Original subtitles

[Kasper] A dense forest hides a royal family secret.

[Polly] She seemed to appear out of thin air

like a ghost from Macbeth.

[Kasper] A fortified site overrun

by a determined force.

Any Soviet spy would kill for the secrets kept there.

[Kasper] And a building that offered hope,

hijacked by criminal intent.

It's definitely not the kind of place

you wanna be alone at night.

[dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[Kasper] Decaying relics,

ruins of lost worlds,

sites haunted by the past.

Their secrets waiting to be revealed.

[dramatic music playing]

[Kasper] In the middle of Delhi,

an Indian mega city of 30 million people,

an Indian mega city of 30 million people,

is an unexpected sight.

[Polly] It's one of the biggest

and most bustling cities in the world.

And then right there in the center is this giant

jungle-like forest.

[Sascha] To find a forest of this size,

where we are is amazing.

It's said that the only residents are mobs

of monkeys and howling jackals.

[Polly] There seems to be something hiding

behind all that thick foliage.

The ruins of an old building that look like

they're from another world.

[Jim] There is bushes and trees growing out

of the roofs and some of the staircases

are beginning to collapse.

But they were quite well-built because they're still

standing after what looks like centuries.

[Kasper] Formidable stone walls and grand archways

haunted by years of neglect disguise a more recent past.

haunted by years of neglect disguise a more recent past.

Whatever furniture and decor were once

in this place are gone.

This has been thoroughly plundered,

thoroughly ransacked.

[Polly] There are hints to its former glory.

But now it's just a shell.

No amenities, no interiors, no signs of any life.

[Kasper] Yet, concealed within is a story

of intrigue and deception.

of intrigue and deception.

[Sascha] Given the imposing nature of the place,

it's sensible to conclude that someone of significance

must have once lived here.

But that doesn't get us any closer to answering

the question,

"Where have they gone and why was this abandoned?"

[Kasper] Only a few years ago,

a mysterious family occupied this forlorn jungle abode.

a mysterious family occupied this forlorn jungle abode.

Rarely seen, rumors of their strange

existence quickly spread.

Jawahar Lal lives locally and was captivated

by the incredible tales of the reclusive

forest dwellers.

[Jawahar] There are different versions.

Some people say they look like djinns or supernatural beings.

They were not social at all.

They really wanted to live in secrecy.

[Sascha] There were many stories told about them.

What is clear is that the people who lived here

wanted no contact with outsiders.

There were even signs up saying

that "unauthorized intruders would be gunned down."

[Jim] Though every so often they would grant

an interview to a foreign journalist.

[Kasper] And what a story it was they had to tell.

[Sascha] The first record we have of the inhabitants

is when the mother of the group showed up unannounced

at a Delhi train station in the early 1970s.

She turned up with her two children, servants

and fifteen bloodhounds.

[Sascha] She called herself Begum Wilayat Mahal.

And she claimed to be the direct descendant

of the kings of Oudh.

of the kings of Oudh.

[Jim] She was the rightful heir to the throne.

Of course, there was no throne anymore.

India was a democracy.

But she claimed they owed her something

for the great injustice done to her family.

[Kasper] The Kingdom of Oudh was a wealthy

Muslim state in the northern region of India.

But it hadn't existed for over a century.

[dramatic music playing]

[Jim] The British East India Company in the 19th Century

[Jim] The British East India Company in the 19th Century

was gradually taking over more and more of India.

Sometimes they collaborated with the local governments.

Other times they more or less overthrew them

to take control of the resources of India.

[Polly] But the final and richest state

was forcibly seized by the British on the basis

that their prince lived a debauched life,

which made him unfit to rule.

[Kasper] Outraged by the wrongdoing inflicted

on her royal ancestors,

Queen Wilayat demanded the Indian government

Queen Wilayat demanded the Indian government

return what was rightfully hers.

And her bizarre behavior soon attracted

the world's attention.

The children called Prince Cyrus

and Princess Sakina addressed their mother as "her highness"

or "your highness."

And the Nepalese servants only approached her

walking on their knees.

This must have been quite a sight.

I mean, imagine all this going on in a train station

I mean, imagine all this going on in a train station

waiting room.

[Kasper] Over the years, the Indian government

offered her various houses and large sums of money.

