 --> 00:07:07,116 to drive their workers to a schedule 133 00:07:07,219 --> 00:07:11,431 that was just frankly very inhumane. 134 00:07:11,534 --> 00:07:14,882 - There is a strange feeling inside. 135 00:07:14,986 --> 00:07:19,093 You can hear even those noises of explosion. 136 00:07:20,578 --> 00:07:25,237 Smells inside, poisoning air because of the dust gases. 137 00:07:27,377 --> 00:07:29,000 Terrible, terrible place. 138 00:07:30,208 --> 00:07:32,141 So it's like a time capsule. 139 00:07:33,522 --> 00:07:35,351 - [Narrator] This time capsule guards many secrets 140 00:07:35,455 --> 00:07:37,491 and has researchers from all over the world 141 00:07:37,595 --> 00:07:39,010 digging and exploring 142 00:07:39,113 --> 00:07:41,944 to unearth what strange and futuristic projects 143 00:07:42,047 --> 00:07:43,359 were set up here. 144 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,329 [birds chirping] 145 00:07:48,433 --> 00:07:49,986 - I think there's something about these mountains. 146 00:07:50,090 --> 00:07:52,437 The mist, the mystery, 147 00:07:52,541 --> 00:07:55,164 and you hear about all these rumors 148 00:07:55,267 --> 00:07:56,648 that just screams out the fact 149 00:07:56,752 --> 00:07:58,581 that there's much more here to be found 150 00:07:58,685 --> 00:07:59,962 than we've yet discovered. 151 00:08:04,035 --> 00:08:05,899 I remember walking into the Wlodarz Complex. 152 00:08:06,002 --> 00:08:08,211 The first thing that struck me was the MG 42 153 00:08:08,315 --> 00:08:10,800 that's right in the guard post as you walk in. 154 00:08:10,904 --> 00:08:14,424 It was designed as if it could literally cut anyone down. 155 00:08:15,978 --> 00:08:19,982 You've got these great big cavernous halls 36 feet high. 156 00:08:20,085 --> 00:08:22,191 Again, you're left with this sense of unfinished business. 157 00:08:22,294 --> 00:08:23,572 This is only part of the project, 158 00:08:23,675 --> 00:08:25,435 there's a lot more to come. 159 00:08:25,539 --> 00:08:27,092 75 years ago, 160 00:08:28,300 --> 00:08:31,580 slave laborers working in these conditions. 161 00:08:31,683 --> 00:08:33,478 I've been to the complex three times, 162 00:08:33,582 --> 00:08:35,135 and every time I've been struck 163 00:08:35,238 --> 00:08:37,033 by the little human elements. 164 00:08:37,137 --> 00:08:39,760 You see the boot marks in the concrete 165 00:08:39,864 --> 00:08:40,899 and you think to yourself, 166 00:08:41,003 --> 00:08:42,660 wow, they were in such a rush 167 00:08:42,763 --> 00:08:44,178 that they were willing to walk over concrete 168 00:08:44,282 --> 00:08:45,697 that hadn't yet set. 169 00:08:45,801 --> 00:08:48,251 And you can see these sort of chisel marks on the wall, 170 00:08:48,355 --> 00:08:49,563 little things like that. 171 00:08:49,667 --> 00:08:51,634 This must be the start of a new tunnel shaft 172 00:08:51,738 --> 00:08:54,982 because you can see that it's just come up against the rock. 173 00:08:55,086 --> 00:08:59,159 So I'm thinking to myself it must have been interrupted 174 00:08:59,262 --> 00:09:00,885 when they were trying to blow a hole through here. 175 00:09:00,988 --> 00:09:03,922 And you think everything here was done really quickly. 176 00:09:04,026 --> 00:09:05,545 They were really in a rush. 177 00:09:06,511 --> 00:09:07,961 - At this stage in the war 178 00:09:08,064 --> 00:09:09,583 and the position that the Nazis found themselves in 179 00:09:09,687 --> 00:09:11,930 against the Soviets and the Allies, 180 00:09:12,034 --> 00:09:14,036 for them to put this amount of effort, 181 00:09:14,139 --> 00:09:17,522 these kind of resources into a secret project here, 182 00:09:17,626 --> 00:09:19,041 there must have been something 183 00:09:19,144 --> 00:09:22,285 incredibly important to their war effort going on. 184 00:09:23,977 --> 00:09:25,910 - I'm guessing they used this to transport the rock 185 00:09:26,013 --> 00:09:28,498 that was being blasted from down here. 186 00:09:28,602 --> 00:09:31,881 Imagine the dynamite fumes, explosions. 187 00:09:33,158 --> 00:09:34,435 There was something they were trying to do 188 00:09:34,539 --> 00:09:36,127 that was very, very important. 189 00:09:36,230 --> 00:09:38,198 You only have to look at how much concrete was involved 190 00:09:38,301 --> 00:09:39,406 to know that this was one 191 00:09:39,509 --> 00:09:41,132 of the most important engineer projects 192 00:09:41,235 --> 00:09:42,547 that the Nazis were doing. 193 00:09:45,205 --> 00:09:46,793 - [Narrator] The Nazis managed to do all this 194 00:09:46,896 --> 00:09:48,104 in total secrecy, 195 00:09:48,208 --> 00:09:50,659 even from other elements in the Third Reich. 196 00:09:52,419 --> 00:09:54,317 - The secrecy of the state itself means 197 00:09:54,421 --> 00:09:57,286 that a lot of people even in senior levels of government 198 00:09:57,389 --> 00:10:00,289 didn't know everything that was going on all the time, 199 00:10:00,392 --> 00:10:03,188 or knew parts of it or fragments of it. 200 00:10:03,292 --> 00:10:05,328 - It would take a lot of planning 201 00:10:05,432 --> 00:10:07,123 and strategic thought process 202 00:10:07,227 --> 00:10:09,505 to figure out how do you keep that a secret. 203 00:10:10,782 --> 00:10:11,921 - There were orders. 204 00:10:12,025 --> 00:10:14,614 If anyone talked, it was a bullet to the head. 205 00:10:16,374 --> 00:10:18,134 Dead men tell no tales. 206 00:10:19,342 --> 00:10:21,310 And then part of the obsession with secrecy 207 00:10:21,413 --> 00:10:24,278 was Hitler ordered the things go underground. 208 00:10:24,382 --> 00:10:26,660 It's hard for civilians and neighbors 209 00:10:26,764 --> 00:10:28,904 and villagers and prying eyes 210 00:10:29,007 --> 00:10:31,182 to find out what the Nazis are up to 211 00:10:31,285 --> 00:10:33,667 when everything is 150 feet underground. 212 00:10:33,771 --> 00:10:35,358 - [Narrator] Even the choice of the location 213 00:10:35,462 --> 00:10:37,119 was not by chance. 214 00:10:37,222 --> 00:10:40,053 - Unlike some of the other occupied Eastern territories 215 00:10:40,156 --> 00:10:43,297 which were seen as places to expand to and to settle in, 216 00:10:43,401 --> 00:10:46,956 this region was really a heartland. 217 00:10:48,371 --> 00:10:51,236 It had once been a fundamental part of the German Reich 218 00:10:51,340 --> 00:10:53,825 and it was deemed to be basically 219 00:10:53,929 --> 00:10:55,724 an integral part of Germany. 220 00:10:58,243 --> 00:10:59,624 - [Narrator] At this point in the war, 221 00:10:59,728 --> 00:11:02,178 the Allies have gained full control of the skies 222 00:11:02,282 --> 00:11:04,353 and can attack German sites at will. 223 00:11:05,561 --> 00:11:07,011 - The key targets that are identified 224 00:11:07,114 --> 00:11:08,840 are almost entirely industrial 225 00:11:08,944 --> 00:11:11,187 or related to the production of war materials. 