All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S07E05.Factory.of.Death.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

*

Narrator: a toxic facility
In the british countryside,

Off the beaten track.

Wawro: they're far from
Any urban center workforce,

They're making
Something so dangerous

They want it far away
From other people.

*

Narrator: a deceptively-alluring
Ruin in malta,

Bell: nobody wanted to be here,
And there was always the risk

That you'd never
Make it out alive.

That you'd never
Make it out alive.

Narrator: and the sight of
A biblical disaster

In the valleys of pennsylvania.

Nusbacher: the local mill owner
Started to say

That this was never
Going to fail,

And he was lying
Through his teeth.

*

Narrator:
Decaying relics.

*

Ruins of lost worlds.

*

Sites haunted by the past.

Sites haunted by the past.

*

Their secrets waiting
To be revealed.

*

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

In north wales are the remains
Of a secret facility,

Now a wasteland.

*

*

Nusbacher: this is a wild place,

And it is far from civilization.

Wawro: just seeing these kind of
Scrubby, bracken-covered hills,

And we're seeing a couple
Of concrete buildings

Protruding from this scrub.

Narrator: the surviving signage
Suggests a dirty history.

Nusbacher: north wales is a
Mining area of great britain,

Nusbacher: north wales is a
Mining area of great britain,

But there is nothing

Of the infrastructure
Of mining about this place.

Wawro: wouldn't make no sense
To put a factory here

Without workers nearby,

So this seems to have some
Classified official purpose.

*

Narrator: hollowed-out buildings
In a remote location

Point to a history
That's been erased.

[ water dripping ]

[ water dripping ]

So you look
Inside these buildings

And it's very sort of bare,
Austere, concrete walls --

Clearly intended to store
Something or make something

That was combustible,
Sensitive, fragile.

*

You don't see remnants
Of wallpaper.

This place has been emptied
Systematically

And scrubbed from top to bottom.

And there's this kind
Of lunatic graffiti

And there's this kind
Of lunatic graffiti

All over the walls
Of one of the structures.

Narrator: messages from
The long-departed

Tease a deeper history
Hidden beneath the surface.

If I know anything about
The archeology of the abandoned,

I know that what's important
Here is not these buildings --

What's important here
Is what lies beneath.

*

*

Narrator: colin barber
First came here 10 years ago.

Barber:
'tis a beautiful place.

I think it reminds us
Of how bad things could be,

And, thank goodness, we never
Used what was produced here.

Narrator: in one building,

He found the strange
Writing on the walls.

Barber: well, I thought
It was a graffiti,

Barber: well, I thought
It was a graffiti,

But it's mixed up with personal
Comments and comments

Upon the general state
Of the world at that time.

And as we look at it
More carefully,

Wawro: I mean,
I'm not great at math,

But these are clearly
Mathematical equations --

Formula of a very
Advanced nature.

Well, this here
Is magnesium carbonate.

The one below
That is sodium chromate.

The one below
That is sodium chromate.

Wawro: this might have had
Some military lineage

Because, you know,
Classification was so strict,

They would tell scientists
Often,

"You can't write these things
Down on paper

Because the paper could go
Astray. Write it on the wall.

We can police up the walls.

We can't police up every scrap
Of paper in the wastebasket."

*

Narrator: secrecy was paramount,
Because here, they were working

On a deadly chemical --

Mustard gas.

Used in the first world war
To clear out enemy trenches,

This weapon was
A toxic sulfur compound.

Mustard gas has nothing
To do with mustard,

And it's not a gas --

It is sprayed into the air
As a mist.

And if you get it on your skin
Or, god forbid,

You get it in your lungs,
It causes blisters

You get it in your lungs,
It causes blisters

Wherever it goes --
Blisters, burning, and pain.

[ cannon blasts ]

[ commander shouting orders ]

Narrator: mustard gas killed
90,000 soldiers

In the first world war --

This was the beginning
Of large scale chemical warfare.

Mustard gas was definitely

One of the most horrific weapons
Of the first world war --

So horrific that people
Talked about banning its use

So horrific that people
Talked about banning its use

After the war.

But they were also viewed,
By the government in the 1930's,

As an essential part
Of british deterrence,

So they manufactured
A lot of mustard gas

In the interwar period

To be prepared, in case
They needed it in world war ii.