She refused all, demanding she be given something

worthy of her standing.

[Jim] And reporters would come and she would give

interviews and she would make demands and she was

such a compelling imperious figure

that people eventually said, "Well, we have to do

something for her.

We have to get her out of the railroad station."

We have to get her out of the railroad station."

[Sascha] In 1984, after ten years

of living in the train station

waiting room,

the government finally offered

the Begum a building

of regal descent to occupy.

And to their great relief, she accepted their offer.

[Kasper] This 14th Century medieval hunting lodge

called Malcha Mahal became the new home

of the deposed aristocrats.

This place was all carpeted.

This place was all carpeted.

And on these columns, there were nice paintings

were hung.

Everything was tidy.

In the kitchen, there was a nice

crockery and a silver tea set.

And everything was lined up.

[Kasper] Royalty may have originally built

Malcha Mahal.

But that was 700 years ago.

It was never intended to be a permanent residence

in the modern era.

in the modern era.

The word "mahal" means palace.

We know it from the Taj Mahal of course.

So when you see this crumbling ruin out in the forest,

it doesn't really look like a palace.

[Sascha] It was overgrown long before the Begum arrived

and hadn't been occupied in decades.

There was no running water, there was no electricity.

[Jawahar] When she came here, she was promised

to have the facility of water and electricity.

to have the facility of water and electricity.

But she did not get.

Moreover, there were no doors, nothing.

[Sascha] You can see Delhi off in the distance.

And standing up here, the family...

You can imagine them thinking,

"Ah, we rule over everything we can see."

But that wasn't the truth.

Really, all they ruled over was this tiny little building

and its environs.

[Kasper] And for the queen of Oudh, Malcha Mahal

wasn't enough.

In time, a great sadness would descend.

And with it, an astonishing deceit exposed.

[dramatic music playing]

[Kasper] In India is a run-down ruin,

gifted to the heirs of aristocrats deposed

by the British over a century ago.

Driven by injustice, the family sought

to tell the world their story.

But soon, tragedy would befall Malcha Mahal.

In 1993, the Begum killed herself.

In 1993, the Begum killed herself.

[Jim] It was even said that the way

she committed suicide was by grinding up

all of her diamonds and eating them.

And after that, it was only the prince

and the princess left.

[Kasper] The surviving heirs continued to tell

their tragic tale until they too died,

alone and in poverty.

It was at that point that the whole story

of Queen Wilayat and her family started to unravel.

of Queen Wilayat and her family started to unravel.

[Jim] In 2019, a reporter for the New York Times

was curious about this famous story.

And she started digging deep, she looked into records.

[Polly] The journalist followed the family coffers,

which led not back to any royal ancestry,

but to a certain Mr. Butt back in Bradford, England.

He was her stepson and he was no prince,

and she was no queen.

It was all an elaborate hoax.

[Jim] She was a Muslim woman whose family had moved

[Jim] She was a Muslim woman whose family had moved

to Pakistan during the partition of India and Pakistan.

This was a wrenching moment in the late 1940s

when India was granted its independence,

the British in their wisdom decided that perhaps

they should just divide it up into two countries.

And the Muslims were all supposed

to move north to Pakistan,

the Hindus were supposed to move south to India.

[Kasper] In Lahore, the family lived

a comfortable life.

But Wilayat had never wanted to move to Pakistan.

But Wilayat had never wanted to move to Pakistan.

Her home was in India.

Consumed by unhappiness, the cracks started to show.

After her husband died,

she grew more and more eccentric.

[Polly] There were also signs of her mental health failing.

She was said to have received electroshock therapy

while she was in Pakistan.

[Jim] And then next thing you know,

she turns up in the Delhi train station

proclaiming herself this long, lost queen.

proclaiming herself this long, lost queen.

[Kasper] For three decades, Malcha Mahal served

as the residence for a royal family

that never was.

It's a tragic story about lives

torn apart by conquest and division.

[dramatic music playing]

[Kasper] Today, the jungle encroaches ever closer

to the ruins of this crumbling building.

It faces an uncertain future.

It faces an uncertain future.

[Jawahar] The government is not paying any attention.

And it's very difficult to approach here.

It's such a thick forest, so I think

it will just remain like this.

