All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S04E01.Worlds.Strangest.Ghost.Towns.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator: annihilated,
Contaminated,

Or simply abandoned
In the furthest reaches

Of the planet.

Some of the buildings look
As thought they're clinging on

To the rock for dear life.

If you walk out
Of the front door,

It's just a sheer drop.

Nusbacher:
This is one of the most
Inhospitable places on earth.

Why would you build this?

Narrator: casualties of war,
Natural disasters,

Narrator: casualties of war,
Natural disasters,

Or events far more surprising.

What was left behind
Was so strange and eerie.

This town was now covered
In a layer

Of something really mysterious.

It's the victim of something
That most of us

Couldn't believe could happen.

Narrator: these are the world's
10 strangest ghost towns.

Engineering marvels
Now abandoned,

Engineering marvels
Now abandoned,

Ruins shrouded in mystery.

Within these decaying structures
Are the echoes of history.

They speak of death
And destruction,

But also human ingenuity
And endeavor.

Each haunted shell
Ready to be unmasked

And tell its own unique story.

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

*

The earth is littered
With eerie ghost towns,

And 10 sites still baffle
The modern world.

The first of these is found
In the heartlands of argentina.

Gough: it looks like
A post-apocalyptic landscape.

The only access is down
This pothole track.

The only access is down
This pothole track.

It really gives you
This feeling of, you know,

"This place is creepy."

Meigs: everything
Is dusted with white,

The remnants of trees
Look like something fossilized.

You really can't tell
What created this strange ruin.

Somara:
It has this really eerie,
Ghostly feel to it --

Staircases that lead to nowhere
Or kind of corroded structures.

Staircases that lead to nowhere
Or kind of corroded structures.

Narrator:
The tortuous landscape holds the
Secrets of what this place was.

But the real clue
To the town's demise

Is the white substance
That clings to every surface.

Gough: you know, it looks like
It could be ash.

You have to wonder, you know,
Was it bombed?

If so, why? By who?
Did anyone survive?

What happened here?

Meigs: there was swimming pools,

And you can see the remnants
Of cafés and hotels.

And you can see the remnants
Of cafés and hotels.

So, clearly, this was not a,
You know, a military site

Or something like that.

It was, apparently,
A lovely place in its day.

Narrator: so was this place
Burnt to the ground

Or could that white substance

Reveal an altogether
Stranger ending?

*

Today, the streets appear
Haunted and desolate.

Today, the streets appear
Haunted and desolate.

But while this place remains
Largely abandoned, incredibly,

One man still dares
To call this ghost town home.

*

I am pablo novak, the only
Resident left in the ruins.

I was born here,
My two brothers also.

On the 25th of january
I turned 88 years old.

On the 25th of january
I turned 88 years old.

Narrator: bravely refusing
To accept defeat,

Pablo was the only resident
Unwilling to flee the area.

Novak:
I stayed, and I was sure someone
Would come back eventually.

It used to be so famous.

So many people used to come
From all over.

Narrator: with the town's
Origins back in the 1920s,

Narrator: with the town's
Origins back in the 1920s,

What appears scarred
And torn today

Was once seen as
A luxurious retreat

That catered to the elite
Of buenos aires.

For decades, these streets
Were filled with people

Escaping the city.

Meigs: by the mid 20th century,

It had grown into
A lovely little resort.

You would have as many as 25,000
People a year coming to visit.

Narrator:
What they all came in search of
Is still visible today --

Narrator:
What they all came in search of
Is still visible today --

The legendary waters
Of a nearby lake

And spring that have since
Crept into the heart

Of the settlement.

This is all that remains
Of the town of villa epecuen.

*

Meigs:
Throughout history, humans have
Gravitated towards hot springs,

Waters with a lot of minerals
In them

Waters with a lot of minerals
In them

With the idea that this
Is good for your health.

The therapeutic powers
Of the lake

Had been famous for centuries

And it is said that the spring
Could cure

All sorts of things
From depression to rheumatism.

Somara: it started off
As a sleepy village

But then grew to this
Bustling tourist resort.

Narrator:
But while the belief in the
Healing power of the water

Drew people in,

Few recognized the truth
Destructive force it contained.

Few recognized the truth
Destructive force it contained.

So the town kept on growing
With hotels for the visitors,

A slaughterhouse
To feed everyone,

And all kinds of attractions.

Novak: this was started as a
[speaks native language]

A dance hall.

And because the room was small
And lots of people came,

They also used it for a theater.

The theater companies coming
From buenos aires.

The theater companies coming
From buenos aires.

Narrator:
The town was flourishing.

The growth appeared sustainable.

But disaster
Was about to strike.

In november, 1985,
It started to rain,

And the thing is
It never stopped.

The rainfall
Was reaching record levels,

And the lake was threaten
To burst its banks.

Narrator:
The very thing that was
This town's lifeline

Narrator:
The very thing that was
This town's lifeline

Was about
To become its downfall.

Jerram: a particular problem
Where you have big water bodies

That are bound by land
Is a phenomenon called a seiche,

And it's very much like
When you're in a bath.

You know, you're sort of playing
Around in the bath

And occasionally...

Up in your face,
You get this freak wave,

And that's because
You got all of these

Different waves interacting,
And eventually

They all come together
And make a much larger wave,

And that's thought to be what
Caused the demise

Of the flood defenses
In this particular town,

Of the flood defenses
In this particular town,

And once the flooding started,

Then essentially the sort --
The floodgates were open.

Narrator: the towns occupants
Had no choice

But to head to higher ground.

Meigs:
Fortunately for the residents,
The water rose slowly enough

They had time to get out
But not a lot of time.

So 1,500 people just had
To pack up

And move in a matter of days.

Gough:
The flood waters gradually,
Slowly consumed the entire town,

Gough:
The flood waters gradually,
Slowly consumed the entire town,

And by 1993 it was submerged
Under 30 feet of water,

Effectively becoming
A modern-day atlantis.

*

Everything that you can see now
Hadn't been seen for 20 years.

Narrator:
Over the course of decades,

The water slowly
Began to recede.

However, instead of showing
Its supposed healing powers,

It has inflicted
A lasting scar upon the land.

Meigs: when the town
Was exposed again,

Of course a lot of
The buildings had collapsed,

But everything was covered with
This eerie coating of white.

Gough: and the twist is
This highly saline water

Left the town covered
In a thick layer of salt,

Left the town covered
In a thick layer of salt,

Giving it this unique appearance

As though its been bombed
And overed in ash.

Meigs:
The same minerals that had drawn
People to the hot springs

To soak their aches
And pains away now coated

All the buildings
Of the village.

*

Narrator: with the remains
Of villa epecuen now

Standing above water once more,
It feels like the worst is over.

Standing above water once more,
It feels like the worst is over.

But pablo is still battling
To remain here.

Novak: when I turned 70,
My daughters gave me money

'cause they thought I couldn't
Live here alone anymore.

But I'm 88 now and still here,
And as long as I can walk, talk,

And have a good memory,
I will stay here.