Well, they built these tunnels
Because in 1939,

When the first factory
Came online,

They were producing
216 tons a week,

And they only had storage
For 100 tons.

Narrator:
At the onset of world war ii,

Narrator:
At the onset of world war ii,

The government dug
New depots underground,

Safe from german bombing.

*

The largest depot was here
At the ms factory.

[ water dripping ]

Barber: in these tunnels,
Mainly, it was storage.

65 ton tanks were brought in,

And, eventually, you could store
4,000 tons in there.

Nusbacher: this facility was
So well-hidden and so secret

That throughout the whole war,

The nazis never knew
It was here.

Narrator: facilities like
The ms factory

Made enough mustard gas
To retaliate

In another chemical war.

But one building on the site
Had an even deadlier purpose.

*

*

This is building p6.

This place was built to
Manufacture pyro -- mustard gas.

But it transpired that,
With improvements in technique,

They didn't need this particular
Building to do that.

Right down here, both sides,
Were the offices

Of all of the scientists,
The chemists --

Nobody could come into here
Unless they passed the guard.

*

*

Narrator: here they began work
On a new weapon

That would be
Infinitely more lethal.

*

Narrator: at a chemical weapons
Factory in northern wales,

One building was given
A special assignment.

Nusbacher: you think mustard gas
Is dangerous,

Building p6 is a facility
For making u235 --

Enriched uranium,

The stuff you use
To build atom bombs.

The stuff you use
To build atom bombs.

Narrator: behind the scenes
During the second world war,

Scientists on both sides
Were in a race

To build
A thermonuclear warhead --

Whoever could build
The atom bomb first

Would likely win the war.

But both sides were missing
A key ingredient.

Barber: at the beginning
Of the second world war,

We were looking at a way
To remove the isotope

We were looking at a way
To remove the isotope

Uranium 235 from uranium 238
Because this substance

Was essential in the manufacture
Of any atomic bombs.

That was the bit
That made you go bang.

*

Narrator: to make that bang,

They needed 33 pounds
Of radioactive material,

An impossible-sounding task.

But here in building p6,

But here in building p6,

They tested a new process --

By heating uranium and putting
It through a filter,

It would become enriched.

It was a discovery that
Transformed nuclear science.

Nusbacher: here in north wales,

And the allies
Achieved something

That no one
Had ever achieved before --

They're able to produce
Enriched uranium, with u235,

On an industrial scale.

On an industrial scale.

Narrator:
The quest for the atom bomb

Was nearly complete,

But for wales's ms factory,
The story was over.

Wawro: it's to say, when america
Comes on board,

First in the war and then
With the manhattan project,

They're going to consolidate
All of this american, canadian,

And british work
In the united states and canada.

Narrator:
In less than four years,

The manhattan project tests
Its first nuclear bomb,

The manhattan project tests
Its first nuclear bomb,

And a month later,
Two were dropped on japan.

The second world war ended

With a fierce display
Of scientific might.

Nusbacher: the japanese
Population would have resisted

An invasion of the japanese
Home islands tooth and nail.

It was carefully considered that
Using nuclear weapons in japan

Would save allied casualties
And save japanese lives as well.

Would save allied casualties
And save japanese lives as well.

Nuclear weapons ended
The second world war quickly,

And if it had been necessary,

They'd have been used
To end the war in europe too.

*

Narrator:
At the close of world war ii,

The ms factory
Was decommissioned

And its materials
Were disposed of.

Nusbacher:
The mustard gas stocks

That were held here
In north wales

That were held here
In north wales

Had to be decanted into barrels,

And then those barrels had to be
Taken out over deep water

And dumped into the sea.

Barber: everybody now
Appreciates the importance

Of the use of
The atomic bombs --

It is the thing
Which has defined our lives.

And to think that it's happened
Here in a little welsh village,

I think most of them were
Very impressed with that.

I think most of them were
Very impressed with that.

*

Narrator:
On the island of malta,

In the calm waters
Surrounding the capital,

Lies a marooned site
With hidden depths.

*

Auerbach: this building sits
Right on the waterfront,

Catching the sunshine,

And in many ways, it looks like
An idyllic place to be.

And in many ways, it looks like
An idyllic place to be.

But parts of it are
In real disrepair.

Bell: it's overgrown in places,
And on the stairs,

This creeping plant
Has taken over.