226 00:11:12,430 --> 00:11:14,604 We see the bombing of the Romanian oil fields 227 00:11:14,708 --> 00:11:16,917 'cause this is a major source of German oil. 228 00:11:17,918 --> 00:11:20,093 We see the destruction of ports 229 00:11:20,196 --> 00:11:21,611 where U-boats are being made, 230 00:11:23,061 --> 00:11:25,615 and also against Peenemunde to take out the science program 231 00:11:25,719 --> 00:11:27,963 that was developing the V-2 rocket program. 232 00:11:29,447 --> 00:11:30,551 - [Narrator] Desperate for solutions 233 00:11:30,655 --> 00:11:33,175 to help them turn the tide back in their favor 234 00:11:33,278 --> 00:11:36,178 and protect these critical war industries, 235 00:11:36,281 --> 00:11:37,973 they took production of rockets 236 00:11:38,076 --> 00:11:40,147 and advanced scientific experiments 237 00:11:40,251 --> 00:11:41,908 and tried to put it underground, 238 00:11:43,081 --> 00:11:45,739 both for protection and further development, 239 00:11:45,843 --> 00:11:49,122 in places like Middleburg and the Wlodarz Complex. 240 00:11:50,364 --> 00:11:52,228 - The sheer scale and size of the tunnels 241 00:11:52,332 --> 00:11:55,266 seems to suggest an attempt to build 242 00:11:55,369 --> 00:11:57,406 major production facilities underground 243 00:11:57,509 --> 00:12:00,305 and would also explain why they were such deep tunnels. 244 00:12:02,791 --> 00:12:05,517 - [Narrator] One alien-looking structure within the complex 245 00:12:05,621 --> 00:12:08,624 has experts completely baffled. 246 00:12:08,728 --> 00:12:11,282 - It inspires curiosity and awe 247 00:12:11,385 --> 00:12:13,077 and also a little bit of fear, 248 00:12:13,180 --> 00:12:14,561 like you immediately ask yourself, 249 00:12:14,664 --> 00:12:16,494 what on earth went on here? 250 00:12:16,597 --> 00:12:19,255 [dramatic music] 251 00:12:20,912 --> 00:12:23,397 [eerie music] 252 00:12:24,502 --> 00:12:25,883 - [Narrator] An alien-looking structure 253 00:12:25,986 --> 00:12:27,091 hidden in the forest 254 00:12:27,194 --> 00:12:29,300 above a secret underground complex 255 00:12:29,403 --> 00:12:32,406 has researchers scratching their heads. 256 00:12:32,510 --> 00:12:34,788 - Test site for some object 257 00:12:34,892 --> 00:12:38,343 could vertically landing and taking off. 258 00:12:38,447 --> 00:12:40,656 - [Narrator] Many theorize that future technologies 259 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:41,830 were being built here 260 00:12:41,933 --> 00:12:44,039 as a last-ditch effort for the Nazis. 261 00:12:46,386 --> 00:12:49,389 Could this structure be related to that effort? 262 00:12:49,492 --> 00:12:52,254 - The secret programs, your wonder weapons. 263 00:12:52,357 --> 00:12:53,773 - There's some reason behind it. 264 00:12:53,876 --> 00:12:57,224 The Nazis were deliberate in everything they did. 265 00:12:57,328 --> 00:12:58,363 This isn't a mistake. 266 00:13:00,745 --> 00:13:01,608 [canons boom] 267 00:13:01,711 --> 00:13:02,920 - [Narrator] In World War II, 268 00:13:03,023 --> 00:13:06,544 Germany is the leader of science and technology. 269 00:13:06,647 --> 00:13:09,029 The Enigma coding machine. 270 00:13:09,133 --> 00:13:10,099 U-boats. 271 00:13:11,135 --> 00:13:13,275 The V-1 and V-2 rockets. 272 00:13:14,414 --> 00:13:16,105 And a piloted version of the V-1, 273 00:13:16,209 --> 00:13:18,073 sort of a German kamikaze. 274 00:13:19,557 --> 00:13:22,353 As well as the first jets. 275 00:13:22,456 --> 00:13:24,769 With victory slipping through their fingers, 276 00:13:24,873 --> 00:13:28,946 is it time for the new wave of terror technology? 277 00:13:29,049 --> 00:13:31,500 - We know about the V-1, the V-2, 278 00:13:31,603 --> 00:13:33,467 and other secret weapons. 279 00:13:33,571 --> 00:13:35,642 The tides of war are changing 280 00:13:35,745 --> 00:13:39,197 and Hitler needs a new wave of super weapons 281 00:13:39,301 --> 00:13:41,303 if he's to have any chance of victory. 282 00:13:43,892 --> 00:13:45,894 - And so it stands to reason 283 00:13:45,997 --> 00:13:48,689 that some of these tunnels could have been designed 284 00:13:48,793 --> 00:13:50,968 as places where they could continue to manufacture 285 00:13:51,071 --> 00:13:52,452 even whole airplanes potentially. 286 00:13:52,555 --> 00:13:54,903 I mean, the sheer scale and size of the tunnels. 287 00:13:56,318 --> 00:13:59,355 For Hitler, the building of a weapon 288 00:13:59,459 --> 00:14:01,599 that could change the course of the war 289 00:14:01,702 --> 00:14:05,672 was something that he was much more likely to be keen on. 290 00:14:05,775 --> 00:14:07,605 - [Narrator] Known locally as the Flytrap 291 00:14:07,708 --> 00:14:10,401 and sometimes as Hitler's Stonehenge, 292 00:14:10,504 --> 00:14:13,128 the amount of effort to make this was considerable. 293 00:14:15,130 --> 00:14:16,959 - It looks to be about 60 feet across 294 00:14:17,063 --> 00:14:20,066 and probably 25 or 30 feet tall. 295 00:14:21,239 --> 00:14:22,689 - It's delicate in a way. 296 00:14:22,792 --> 00:14:25,968 It's quite massive, there is a large massive concrete, 297 00:14:26,072 --> 00:14:29,178 the proportions relative to human are quite big. 298 00:14:30,490 --> 00:14:33,044 Building this system alone as it is, 299 00:14:33,148 --> 00:14:34,252 as we can see it today, 300 00:14:34,356 --> 00:14:35,460 it's a big undertaking, 301 00:14:35,564 --> 00:14:39,016 it's not easy to build something like this. 302 00:14:39,119 --> 00:14:40,845 You're building this mold up in the air 303 00:14:40,949 --> 00:14:42,260 to fill it with wet concrete, 304 00:14:42,364 --> 00:14:44,331 but then the wet concrete is quite heavy too 305 00:14:44,435 --> 00:14:46,437 so you have to support those molds. 306 00:14:46,540 --> 00:14:48,128 It was likely build from the ground up 307 00:14:48,232 --> 00:14:51,649 in between each column to support that wet concrete. 308 00:14:51,752 --> 00:14:53,444 The shape is not quite a circle, 309 00:14:53,547 --> 00:14:55,170 it's likely the way that they built it. 310 00:14:55,273 --> 00:14:57,655 It's hard to built a curve mold 311 00:14:57,758 --> 00:14:59,864 for which you can pour concrete into, 312 00:14:59,968 --> 00:15:02,660 so they approximated that circular shape. 313 00:15:04,282 --> 00:15:07,492 - But the scale and size of it gives you pause 314 00:15:07,596 --> 00:15:09,322 when you look at it and you think, 315 00:15:09,425 --> 00:15:11,565 okay, so what are all the possibilities 316 00:15:11,669 --> 00:15:13,395 for what this could be 317 00:15:13,498 --> 00:15:15,362 and what are some of the theories? 318 00:15:15,466 --> 00:15:18,676 - Virtually any great technological advancement 319 00:15:18,779 --> 00:15:20,954 has at some point or another been used 320 00:15:21,058 --> 00:15:22,749 for purposes of war, 321 00:15:22,852 --> 00:15:25,614 and thus was the case for the helicopter. 322 00:15:25,717 --> 00:15:28,203 The introduction of the helicopter changes everything. 323 00:15:28,306 --> 00:15:31,033 It changes the very notion of flight. 