And have a good memory,
I will stay here.

*

Narrator:
At the other end of the americas
Lies our next abandoned town,

At the base of a rugged,
Steep-sided gorge

In the mountain state
Of west virginia.

*

Jerram: the town itself
Is set sort of deep

Within a sort of risen gorge,

And so in some ways
It's kind of almost protected

By the rocks
Around it quite hidden.

By the rocks
Around it quite hidden.

Narrator: despite the feeling
Of isolation,

It's a strangely familiar scene.

Meigs: you kind of feel like
You're walking into a movie set

From a late 19th-century,
Early 20th-century scene

Where maybe there should be
Some poker dealers,

Maybe a few ladies
Of ill repute.

Jerram:
It really is as though people
Were there yesterday,

And now things have stopped
And they've moved on.

And now things have stopped
And they've moved on.

Narrator: a strip of stores
Flanking a railway line

Look almost totally intact.

Meigs: it's not like your
Typical ghost town

Where everything's falling down
Or in ruins.

The buildings look like someone
Could move in and fix them up

And turn the lights back on.

Narrator: spooky interiors
Reveal gold-lined walls,

Elaborate flooring,
And a hefty safe.

Door open as if raided
Only yesterday.

Door open as if raided
Only yesterday.

Other buildings have
Clearly fared less well.

Meigs: when you go up
On the hills around thurmond,

You see these
Ruined old houses.

They look like something
Out of a horror movie.

Narrator:
Yet the occasional train
Still flashes past,

And clues point
To a once bustling town.

Bell: in the distance,
Through the mist,

Bell: in the distance,
Through the mist,

You can just about make out
A strange structure

Protruding above the trees,

And that gives you a clue
As to why this town is here.

Narrator: how did this
Innocuous-looking place

Become a notorious district
That met a suspicious end?

*

Narrator:
Deep in the mountains of
West virginia is a ghost town.

It's appearance today belies
Its once notorious reputation.

Over 100 years ago,
This town was thriving as

Leah perkowski of the new river
Gorge national park explains.

Perkowski: the overwhelming
Feeling for many

Is that it is
The end of nowhere,

When in truth
In the early 1900s

It was the beginning
Of everywhere.

Narrator: the chesapeake and
Ohio railway company

Built a depot here in 1904.

With rail the only way
In or out of the gorge,

Just two years later there were
36 stops over a 53-mile route,

Just two years later there were
36 stops over a 53-mile route,

And the busiest of them
All was this -- thurmond.

Perkowski: thurmond was really
A transportation center

As well as a social center
For the new river gorge.

You know,
There were multiple stores,

Avenues for entertainment,
And transportation.

Narrator: hard to imagine now,
But up to 20 passenger trains

Narrator: hard to imagine now,
But up to 20 passenger trains

Once stopped here every day,

Their engines fueled
By the mighty coal station

That still dominates
The town today.

*

In 1910 alone, the depot
Served 76,000 passengers.

Local newspapers referred to it
As "The biggest little town."

Its boom was driven
By black gold.

Its boom was driven
By black gold.

From the mid-19th century,
To the mid-20th century,

The american economy
Really ran on coal.

You had the steel industry,

You had coal-powered trains
Traveling all over.

All that coal had to be mined,

And the new river gorge was one
Of the best places to mine it.

Bell: through the gorge
Seams of coal

Have been exposed
In the mountainside,

But this isn't just
Any ordinary coal.

This is top quality,
Smokeless coal.

This is top quality,
Smokeless coal.

Narrator:
Thurmond's trains enabled
This precious resource

To be swiftly moved
From the local mines

To customers across america.

And wealth started to flood in.

Jerram: once you've built up
A lot of infrastructure,

Then come the banks,
Then come the people,

Then come the hotels.

Narrator: the banks here became
The wealthiest in the state.

Narrator: the banks here became
The wealthiest in the state.

Yet this was very much a railway
Town, by its nature transient.

And transience went hand
In hand with debauchery.

Meigs: you got all these workers
Moving through.

You had all the support staff
For mines,

So the town needed everything
That a major city would have.

You needed butcher shops
And stores and shoe makers,

And they even had
A red-light district.

And they even had
A red-light district.

Narrator: w.D. Thurmond,
Founder of the town,

Ran his territory according
To his strict baptist beliefs,

Banning alcohol on his land.

Yet to his dismay,
The hotels of his town

Became synonymous with alcohol
And much more besides.

The most notorious was located
Just across the river.

The dunglen hotel was kind of
The hub of everything.

The dunglen hotel was kind of
The hub of everything.

Perkowski:
And it was pretty extravagant
For the time period.

There were three stories,
100 rooms,

A lot of businessmen
Stayed there.

Narrator: this was the social
Core of the town,

Where coal barons and laborers
Alike partied hard.

Around this beating heart
Developed

The red-light district.

Bell:
The dunglen hotel developed
A notorious reputation --

Prostitution, gambling,
And, supposedly,

It hosted the longest
Poker game ever in history.

Narrator: it was rumored
To have lasted 14 years.

As the dunglen became
A nationally famous resort,

They flaunted prohibition laws,
So police raids were common.

They flaunted prohibition laws,
So police raids were common.

But in july 1930,
That all came to an end

When the entire building
Was burnt to a cinder.

The circumstances
Seem suspicious.

In court, it was argued
The owner of a rival hotel

Had conspired
To burn down the dunglen.

*

There's serval theories
Of why the hotel burned,

There's serval theories
Of why the hotel burned,

But, really and truly,
It is a mystery.

Narrator: thurmond was,
In reality, on the decline

Long before this iconic hotel
Burnt to the ground.

The effects of prohibition
As well

As the rise of the automobile

Was compounded
By industrial change.

Meigs:
Gradually, technology changed.

There were other ways
To mine coal.

Strip mining began to replace
The kind of deep underground

Strip mining began to replace
The kind of deep underground

Mining that was done
In the new river gorge.

So over time, the mines
Began to shut down.

The economic high tide
Of that era began to recede

And with it went
The fortunes of the town.

Narrator:
The railroad kept thurmond alive
Into the 1950s before

It was struck
By yet another blow.

This one proved fatal.

Bell: what truly sealed the fate
For thurmond

Bell: what truly sealed the fate
For thurmond

Was the arrival
Of the diesel engine.

This was a town built
Around the steam around.

But now its many rail yards

And repair shops
Were rendered obsolete.

Narrator: with little of the
Town left around them,

The railroad offices
Finally closed in 1984.

*

Today, trains still rumble
Through thurmond's

Today, trains still rumble
Through thurmond's

Haunting remains --

A distant reminder
Of its once bustling past.

Meigs:
Thurmond rode the boom and bust
Of coal in the united states.

The reasons that a thriving town
Grew up in this particular time

And place, those change,
And with it, though, the people.

*

*

Narrator:
Our next ghost town takes us
7,500 thousand miles away

To the west coast
Of namibia in africa

Where a mysterious settlement is
Preserved in an arid wasteland.