The balconies look like they
Could collapse at any minute.

Auerbach: the walls here are
Covered in carvings --

Names, dates, pictures.

Names, dates, pictures.

There's hundreds of years of
History etched into the stone.

Narrator: as inviting as it
May have first appeared,

The true nature of the site
Is obscured.

Bell: those rooms upstairs
Are light and breezy.

It feels like it had
An air of luxury about it

Back in the day.

Auerbach: it looks like it
Could be a palace

Or a rich person's home,

But it's something far,
Far different.

Bell: on the surface, this place
Seems to have been one thing

For most of its life,

But if you then take a walk
Behind the staircase,

Something surprising
Creeps up on you.

Narrator:
Carved from the rock behind

Is an entrance to an underworld.

Some of these tunnels are very
Small, very claustrophobic,

And the farther you go in,

You get to these
Dungeon-like spaces,

You get to these
Dungeon-like spaces,

And these rooms full
Of rusting equipment --

You start to wonder
What was really going on here.

*

*

Narrator: traveling from afar,

The first arrivals
To this mediterranean site

Landed here in 1643.

They found themselves lined up

Outside the doors
Of the main building,

Later referred to
As "The old palace."

Alex torpiano is an architect

Who worked for the firm
That manages this site.

Who worked for the firm
That manages this site.

This is the courtyard of the
Oldest palace of the complex,

And people would arrive from
The ships through this entrance.

Their goods would be taken
To the two warehouses

On either side or at the back,

And then they would go up
This grand staircase

To their living quarters.

Once you are brought into here,

There's no way you can get out
Of this place

Before a set period
Of time is over.

Before a set period
Of time is over.

Narrator: the elaborate design
Of the site,

With its grand courtyards,
Large rooms

And breathtaking views,

Immediately makes clear
This was no ordinary prison.

The people staying here
Weren't necessarily the kind

That you would normally lock up.

There had to be a reason
Why they were being isolated,

Even in these relatively
Nice conditions.

Torpiano:
This is the first floor

Torpiano:
This is the first floor

Of the 17th-century building.

These are the accommodation,
The living quarters,

Of the people
Confined in this building --

Nice, airy, high ceilings,
Well-ventilated, well-lit --

Not a poor place
To be confined to.

Narrator:
But despite the visitors'
Relative wealth and status,

Still the locals had
Reason enough to fear them

And locked them inside
Under armed guard.

And locked them inside
Under armed guard.

Torpiano: but the people who
Were confined here

Were not confined because
They were criminals,

But because they were traveling
To malta

From other countries
In the mediterranean,

And they needed to be isolated
From the population

Just to make sure
That they didn't carry diseases

And wouldn't spread
And affect the population.

Narrator:
This is the lazzaretto,

Malta's first line of defense
Against plague and pestilence.

Malta's first line of defense
Against plague and pestilence.

We've seen recently just how
Quickly infection can spread.

Even in the modern world,
It's extremely difficult,

If not impossible,
To control an outbreak.

Back then, people didn't even
Know that cleanliness

Helped keep you safe.

Auerbach:
The only measure they knew about

Was to quarantine people --

To isolate them from
The rest of the population.

You quarantine the people
Upstairs

And you quarantine
The goods downstairs.

And you quarantine
The goods downstairs.

Narrator:
Throughout the middle ages,

A number of outbreaks of disease
At ports led to deadly pandemics

Sweeping across europe
And beyond.

The worst of these,
The black death,

Had struck three centuries
Before this place was built.

It killed as many as 75 million
People across the world.

The island itself had been used
As a quarantine site

The island itself had been used
As a quarantine site

For more than 100 years before
They built this structure,

But they needed something a bit
More secure as time went on,

And that's where they start
To build this facility.

One of the reasons this place
Is so large

Is once you were there,

The quarantine, the isolation,
Was absolutely unbreakable.

*

Narrator: derived from the
Italian word for the number 40,

A quarantine typically
Lasted 40 days --

Enough time to see
If any symptoms appeared.

Enough time to see
If any symptoms appeared.

Torpiano: well, you didn't know
That they were sick --

They could be sick.

So they were kept in a period
To see whether

The signs of the plague
Would come out

Within that 40-day period.

There were guards making sure

That people did not go in
And/or out --

Effectively, a death penalty
If you broke that rule.