324 00:15:31,137 --> 00:15:32,828 It doesn't surprise one 325 00:15:32,932 --> 00:15:34,830 that this came out of Nazi Germany 326 00:15:34,934 --> 00:15:38,558 given the emphasis on pushing the envelope, 327 00:15:38,661 --> 00:15:42,044 given the emphasis on making the impossible possible 328 00:15:42,148 --> 00:15:44,081 and building things that no one else in the world 329 00:15:44,184 --> 00:15:45,737 were even imagining. 330 00:15:45,841 --> 00:15:46,980 And they were doing it. 331 00:15:48,326 --> 00:15:52,848 - Nearby, at Schweidnitz, today Swidnica, 332 00:15:52,952 --> 00:15:57,922 there were in fact real factory for the first helicopters, 333 00:15:59,130 --> 00:16:02,754 Flettner factory for Kolibri helicopter, 334 00:16:02,858 --> 00:16:04,342 a very small one. 335 00:16:04,446 --> 00:16:08,553 And all those helicopters from Schweidnitz 336 00:16:08,657 --> 00:16:10,521 had been tested in the area. 337 00:16:13,144 --> 00:16:17,148 - Friedrich von Doblhoff is this scientist, 338 00:16:17,252 --> 00:16:21,808 this engineer who has this idea of a rotating blade 339 00:16:21,911 --> 00:16:24,052 that could lift off vertically. 340 00:16:24,155 --> 00:16:25,985 He's working on this in the late 30s, 341 00:16:26,088 --> 00:16:28,849 and by 1941 he has prototypes. 342 00:16:28,953 --> 00:16:32,336 He invites senior Nazi leaders for this test run 343 00:16:32,439 --> 00:16:33,993 of this helicopter. 344 00:16:34,096 --> 00:16:37,306 The Nazi leaders were so intrigued by this technology. 345 00:16:37,410 --> 00:16:39,550 Now remember, with Hitler and others 346 00:16:39,653 --> 00:16:41,379 nothing is too fanciful, 347 00:16:41,483 --> 00:16:42,898 nothing is undoable, 348 00:16:43,002 --> 00:16:46,143 the impossible is the possible in their mindset. 349 00:16:46,246 --> 00:16:48,938 He received a contract to develop helicopters. 350 00:16:49,974 --> 00:16:51,079 - [Narrator] Is it possible 351 00:16:51,182 --> 00:16:52,425 that the tunnels could have been used 352 00:16:52,528 --> 00:16:54,944 for the helicopter's future development? 353 00:16:55,048 --> 00:16:58,017 And was this strange alien structure a launching pad? 354 00:17:01,986 --> 00:17:05,334 - Why design a tunnel that is 36 feet high 355 00:17:05,438 --> 00:17:09,269 unless you're planning to have a vehicle go in there 356 00:17:09,373 --> 00:17:10,546 that needs that clearance 357 00:17:10,650 --> 00:17:12,065 or you're building something in there 358 00:17:12,169 --> 00:17:13,480 that needs that clearance? 359 00:17:13,584 --> 00:17:15,758 But that additional clearance is for something. 360 00:17:17,691 --> 00:17:19,072 - In this type of tunnel system, 361 00:17:19,176 --> 00:17:20,315 this is the kind of spot 362 00:17:20,418 --> 00:17:21,937 that I'd want to do that development, 363 00:17:22,041 --> 00:17:24,871 or at least want to store prototypes. 364 00:17:24,974 --> 00:17:27,736 The last place I'd wanna store a prototype 365 00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:29,186 to preserve the technology 366 00:17:29,289 --> 00:17:30,566 is in the plant I built it in 367 00:17:30,670 --> 00:17:32,672 because I know that the Allies 368 00:17:32,775 --> 00:17:35,744 are trying to destroy my ability to create technology. 369 00:17:35,847 --> 00:17:37,159 So why not take some of that, 370 00:17:37,263 --> 00:17:39,161 stick it in a tunnel somewhere, 371 00:17:39,265 --> 00:17:41,577 keep some scientists working at that spot, 372 00:17:41,681 --> 00:17:44,891 but divide up where the technology is located 373 00:17:44,994 --> 00:17:48,550 so that if something happens over here it's still preserved. 374 00:17:53,210 --> 00:17:54,694 - When it comes to the Nazis, 375 00:17:54,797 --> 00:17:59,250 a lot of the research they were doing would end up working. 376 00:17:59,354 --> 00:18:02,046 - They did fly functionally a couple of prototypes, 377 00:18:02,150 --> 00:18:05,463 both the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy, 378 00:18:05,567 --> 00:18:06,878 for rescue operations 379 00:18:06,982 --> 00:18:10,261 as well as for military applications. 380 00:18:10,365 --> 00:18:12,332 - With everything else in the war going on, 381 00:18:12,436 --> 00:18:13,851 it's still for me quite impressive 382 00:18:13,954 --> 00:18:16,129 that the Nazis launch this helicopter program, 383 00:18:16,233 --> 00:18:18,649 although I think only 24 in the end were ever created. 384 00:18:18,752 --> 00:18:20,513 And it suggests that they were putting 385 00:18:20,616 --> 00:18:21,928 a lot of effort into it. 386 00:18:23,309 --> 00:18:25,656 - They cultivated a spirit in their scientists 387 00:18:25,759 --> 00:18:27,140 of intellectual curiosity. 388 00:18:27,244 --> 00:18:28,624 Now it was intellectual curiosity 389 00:18:28,728 --> 00:18:31,179 toward some very nefarious ends. 390 00:18:31,282 --> 00:18:33,560 - The Horten brothers start working on something called 391 00:18:33,664 --> 00:18:34,941 a flying wing, 392 00:18:35,044 --> 00:18:38,496 a jet-powered aircraft that never saw combat. 393 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,636 But after the war, 394 00:18:40,740 --> 00:18:42,742 the Horten brothers and their technology 395 00:18:42,845 --> 00:18:44,468 was seized by the Allies 396 00:18:44,571 --> 00:18:46,987 and this would become the blueprint 397 00:18:47,091 --> 00:18:48,782 for the stealth bomber. 398 00:18:51,578 --> 00:18:53,201 Fortunately for history, 399 00:18:53,304 --> 00:18:56,825 the Nazis were plagued by bureaucratic snafus, 400 00:18:56,928 --> 00:18:59,759 they were contracting multiple different designs, 401 00:18:59,862 --> 00:19:02,658 incompetent administration of the programs, 402 00:19:02,762 --> 00:19:04,902 so the helicopters never came online, 403 00:19:05,005 --> 00:19:08,492 but they formed the basis of the modern helicopter program. 404 00:19:09,976 --> 00:19:12,565 Could this be some sort of helicopter landing pad? 405 00:19:12,668 --> 00:19:14,808 I don't think so because it's in the woods. 406 00:19:14,912 --> 00:19:17,570 With early prototypes of helicopters, 407 00:19:17,673 --> 00:19:20,849 more trees around just means more things for it to hit. 408 00:19:20,952 --> 00:19:22,920 - If the purpose of this entire complex 409 00:19:23,023 --> 00:19:25,233 was all about secrecy, 410 00:19:25,336 --> 00:19:27,890 then why would they build something on the surface 411 00:19:27,994 --> 00:19:29,547 that was so visible, 412 00:19:29,651 --> 00:19:31,480 so easy to spot, 413 00:19:31,584 --> 00:19:33,172 so easy to target? 414 00:19:34,345 --> 00:19:37,383 - This is a ring set on top of columns 415 00:19:37,486 --> 00:19:38,901 at regular intervals, 416 00:19:39,005 --> 00:19:42,664 and there isn't a diaphragm on the top of that 417 00:19:42,767 --> 00:19:44,666 to give it that lateral stability. 418 00:19:44,769 --> 00:19:46,254 We don't have any bracing between them. 419 00:19:46,357 --> 00:19:49,222 It couldn't bear much load. 420 00:19:49,326 --> 00:19:52,432 Without running the calculations on this structure, 421 00:19:52,536 --> 00:19:55,746 my intuition just says it's not very strong. 