In the middle of a barren
Landscape,

A cluster of buildings

Unexpectedly emerge
From the shifting sands.

This place --
It's just super strange.

This place --
It's just super strange.

Jerram:
You're clearly in a desert.
You turn around,

And then there's
This strange cowboy-type town.

But if you look a bit
More in detail,

It's a bit more sophisticated
Than that.

Gough: some of the architecture
Is really quite interesting,

So it makes you wonder
Where did the money come from

To build
These lavish structures?

Jerram:
It's definitely a place where
People wanted to be at the time,

Jerram:
It's definitely a place where
People wanted to be at the time,

But why?

Narrator: the money and people
Have vanished,

And mother nature
Is reclaiming the town.

Scott: you've got bathtubs
Full of sand.

You've got piles of sand
As you walk into the houses.

The only thing that this is home
To now is the desert.

Gough:
And the only signs of life
Are snakes and scorpions.

It makes you wonder who would
Ever want to have built here?

It makes you wonder who would
Ever want to have built here?

Narrator:
Despite the searing sandstorms
And lack of water,

A community not only survived
Here but flourished,

Living in apparent luxury.

Jerram:
Certainly, it was a place
That was very affluent.

They created an ice factory
On site

So they could actually
Make their own ice.

They had butchers,
They had everything

That you'd kind of want
For a town.

That you'd kind of want
For a town.

Gough: what drew them here
In the first place,

And why has it become
Such a haunted ghost town?

*

Narrator:
Who went to such extraordinary
Lengths to create a luxury town

In the most inhospitable
Of outposts?

*

Narrator: in the arid desert
Sands of western namibia

Lies a bemusing settlement.

A once wealthy town now ghostly
In its emptiness,

Swallowed up by the desert.

In the early 1900s,

Namibia was part of
German south west africa.

Namibia was part of
German south west africa.

Over 500 miles from the busy
Port of cape town,

This area still lay bare
With nothing

But a solitary railway
Track passing

Through to the german
Harbor town of luderitz.

Jerram: these areas were remote
Areas under exploration,

So to make an area that's remote
In the desert somewhere

That's a place that people
Can live, you need a commodity.

Narrator: soon that commodity
Was unearthed.

Narrator: soon that commodity
Was unearthed.

Gough:
In 1908 a local railway worker
Made a discovery.

He found diamonds in the sand,
And that changed everything.

Narrator:
This settlement, slowly being
Swallowed by the desert

Was build by these
Precious minerals.

It is namibia's ghost town --
Kolmanskop.

Surprisingly,
For such a remote location,

Surprisingly,
For such a remote location,

The residence enjoyed
A wide range of luxuries

As local expert
William thompson reveals.

So what caused this vibrant
Oasis to simply disappear?

So what caused this vibrant
Oasis to simply disappear?

At first, it couldn't have been
Easier for german prospectors

Who flocked here
To make their fortune.

Gough: we think of diamond mines
Being complex structures,

But that wasn't
How they started.

Really, you had men crawling
On their hands

And knees under the moonlight

Looking for a glistening
Precious stone in the stand,

And they found them.

And they found them.

Jerram: there's tales
Actually from the time

Where they would dig trenches,

And the diamonds were
So proliferous on the ground

You could sweep them
Into the trenches,

You'd sweep the dust
Into the trenches,

And then have people
Move along the trenches

Picking out the diamonds.

By 1912, this area was home

To one of the richest
Diamond deposits in the world.

Gough: kolmanskop
Rapidly developed

Into a thriving
Diamond-mining town.

Into a thriving
Diamond-mining town.

You know, at its peak,

12% of the world's
Diamonds were mined here.

Narrator:
With this deluge of wealth,

A town grew to support
The industry.

Despite that, the harsh climate
And the very isolated setting,

The town actually had many
European luxuries.

It had a theater,
A performance hall.

It quickly developed

Into a lively little
Haven of german culture.

Narrator: but there was one
Overriding problem -- water.

As kolmanskop grew rich,

As kolmanskop grew rich,

It could buy its way
Out of water shortages

Thanks to this british supply.

But with the clouds of war
Rumbling across europe,

How long could
This arrangement last,

And would a lack of water
Spell disaster?

While the money flowed,
Kolmanskop became a center

For cutting-edge technology.

Scott:
A window into what was the most
Important thing in this town

Is highlighted by the fact
That it was the first place

Is highlighted by the fact
That it was the first place

Ever in southern africa
To have an x-ray machine.

Gough: but that wasn't just
To check for broken bones.

It was to check to see if
Somebody had swallowed a diamond

And was taking it home
After work.

Narrator: what could possibly
Cause this community

To turn their backs
On such wealth and splendor?

Did a lack of water

Or some unexpected calamity
Drive them out?

*

Narrator: in western namibia
Is the ghostly shell

Of an old german boom town that
Flourished in the early 1900s.

Driven by diamonds,
This community enjoyed wealth

And luxury,
But it was short-lived.

The beginning of the end

Came with the cataclysmic
Events of 1914.

Came with the cataclysmic
Events of 1914.

Scott: the inhabitants
Of this town,

On hearing that they could have
Something bigger and better --

Just literally
Dropped their tools,

Left all their possessions,
And joined the rush south.

Narrator:
Kolmanskop struggled on,

But in 1956 with the supply
Of diamonds exhausted,

The final resident left,

And the town was abandoned
To the desert.

*

*

Today, kolmanskop is
Ghostly silent

And preserved
By the arid climate.

Yet discoveries are still
Being made in the region.

Jerram: diamonds are still being
Mined in namibia,

And, interestingly,
Not so far from here.

They're actually finding
Diamonds on the sea floor.

*

*

Narrator:
Some ghost towns only witnessed
A short burst of life,

While others have
Centuries of history

As found in a ruined site
In turkey.

*

Selwood: as you come inland
From the coasts of anatolia,

Through the pine forests,
A vista suddenly opens.

But as you approach closer,

But as you approach closer,

You realize there's something
A little wrong with it.

Corum:
This is a devastated village.

It's clearly been abandoned
For a long, long time.

It just keeps on going.
It is absolutely huge.

Narrator: carved into the side
Of this valley

Are hundreds upon hundreds
Of deserted buildings.

Scott:
You've got trees growing out
Of where there once was roofs.

Scott:
You've got trees growing out
Of where there once was roofs.

You've got just undergrowth
Everywhere.

This place is clearly just
A shadow of its former glory.

The level of destruction here
Is on such a scale

That some major event
Has happened.

This is not a one-off,
Small occurrence.

Scott: was it some kind of
Natural disaster?

Was it war?

People fled en masse, but why?

People fled en masse, but why?

*

Narrator: spread far and wide
Across this hillside,

The ruins here not only tell
A story of abandonment,

But also of a long,
Rich history.

Corum: this town goes back
Almost 1,000 years.

It's clearly moderately
Prosperous.

It's clearly moderately
Prosperous.