[dramatic music playing]

[Kasper] In southern Britain,

is a common land where history

is hidden in plain sight.

[Sascha] At first glance, there doesn't seem to be

[Sascha] At first glance, there doesn't seem to be

much out of the ordinary here at all.

It's shrubs, grass, pleasant fields.

You would've never imagined that something

Earth-shattering happened here in this region.

[Dominic] There are chain link fences and barbed wire

all around it.

Today people just walk past.

But at one stage, this was very high-security.

[Kasper] These fortifications were put in place

to protect a precious resource,

hidden inside a concrete vault.

hidden inside a concrete vault.

[Dominic] Tucked away at one end

is the most striking part of the site,

long dome-like structures covered in grass,

possibly as camouflage.

[Kasper] Buried within are hidden rooms

built at a time of national panic.

This place looks like something

out of a science fiction movie.

Its heavy doors, and the security around it,

Its heavy doors, and the security around it,

it really gives the impression of something

that's either from the future or heavily technological

from our present.

[Claire] I grew up fairly close to here

but I never came here as a child.

This was like a massive no-go area.

[Kasper] Long ago, this was a place

of state secrets and maximum security.

But in 1983, that security was breached.

[dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[Kasper] At one end of the site

is a reinforced building that few people

have been permitted to enter.

Rebecca Mordan has been given access.

This is a really exciting room.

Gosh, it's like something out of a film.

[Claire] Some of the rooms have these strange

purpose-built troughs full

purpose-built troughs full

of like a weird white powder.

It's like talcum powder.

It's like to absorb something.

[Dominic] This place is clearly a rat run.

You go through a series of rooms

passing this absorbing powder

and then you get to this room with this big,

heavy metal chute.

It's becoming quite clear what this is for.

[Kasper] This is a decontamination chamber.

It was built in the 1980s when the world faced

It was built in the 1980s when the world faced

nuclear annihilation.

[Claire] The Cold War was a massive

overhanging gray cloud on our childhood in the 1980s.

And it seeped into everything.

It seeped into our television programs.

[man] If there is a nuclear attack

and you survived the initial effects of an explosion,

you will have at least a half hour to get

you will have at least a half hour to get

to a public or home fallout shelter.

[Kasper] Built at a time of global crisis,

this is Greenham Common, a former United States

military airfield and key strategic base

against the Soviet Union.

[intense music playing]

[Dominic] Any Soviet spy would kill

for the secrets kept there, so security was very tight.

But on one night in 1983,

But on one night in 1983,

three unauthorized people

snuck onto the base and into the control tower.

[intense music playing]

[Kasper] In 1980, Greenham Common was chosen

to host a new iteration of the atom bomb,

the cruise missile.

But not everyone was happy to see its arrival.

[Claire] The cruise missile program was very,

very controversial in Britain.

And one group decided that they were gonna

And one group decided that they were gonna

be the ones to put a stop to it.

I remember there being people waiting

and sitting you down and you come and sit with me

at the banners or would you want to come to the fire?

Are you warm enough?

[Kasper] Rebecca Mordan's mother

is one of many who answered a call to arms

for what was to be a women-only protest.

A chain letter spread across the UK.

This was a time before the Internet so still

This was a time before the Internet so still

had to go through snail mail.

And that letter invited those who read it to come

to Greenham Common on December 12th, 1982.

[Kasper] When the missiles arrived,

they were met by a crowd of protesters

some 30,000 strong.

These Greenham women determined to protect

their children's future,

built camps all around the base.

So, this is one of the gates for the base.

So, this is one of the gates for the base.

The American Military added razor wire.

They then added dogs and sentries and more police,

they got military police and English squaddies,

British squaddies, all protecting

the Americans who were living right in the middle of base.

[Kasper] The protests made global headlines,

an embarrassment for the British government.

They ordered the police to move the protesters by force.

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

[Rebecca] There's definitely feeling

that particularly when a lot of outside

police were brought in, there was a much higher risk

of violence to the women.

[Kasper] But the group of ordinary women

wouldn't be got rid of so easily.

One night, three protestors outside the base discovered

an open pipe.

And they realized quite rightly that

it was probably an overflow pipe.

So they crawled into it, not knowing

where they'd come up and where they came up

was on actually on the runway

was on actually on the runway

or near the runway for the whole base.