Narrator: no matter your status
Or level of wealth,

Enduring the isolation period
Was par for the course

Enduring the isolation period
Was par for the course

For all those wishing
To set foot in malta.

Auerbach:
If you had 40 days to kill,

This wasn't
The worst place to be --

I mean, you had the views
And the sunshine,

You had plenty of company.

It's almost like
A holiday retreat.

But with the hazard of
A potentially-deadly disease.

Narrator: many centuries' worth
Of visitors

Were locked inside here,

And their presence
Is still evident.

What's amazing about
This place, though,

Is that its history

Is that its history

Is carved into the walls
Of the building, literally.

*

Torpiano: on either side of
The living areas,

There were these terraces
Which people could use to

While away the time

With the view of the sea
And of valletta,

And some -- and many of them
Left a mark on the walls.

Narrator: among the countless
Numbers quarantined here

Narrator: among the countless
Numbers quarantined here

Was a famous novelist,

A future prime minister
Of the united kingdom,

And the scandalous
Romantic poet lord byron.

Here we have what is attributed
To be lord byron's graffiti,

When he was here.

Difficult to read,

But experts tell us
That that's what it is.

I think the graffiti mark
The history of the people

Who came here and some of them
Wrote their story.

There's one who talks about
Coming from constantinople,

There's one who talks about
Coming from constantinople,

The other one etched the ship
That he was on.

To me, it's four beautiful walls

Which contain all these stories
Which need to be deciphered.

Narrator: but away from
The sunshine and sea views,

The site cradles
A far darker secret.

What about these other areas,

Not the nice areas
For holding wealthy travelers,

Not the nice areas
For holding wealthy travelers,

But these darker areas,
The more claustrophobic ones,

The hidden spaces?

If the people were being locked
Up in the nice part

Of this site, then what exactly
Was going on back there?

*

Narrator: standing beside
The waters in valletta,

The capital of malta,

Is an old renaissance-era
Quarantine site.

But at its heart
Is a portal to another world,

Another time,
And a very different use.

*

Now, the islands have been
Important for centuries

Because it's at a strategic
Position in the mediterranean,

Because it's at a strategic
Position in the mediterranean,

But in world war ii,
It became even more important.

So this was the nerve center
Of operations

For submarines
In the mediterranean

With the royal navy,
With the allies.

So this was
A very important place.

Narrator: in 1940, italy joined
Forces with nazi germany,

And soon the axis powers
Would dominate

More than just
The mediterranean waters.

Malta, under british rule

Malta, under british rule

Was to become a thorn
In the enemies side,

And the lazzaretto itself
Was drawn into battle.

*

Torpiano: so to this, the heart
Of the submarine depot.

Now, submarine depot
Means basically two things --

One is the control
Of operations,

So it's a communication center
For submarines.

And the second use
Was to have somewhere

Where submarines could refuel
From the oil tanks

That were stored underground.

That were stored underground.

Bell: this place was all
About repairing

And refueling the submarines --

Getting them ready to be sent
Back out on patrol

In the mediterranean.

Torpiano: the two sides used
Submarines very extensively

To attack, especially,
Supply ships and also,

Of course, the battleships.

The battle of the submarines
In the mediterranean,

I think was crucial
In the way the war developed.

I think was crucial
In the way the war developed.

Narrator:
The above-ground buildings

Were requisitioned
For operations,

But they weren't enough
On their own.

Auerbach:
If the allies are going to use
This as a staging point,

That's also going to make malta
One big target --

If you're going
To put facilities here,

They have to be facilities

That can withstand
A heavy bombardment.

Narrator: during the war,
Malta sustained 3,343 air raids.

Narrator: during the war,
Malta sustained 3,343 air raids.

[ cannons firing ]

Use of this underground complex
Allowed work to continue here

Despite the bombs,

But the full picture
Of how it all ran

Is still hard to piece together.

*

Torpiano:
The whole system of these rooms,

These chambers, partly to
Contain equipment

And power supply,

And also to have habitation
For the soldiers.

Difficult to understand exactly

What the purpose
Of each room was,

What the purpose
Of each room was,

Because, first of all, we don't
Find much documentation --

Presumably all of this
Was secret.

Suppose, somewhere,
There is an explanation.

Bell: from here, allied
Submarines went out into the sea

And caused untold amounts
Of damage to the german

And italian navies
And their supplies.