422 00:19:55,849 --> 00:19:58,024 - [Narrator] Perhaps then it's not for a helicopter 423 00:19:58,127 --> 00:20:01,924 but rather to enclose something far more sinister. 424 00:20:02,028 --> 00:20:04,824 [dramatic music] 425 00:20:05,859 --> 00:20:08,897 An anomaly among the structures at the Wlodarz Complex 426 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,002 confuses experts. 427 00:20:11,106 --> 00:20:12,728 - It's really almost something 428 00:20:12,832 --> 00:20:14,834 truly out of a science fiction movie. 429 00:20:14,937 --> 00:20:16,836 - A real point of intrigue about it for me 430 00:20:16,939 --> 00:20:19,701 is that this seems to be totally unique 431 00:20:19,804 --> 00:20:21,530 amongst Nazi structures. 432 00:20:21,634 --> 00:20:22,945 - The very fact that it exists 433 00:20:23,049 --> 00:20:25,879 and that nobody knows precisely what it is 434 00:20:25,983 --> 00:20:27,398 is itself pretty concerning, 435 00:20:27,502 --> 00:20:29,642 let alone any names that go attached to it. 436 00:20:31,091 --> 00:20:32,265 - [Narrator] The structure gets its strange name 437 00:20:32,369 --> 00:20:34,371 from a very ordinary item. 438 00:20:34,474 --> 00:20:38,029 A glass container that lures flies to its base. 439 00:20:38,133 --> 00:20:41,205 Mucholapka, flytrap in Polish. 440 00:20:42,413 --> 00:20:43,621 - The flytrap kind of makes sense, 441 00:20:43,725 --> 00:20:47,107 it kind of implies that flow in that direction, 442 00:20:47,211 --> 00:20:50,041 that something's moving in or out 443 00:20:50,145 --> 00:20:51,319 from between the pillars 444 00:20:51,422 --> 00:20:54,667 and then up into the central portion. 445 00:20:56,082 --> 00:20:57,359 - So some people have said 446 00:20:57,463 --> 00:20:59,327 that it might be a missile rod site. 447 00:20:59,430 --> 00:21:02,882 We know that the Nazis were creating wonder weapons. 448 00:21:02,985 --> 00:21:04,366 - When you fire a rocket, 449 00:21:04,470 --> 00:21:07,542 you need to have the thrust gases be directed away 450 00:21:08,784 --> 00:21:11,028 from below the rocket so it doesn't feed back up 451 00:21:11,131 --> 00:21:12,823 and surround the rocket. 452 00:21:12,926 --> 00:21:14,825 - Like we might use on a shuttle launch, 453 00:21:14,928 --> 00:21:16,723 we have arms that stabilize that ship 454 00:21:16,827 --> 00:21:18,691 that's in its vertical position 455 00:21:18,794 --> 00:21:20,831 before it can create enough thrust to lift off 456 00:21:20,934 --> 00:21:22,660 and then those arms detach away, 457 00:21:22,764 --> 00:21:26,319 but the structure provides some sort of lateral stability 458 00:21:26,423 --> 00:21:28,010 while it's in its launching phase. 459 00:21:28,114 --> 00:21:30,979 The structure could manage those forces 460 00:21:31,082 --> 00:21:32,532 in the way that it's built. 461 00:21:32,636 --> 00:21:33,844 - [Narrator] But the Flytrap's layout 462 00:21:33,947 --> 00:21:36,433 seems to present a real problem. 463 00:21:36,536 --> 00:21:37,917 - You've got this tall missile structure, 464 00:21:38,020 --> 00:21:40,333 how do you get it into the center of this ring? 465 00:21:41,817 --> 00:21:43,750 Because you're constrained by this diameter, right? 466 00:21:43,854 --> 00:21:46,063 There's no gap, it's a closed perimeter. 467 00:21:46,166 --> 00:21:50,481 So how do you get a vertical element in there? 468 00:21:50,585 --> 00:21:53,312 Unless you somehow bring it in underneath one of the arches 469 00:21:53,415 --> 00:21:55,141 and then winch it up. 470 00:21:56,660 --> 00:21:59,214 - [Narrator] Not a practical launching pad for rockets. 471 00:21:59,318 --> 00:22:02,390 Could its purpose be simply the structure itself? 472 00:22:03,736 --> 00:22:05,047 - It does look very much, 473 00:22:05,151 --> 00:22:07,222 at least from a superficial analysis, 474 00:22:07,326 --> 00:22:09,086 it looks like a religious monument. 475 00:22:09,189 --> 00:22:11,951 A kind of edifice to the grander of the state. 476 00:22:13,401 --> 00:22:16,265 - Which some people have named Hitler's Stonehenge. 477 00:22:16,369 --> 00:22:18,544 - That is the first thing that comes to mind, 478 00:22:18,647 --> 00:22:20,891 is Stonehenge for me, 479 00:22:20,994 --> 00:22:23,514 so it could very well be that perhaps 480 00:22:23,618 --> 00:22:27,000 it was going to hold some sort of ceremonial 481 00:22:27,104 --> 00:22:30,418 or ritualistic presence. 482 00:22:32,247 --> 00:22:34,353 - Something occult perhaps. 483 00:22:34,456 --> 00:22:35,871 But who's it for? 484 00:22:35,975 --> 00:22:38,978 Why would you build it in the middle of a forest? 485 00:22:39,081 --> 00:22:41,325 - [Narrator] The large presence of the SS troops here 486 00:22:41,429 --> 00:22:43,258 might shed light on the reason. 487 00:22:44,190 --> 00:22:45,329 - It's the SS, 488 00:22:45,433 --> 00:22:46,675 Hitler's special troops 489 00:22:46,779 --> 00:22:48,436 under the command of Heinrich Himmler, 490 00:22:48,539 --> 00:22:51,266 who is supervising the work that's going on here. 491 00:22:51,370 --> 00:22:53,164 - I think Himmler believed in the occult. 492 00:22:53,268 --> 00:22:56,858 He seemed to have bought in hook, line, and sinker. 493 00:22:56,961 --> 00:22:59,239 - They were heavily into symbology. 494 00:22:59,343 --> 00:23:04,037 Powerful mythical symbols is all throughout the Nazi regime, 495 00:23:04,141 --> 00:23:08,697 beginning with the choice of symbols for the swastika. 496 00:23:08,801 --> 00:23:10,837 As part of this 1,000-year Reich, 497 00:23:10,941 --> 00:23:14,358 they were trying to build monuments to their greatness. 498 00:23:14,462 --> 00:23:18,880 - It's not like Wewelsburg where we see rooms 499 00:23:18,983 --> 00:23:23,678 created for ceremony or rituals. 500 00:23:23,781 --> 00:23:26,059 It's not like Castle Ksiaz 501 00:23:26,163 --> 00:23:29,580 where we see underground storage and tunnels. 502 00:23:29,684 --> 00:23:34,620 This is a bunker and then we have this strange structure. 503 00:23:35,379 --> 00:23:36,725 - The Nazis, after all, 504 00:23:36,829 --> 00:23:40,280 understood the politics of architecture 505 00:23:40,384 --> 00:23:42,835 or the architecture of politics. 506 00:23:42,938 --> 00:23:45,320 Much like during medieval times 507 00:23:45,424 --> 00:23:49,151 when castles were built not only for defensive purposes 508 00:23:49,255 --> 00:23:52,948 but simply for the awe and wow factor. 509 00:23:53,052 --> 00:23:54,502 You know, with Hitler, 510 00:23:54,605 --> 00:23:56,435 if you're going to get people to believe 511 00:23:56,538 --> 00:23:58,195 that anything is possible 512 00:23:58,298 --> 00:24:00,646 and you are the uber Mitch, 513 00:24:00,749 --> 00:24:03,787 that your people are the aryan supermen, 514 00:24:03,890 --> 00:24:05,720 the masters of the world 515 00:24:05,823 --> 00:24:08,377 and all this wild stuff that they came up with, 516 00:24:08,481 --> 00:24:11,898 you need something on a large scale architecturally 517 00:24:12,002 --> 00:24:14,211 to make people believe this crazy myth 518 00:24:14,314 --> 00:24:15,419 that you've concocted. 