This town was clearly important
At some time.

These aren't temporary shacks
They built.

It's very well located for local
And even international trade.

You feel here that this was
A place that had strong,

Deep roots.

Narrator:
The inhabitants nurtured
A close relationship

With the farmers
In the valley below,

But there was a key difference
Between these two peoples.

Selwood:
The architecture reveals
A lot about the people,

But it's not only houses
That are part of this village.

But it's not only houses
That are part of this village.

There's one key building
That still survives

And gives the clue
To who this community were.

Narrator:
For centuries, this area had
Been part of the ottoman empire,

A predominately
Turkish-muslim society,

A predominately
Turkish-muslim society,

But one that encompassed
Different nationalities

And cultures,
Including those who lived here.

These are the remains
Of the town of kayakoy,

The home of a greek-christian
Community

Who have long
Since disappeared.

*

In many parts of the world,
Identity, ethnicity,

And culture often form
No part of daily life.

Communities cohere
And undertake the project

Of building their lives.

Of building their lives.

We also know that those
Very same factors

Can be the basis for some of the
Bloodiest conflicts in history.

Narrator: for over 500 years,

The two communities lived
And worked side by side,

Often coming together
In the maze of streets.

Here you had these two
Communities working

Together
And forming friendships.

Narrator: while this vibrant
Town had flourished

Over hundreds of years,
As the ottoman empire

Over hundreds of years,
As the ottoman empire

Began to struggle at the start
Of the 20th century,

Cracks began to appear.

So what destructive force
Would obliterate this town?

And what happened to the people

That once called
This place home?

*

Narrator:
The disintegrating remains
Of the ghost town of kayakoy

Tell of the desperate years

Following the first world war
As the ottoman empire collapsed

And ignited a heated battle

Between two opposing
Nationalist movements.

In greece, you have a movement
Towards a greater greece.

In greece, you have a movement
Towards a greater greece.

From the turkish side,
They wanted to create a republic

For all
The turkish ethnic people.

These two powerful
National forces collide.

Narrator:
As the conflict enveloped
Modern-day turkey,

Many small rural communities
Were rapidly drawn in.

Selwood:
Despite the centuries of harmony
Within these communities,

Selwood:
Despite the centuries of harmony
Within these communities,

The arrival of war

Meant that all the horrors
Of war came with it --

Torture, atrocities,
Intense cruelty on both sides.

Corum: we know about the abuses

That the greeks
Carried out on the turks.

We're talking murders,
We're talking destructing homes.

Now we have reports

About the turks
Carrying out revenge attacks --

About the turks
Carrying out revenge attacks --

Burning greek properties,
Killing greeks.

Narrator: by 1922,
Hundreds of thousands of turks

And greeks had been killed.

Both sides agreed
Upon a so-called

"Compulsory exchange
Of populations."

And even communities that
Had remained on good terms

Were forced to leave.

Half a million ethnic turks

Who were living
Within greek territory

Are simply deprived
Of their property.

They are shipped out to turkey.

They are shipped out to turkey.

About a million-and-a-half
Ethnic greeks who had lived,

In some cases in majority
Greek villages, are expelled.

You've got this once
Beautiful town

With these communities thriving
Side by side and a joyful town,

And then it's abandoned.

Its soul is ripped out of it.

Its soul is ripped out of it.

Narrator:
In 1957, the abandoned remains
Suffered a final insult

As an earthquake struck,
Pulling down roofs and walls.

But the true damage
Had already been done.

It's hard to overestimate
The seriousness

Of the effect
Of these kinds of actions.

Effacing
The culture of a people,

Which is what this is doing,
Is seen as on or par

Which is what this is doing,
Is seen as on or par

With effacing actual people,

Because if you take away culture
And history, you leave nothing.

Ultimately, that's all
Communities have.

*

Narrator: in a remote forest
In northern ukraine

Lie the remains of a once-modern

And technologically advanced
Town of the former soviet union.

*

*

Overgrown and slowly being
Consumed by nature

Is a haunting site
Of over 150 buildings

Spread across
15 square miles.

This elaborate
And rich metropolis

Seemed to have everything it
Needed to survive and to thrive.

Yet this area became linked

To one of the most infamous
Disasters in living memory.

To one of the most infamous
Disasters in living memory.

In the 1970s, this was meant
To be a showpiece city

That would help power
The future of the soviet union.

Places like this were built
To attack the brightest minds

And the most devoted workers.

It was a purpose-built town,

Able to cater for up
To 50,000 people.

And one of those who hoped
To be counted

And one of those who hoped
To be counted

Amongst its inhabitants
Was sergey chernov.

It was very well planned
With a beautiful environment

And technological services.

It was a city of young people.

The average age of those living
Here was just 26 years old.

Narrator:
All around the town are clues
To what made this place

So important to the soviets,

So important to the soviets,

But also to what ultimately
Caused its catastrophic demise.

Chernov: right now, we're in
The central square,

And this building right in front
Was the so-called

"Cultural building,"
Which was called "Energetic."

Over there on that five-story
Building

There's an emotive
Slogan that says

"Let the atom be a worker
Rather than a soldier."

It didn't manage to follow
Through on that idea,

It didn't manage to follow
Through on that idea,

As you know.

Narrator: this is pripyat,
The town built to service

The infamous nuclear
Power plant of chernobyl.

Man: reactor number 4 exploded,

Spewing radiation
Over much of europe.

Radiation levels were expected
To rise over the ensuing weeks.

Narrator: the entire population
Was quickly evacuated.

Man: as many as 8,000 have died
As a result of the world's

Man: as many as 8,000 have died
As a result of the world's

Worst nuclear accident.

Narrator: the whole area
Was cordoned off.

It signaled the end
For this town.

All that remained was this
Ghostly, deserted wasteland.

*

Chernov: it was dangerous,
As you know,

To build a town in the vicinity
Of a nuclear plant,

But that was common practice.

The case of pripyat proved how
Disastrous this practice was.

The case of pripyat proved how
Disastrous this practice was.

*

Narrator:
Still to come -- the haunted
Remains of the wild west,

A ghost town that is all
But disappeared,

And sights that continue
To confuse and intrigue.

*

Narrator: coming up on "The
World's strangest ghost towns,"

A frozen relic
From the cold war...

The crumbling towers
Of an ancient settlement...

And scenes of pure evil
And devastation.

*

But first, near the border
Between california and nevada

Are the ghostly remains

Are the ghostly remains

Of a once-dangerous town
Built on greed.

*

Gough: it's like you've just

Walked onto the set
Of "Westworld."

*

You're expecting to see
Outlaws and gunslingers

Coming around the corner.

*

Meigs: there's something spooky
About seeing a town

That looks like the buildings
Are intact,

But there's nobody around.

The wind just blows through.

The wind just blows through.

*

Scott: and you can just see
This big layer of dust

Over the tables and chairs

That have been
Left there for years.

*

Meigs: some parts are
Buildings just falling down

Or shacks that
Have kind of collapsed.