This island
Was absolutely crucial

In winning the war
In the mediterranean,

And this place played
A key role in it.

And this place played
A key role in it.

*

Narrator: having suffered damage
In the war,

The wounded site was used as
An infectious diseases hospital

For the next 30 years.

But once vacated,
Neglect, vandalism, and time

Each had their way with it.

*

Today, the stunning architecture
On display here

Is now the focus
Of a major restoration project,

Is now the focus
Of a major restoration project,

Hoping to return the buildings
To their former glory.

It's a unique building and it
Should find its place again

In the glory in the middle
Of this harbor.

I think it's a place
Where we could learn

The very complicated history
Of this place,

Which reflects
The history of the island.

*

Narrator: in rural pennsylvania
Lies a forest valley

Narrator: in rural pennsylvania
Lies a forest valley

And a trail of destruction.

*

Across the valley, you can see
These jagged structures --

Very well weathered, torn apart.

*

Nusbacher:
Whatever somebody did here

Was some mass industrial process

Somewhere in the backwoods

Somewhere in the backwoods

Of the allegheny mountains
Of pennsylvania.

Jerram:
They're almost completely
Subsumed by mother nature --

They're overgrown.

They've been clearly there
For some time

And not been used
For a long while.

Narrator:
Following the trail north

Is another piece
Of the puzzle --

The remains of a wall.

*

Jerram: they were once
In some sort of line,

But that got misaligned, and it
Almost, like, sort of dominoes

But that got misaligned, and it
Almost, like, sort of dominoes

That have fallen
In funny shapes.

Nusbacher: it could be one of
The hundreds of dams

That we see in the runs
And streams of pennsylvania.

But if this was a dam,
What smashed it to pieces?

*

Narrator:
At the bottom of the valley

Is the quiet town of austin,

Is the quiet town of austin,

But it wasn't always
This peaceful.

*

Fourness: 110 years ago,

This town had a population
Of about 3,000 people.

Narrator: alvie fourness grew up
A few miles from here.

Fourness: this would have been
A very busy town,

All types of businesses here --

There would be schools
And hospitals,

Movie theaters, restaurants.

Movie theaters, restaurants.

Back in the early 1900's,
Austin was a boomtown.

Narrator:
But something happened here

That made this boomtown go bust.

Jerram: when this region was
Famous for its trees,

And so the lumber market
Was a big thing.

But soon enough,
Too many people working,

The place was
Effectively deforested,

And the bottom had fallen out
Of the lumber market.

Narrator: but one entrepreneur
Found a way to make money.

His name was george bayless,

His name was george bayless,

And here he built
The bayless paper mill.

Barratt: bayless' paper mill was
A huge, huge complex.

It took the raw material,
All the wood,

Turned it into pulp,
Cleaned it, dried it,

And then made it into paper.

A massive operation,
And specialized buildings

Spreading out across the valley.

The pulp product
Would come into this area,

Be placed in these digesters
Or vats.

Be placed in these digesters
Or vats.

Certain chemical processes
Were occurring,

Give the final pulp product.

Narrator: the mill produced

Almost 500 tons of paper a week.

But something on this scale

Needs reliable,
Cheap power source.

1900, water is the key to that.

Narrator: to power the mill,
Bayless commissioned this,

Narrator: to power the mill,
Bayless commissioned this,

The austin dam.

It was a decision
That would prove fatal.

*

*

Narrator: in the year 1909,
In a pennsylvanian valley,

A paper mill powered
By a reservoir

Was about to get
A major upgrade.

*

Barratt: the first dam was just
An earth-built one,

And that absolutely worked,

And it showed
What could be achieved.

And then, of course,
The factory got bigger,

The demand for power
Got bigger --

The demand for power
Got bigger --

You're going to need
A bigger reservoir,

And bigger dam to hold it back.

Narrator:
To upscale the enterprise,

Factory owner george bayless
Hires an engineer

To draw up a design.

It's going to take
4,300 cubic feet of concrete

And a dam that was
50 feet high --

This was going to be
An epic engineering feat,

But it was also going
To be expensive.

Narrator: bayless commissioned
The biggest gravity dam

Narrator: bayless commissioned
The biggest gravity dam

In pennsylvania.

