Original subtitles

Narrator: they're watching you.

More than 4,000 Satellites circle the earth.

Every day, They uncover new,

Mysterious phenomena That defy explanation.

There's something Weird going on here.

Something out of "The twilight zone."

Narrator: a lost city Revealed from space.

Satellite imagery has revealed Something hugely important.

Narrator: a detective story That leads from the nazis...

"Bad things happened, And they happened here."

Narrator: ...Back to the age Of the warlords.

The most famous Of these barbarian warlords,

Attila the hun.

Narrator: The mystery of the mummies,

And the place of no return.

Lane: the mummies Still have hair on them

And very, very clear features.

Narrator: A terrifying desert tsunami The size of a skyscraper.

It's like something You'd see in the end times.

Narrator: baffling phenomena, Mysteries from space --

What on earth are they?

**

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

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Venice -- Considered by many

The most beautiful Place on earth.

The origin of this Strange city,

Built on a watery lagoon,

Is a mystery lost in time.

Now aerial photography May be shedding light

On the city's Violent beginnings.

Those lines just Jump out at you.

"Bad things happened,, And they happened here."

Imagery has revealed Something hugely important.

Narrator: July 2007 -- northern italy.

An infrared aerial photograph

Of an area just outside The city reveals

An unusual pattern on the land,

Which is invisible to Conventional satellite cameras.

So, when I look at this image,

What I'm seeing is just normal, Everyday agriculture.

However, if I look At this same area

Using infrared light,

A whole new world appears.

Those lines just Jump out at you.

Narrator: the infrared Image shows an area

That lies around eight miles Northeast of venice.

Italian geologist paolo mozzi Goes to investigate.

When mozzi arrives,

He immediately notices

Something unusual about The crops growing here.

You can see that the soy On the right is very green.

Here, it is growing much, Much worse.

Narrator: there's no obvious Cause for this --

No record Of recent construction,

No signs of blight.

Something under the ground Is doing this,

And whatever's down there, It's been there for some time.

Mozzi: so, we know that Underneath the ground,

Something is preserved.

Something enormous Is buried here,

But what could this be?

If you want to understand What's going on here,

It makes sense to look At the history

Of this part of the world.

Some of it is Pretty dark stuff.

Narrator: could this structure Be a relic

Of italy's terrifying, Fascist past?

Benito mussolini came to power Nearly 10 years before hitler.

His crimes are often overlooked.

Robertshaw: most people think About nazi era,

They know about the holocaust.

Well, actually, italy has Exactly the same thing going on.

Pavelec: A lot of people don't realize That in the 1930s,

Leading up To the second world war,

The italian fascists Also constructed

Political prisoner camps.

Could this image show The outlines,

The remnants, Of concentration camps

From the second world war?

Narrator: italy's fascists built More than 100 camps,

Prisons for political opponents.

In 1943, the nazis took control Of northern italy.

The camps became holding bays

For italian jews Before they were taken

To the extermination Camps of auschwitz.

If we're looking at traces Of a concentration camp,

You can understand Why some people

Would want to cover it up.

Narrator: But far from covering up Their existence,

Italy has preserved Fascist concentration camps,

Like risiera san sabba,

As a reminder Of fascist barbarism.

Robertshaw: After the world, the italians Were not frightened of saying,

"Look, bad things happened, And they happened here."

So it's not the sort of thing I would expect them

To simply airbrush out Of history.

Narrator: At the site of the image,

Paolo mozzi starts Scouring the earth.

Scattered among the rocks Are valuable clues.

Here, we can see All these fragments

Have just been broken By the tillage,

By the agricultural activity.

For example, here, I see pieces of marble,

And, of course, marble Comes from far away.

There's no marble In the area.

Narrator: to find stone which Is not local suggests

Some kind of Advanced civilization,

One which disappeared long ago.

Marchetti: Now, when I look here, I see a semicircular structure,

And that's interesting, Because in antiquity,

This almost looks like What could be

An ancient arena of some sort.

Here, for example, We have a polished rock,

And it's coming from egypt,

And it was used For decorating.

Here, there's these Little bits here.

These are pieces of mosaic.

It was normally used For making floors.

If you know what you're Looking for, it's all there.

There's the shape Of an amphitheater,

An odeon, A forum, and a basilica --

All the characteristics Of a major roman city.

Narrator: The historical record shows That an ancient city

Thrived close to Where the image was taken.

Horton: there's one particular Lost city

Called altinum that we know Was located close

To the modern city Of venice.

Van gijseghem: Altinum, it would have been One of the largest cities

In the empire, Larger than pompeii,

Home to upwards To 20,000 people.

Narrator: but in a.D. 452, Disaster strikes.

Horton: this particular city, We think, was actually sacked

By the most famous Of these barbarian warlords,

Attila the hun.

Mozzi: attila was the head Of the huns,

And the huns were people Coming from central asia.

They used to rob everything And destroy the city

And burn the cities.

Van gijseghem: That would have been One of the largest cities

In the roman empire,

And it's been completely Wiped off the map,

And that's a huge deal,

And that's a huge event Of unprecedented importance.

Narrator: After it is razed to the ground,

The city enters The realm of legend.

Now infrared imaging And archeological excavation

Are bringing this Mysterious place

Back into the light.

Mozzi: We can see the main roads.

This is the via annia That crosses the city.

If you were here on a hot Summer day 2,000 years ago,

What would you see?

You would see a city, You would see many houses,

With streets that would be Running in this direction.

Then, in the background, You would see the theaters.

The theaters were something Like 40 meters tall,

Probably, so they're Really sticking out,

And they were making The skyline of altinum.

Van gijseghem: Satellite imagery has revealed Something hugely important,

But now there's a lot Of things left

To uncover, Quite literally,

By archaeological excavation

To verify the claims That have been made.