Other sections,
You could move in

To some of these buildings.

*

Scott: on the edge of town,

You've got what looks
Like the guts

You've got what looks
Like the guts

Of some kind of industry.

And I think that is the clue

To what happened in this town.

Narrator: but for everything
that is here,

It feels like something more
Is missing.

Scott: what's interesting
About this place is,

You come to this point
Which seems like it should be

The start of the main street,

But there's no buildings on it.

Gough: you get the sense that
The structures that do remain

Gough: you get the sense that
The structures that do remain

Were part of
A much larger community.

So that begs the question,

What happened
To the rest of them?

Where did it go?

*

Narrator: defined by
Its eerie emptiness today,

In the late-19th century,

These streets were filled

With the hopes and dreams
Of prospectors

Exploring the open lands
Of the west.

*

*

You're really in the middle
Of nowhere.

Even today, you are miles
And miles away from anything.

Gough: the motivation
For coming to such a remote

And desolate location,
Clearly, it was money.

It was all about finding
Something precious,

And then selling it.

Narrator: the dusty remains
Of this town show something

Was clearly worth
Sticking around for.

But this could be
A deadly place to set up shop.

But this could be
A deadly place to set up shop.

*

The west was
Unchartered territory.

There was no law enforcement.

This was the wild west.

Everyone for themselves.

*

Preserved for decades
By the dry climate,

The remaining structures

Only offer a glimpse
Of the town's true scale,

As park ranger catherine jones
Explains.

*

What we see today is
Only 5% or so

Of what was here.

So there was many homes left,

But there would have been
Many, many more,

As far as you can see.

Especially down to main street,

Which would have been virtually

Wall-to-wall buildings
For over a mile.

*

Narrator: the resource
That transformed

This empty wilderness

Was gold.

This is the ghost town of bodie.

This is the ghost town of bodie.

*

It was once home
To around 10,000 inhabitants,

Filling this landscape with
A feverish level of activity.

*

What's really interesting
Is not what's left,

But what's missing.

Clearly, a lot is gone,

But where did it go and why?

*

Jones: after bodie's
Initial discovery,

There wasn't much activity.

There wasn't much activity.

Probably wasn't
A whole lot of hope

Of discovering
A lot of gold here.

They were mining up
On the hillside.

You can see the rock piles
Up on the hill

Indicate where mines were.

Narrator: but these early mines
Offered up little gold,

Until 1875,

When a dangerous collapse
Changed everything.

Jones: they went to investigate

And found that the collapse
Had exposed

A very rich vein of ore,

A very rich vein of ore,

And that's what started
The boom here in this area

And formed the town of bodie.

*

Meigs: all of a sudden,
Bodie was on the map.

Everybody heard about bodie.

Everyone wanted to get there

And be part
Of this exciting operation.

*

Narrator: but as the masses
Descended upon the town,

A trail of vice, death,
And destruction

Soon threatened to bring it
All crashing down.

Soon threatened to bring it
All crashing down.

*

*

Narrator: in 1875,

The discovery of a rich
Vein of gold in bodie

Sent mining operations
Into overdrive,

And processing plants,
Like this one

From a later date,
Began running nonstop.

That building
On the edge of town,

That is what really
Gives you a clue

As to the scale of the operation

That was happening in bodie.

That was happening in bodie.

*

This is the main processing room
Of the stamp mill.

The gold and silver ore
Makes its way into these boxes

That contain
The 1,000-pound stamps.

Each of these stamps is
Lifting and dropping

90 times a minute.

Narrator: operating
24 hours a day,

6 days a week,

This was the sound of money
Raining down on bodie.

*

*

It's rumored the boom years

Earn the mining companies
Around $100 million,

And every day, 10 new people
Would arrive here,

Seeking their fortune.

By 1879,

There were over 2,000 buildings
In this town.

But the lust for gold
Had a dangerous habit

Of bringing out
The worst in people.

*

Bodie had become the sort of
Las vegas of its day.

Anything that you could sell,
Anything that you'd want to buy,

Anything that you could sell,
Anything that you'd want to buy,

You'd find it here.

Outlaws, they looked
At bodie and said,

"Here's an opportunity

To make a lot of money
Very fast."

*

Meigs: it was so wild
That one year,

The newspapers reported
The amazing news

That no one had been killed
In the entire previous week.

Apparently, that was a first.

*

Narrator:
In the northern end of town

Was the red-light district,

Was the red-light district,

Filled with brothels

And opium dens.

This lawless settlement
Appeared to be

On a path to destruction.

And in 1892,

A devastating fire broke out.

*

Gough: somehow, fire started,

And it spread quickly.

These are wooden buildings,
And as one began to burn,

The one next to it
Began to burn,

And before long, there wasn't
Much left of that part of bodie.

And before long, there wasn't
Much left of that part of bodie.

*

Narrator: but this
Wasn't started

From the kind of debauchery
That bodie was famous for.

Times had changed.

*

Scott: with these boomtowns,

They are literally
Erected overnight.

But as soon as somewhere where
Gold is easier to find is found,

People go.

So what you're left with are
Abandoned wooden buildings

In an extremely dry climate.

That's a recipe for disaster.

That's a recipe for disaster.

Jones: by 1881,

Thousands of people
Were leaving.

So when the fire happened
In 1892,

A lot of abandoned buildings
Burnt down

And were never rebuilt.

The fire was the first disaster,
But there was more to come

That would eventually wipe
Most of bodie off the map.

*

Narrator: the gradual demise
Continued until 1932

Narrator: the gradual demise
Continued until 1932

When a raging fire
Consumed the town,

Ripping out the heart

Of this faltering
Wild west settlement.

That fire just traveled
Down main street

And wiped out almost everything.

*

Narrator: a hearty few continued
Living in bodie until the 1940s,

And the remaining structures

Still bear the marks
Of those final days.

*

*

Jones: this is only a small
Portion of what was here.

It's just a small glimpse,

But it's like their lives
Were frozen in time.

*

Narrator: over 4,000 miles away,
In the arctic ocean,

Is the norwegian archipelago
Of svalbard,

Home to a ghost town

With a hidden agenda.

*

Somara: to find something
On this scale,

It's amazing.

It's amazing.

Bell: everything seems to be
In pretty good condition.

It's all very well built.

What strikes you is,
The backdrop to this town

Is this quite strange-looking,

Pyramid-shaped mountain.

It gives the whole place
A kind of mystical feel.

*

Narrator: although beautiful,
This breathtaking scenery

Can also be deadly.

This is miles away

From any other kinds
Of civilization.

It's subjected to such brutal
Environmental conditions.

It's subjected to such brutal
Environmental conditions.

Bell: this is quite
A dangerous place to be.

Cut off from the rest
Of the world,

Freezing temperatures,

And long, dark winters.

Narrator: the brutal conditions

Would have most people
Running scared,

But this was clearly
No ordinary outpost.

*

There's something more to this
Town than just functionality.

There's something more to this
Town than just functionality.