They make their way over to the control tower

for the most heavily-guarded nuclear airfield

in the country and they haven't locked the door.

[Rebecca] They just literally waltzed in

and they found state secrets.

They found log books about what to do in the case

of nuclear emergencies and they wrote their names

all over all of it.

[Kasper] By the time the women were discovered,

they'd been inside the control tower for five hours.

they'd been inside the control tower for five hours.

This wasn't just embarrassing

for the government, it was a humiliation.

[Kasper] But the control tower wasn't the biggest breach

of security at Greenham Common.

[Claire] The key thing on this airfield

is not the control tower or the runways themselves,

it's the silo, the big, big structure

that actually houses the vehicles

with the nuclear warheads on the back.

with the nuclear warheads on the back.

[Kasper] The protesters drew up a plan

to storm the nuclear bunkers.

[Rebecca] The Greenham women waited until it was

New Year's Eve and they reckoned all of the squaddies,

most of the base, the military police and that

would all be in town celebrating.

[Sascha] This was incredibly dangerous.

You'd have to keep in mind how important this site was

and how crucial it was to keep these weapons secure.

The soldiers were all armed with assault rifles

The soldiers were all armed with assault rifles

and their orders were to shoot intruders on sight.

[indistinct chatter]

[Rebecca] They managed to put ladders up,

put the carpet over the razor wire, get on to silos

where theoretically the nuclear missiles

were kept.

[Claire] These women are not there

to do malicious harm.

All they can do is sing and dance at the soldiers

responsible for the security.

[Kasper] The dance on the bunkers

was broadcast around the world.

was broadcast around the world.

How much does that get under your skin

if you're in charge of guarding the world's

biggest nuclear deterrent and you've got a bunch

of ragtag or middle-aged women dancing and singing

on top of your prized possession?

[Kasper] The activists remained outside

the base for over a decade.

Their watch ended when the final missile

was removed and the airfield closed.

[Dominic] There's no doubt that

[Dominic] There's no doubt that

the Greenham Common protesters

were one of the most iconic images

of the 1980s,

which was a decade of real conflict in Britain.

[intense music playing]

[Kasper] In 1997,

the fences that had surrounded Greenham Common

for 50 years were finally torn down.

And the 800 acre-site returned to public use.

[Sascha] The anti-nuclear movement

has made some really, really important accomplishments

has made some really, really important accomplishments

and certainly brought

the nuclear issue out into the open

in a way that simply wasn't possible before.

[intense music playing]

[Kasper] On the northern edge of Johannesburg,

within a huge area of parkland

lies a sweeping structure.

[Sascha] This is a very impressive building,

[Sascha] This is a very impressive building,

multi-wing edifice.

And it doesn't look like it's that old,

built maybe 50 years ago.

[Kasper] Though it might look quite new from the outside,

internally, it's a whole different story.

The inside is just completely ravaged and ripped apart.

There's paint that's peeling from the walls.

It looks like something out of a horror picture show.

It looks like something out of a horror picture show.

[Sascha] This is a pretty scary place.

There are gaping holes in the ceiling.

There's what looks like blood stains on the wall.

It's definitely not the kind of place

you'd want to be alone at night.

[Kasper] As you venture further,

the more ominous the building becomes.

[Dr. Alicia] There's medical equipment,

confidential documents.

It looks like people were just there one day

It looks like people were just there one day

and then they suddenly got up and left.

[Fran] In one room, there are giant refrigerators

that look so big,

you could fit a body inside.

And then there's huge broken slabs.

[Kasper] This building is rumored to be

one of the most haunted

in South Africa.

[Sascha] It's said that paranormal activity

often concentrates in places

that have had a lot of deaths and births.

that have had a lot of deaths and births.

So what is it that happened here

that might cause it to be haunted like that?

[intense music playing]

[intense music playing]

[Kasper] In Johannesburg, South Africa

is a modern building with an intriguing past.

It was intended to help those in need,

but not everyone got the care they deserved.

This is Kempton Park Hospital.

It was completed in 1978

and at the time, it was the largest

medical facility in the region.

medical facility in the region.

It's a huge hospital as you can see,

400 beds.

It had a maternity section,

had all the surgical disciplines.