519 00:24:16,558 --> 00:24:17,835 - [Narrator] Some experts are convinced 520 00:24:17,939 --> 00:24:20,459 that the Nazis were so far ahead of their time 521 00:24:20,562 --> 00:24:22,357 that we've only scratched the surface 522 00:24:22,461 --> 00:24:24,290 of the future tech they were developing 523 00:24:24,393 --> 00:24:26,119 in places like Wlodarz. 524 00:24:28,328 --> 00:24:31,228 The current owner of the facility recalls a witness, 525 00:24:31,331 --> 00:24:33,195 a concentration camp survivor 526 00:24:33,299 --> 00:24:36,267 who worked in the tunnels and saw the Flytrap. 527 00:24:39,063 --> 00:24:43,792 [Krzysztof speaking in foreign language] 528 00:25:10,232 --> 00:25:11,613 - It's something else, 529 00:25:11,717 --> 00:25:16,100 some kind of device that demand a lot of electricity, 530 00:25:16,204 --> 00:25:18,171 a lot of energy, 531 00:25:18,275 --> 00:25:19,518 to test something. 532 00:25:20,691 --> 00:25:22,831 - Could you imagine this large thing glowing 533 00:25:22,935 --> 00:25:24,074 or generating power? 534 00:25:24,177 --> 00:25:26,455 That opens up all sorts of new ideas. 535 00:25:26,559 --> 00:25:27,974 But it looks unfinished, 536 00:25:28,078 --> 00:25:30,080 and therefore whatever they were going to add to this 537 00:25:30,183 --> 00:25:32,461 must have been equally as spectacular. 538 00:25:35,257 --> 00:25:38,709 - What makes this Flytrap structure even stranger 539 00:25:38,813 --> 00:25:42,230 are the tunnels that pass directly beneath it. 540 00:25:42,333 --> 00:25:43,990 [water flowing] 541 00:25:44,094 --> 00:25:46,717 And were those tunnels intrinsically linked 542 00:25:46,821 --> 00:25:48,477 to what the Flytrap was used for? 543 00:25:49,824 --> 00:25:51,308 - [Narrator] These tunnels under the Flytrap 544 00:25:51,411 --> 00:25:52,551 are more complete, 545 00:25:52,654 --> 00:25:54,483 with lights and finished concrete. 546 00:25:56,209 --> 00:25:58,626 And then there is all this water. 547 00:26:00,455 --> 00:26:03,389 - I am drawn to the idea that it was 548 00:26:03,492 --> 00:26:05,667 potentially some kind of a cooling tower. 549 00:26:07,151 --> 00:26:11,052 - We have a lot of waste heat that we need to get rid off, 550 00:26:11,155 --> 00:26:14,952 and to do that we normally pump water 551 00:26:15,056 --> 00:26:18,335 over our piping or heat exchangers, 552 00:26:18,438 --> 00:26:20,544 absorb that heat into the water, 553 00:26:20,648 --> 00:26:24,030 and then by pumping and cascading that water 554 00:26:24,134 --> 00:26:27,862 we evaporate off that heat as water vapor 555 00:26:27,965 --> 00:26:29,898 and carry that heat away. 556 00:26:30,002 --> 00:26:32,176 Generally, cooling towers are really tall 557 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,248 because we wanna have a long contact time 558 00:26:35,352 --> 00:26:37,941 of the water droplets falling 559 00:26:38,044 --> 00:26:40,564 and the air rising from the cooling tower 560 00:26:40,668 --> 00:26:44,016 to allow the heat to dissipate. 561 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,226 - [Narrator] The main reason for a cooling tower like this 562 00:26:47,329 --> 00:26:49,021 would be nuclear. 563 00:26:49,124 --> 00:26:51,610 [eerie music] 564 00:26:53,508 --> 00:26:56,200 A strange structure lies in a remote forest area 565 00:26:56,304 --> 00:26:57,892 of the Owl Mountains. 566 00:26:57,995 --> 00:26:59,272 - It's hard to imagine how much bigger 567 00:26:59,376 --> 00:27:00,480 this structure could have been 568 00:27:00,584 --> 00:27:02,586 if this was a starting point. 569 00:27:02,690 --> 00:27:04,450 - [Narrator] Its purpose, unknown. 570 00:27:05,589 --> 00:27:07,487 But some have a theory that this could be 571 00:27:07,591 --> 00:27:10,042 one of the main clues to the Nazi rush 572 00:27:10,145 --> 00:27:11,802 to develop a new terror. 573 00:27:13,079 --> 00:27:15,634 To use in the most desperate hour. 574 00:27:18,567 --> 00:27:22,364 - There's a very pro-science mentality in Germany, 575 00:27:22,468 --> 00:27:25,816 but it's pro-science in the sense that 576 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:27,507 the Nazis want to use science 577 00:27:27,611 --> 00:27:30,407 to further their political and military aims. 578 00:27:30,510 --> 00:27:32,133 - In the madness of World War II, 579 00:27:32,236 --> 00:27:34,238 your primary impulse is to destroy the enemy 580 00:27:34,342 --> 00:27:35,757 any way you can. 581 00:27:35,861 --> 00:27:38,967 [bombs booming] 582 00:27:39,071 --> 00:27:40,279 - [Narrator] In 1938, 583 00:27:40,382 --> 00:27:42,661 a German team led by chemist Otto Hahn 584 00:27:42,764 --> 00:27:45,836 bombard uranium with neutrons and discover fission. 585 00:27:46,906 --> 00:27:48,908 The atomic age has begun. 586 00:27:50,703 --> 00:27:53,119 - So Hitler is becoming increasingly desperate. 587 00:27:53,223 --> 00:27:55,121 He has ordered his scientists 588 00:27:55,225 --> 00:27:56,951 and his engineers and his generals 589 00:27:57,054 --> 00:28:00,023 to go all out for a new type of weapon. 590 00:28:01,231 --> 00:28:04,924 The world knows the story of Albert Einstein 591 00:28:05,028 --> 00:28:07,444 talking to colleagues and writing his famous letter 592 00:28:07,547 --> 00:28:09,101 to Franklin Roosevelt, 593 00:28:09,204 --> 00:28:12,794 worried that the Nazis were working on an atomic program. 594 00:28:14,175 --> 00:28:16,971 He understood from contacts of his in Europe 595 00:28:17,074 --> 00:28:21,320 that the Nazis were just stockpiling uranium. 596 00:28:21,423 --> 00:28:23,322 With that enriched uranium 597 00:28:23,425 --> 00:28:26,187 he worried about them pursuing an atomic project. 598 00:28:27,636 --> 00:28:29,673 - We know the scientists went to Adolf Hitler 599 00:28:29,777 --> 00:28:33,781 and presented plans to develop the German atomic capability. 600 00:28:33,884 --> 00:28:35,368 Well, the Owl Mountains complex 601 00:28:35,472 --> 00:28:36,507 would have been the ideal place 602 00:28:36,611 --> 00:28:38,268 to develop the atomic program 603 00:28:38,371 --> 00:28:39,752 without anyone else knowing about it, 604 00:28:39,856 --> 00:28:41,996 and clearly secrecy in a project like that 605 00:28:42,099 --> 00:28:43,066 would have been key. 606 00:28:44,308 --> 00:28:47,139 - The site is somewhat inaccessible. 607 00:28:47,242 --> 00:28:49,451 It's deep underground. 608 00:28:49,555 --> 00:28:51,799 It was shrouded in secrecy and mystery. 609 00:28:51,902 --> 00:28:54,629 The question, could it have been happening there? 610 00:28:54,733 --> 00:28:57,701 It seems to match the profile for what the Nazis were using 611 00:28:57,805 --> 00:29:00,462 for other types of secretive research like that. 612 00:29:01,774 --> 00:29:03,983 Some atomic project was happening, 613 00:29:04,087 --> 00:29:06,814 and it was probably in such a facility. 