There was a certain air
Of grandiosity or showiness.

Nusbacher: it's engineered.

It's built.
It's decorated.

The piano is waiting
To be played.

All that is lacking
Is a population.

*

Narrator: so, why construct
Such an elaborate settlement

Miles from anywhere?

And did this extravagance
Somehow cause its downfall?

*

*

For almost a century,
The islands of svalbard

Have been a part of norway.

*

But everything on show here

Suggests a different
Occupying force was in control.

*

Bell: everywhere you look,
There's a flavor

And a really strong hint
Of the soviet union,

And a really strong hint
Of the soviet union,

Down to the signs,
The architecture,

And the bust of lenin

In the town central square.

*

It's astonishing to see
The head of lenin

Still looking boldly
Across a town

Just as though the berlin wall
Never fell.

*

Narrator: named after
The strange-shaped mountain

That looms over the buildings,

This is the soviet town

This is the soviet town

Of pyramiden.

*

At its peak,

This was home
To over 1,000 people.

Today, just a handful
Of individuals,

Like galina nosachenko,
Tend this site.

But they are not alone here.

*

*

Curiously,

The disappearance
Of its population

Has made the town even deadlier.

*

*

*

So, what could possibly make
Living out here worthwhile?

*

In the beginning, at least,

It seemed the answer
Lay underground --

Coal.

*

Somara: there were
Lots of countries

That were interested
In this place

Because of the coal.

But when you weighed up
All the options,

Many people thought
It wasn't worth it.

But the soviets felt it was.

It's such an incredibly

Inhospitable environment
To live in,

Inhospitable environment
To live in,

Let alone mine in.

How do you create
A settlement there

And turn a profit?

Narrator: but was coal really
What the soviets were after?

Or was this town built
For a very different purpose?

*

*

Narrator: in the freezing
Wilderness of svalbard

Sits the ghost town
Of pyramiden.

The u.S.S.R. First obtained
Mining rights here

In 1927.

And by the middle
Of the century,

During the cold war era,

They were pouring money
Into this settlement.

*

But the extravagance on display

But the extravagance on display

Suggests this was about
Something more than just mining.

*

As an engineering project,

It wasn't just
The basic necessities.

There was a level of luxury
To this place

That suggested that there were

Other reasons for being here.

Nusbacher: they don't only bring

Coal-mining equipment and sheds.

They build first-grade
Accommodation for everybody.

They build first-grade
Accommodation for everybody.

They make it
So that it's easier to live

At this mining station
In svalbard

Than it is to live
In the u.S.S.R. Itself.

*

Narrator: located over 700 miles
From the u.S.S.R.,

Narrator: located over 700 miles
From the u.S.S.R.,

The first-class facilities
Were above and beyond those

Of a mining town
Behind the iron curtain.

*

It seems coal wasn't
The only interest here.

Bell: some people believe

That there was never
Enough coal there

To sustain a prosperous
Town and community.

In fact, its real purpose
All along was

To gain a foothold
In the west.

To gain a foothold
In the west.

Narrator: in the stalemate
Of the cold war,

Any access to the west
Could provide the soviets

With an opportunity to exploit.

But this wasn't built for spying

Or for the military.

This was something different.

*

This was an opportunity
For propaganda.

An opportunity to show
To the west --

In the west --
How communism actually worked.

In the west --
How communism actually worked.

Nusbacher: building
A showpiece city in svalbard

Meant that on
Norwegian territory,

In a place, theoretically,
Visible to the entire world,

Everything that was the best
About the soviet union

Could be put on display.

*

Narrator: while the money
And support lasted,

Pyramiden was a beacon

Of communist glory.

But when the iron curtain
Finally fell in 1991,

But when the iron curtain
Finally fell in 1991,

Reality began to set in.

*

Somara: the original threat
Caught up with this place.

To get to the lucrative coal,

You had to dig deeper,

And it just wasn't worth it
In the end.

Narrator: as the mine slowly
Edged towards abandonment,

A disastrous scene involving
Many of the town's inhabitants,

Suddenly accelerated
Its decline.

*

*

Tragically, in 1996,
A plane flying from moscow

Crashed on descent

To the island.

Newscaster:
Searchers say wreckage

Is spread across the top
Of opera mountain,

And there's speculation
They may have been trying

To keep below the cloud cover.

Narrator: in total,

141 people lost their lives.

The community never recovered
From this disaster.

*

*

Narrator:
With the last ton of coal

Finally extracted
On march 31, 1998,

The last occupants fled the town
For good.

*

Somara: what pyramiden shows us
Is that you can pour

A huge amount of money
Into an engineering ambition.

If that engineering ambition
Doesn't support itself,

It will eventually disintegrate.

*

*

Narrator: in a very different
Part of the world,

In the arch
Of the famous boot of italy,

Overlooking a lunar landscape,

Is a truly epic sight.

*

Selwood: this rock sits
In the middle of an area

Known as the badlands.

It's an unpopulated area,

Empty as far as the eye can see.

Narrator: yet, a town grows out
Of an imposing mountain.

Narrator: yet, a town grows out
Of an imposing mountain.

1,300 feet above
The surrounding plains.

Meigs: it's a stunning sight.

You can hardly tell
Where the cliff face ends

And the masonry begins.

It's almost as if
They've organically

Integrated their town

With the rock itself.

Gough: some of the buildings
Look as though

They're clinging onto the rock
For dear life.

And in one instance,

If you walk out
Of the front door,

If you walk out
Of the front door,

It's just a sheer drop.

Jerram: it's really quite
An impressive site.

How the hell would you build
Something up there?

Narrator: as you get up close,
Another layer is added

To this mysterious,
Dramatic-looking site.

*

Gough: when you look closer,
You can see that

The buildings
Have been battered,

And light is streaming in

Through the missing church dome.

The whole thing is
Virtually flattened,

And it makes you wonder,
What happened here?

And it makes you wonder,
What happened here?

Was it bombed?
Did anyone survive?

*

Narrator: although empty,
The weather-beaten buildings

Suggest this settlement
Was occupied for many centuries.

*

At the top
Of the town's imposing tower,

Local guide saverio grippo

Explains what made this location
So special.

As you can see, we are
On the top of the tower,

And you can understand
How important was this location,

To have a wide view

And dominate
All the territories.

In fact, from here,

We have a 360-degree
Panoramic view.

*

Narrator: this is craco.

Set high on a steep mountain,

Built in the middle ages,

This settlement's
Stunning location

This settlement's
Stunning location

Is no accident.

*

Selwood: the heavy tower,

With its arrow slits
And fortifications,

Gives a hint
When this village was built

Because it was at a time
When islamic pirates

Roved the mediterranean
And frequently raided inland.

This was a defensive village.

*

Narrator: however,
Further inspection shows

This is not simply
A sacked medieval town.

This is not simply
A sacked medieval town.

*

Gough: a modern community
Lived here.

It's something that was
Destroyed recently.

The question is,
How and why?