Jerram: a clear problem
Building a dam in any valley,

Particularly in these types
Of valleys

Where you've got vegetation
In the soil,

Is the problem of the soil being
Eroded in and around the valley.

Narrator: the gravity dam
Relies on weight --

32,000 tons of concrete resists
The push of the water,

But underneath,
It is ordinary soil,

Which water
Can pass right through.

*

*

Jerram: I mean,
If you think about it,

If you build a swimming pool
At home,

You don't just dig
A hole in the ground

And pour water in
Because it was seep through.

And that's kind of like
The problem they've got here,

But it's on a much bigger scale.

*

Narrator:
If water can get underneath,

Gravity won't be enough
To hold back the reservoir,

And the dam will fail.

So the engineer designed
A safety mechanism --

An underground wall, to prevent
Water getting under the dam.

An underground wall, to prevent
Water getting under the dam.

In december 1909,
The austin dam was complete.

But something wasn't right.

Fourness:
It became obvious early on

That the dam would be
Troublesome --

Water was seeping up
Out of the ground,

And also there was
Cracks developing

In the structure itself.

In the structure itself.

Narrator:
The townsfolk had called it

The dam that could not break,

But fate would prove them wrong
On the worst possible day.

Barratt: september the 30th,
1911, is the key day.

The town was celebrating
Polling day --

Everybody was out,
It was very, very busy.

Narrator:
A week of rainstorms had brought

An unprecedented amount of water
Into the valley.

The reservoir at that point
Was really high as well,

The reservoir at that point
Was really high as well,

Just two foot below
The overspill level --

That's incredibly full.

And at that point,
Catastrophe happened.

The structure over here moved
More or less like a door --

It swung open and allowed the
Water to start gushing out.

The wall behind me
Also slid about 50 feet.

Narrator: a torrent of water
Crashes down the valley,

Narrator: a torrent of water
Crashes down the valley,

Devouring everything
In its path.

Jerram: when the water came
Gushing down the valley,

The first thing it hit
Was the paper mill --

It came crashing through,
Destroying,

Entering almost every room.

Barratt: and it gathered up
Everything in its path --

Including all the raw material,
All the tree trunks --

And then it headed downstream
Towards the town of austin.

*

*

Fourness: the east side
Of the town got hit worst

Due to the slope of the valley

Pushed the wave
More in that direction.

Jerram: and the scene was of
Almost sheer devastation --

Almost every building
Was submerged,

You could just see
The steeple of the church,

That was the only thing that you
Would have recognized

That there was a town there.

Narrator: in 15 minutes,

The town turned from celebration
To disaster area.

No one saw it coming.

Well, almost no one.

Well, almost no one.

Bayless was determined to get
His new expanded paper mill up

And working,

And if that meant he had to cut
A corner, that's what he did.

Narrator: the underground wall
Designed to protect the dam

Was deemed too expensive.

Bayless ordered the engineer
To scrap it,

Turning the dam
Into a ticking time bomb.

Nusbacher:
The dam is built on the cheap --

It's built to take
The minimum amount of money

It's built to take
The minimum amount of money

To hold back
The maximum amount of water.

The local mill owner
Started to say

That "This is a dam
That was never going to fail,"

And he was lying
Through his teeth.

Narrator: 3,000 residents were
In the town when the water hit,

But the people of austin
Had an unlikely guardian angel.

*

Fourness: one of our most famous
Citizens at the time

Fourness: one of our most famous
Citizens at the time

Was cora brooks,
Who had a boarding house --

Sort of a brothel
Sort of environment,

Probably, although those type
Of things were very illegal.

Cora was somewhat an outcast
In the community.

Cora brooks is the town madame,
And she runs a whorehouse,

And of course,

The good god-fearing people
Of the town of austin

Are not going to allow her

Are not going to allow her

To keep her house
Of prostitution

Right there in the town
With the nice people.

Narrator: forced to set up
Her establishment

To the north of the town,
As luck would have it,

The brothel's location
Made all the difference

On that fateful day.

Fourness:
The boarding house

Was within visual distance
Of the dam,

So the first-hand
Sighting of the dam breaking

Was done from people who were at
The boarding house.

Was done from people who were at
The boarding house.

2:30 in the afternoon,

Word came in from
The cora brooks boarding house

That the dam had broke.