614 00:29:10,921 --> 00:29:13,130 - A little bit like a gambler down to his last chips, 615 00:29:13,234 --> 00:29:14,476 they're putting a lot of men, 616 00:29:14,580 --> 00:29:16,685 a lot of material, a lot of money, 617 00:29:16,789 --> 00:29:18,515 a lot of effort into these mountains, 618 00:29:18,618 --> 00:29:21,345 which suggests that they had a card to play. 619 00:29:21,449 --> 00:29:23,140 It suggests that they were doing something here 620 00:29:23,244 --> 00:29:25,108 which they thought could potentially turn 621 00:29:25,211 --> 00:29:26,454 the tide of the war. 622 00:29:28,283 --> 00:29:30,596 - [Narrator] The Owl Mountains are known to contain uranium, 623 00:29:30,699 --> 00:29:34,151 the key ingredient for an atom bomb or a nuclear reactor. 624 00:29:35,774 --> 00:29:39,018 Is this why the Nazis are feverishly tunneling here? 625 00:29:40,606 --> 00:29:43,402 - The tunnels could have been envisioned as a place 626 00:29:43,505 --> 00:29:45,991 where you could successfully continue producing 627 00:29:46,094 --> 00:29:48,027 war materials for the German war effort 628 00:29:48,131 --> 00:29:49,788 away from Allied eyes 629 00:29:49,891 --> 00:29:53,205 and away from the reach of the Allied bombers. 630 00:29:53,308 --> 00:29:54,482 - [Narrator] But Krzysztof and others 631 00:29:54,585 --> 00:29:57,105 take the atomic theory even further. 632 00:29:59,176 --> 00:30:03,905 [Krzysztof speaking in foreign language] 633 00:30:16,262 --> 00:30:17,988 - [Narrator] Are these underground structures and chambers 634 00:30:18,092 --> 00:30:21,578 for secret labs meant to create Germany's atom bomb? 635 00:30:22,786 --> 00:30:24,167 Could the tunnels carved out 636 00:30:24,270 --> 00:30:26,307 of the hard igneous rock of the mountain 637 00:30:26,410 --> 00:30:29,620 be used to disguise underground control tests? 638 00:30:30,587 --> 00:30:33,072 [eerie music] 639 00:30:34,315 --> 00:30:35,937 - There are those who believe that the Nazis 640 00:30:36,041 --> 00:30:39,182 did actually manage to develop atomic weapons. 641 00:30:39,285 --> 00:30:41,529 But in my mind, if they had, 642 00:30:41,632 --> 00:30:44,808 there's no doubt Hitler would have used them. 643 00:30:44,912 --> 00:30:46,775 So then the question becomes, 644 00:30:46,879 --> 00:30:48,777 how close did they get? 645 00:30:50,055 --> 00:30:53,782 - Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 646 00:30:53,886 --> 00:30:55,750 Just because we haven't found something 647 00:30:55,854 --> 00:30:57,614 doesn't make it so or not so. 648 00:30:58,822 --> 00:31:01,756 - We don't have a lot of knowledge 649 00:31:01,860 --> 00:31:03,206 from the people who built it, 650 00:31:03,309 --> 00:31:05,001 in part because it was concentration camp labor 651 00:31:05,104 --> 00:31:06,657 and many of them were murdered. 652 00:31:07,935 --> 00:31:10,006 And we don't have a lot of information 653 00:31:10,109 --> 00:31:11,490 from the local German populations 654 00:31:11,593 --> 00:31:14,907 because they were all fleeing the Red Army in 44-45 655 00:31:15,011 --> 00:31:17,323 or they were expelled after the war. 656 00:31:18,566 --> 00:31:20,568 - In the last few months of the war 657 00:31:20,671 --> 00:31:24,434 certainly experiments like this were pretty useless, 658 00:31:24,537 --> 00:31:25,711 much like the rocket program. 659 00:31:25,814 --> 00:31:27,851 Yes, it's used and it makes its appearance, 660 00:31:27,955 --> 00:31:29,301 but it's too late. 661 00:31:29,404 --> 00:31:31,061 It's too late for the realities of the war, 662 00:31:31,165 --> 00:31:34,064 so things like this become quickly abandoned 663 00:31:34,168 --> 00:31:37,171 because you've gotta get 13 and 14-year-old boys and girls 664 00:31:37,274 --> 00:31:38,931 into the streets to defend Berlin. 665 00:31:40,346 --> 00:31:41,969 - [Narrator] Another theory that refuses to die 666 00:31:42,072 --> 00:31:44,626 is that the SS were on the cusp of technology 667 00:31:44,730 --> 00:31:46,801 we can't even fulfill today. 668 00:31:48,147 --> 00:31:51,495 - It boggles the mind, something called the Nazi Bell. 669 00:31:52,911 --> 00:31:55,361 A large bell-shaped device that would rotate, 670 00:31:55,465 --> 00:31:59,883 that could be a time machine or an antigravity machine. 671 00:31:59,987 --> 00:32:01,678 - Because of the secrecy of these mountains, 672 00:32:01,781 --> 00:32:04,060 the Nazis could have been doing anything underground 673 00:32:04,163 --> 00:32:06,165 and no one in the world would know. 674 00:32:06,269 --> 00:32:08,374 You get chills up your spine. 675 00:32:08,478 --> 00:32:09,651 - [Narrator] And indeed, 676 00:32:09,755 --> 00:32:12,309 theories of super-tech projects refuse to die, 677 00:32:12,413 --> 00:32:15,243 some of almost science fiction nature. 678 00:32:18,350 --> 00:32:20,593 [laser whooshing] 679 00:32:20,697 --> 00:32:23,389 Stories of fantastical science and technology 680 00:32:23,493 --> 00:32:24,977 that the Nazis were developing 681 00:32:25,081 --> 00:32:27,807 haunt locations like the mystery-shrouded tunnels 682 00:32:27,911 --> 00:32:30,949 of Wlodarz and the nearby Flytrap. 683 00:32:31,052 --> 00:32:34,469 Rumors of atomic weapons, next-generation rockets, 684 00:32:34,573 --> 00:32:37,679 and flying machine never seen before. 685 00:32:39,371 --> 00:32:40,993 - Some people have posed theories 686 00:32:41,097 --> 00:32:44,134 that there could be secret weapons or technology 687 00:32:44,238 --> 00:32:46,861 that remain hidden underground here. 688 00:32:46,965 --> 00:32:49,691 Certainly stranger things have been discovered 689 00:32:49,795 --> 00:32:50,865 under the Third Reich. 690 00:32:52,142 --> 00:32:53,109 - [Narrator] Krzysztof describes 691 00:32:53,212 --> 00:32:55,387 strange phenomena underground, 692 00:32:55,490 --> 00:32:57,078 deep inside the complex, 693 00:32:57,182 --> 00:32:59,253 ones that defy explanation. 694 00:33:00,737 --> 00:33:05,500 [Krzysztof speaking in foreign language] 695 00:33:30,905 --> 00:33:32,872 - Weird sounds, weird sights, 696 00:33:32,976 --> 00:33:35,392 unusual cell service deep under a mountain 697 00:33:35,496 --> 00:33:38,188 where you shouldn't get any cell service. 698 00:33:38,292 --> 00:33:43,021 [Krzysztof speaking in foreign language] 699 00:33:47,818 --> 00:33:48,923 - [Narrator] Krzysztof is convinced 700 00:33:49,027 --> 00:33:51,546 of the reason for these electrical anomalies. 701 00:33:51,650 --> 00:33:56,551 Old Nazi super technology buried underneath the tunnels. 