*

*

Narrator: clinging
To the precipice

Of an imposing rock
In southern italy

Is the battered
Settlement of craco.

It appears ancient,

Yet clues suggest it was home
To a modern community.

The seeds of its destruction
Were sown

By its own economic success.

By the 15th century,

By the 15th century,

Wealthy local landowners
Were moving into the town,

As craco mayor
Pino lacicerchia explains.

[ lacicerchia speaks italian ]

Interpreter: the economic
And commercial growth

Developed the urban center.

That grew and expanded
Around the tower,

Which was, itself,
Surrounded by the houses

That belonged to the landowners.

Narrator:
In the following centuries,

Craco's infrastructure
Continued to extend...

*

...As buildings sprawled down
Onto the surrounding slopes.

*

Yet today, they have vanished.

*

Selwood: a striking feature is
That large parts of the new town

Have completely disappeared,

But the old town
Remains largely intact,

Which begs the question,
Why, then,

Which begs the question,
Why, then,

Does so much of it resemble
An area from a war zone?

*

Gough: there's a line where
The old, medieval settlements

Meet the new town,

And in that new town square,

It's actually sunk about 10 feet
From where it used to be.

The whole place has
Been decimated.

*

Narrator: the answer
To this odd situation

Can be found underground.

Can be found underground.

While the medieval site is
Built on solid rock,

The new town sits
On less-stable ground.

*

This land sits on layers

Of different types of clay,

And new infrastructure
Works were putting

Ever-greater pressure
On this unstable ground.

The result was landslides.

Jerram: a landslide is a mass
Movement of rock and debris

That usually forms on
Some sort of weakness

That usually forms on
Some sort of weakness

That might be a weak bed

Or a join between two different
Types of rocks, really.

Landslides are
Lubricated by water.

*

[ speaks italian ]

Interpreter: the community here

Always co-existed
With landslides --

Fixing buildings
That were damaged

And carrying on.

*

Narrator: by the early 1960s,

Craco was experiencing
Landslides so powerful

That retaining walls

That retaining walls

Were constructed to keep
The new town safe,

But the earth continued to move.

*

Selwood: by 1963,
The landslides

Had caused untold damage.

The entire new parts
Of the village

Had slipped away down the hill.

The football pitch
Had disappeared,

And even the retaining wall

That was meant to guard
Against landslides had gone.

*

Narrator: remarkably,
These worsening landslides

Narrator: remarkably,
These worsening landslides

Were largely self-inflicted.

[ lacicerchia speaks italian ]

Interpreter: they reinforced
The area with concrete,

Which is extremely heavy,
And required drilling,

And as a result,

The added weight
Sped up the landslide.

*

Jerram: they found
That it was actually

Leaking pipes and sewers
And so on

That were contributing
To the water

That was fluxing and feeding
The landslide.

That was fluxing and feeding
The landslide.

So, it's actually
A manmade problem

That caused the landslides,

That caused the evacuation
Of the town.

*

Narrator: landslides may have
Wiped out the new town,

But what caused
Such extensive damage

To the medieval parts of craco?

*

Jerram: the other problem
That you have

In this part of the world

Are earthquakes.

And you can imagine
A solid building

Attached to solid rock --

When that shakes,
It's gonna start falling apart.

When that shakes,
It's gonna start falling apart.

And there was
A big earthquake in 1980,

And that caused
Major destruction of the town,

And it eventually really kind of

Tipped it right over the edge

To make it almost uninhabitable.

And this is the last
Abandoned house of craco.

The last family lived here
Until the beginning of '90s.

Inside, you can still
Have signs of life --

An oven,
Some chair on the floor,

An oven,
Some chair on the floor,

And even bottles
On the fireplace.

*

After standing
Nearly 1,000 years,

Craco finally got hit
With a series of calamities

That it really couldn't survive.

*

Narrator: today,
Craco is an empty shell,

A haunting destination
For curious tourists.

However, the town's suffering

However, the town's suffering

Has not all been in vain.

Jerram: given all of the things

That have happened
To this village,

It's become a big of a mecca
For scientists

To try and understand
Exactly how you can

Mitigate against such problems.

How you can go from
A perfectly working town

To a destroyed town.

And, hopefully, we'll learn
Something from this,

From the science
Into the future.

*

Narrator: on the northern
Fringes of germany

Narrator: on the northern
Fringes of germany

Is the baltic island of rugen.

*

Emerging from
Its thick pine forest

Is an epic structure.

It's innocuous appearance
Belies its sinister purpose.

*

What lurks within

Are the echoes of a dark
And chilling past.

*

In the mid-1930s,

In the mid-1930s,

Hitler's nazi propaganda machine
Was in full flow.

He needed millions of germans
To buy into his vision

Of a great empire befitting
The superior aryan race.

Central to hitler's plan was
"Strength through joy" --

An organization that worked
To raise the status

Of german workers
And buy their loyalty.

The most visual legacy
Of their work is this --

The most visual legacy
Of their work is this --

The coastal town of prora.

*

In 1936, construction
Began on what was

One of the longest buildings
In europe.

Designed to accommodate
20,000 loyal germans,

It would include

A movie theater,

Bowling alleys, swimming pools,

And at its heart,

An almighty auditorium.

An almighty auditorium.

Yet, this was no
Typical beach resort.

Beneath the veneer
Of peaceful tranquility

Lay a sinister motivation.

[ speaks german ]

Interpreter: people were to be
Manipulated and influenced here.

The idea behind that
Was that people were

To get maximum rest and recovery

Without having
A single moment of spare time.

Narrator: gestapo spies ensured
Everyone toed the party line.

A barrage of propaganda
Films and lectures

A barrage of propaganda
Films and lectures

Would leave holidaymakers
Well and truly indoctrinated

With the nazi creed...

With one ultimate aim.

Interpreter: to get fit
And strong for the war.

To achieve better work results

And actually, also,
To be conditioned

For mass murder.

Narrator: when war came in 1939,
Holidays were forbidden,

"Strength through joy"
Mothballed,

And prora became a ghost town

And prora became a ghost town

Before it was even a town.

*

Today, prora is being remodeled,

Set to once again become
A holiday town.

Yet, it remains a stark reminder

Of hitler's ruthless
Totalitarian rule.

*

Still to come,
An american community

Almost wiped off
The face of the earth,

But still hiding
A burning secret at its heart.

But still hiding
A burning secret at its heart.

*

*

Narrator: from america
To the arctic ocean,

Through scenes
Of natural disasters

And manmade catastrophes,

Across continents
And centuries of history,

These are the strangest
Ghost towns in the world.

*

Finally, we come to a town

Virtually wiped off
The face of the earth,

Virtually wiped off
The face of the earth,

And it's found in
Columbia county, pennsylvania.

*

Jerram:
It's clear that there's been

Some massive time break here,

You know, something's gone on.

Meigs: it's the victim
Of something

That most of us couldn't
Believe could happen.

*

Bell: there are no people there.

It's eerie.