The young ladies working at the
Switchboard were quick to react

And came out on to main street
To give a warning

To all the people
That the dam had broke.

Narrator: the outcast
Brothel owner's swift actions

Saved thousands of lives.

Saved thousands of lives.

Fourness: the phone call allowed

The people of austin
15 minutes' warning.

Nusbacher: in the town below,
Out of that town of 3,000,

Only 78 die in the disaster.

*

Narrator:
The history of that flood

Is preserved
In the austin dam memorial park.

In the early 20th century,

Anybody could build a dam
In pennsylvania --

There was no regulation,
There was no inspection --

And that was what led
To a poorly-designed dam

Smashing the very people,

The very town
It had been designed to power.

Jerram:
A tragedy like the austin dam,

Like many sort of tragedies
That involve humans,

Is there's often a mistake
That's made or a decision

Is there's often a mistake
That's made or a decision

That's made that ends up leading
To something

That you didn't necessarily
Predict was going to happen,

And that's exactly
The case in austin --

Just cutting a few corners
Or not doing

The right engineering mitigation
To stop something like this

Happening ultimately led
To the destruction of the dam

And to the loss of life.

Narrator:
Today, construction is held

To a strict engineering code,

Perhaps the greatest legacy
Of the austin dam disaster.

*

*

Kiev, ukraine's capital city,

Situated along
The dnieper river.

*

Jerram:
As you wander around kiev,

You can start to see some
Strange things --

I mean, there's this one example

Can only be described
As like a submarine in a park.

Meigs: you can actually walk
Inside of it,

And then you can see
How truly enormous it is --

It's 50 meters long,
15 meters across.

The walls are incredibly thick.

Wawro: my first thought is,

It's gotta be
A typical example of,

You know, eastern european
Soviet-era kitsch.

But then on the other hand,
If it was kitsch,

It would be prettier, you know,
It would be painted up,

It would look more
Like a submarine.

It would look more
Like a submarine.

It must have been built
Where it is.

It must have been built
For a purpose,

But what could that be?

Narrator:
This object sits on the bank
Of the largest river in ukraine,

The dnieper.

The dnieper is a big,
Slow-moving, shallow river,

Swampy in spots,

And divides the city of kiev
Almost right down the middle.

In the dnieper swamps
Is a larger piece of the puzzle.

In the dnieper swamps
Is a larger piece of the puzzle.

Jerram:
Can see this weird kind of

Snake-like
Concrete construction,

Which seems to be sinking down
Into a swamp. What's that for?

Narrator: two sites,
11 miles apart --

Both clues to one of the
Greatest engineering secrets

Behind the iron curtain.

*

Local historian
Valery lysenko

Has come to kiev's natalka park
To explore this curious object.

Has come to kiev's natalka park
To explore this curious object.

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter:
The locals gave it many names --

Some call it a train,
Some call it a submarine.

The most accurate name
Would be a caisson,

But not many people understand
What the word means.

Narrator: it stood in this spot
For 80 years.

Valery remembers coming here
As a child.

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter: back then,
You couldn't even ask about it.

Interpreter: back then,
You couldn't even ask about it.

What was a state secret
Half a century ago

Is now being uncovered.

*

Narrator: the story of this
Structure starts with the river

That runs through the city.

Meigs: across this river,
You have eight bridges,

And as you can imagine,
These are essential for keeping

Goods and people moving back
And forth across the river.

But 80 years ago, they were
Recognized as a huge problem.

But 80 years ago, they were
Recognized as a huge problem.

Narrator:
In 1920, kiev was invaded

By a neighboring country.

Meigs: the poles attacked
And took over ukraine

And captured kiev.

The red army drove them out
After just a few weeks,

But it made lenin and
The other soviet leaders realize

How vulnerable this area was.

*

What did the polish army do
Before the retreat?

The obvious thing --
They destroyed all the bridges,

The obvious thing --
They destroyed all the bridges,

The large ones
Across the dnieper.

*

Narrator:
Kiev's bridges were rebuilt,

But the battle taught them

A valuable lesson
For the future.

Meigs: one thing they'd learned

Is that bridges
Were very vulnerable.

What if an enemy air force
Came in

And knocked out
These eight bridges?

They would be helpless,
There'd be no way

To get supplies or troops back
And forth across the river.

They needed a better system.

They needed a better system.