702 00:33:57,794 --> 00:34:01,487 [Krzysztof speaking in foreign language] 703 00:34:11,946 --> 00:34:13,637 - [Narrator] One of the most fantastical theories 704 00:34:13,741 --> 00:34:16,019 to explain the connections between the tunnels, 705 00:34:16,123 --> 00:34:18,504 the Flytrap and surrounding structures 706 00:34:18,608 --> 00:34:21,473 is a rumor that simply refuses to go away. 707 00:34:22,439 --> 00:34:25,304 Die Glocke, or the Nazi Bell. 708 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:31,414 [Krzysztof speaking in foreign language] 709 00:34:48,741 --> 00:34:51,054 - Die Glocke, or the Nazi Bell, 710 00:34:51,158 --> 00:34:53,574 is this rumor that's lingered for decades 711 00:34:53,677 --> 00:34:56,266 about this Nazi bell-shaped object 712 00:34:56,370 --> 00:34:59,890 that's associated with antigravity or free energy 713 00:34:59,994 --> 00:35:02,928 or some kind of pseudo-scientific concept. 714 00:35:07,519 --> 00:35:09,762 - The Nazis were heavy into research, 715 00:35:09,866 --> 00:35:11,833 so it's possible 716 00:35:11,937 --> 00:35:15,596 that they wanted to test some theories 717 00:35:15,699 --> 00:35:18,806 related to antigravity. 718 00:35:20,187 --> 00:35:22,327 - Developing a container 719 00:35:22,430 --> 00:35:25,709 in which gravity doesn't play a role, 720 00:35:25,813 --> 00:35:27,366 we don't have that ability yet. 721 00:35:27,470 --> 00:35:30,852 We're able to replicate it in free fall, 722 00:35:30,956 --> 00:35:33,027 in a free-falling jet 723 00:35:33,131 --> 00:35:36,064 to overcome it we're accelerating fast enough 724 00:35:36,168 --> 00:35:37,859 that it feels like zero gravity, 725 00:35:37,963 --> 00:35:39,240 but that's not the case. 726 00:35:39,344 --> 00:35:42,001 So on Earth's surface, 727 00:35:42,105 --> 00:35:45,108 building something antigravity seems really challenging. 728 00:35:46,592 --> 00:35:48,698 - [Narrator] Is the Flytrap the support for Die Glocke? 729 00:35:50,941 --> 00:35:53,116 - From what we know of gravity at this point, 730 00:35:53,220 --> 00:35:55,049 I'm not sure that antigravity 731 00:35:55,153 --> 00:35:58,156 is a theoretical possibility even today. 732 00:35:59,536 --> 00:36:02,643 Of all the physical forces of nature, 733 00:36:02,746 --> 00:36:05,335 we understand gravity probably the least. 734 00:36:07,061 --> 00:36:09,960 - [Narrator] Legend is it was supervised by Hans Kammler 735 00:36:10,064 --> 00:36:12,342 who oversaw the V-2 rocket program 736 00:36:12,446 --> 00:36:14,689 and was associated at a senior level 737 00:36:14,793 --> 00:36:16,795 with all the special projects. 738 00:36:18,210 --> 00:36:21,800 - This was a testing area for some of the odder 739 00:36:21,903 --> 00:36:26,011 or more experimental of a series of wonder weapons 740 00:36:26,114 --> 00:36:28,669 or advanced technologies 741 00:36:28,772 --> 00:36:30,981 that were under the hospices 742 00:36:31,085 --> 00:36:35,123 of Hans Kammler's Office of Special Projects. 743 00:36:35,227 --> 00:36:37,056 - [Narrator] Many of the top Nazi scientists 744 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:38,644 were captured after the war, 745 00:36:38,748 --> 00:36:42,027 some by the US in Operation Paperclip. 746 00:36:42,130 --> 00:36:45,444 Hans Kammler's fate is unknown. 747 00:36:48,516 --> 00:36:51,036 [dramatic music] [water flowing] 748 00:36:51,139 --> 00:36:55,523 Mysterious tunnels and technology hidden in a remote region 749 00:36:55,627 --> 00:36:58,492 lead investigators to question the heavily-debated fate 750 00:36:58,595 --> 00:37:02,116 of a major figure in the Nazi regime. 751 00:37:02,220 --> 00:37:04,705 Head of Special Projects Hans Kammler. 752 00:37:06,879 --> 00:37:09,675 - Hans Kammler is one of the single most intriguing 753 00:37:09,779 --> 00:37:11,194 and most important Nazis, 754 00:37:11,298 --> 00:37:12,885 yet he's one of the ones, ironically, 755 00:37:12,989 --> 00:37:15,025 that we don't know a lot about. 756 00:37:15,129 --> 00:37:17,027 He held a number of important positions. 757 00:37:17,131 --> 00:37:20,479 He oversaw the V-2 rocket program 758 00:37:20,583 --> 00:37:23,482 which Wernher von Braun had been involved in at one point. 759 00:37:23,586 --> 00:37:26,002 He was given the gruesome task 760 00:37:26,105 --> 00:37:31,041 of making Auschwitz even a more efficient death camp. 761 00:37:32,422 --> 00:37:35,632 And of course to make Kammler even more intriguing is 762 00:37:35,736 --> 00:37:38,842 we don't know what happened to him at the end of the war, 763 00:37:38,946 --> 00:37:43,537 so he remains this absolutely intriguing Nazi 764 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:45,435 whose fingerprints were 765 00:37:45,539 --> 00:37:48,680 on some of the most heinous crimes of the war 766 00:37:48,783 --> 00:37:51,061 and on some of the most futuristic 767 00:37:51,165 --> 00:37:54,237 and fantastical weapons research of the entire war. 768 00:37:55,376 --> 00:37:56,757 - [Narrator] Could Hans Kammler or his team 769 00:37:56,860 --> 00:37:58,931 have been developing futuristic weapons 770 00:37:59,035 --> 00:38:01,279 here in the Wlodarz Complex? 771 00:38:02,797 --> 00:38:05,904 - One speculation that an object that they were working on 772 00:38:06,007 --> 00:38:08,216 that could have generated energy 773 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,910 looked a little bit like what science fiction writers 774 00:38:12,013 --> 00:38:13,636 would have described as flying saucer, 775 00:38:13,739 --> 00:38:17,018 but that was in fact not at all what its purpose was. 776 00:38:17,122 --> 00:38:20,332 They were using different kinds of devices and structures 777 00:38:20,436 --> 00:38:23,231 to try to work out how they could generate energy. 778 00:38:24,957 --> 00:38:26,890 - Air supremacy was going to be part 779 00:38:26,994 --> 00:38:29,617 of what determined the outcome of the war, 780 00:38:29,721 --> 00:38:32,620 so maybe they were playing with some type of technology 781 00:38:32,724 --> 00:38:35,071 that would look like a flying saucer 782 00:38:35,174 --> 00:38:38,385 that had glowing propulsion systems. 783 00:38:38,488 --> 00:38:41,111 I wouldn't be entirely surprised at all 784 00:38:41,215 --> 00:38:43,976 if this Flytrap were associated with the development 785 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:45,564 of that kind of a device. 786 00:38:47,255 --> 00:38:49,396 Where you wanted it to lift off the ground 787 00:38:49,499 --> 00:38:51,536 you would need some type of structure 788 00:38:51,639 --> 00:38:53,883 to initially support it, 789 00:38:53,986 --> 00:38:56,057 allow the air to flow out from underneath it, 790 00:38:56,161 --> 00:38:57,300 underneath the pillars. 791 00:38:59,751 --> 00:39:02,236 - It's infuriating that we don't know 792 00:39:02,340 --> 00:39:04,272 why this Flytrap is there. 793 00:39:04,376 --> 00:39:06,240 I mean, no matter if you're a historian or not, 794 00:39:06,344 --> 00:39:09,105 anyone, if you see this site, 795 00:39:09,208 --> 00:39:12,350 you're scratching your head and you want answers. 796 00:39:12,453 --> 00:39:13,558 - One of the challenges 797 00:39:13,661 --> 00:39:15,283 of getting to the bottom of the mystery 798 00:39:15,387 --> 00:39:16,940 is the fact that not only did the Nazis 799 00:39:17,044 --> 00:39:18,942 treated it as a secret, 800 00:39:19,046 --> 00:39:21,807 but then of course it falls into Soviet Russia hands 801 00:39:21,911 --> 00:39:24,845 and they have no interest in transparency. 