*

Narrator: roads neatly laid out
In a grid-like system suggest

Narrator: roads neatly laid out
In a grid-like system suggest

This was once
A typical american town.

*

Meigs: most of the buildings
Themselves are gone.

In a way, it's a ghost town
Without the town.

*

Narrator: foundations,
Yet no houses.

A police station,
But no police force.

A settlement that has vanished.

*

Clues hint at some kind
Of natural disaster.

Clues hint at some kind
Of natural disaster.

Jerram: it's almost as though
The tarmac's all cracked up.

Has the ground heaved?

Was there an earthquake?

Was that the reason
Why there's nobody there?

It's really rather strange.

Meigs: a person visiting
For the first time

Might think that the town

Was a victim of some kind
Of volcanic activity.

There was cracks visible.

There was steam coming
Up out of the ground.

It seems like some kind
Of a volcanic wasteland.

Narrator: why has this town
Been erased from history?

Narrator: why has this town
Been erased from history?

*

It's hard to believe now,
But this desolate site

Had been part of the history
Of american industry

Since the 1850s.

Connected by road and rail,

This was once a thriving town
Of 1,400 people.

It was called centralia.

Local author david dekok

Remembers it
As a very different place.

Remembers it
As a very different place.

*

Dekok: this shot was taken
In october of 1983

Looking up toward
The top of town.

And you can see,
There was an entire town

There that's now gone.

So, it really drives home,

I think, how much was lost here.

*

Narrator: how the town vanished
Is a tale stranger than fiction.

Back in 1979,
At the local gas station,

They started noticing
Something odd.

They started noticing
Something odd.

Dekok: john coddington's
Gas station had to shut down

Because the gasoline

In the underground tanks
Was very hot.

So the state police said,

"Sorry, john,
You've gotta close."

And he didn't fight it.

I mean, his family lived
Above the station,

So he had a lot of skin
In the game there.

*

Narrator: coddington wasn't
The only centralia resident

Experiencing strange phenomena.

*

*

Bell: a local kid by
The name of todd domboski

Was walking in the backyard
When suddenly,

A sinkhole opened up,
And he fell in.

He was able to grab hold
Of a tree root

And keep hold of it
Until a friend could come

And rescue him, pull him out.

But this brought
National attention

To this town's bizarre plight.

Narrator: and soon,
It got worse.

The earth began to erupt.

The earth began to erupt.

Dekok: when they first
Saw these cracks,

People just wondered,

What could possibly cause this?

It's maybe 3-feet wide,
2 1/2-feet deep,

And maybe as much as
20 to 30 feet long.

*

Narrator: what was responsible

For these gaping holes
And cracks?

*

*

*

Narrator:
In the town of centralia,

A few scattered foundations

Are all that remains
Of a community struck

By a series of strange phenomena

Through the 1980s and 1990s.

*

Initially,
Speculation was rife.

For a while, at least,
For several years,

You would see steam coming out

You would see steam coming out

Of this gigantic highway crack.

People wondered
What was causing this.

They may have thought
It was some kind of volcano

Down there, maybe.

Narrator: the source
Of the steam, however,

Was something no one
Could have guessed.

What's actually happening

Is something
That sounds impossible,

Which is a fire
Burning underground.

And it's been burning
For more than 50 years.

It's venting gases through
Any cracks and seams

It's venting gases through
Any cracks and seams

In the ground.

You imagine if you had
Cellars in the houses.

They could be potentially
Targets for escaping gases,

And those gases
Could be poisonous.

You can imagine that fire
Is moving in different parts.

The fire moved
Under the highway.

There was voluminous
Clouds of steam

That would come
Out of the ground

Either side of the highway.

*

Narrator: the highway
May have closed in 1983,

But the fire still burns today.

But the fire still burns today.

So this is a bore hole,
And if we unscrew this cap,

We are going to see what
The fire is like underneath.

Ooh, nice and hot.

That's heat coming up
To the surface.

I can smell the distinctive kind
Of sulfurous smell of the fire.

You see these little
Beads of water

Just jumping and floating
In the air.

Just jumping and floating
In the air.

When I talk to one of
The state officials recently,

He said that,
When they last tested it,

It was about 140 degrees

Maybe down 25, 30 feet.

*

Narrator: so, what caused
This raging fire

Spreading beneath the town?

*

So, this may look like just
A clearing in the forest,

But back in 1962,
There was a huge pit here

That centralia used
As its landfill.

That centralia used
As its landfill.

And they wanted
To clean up the dump,

And the way they did that
Was to have some guys

Form the fire department come
And set it on fire,

Burn up the stuff
That could be burned,

Wash it down with water
From a tanker truck,

And then go away, and everything
Was supposed to be fine,

But it wasn't.

Jerram: something really odd
Actually happened,

Which is a phenomenon called
A coal seam fire.

There's a coal mine underground,
And what happened is,

Somehow, the fire
Got into that coal area,

Somehow, the fire
Got into that coal area,

And all of a sudden,
It sparked a whole new problem.

Narrator: the fire would
Quietly burn below centralia

For the next 20 years.

Bell: you don't see
On the surface

Is that underneath this town,

And extending far and wide,

Is a giant labyrinth
Of coal mines.

And it's these coal mines
That are on fire.

Meigs: centralia
Sits right on top

Of one of the richest

Of one of the richest

Coal-mining areas
In the world,

So it's very difficult to figure
Out how to put the fire out

Because the underground
Environment is so complex.

Jerram: coal seam fires,
Themselves,

Are a big problem in coal areas.

And obviously, as you burn
Away bits of the coal,

And you destabilize
The subterranean network

Of tunnels and coal seams
And so on,

You can actually
Cause there to be

Instabilities on the surface.

A sinkhole developed probably
Due to this undermining

A sinkhole developed probably
Due to this undermining

Of the stability
Of the surface.

*

Narrator: with no way
Of extinguishing the fire,

And the eyes of the world
On centralia,

The federal government could
Ignore the problem no longer.

*

Dekok: after todd domboski's
Incident,

And it got all this attention,

And there were citizen groups
In centralia saying,

"Hey, you gotta get us
Out of here."

But they still took
Almost two years

But they still took
Almost two years

To come up with a solution.

Narrator: eventually, in 1984,

The entire population
Of centralia

Was given the go-ahead
To relocate

With the help of
42 million federal dollars.

*

All but a stubborn few of
The town's previous inhabitants

Have been relocated,

And today,
There is little evidence

That the community of centralia

Ever existed.

Ever existed.

Meigs: you see how quickly

Nature reclaims manmade space.

Even streets and driveways,

All of that gradually starts

Reverting to forest.

Narrator: but when will the fire
Finally stop flickering

Beneath centralia's
Empty streets?

Dekok: so, how long
Could it burn?

I've heard figures like
200 years, 250 years.

But in the end,
Nobody really knows.

It'll go until it stops burning,

It'll go until it stops burning,

Runs out of fuel,
Runs out of air.

Neither of those are likely
To happen any time soon.