Narrator:
To protect the city,

The soviets made
An audacious plan,

But it will mean
Wading into the swamp.

*

Narrator: in the years
After the first world war,

Kiev's eight bridges
Were a strategic weak point,

So the soviets started building
A secret weapon.

*

You see these
Concrete structures

Kind of winding
Through the swamps --

It's not at all clear
What these are for.

It's not at all clear
What these are for.

*

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter:
There are many local legends

That surround this place.

Some say that there's a train
Hidden inside the tunnel.

Others claim that the water
Doesn't freeze inside the tunnel

Because of the radioactivity.

Narrator: the only official name
Of this structure

Was "Object one,"

But to the people of kiev,
It goes by a different name.

But to the people of kiev,
It goes by a different name.

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter: people call
This place "Stalin's subway."

*

Narrator:
Kiev had learned the hard way

That if an enemy
Destroyed its bridges,

There was no way to get supplies
Across the dnieper.

So here in the swamp,
They began digging a tunnel

That would run
Underneath the river.

*

They're going to be
Railway tunnels,

They're going to be
Railway tunnels,

But they're going to have
Steel plates

That can be lowered into place
Over the railway tracks

To accommodate
Vehicle traffic as well.

*

Narrator: around 1938,
Construction started in secret.

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter: the soviet union
Was obsessed with secrecy --

They liked to hide everything.

Wawro: stalin decrees that
If any of these

2,000, 5,000, 10,000,
Eventually 12,000 workers

2,000, 5,000, 10,000,
Eventually 12,000 workers

Enlisted in these sites ever
Even breathe the word tunnel,

They'll get 10 years
In the gulag.

*

Narrator: but digging from
One side of the river

To the other was too slow.

In the 1930's, europe was on
The brink of another world war.

Kiev faced invasion again.

To speed up the dig,
They used caissons.

*

80 years ago,
This park was a wetland.

80 years ago,
This park was a wetland.

The caisson was constructed
On the surface.

And then they would use
High-pressure hoses

To remove the soft sediment
Beneath it,

Thus sinking that tunnel into
The ground beneath the river.

Narrator:
A column of concrete rings

Would be built to the surface,

Creating a pressurized chamber
From which the engineers

Could start digging
In both directions.

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter: and so this tube,

When it was lowered
To the relevant depth,

They constructed the so-called
Manual tunnel boring machine.

Now it's done mechanically, but
Back then, it was done manually.

It was a metallic construction

Which allowed them
To move forwards.

Narrator:
The work may have been tough,

But the dangers faced here
Were terrifying.

Jerram: so, the conditions were
Very difficult to work in --

You're under four atmospheres
Of pressure,

You're under four atmospheres
Of pressure,

It's like being under
30 meters of water,

And you could only actually work
In those conditions

For about 40 minutes
Before you had to change shifts.

So the whole way in which
They're keeping the water away

Means the working
Conditions themselves

Are actually very, very extreme.

Narrator: the soviets hoped
The caissons

And this new approach
Would turbo-charge the dig.

But by august 1941,

They'd run out of time

They'd run out of time

And the enemy was at the gates.

[ explosions, gunfire ]

Believing they could hold off
The german army,

Soviet top brass orders
The workers to keep digging.

But the nazi force
Was overwhelming --

Kiev's bridges
Were destroyed again.

With the tunnel
Still incomplete,

The city fell.

*

They branch south
To try to take kiev,

They branch south
To try to take kiev,

Because it's such a big prize
And it's such a big population,

And they bagged
650,000 red army troops,

One of the greatest
Military victories of all time.

Narrator: with the city
Completely surrounded,

Work on the tunnels
Finally stopped.

*

It's believed that maybe
They got 10% of it done

Before the war intervened
And they had to stop.

Before the war intervened
And they had to stop.

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter: they were afraid to
Talk about it

Even years after.

There is a high possibility

That all the prisoners
Who worked here

Were later exterminated.

*

Narrator: attempts were made
To restart the construction,

But in 1949,

The tunnels were abandoned
And the project covered up.

The tunnels were abandoned
And the project covered up.

Lysenko: [ speaking ukrainian ]

Interpreter:
Many years after the war,

The subway was built in kiev.

When this area was no longer
Restricted for the people,

And they were curious
As to what it was,

Only then the newspapers
Started writing about it openly.

*