802 00:39:24,948 --> 00:39:26,674 - [Narrator] May 1945. 803 00:39:26,778 --> 00:39:30,126 The Red Army arrives in the region and the Nazis flee. 804 00:39:31,472 --> 00:39:35,580 - Hitler issues his infamous orders to destroy, 805 00:39:35,683 --> 00:39:37,996 to liquidate all evidence. 806 00:39:38,099 --> 00:39:41,931 If they can't have it, then no one's going to have it. 807 00:39:42,034 --> 00:39:43,691 - [Narrator] Taking whatever they can with them 808 00:39:43,795 --> 00:39:46,522 and destroying as much as they can manage. 809 00:39:46,625 --> 00:39:48,662 - The Soviets arrive and they do what they do best. 810 00:39:48,765 --> 00:39:50,560 They take all of the machinery, 811 00:39:50,664 --> 00:39:51,803 anything of any value, 812 00:39:51,906 --> 00:39:53,874 and ship it right back to Russia. 813 00:39:53,977 --> 00:39:58,154 - And they essentially strip East Germany for parts. 814 00:39:58,257 --> 00:40:01,364 There was a concerted and sustained effort 815 00:40:01,468 --> 00:40:03,573 to burn all available evidence 816 00:40:03,677 --> 00:40:06,196 about what the tunnels were used for. 817 00:40:06,300 --> 00:40:07,888 They would have had enough time I think 818 00:40:07,991 --> 00:40:09,303 to get rid of quite a bit 819 00:40:09,407 --> 00:40:12,271 before the Red Army actually arrived. 820 00:40:12,375 --> 00:40:14,515 - The recordkeeping of the Reich 821 00:40:14,619 --> 00:40:17,104 was in many respects quite methodical. 822 00:40:17,207 --> 00:40:19,278 They did keep a lot of accurate records 823 00:40:19,382 --> 00:40:20,970 about important things, 824 00:40:21,073 --> 00:40:22,730 but not everything. 825 00:40:22,834 --> 00:40:24,560 - The Nazis were obsessed with secrecy, 826 00:40:24,663 --> 00:40:28,702 they were obsessed with keeping information to themselves 827 00:40:28,805 --> 00:40:29,944 and not allowing people 828 00:40:30,048 --> 00:40:31,014 who weren't directly involved in the project 829 00:40:31,118 --> 00:40:32,637 from knowing anything about it. 830 00:40:33,914 --> 00:40:35,225 - And then you have to marry that to the fact 831 00:40:35,329 --> 00:40:37,952 that in its desperation in the dying days 832 00:40:39,540 --> 00:40:41,853 Reich officers destroyed a lot of documents 833 00:40:41,956 --> 00:40:43,613 in part to protect the secrets 834 00:40:43,717 --> 00:40:45,443 and in part to protect themselves, 835 00:40:45,546 --> 00:40:48,687 because their next plan was to blend in 836 00:40:48,791 --> 00:40:50,413 to post-war German society 837 00:40:50,517 --> 00:40:52,311 and to not be a Nazi. 838 00:40:52,415 --> 00:40:55,107 And then of course you have to deal with [mumbles] of war, 839 00:40:55,211 --> 00:40:58,352 bombing and artillery and soldiers 840 00:40:58,456 --> 00:41:02,287 and the regular conduct of war destroying things, 841 00:41:02,390 --> 00:41:05,048 the evidence from the war itself. 842 00:41:05,152 --> 00:41:07,085 - If you admitted that you had worked on this project, 843 00:41:07,188 --> 00:41:08,293 if you had been involved in it, 844 00:41:08,396 --> 00:41:09,536 if you had intimate knowledge of it, 845 00:41:09,639 --> 00:41:10,951 you may have been setting yourself 846 00:41:11,054 --> 00:41:13,022 to be exposed as a war criminal. 847 00:41:14,472 --> 00:41:16,335 - And that's what leads to the fact that so many secrets, 848 00:41:16,439 --> 00:41:18,372 so many stories have been buried, 849 00:41:18,476 --> 00:41:21,651 and so the mystery remains, perhaps forever. 850 00:41:22,549 --> 00:41:23,826 - [Narrator] Yet to this day 851 00:41:23,929 --> 00:41:26,760 Nazi conspiracy theories still hang on 852 00:41:26,863 --> 00:41:29,348 like mist in these mountains. 853 00:41:31,834 --> 00:41:34,388 - There are all sorts of conspiracy theories out there 854 00:41:34,492 --> 00:41:36,666 that the Nazis went to the Moon. 855 00:41:36,770 --> 00:41:41,429 The Nazis found UFOs and they were using alien technology. 856 00:41:41,533 --> 00:41:44,709 The Nazis it was said even went to Antarctica 857 00:41:44,812 --> 00:41:46,365 with big research teams 858 00:41:46,469 --> 00:41:50,162 and dug out caves and were conducting alien research. 859 00:41:50,266 --> 00:41:53,407 Now all this belongs to the realm of legend. 860 00:41:53,511 --> 00:41:55,720 However, there are some facts behind it. 861 00:41:55,823 --> 00:41:58,170 For example, in 1938, 862 00:41:58,274 --> 00:42:01,898 the Nazis did mount an expedition to Antarctica. 863 00:42:03,348 --> 00:42:07,317 The Nazis did have a program to actively pursue UFOs. 864 00:42:08,802 --> 00:42:12,288 They were also looking for the lost city of Atlantis. 865 00:42:12,391 --> 00:42:15,256 The Nazis were actually spanning the globe 866 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,569 to find biblical artifacts, 867 00:42:17,673 --> 00:42:20,676 hoping that all that could imbue Hitler 868 00:42:20,779 --> 00:42:22,470 with mythical powers. 869 00:42:23,851 --> 00:42:25,577 A Nazi scientist named Oberth 870 00:42:25,681 --> 00:42:28,960 was looking at the idea of a massive mirror, 871 00:42:29,063 --> 00:42:31,031 a one-mile-wide mirror, 872 00:42:31,134 --> 00:42:33,689 and he thought if they launched it into space 873 00:42:33,792 --> 00:42:36,312 it could capture the sun's heat and rays 874 00:42:36,415 --> 00:42:38,348 and be used for energy. 875 00:42:38,452 --> 00:42:41,351 However, the Nazi military commander saw this 876 00:42:41,455 --> 00:42:43,975 as kind of a death ray. 877 00:42:44,078 --> 00:42:48,289 In fact, there was a blueprint for a mile-wide mirror 878 00:42:48,393 --> 00:42:49,739 to be launched into space. 879 00:42:49,843 --> 00:42:51,845 So separating fact from fiction 880 00:42:51,948 --> 00:42:55,814 is a little more difficult than it usually is. 881 00:42:57,057 --> 00:43:00,612 - The question becomes, how close did they get? 882 00:43:00,716 --> 00:43:03,028 And what happened to all the research and technology 883 00:43:03,132 --> 00:43:04,547 that they did develop? 884 00:43:04,651 --> 00:43:06,445 Was it stolen by the Allies? 885 00:43:06,549 --> 00:43:08,413 Or perhaps it was amongst the spoils 886 00:43:08,516 --> 00:43:11,036 that the Soviets got their hands on? 887 00:43:11,140 --> 00:43:13,452 - The world will remain fascinated 888 00:43:13,556 --> 00:43:16,835 by this futuristic fantastical research, 889 00:43:16,939 --> 00:43:19,389 some of which was utterly implausible. 890 00:43:19,493 --> 00:43:20,805 On the other hand, 891 00:43:20,908 --> 00:43:23,255 what's alarming is a lot of this technology 892 00:43:23,359 --> 00:43:27,294 was very close to being operationalized during the war. 893 00:43:27,397 --> 00:43:31,160 And if that something was an atomic program, 894 00:43:31,263 --> 00:43:33,196 that's a nightmare to even think about. 895 00:43:34,094 --> 00:43:36,821 [dramatic music]