It had a medical ward.

It had an intensive care unit.

[Kasper] Dr. Nick Wolmarans was a consultant surgeon

and head of the emergency department at the hospital.

[Dr. Nick] This used to be an excellent facility

and to see it in this dilapidated condition,

and to see it in this dilapidated condition,

is very disturbing.

I worked here for ten years.

I've treated a lot of patients here

and it was an amazing place to work.

[Kasper] When it was built,

it had a very specific purpose in mind,

and the clue is hidden in its design.

[Dr. Nick] I walked along this passage for a very long time,

I never noticed how wide this passage is.

And one of the hospital group's CEO told me,

And one of the hospital group's CEO told me,

this was built for disaster purposes.

With the idea that

in the case of a disaster

coming from the airport

or the explosive factory not very far from here,

they could park

and accommodate beds in this passage.

[Kasper] At the time,

the hospital was the height of technology.

This is a very spacious theater.

This is a very spacious theater.

Look at the size. Look at the high ceiling.

Look at the equipment.

They don't make and build theaters

of this size anymore.

[Sascha] In such an expensive

and advanced facility,

one would imagine that the staff

would be very highly-qualified

medical professionals.

But it turns out that Kempton Park Hospital

was hiding a horrific secret.

[Fran] In 1982, the hospital took on

[Fran] In 1982, the hospital took on

a pediatrician called Dr. Esterhuizen.

He had his own practice

and he came highly recommended.

It's believed that during his time at the hospital,

he treated more than four and a half thousand patients,

mostly babies in the pediatric ward.

Dr. Esterhuizen was so confident

in his abilities and his expertise

that he put himself forward as head of department

and he had a lot of support from his colleagues

at the time for this.

at the time for this.

But it turned out that Dr. Esterhuizen

was not who he seemed to be.

[Kasper] Dr. Wolmarans was working at the hospital

at the same time.

This is the pediatric ward

where Dr. Andre Esterhuizen worked.

He worked here for approximately three to four years

in the late '80s and '90s.

As time went on, a lot of parents

and colleagues were very concerned

of his way he treated the children.

of his way he treated the children.

A lot of children had serious complications.

[Kasper] One of those children was in Dr. Wolmarans' care.

[Dr. Nick] I had a very sad experience

with one of my patients,

a four-month-old baby

which I operated for a groin hernia

and postoperatively,

the anesthetist told me that the child aspirated

in the recovery room.

My anesthetist called Dr. Andre Esterhuizen

and he looked after the child.

Unfortunately, extubated the baby at the wrong time

and she stopped breathing and unfortunately died.

[Kasper] Alarmingly, this wasn't the only child

to have died under suspicious circumstances.

At that point, that hospital staff

started to make more specific investigations

into Esterhuizen, his diagnoses,

into Esterhuizen, his diagnoses,

and his treatment.

[Kasper] Dr. Wolmarans was at the forefront

of the investigation

and what he discovered shook the hospital

and its staff to the core.

[Dr. Nick] When I phoned the medical council,

they told me that there is no such a person

or doctor in their, uh,

doctor's files and, uh,

he never qualified as a doctor.

[Dr. Alicia] He only had a high school diploma

and he had been masquerading

as a physician for all of these years.

[Kasper] Eventually, Dr. Esterhuizen

was taken to court.

[Fran] Apparently, some of the testament

they used during the trial

were just horrendous.

One mother told the court

of her baby ending up with cerebral palsy

after Esterhuizen had done four lumbar punctures

on her child

on her child

when she was just four-months-old.

[Dr. Alicia] He was ultimately charged

with culpable homicide,

impersonating a doctor,

and defrauding his patients,

and he was sentenced to 18 years

in prison.

However, nothing can bring back

any of the children that he lost

due to his negligence.

[Fran] The big question is,

how did the hospital never check

his credentials when they hired him.

It makes you think, "Was this huge scandal

It makes you think, "Was this huge scandal

part of the reason that the hospital

closed so suddenly?"

[intense music playing]

[Kasper] This is Kempton Park Hospital.

When it was built, it had a lifespan

of 100 years.

But it only lasted 18.

So what went wrong?

[Dr. Nick] I climbed these stairs every day,

going up the theater and to the wards,

and unbeknown to me, they closed this hospital.

and unbeknown to me, they closed this hospital.

[Kasper] At the time, the local health department

blamed it on staff shortages

and underutilization,

but this just didn't add up.

[Fran] Reports from staff working there at the time

denied any staff shortages

and they said that working conditions were good.

[Sascha] Closing a public hospital

next to one of the biggest townships

in the country seems an odd move.

in the country seems an odd move.

Especially when other hospitals in the region

were reported as being close to capacity.

[Kasper] It seems the reason this hospital really closed

is to remain a mystery

to both the public and the staff.

[Dr. Nick] Nothing was said, even up to today,

after 25 years, you know,

we do not know why the government wouldn't keep

a magnificent asset like this going.

[Kasper] Today, the hospital sits abandoned

but it's not as quiet as it might initially look.

People still come, drawn by the terrible stories

of what took place.

[Fran] The site has become infamous

for the specters that wander the hospital at night.

And given what happened here,

it's perhaps no surprise

that it's rumored to be full of the ghosts of children.

that it's rumored to be full of the ghosts of children.

[Kasper] Off the southeast coast of Georgia,

in the windswept Atlantic Ocean,

is a breathtaking island wilderness.

[Prof. Geoff] Just the sort of lush green place

with sawgrass, palm trees, marshes,

and then it opens up into this

and then it opens up into this

sort of great estate

and you see the remains of what looks to be

a massive stately home.

[Fran] You can see that the grounds of this place

were extensive.

And I bet in the day,

they were quite impressive.

You could still see ornamental lawns.

And amongst them, there's a few outbuildings as well.

Whoever lived here was pretty wealthy.

[Prof. Geoff] And it doesn't look like a place that's

just sort of garden variety dilapidated by the years,

just sort of garden variety dilapidated by the years,

it looks like something violent,

something terrible happened

to reduce it to such destruction.

[Kasper] Further in,

a series of curious brick constructions

are revealed.

You can see these strange

chimney-like structures.

So you're wondering what happened here,

was this a site of manufacture?

[Kasper] Look closer

and a very different picture emerges.

[Fran] To some of the people that called this place home,

it wasn't a particularly pleasant place to be.

[Prof. Geoff] Clearly we're standing in the midst of

some important piece of American history.

[Kasper] Today, the National Park Service

is the custodian of this remote island

and its buildings.

and its buildings.

The only way to reach its rugged coast is by boat.

[Robinson] This island has many fascinating stories.

You could spend a lifetime studying

the history of this island and not fully be able

to understand everything that happened.

[Kasper] Park Ranger Robinson Barker

has spent many years investigating

the island's secrets.

The Family that lived here most recently

is the Carnegie family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

is the Carnegie family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Originally, the Carnegies immigrated

over to America from Scotland

in the 1840s.

And the young brothers, Thomas and Andrew Carnegie,

worked their way up until they amassed

a large wealth in the steel industry.

[Kasper] As the story goes,

Thomas' wife Lucy was so enthralled

by the island's beauty,

she insisted it be bought at any price.

In 1884, the Carnegies built this mansion

In 1884, the Carnegies built this mansion

and called it Dungeness.

It was the heart of the estate

that they built for them and their nine children.

[Prof. Geoff] Carnegie spared no expense

in the construction of Dungeness.

He not only built this munificent main house

and its outbuildings,

but he added a heated swimming pool,

squash courts, and he had 200 servants.

[Kasper] This is Cumberland Island National Seashore,

[Kasper] This is Cumberland Island National Seashore,

once the exclusive playground

of one of America's wealthiest families.

For many years, their life here was idyllic.

But before the Carnegies' arrival,

it had a very dark and evil past.

[Prof. Michele] What happened here, what people did here

came at a terrible cost,

a terrible human cost.

[Kasper] The Carnegies removed most of the structures

from this time but one building remains.

from this time but one building remains.

[Robinson] This house was used as the overseer's home

during the Greene-Miller

plantation here on the island.

Over in front of me would have been

a large cotton field

where enslaved Africans worked throughout the day

as they grew crops here for the market.

[Kasper] The Greene-Miller family took up residence here

in the early 1800s.

They were the first to make use

of the island's natural resources,

of the island's natural resources,

ushering in a shameful cycle

that would endure for decades.

But something was coming

that would give hope to the exploited people.

[intense music playing]

[Kasper] On Cumberland Island

are the ruins of a grand mansion

built on the site

of a once vast cotton plantation.

Slave labor made the owners rich

but a looming conflict

offered salvation to the oppressed.

[Prof. Geoff] Cumberland Island has a really interesting history

during the war of 1812,

where the British tried to clamp a blockade

up and down the American Coast.

up and down the American Coast.

[Robinson] On January 10th of 1815,

Rear Admiral Cockburn invaded Cumberland Island

and set up camp down in the Dungeness area

using the Greene-Miller Dungeness house

as his officers' headquarters.

[Prof. Michele] British law prohibits slavery at this point.

He takes advantage of this.

He knows that if he can get

enslaved people on British vessels

that he can spirit them away to freedom

and this is exactly what happened.

and this is exactly what happened.

[Kasper] But in 1815,

with the fighting officially over,

a treaty was signed between the warring nations,

it stated all slaves

must be returned to their owners.

[Prof. Geoff] Cockburn says, "The hell with that."

He takes any slaves he can get

and he ships them off to Canada or the Caribbean.

In all, Cockburn ships out 1,500 freed slaves

from Cumberland Island.

[Kasper] Tragically, this would prove to be

[Kasper] Tragically, this would prove to be

no more than a short reprieve

for America's oppressed people.

Once again, this island

would become a place where slavery thrived,

and the clues can be seen in the landscape.

[Kasper] And one man was infamous

for his cruel desire to make profits

from the forced labor of people.

[Prof. Geoff] Born on the island in 1790,

Robert Stafford worked

on the Miller-Greene plantation

on the Miller-Greene plantation

and had a really good sense of just how profitable

cotton and slavery was.

[Prof. Michele] These chimneys,

these structures that are left,

these are the only lasting physical legacy

from this time period.

They are actually the chimneys

that were part of the slave quarters.

[Robinson] So based on archeological investigation

of the Stafford slave cabins,

we believe these cabins were fairly small,

about 16x21 feet long.

about 16x21 feet long.

A single room, a small kitchen area,

sleeping quarters,

and that's just about it.

[Kasper] At the height of his empire,

Stafford owned most of the island

and 348 slaves.

[Prof. Geoff] Stafford had no qualms about reintroducing slavery

on the island.

He was a dyed-in-the-wool southerner

with a great belief in the,

as they called it, peculiar institution.

But the slaves who were forced to toil here

But the slaves who were forced to toil here

against their will,

change was coming, albeit slowly.

[Kasper] Once again, war would offer a route to freedom.

This time, its legacy promised to endure.

[Prof. Geoff] After Union victory in the war in 1865,

slavery is abolished in the South

and that's gonna have a big impact

on Cumberland Island's economy.

Most of the slaves had escaped to the mainland

leaving Stafford with no real means

leaving Stafford with no real means

to run a plantation economy.

[Fran] Most other owners,

they sold for a pittance and moved on.

But Stafford refused.

[Kasper] Until his dying breath,

Stafford remained a stalwart of the South

and its strong beliefs.

And Stafford is proof of the aphorism

that only the good die young.

He lives to a ripe old age of 86,

takes a slave wife, has six children,

and leaves them nothing.

[Kasper] For the former slaves

that stayed on the island,

there was a glimmer of hope.

[Prof. Michele] They would work, they would do menial work,

but they also could create

on the north end of the island,

a small community for themselves.

They used reclaimed materials from old buildings

to build their own structures.

And in 1893, very importantly,

they erected the first African church

which would become an incredibly

important community center.

[Kasper] After the tragic era of slavery passed,

the island was transformed under the stewardship

of the Carnegies.

But not even their enormous wealth

could save it from a descent

into ruin seen today.

[Robinson] The Dungeness Mansion

was eventually closed down in 1925,

almost ten years after Lucy Carnegie passed away.

And at that point, it started to

And at that point, it started to

fall into disrepair to some degree,

and eventually it did burn in 1959.

The exact origin of the fire

is not a hundred percent certain

but it's believed that it was poachers

illegally hunting on the island

but no one was ever caught or convicted,

that is as the story goes.

[dramatic music playing]