Narrator: archaeologists Are just beginning

To uncover the secrets Of this lost city,

But already, something is clear.

It seems that the survivors Of attila's apocalypse

Took refuge amongst the islands Of this watery lagoon.

There, they founded a settlement

That reminded them Of their lost home.

Krueger: A lot of what we're discovering About altinum,

Including the canals And the drainage system,

Suggests that altinum Could have been a prototype

For the city of venice.

There's just so much more To find out about this site now.

Narrator: coming up...

Cerveny: these kind of storms Invoke memories

Of biblical catastrophe.

This storm is the size Of the united states.

Narrator: and witches Conducting unnatural acts.

Some pretty crazy stuff Happened there.

Narrator: april 2, 2015.

Satellite images show What appears to be

A gigantic storm cloud Engulfing the arab peninsula,

Threatening populated areas.

Cerveny: Dust storms can be mammoth,

But to see one that encompasses

Almost the entire area Of saudi arabia

Is mind-boggling.

This storm is the size Of the united states.

Narrator: the storm is so huge, It looks like an error,

But then, residents in riyadh, The capital of saudi arabia,

Notice something On the horizon --

A gigantic tsunami of sand Is heading their way,

Many miles wide And the height of a skyscraper.

As the huge wall of sand Heads towards the city,

People flee for cover,

Cars try to outrun the storm,

Aircraft are forced to land Or alter their routes.

Terrified residents capture

What's happening On their phones.

Arabian desert storms Can be killers,

The sharp sand Damaging eyes,

Leaving people Gasping for breath.

Kourounis: storms like this can Absolutely be fatal.

We need to know What's going on.

Narrator: The region is accustomed To desert sandstorms,

Known as haboobs,

But the size and ferocity

Of this onslaught Is extraordinary.

Satellite images reveal That it covers

A staggering Two million square miles.

It's like something out of The bible, just apocalyptic.

It's kind of like something You'd see in the end times.

Cerveny: these kind of storms Kind of invoke memories

Of biblical catastrophe

Associated With the plagues of egypt.

Narrator: Such a storm is prophesied In the bible,

Divine punishment For the sins of humans.

There's a passage in deuteronomy

Where god says that he will Turn the country

Into dust and powder

And send down scorching heat From the sky.

Narrator: "The lord will turn the rain

Of your country Into dust and powder.

It will come down from the skies Until you are destroyed."

Those are really Quite powerful words.

It describes what we're Seeing here in this video.

Narrator: In recent times in the middle East and across the arab world,

Inhuman acts Of unspeakable savagery

Have been carried out, Often in the name of god.

In just the days Leading up to the storm,

Islamic state leaves More than 140 dead

After a suicide bomb Attack at sana'a, yemen.

It's the job of scientists To try to find logical,

Rational reasons for the forces At work around us,

But to some, The scale of this storm

Is not so easy to explain.

Cerveny: We have been able to link

Bigger dust storms To human activity.

When humans break up The desert,

The broken-up land provides The perfect breeding ground

For big dust storms And big sandstorms.

Narrator: Large dust storms afflicted The midwest in the 1930s.

The infamous dust bowl Was the result of aggressive

Farming methods encouraged By government price fixing.

We've had some In the united states

That have been over a mile high And 100 miles long.

Narrator: but there is little Or no agricultural activity

In the desert lands

Where this giant Sandstorm originated.

Cerveny: the big reason Why farming is

Probably not one Of the primary causes

Of what we're seeing Going on in middle east today

Is simply that there's not that Much farming that's going on.

Narrator: Months later, it happens again.

Another biblical-scale desert Storm hits the middle east.

This time, it's even More devastating.

At least five people Are killed,

Hundreds of people injured.

These giant desert storms Have been described

As freak weather events,

Which means that scientists have No easy explanation for them.

Kourounis: whenever you have A disaster like this,

Especially on the proportions

And scale of something Like this,

You're gonna have people Who say, "This is sent by god.

This is the end Of the world."

Narrator: this satellite image, It turns out,

Was terrifyingly accurate.

Coming up, the locals call it "The sea of death,"

"The place of no return."

Porges: these marks look like They could be

Some sort of ancient Burial site.

Narrator: mummies, mongols And mystery holes.

What they are, I have no idea.

Narrator: The ghostly taklimakan desert,

Cut off from the world By mountains

To the north, south, and west

And by the vast Gobi desert to the east.

The tribes who live beyond These mountains

Call this empty, waterless hell "The sea of death."

And yet, when the Geoeye satellite flies

Over this desolate land,

It captures an image Which perplexes analysts.

It appears to be Some sort of grid,

But why would you put a grid Like this in the desert?

Who built it? Why did they build it?

And why did they build it In such an inhospitable place?

Narrator: scale analysis reveals Each grid covers

A third of an acre.

More than 100 of these Squares are photographed,

Stretching over five miles.

It's like a series Of teenage spots

On the surface of the earth.

It's like little pock marks.

They're almost like Squares or diamond shapes

With strange patterns, Almost pixilated.

What they are, I have no idea.

Narrator: the desert is Freezing cold,

Blasted by chilling Siberian winds from the north.

And thousands of miles From open water,

This desert is also Extraordinarily dry,

Deadly to cross.

It's no surprise that its name Means "The abandoned place,"

Or "The place of no return."

The sea of death Is so unfriendly to humans,

Analysts expect to see Untouched wilderness, not this.

It doesn't look like A natural formation.

It's far too symmetrical.

They seem to be joined Along a central line,

Which gives you the impression

That people are getting To these areas.

So, you immediately think,

"Well, that's Probably man-made."

Narrator: there are humans In this place of no return.

The only problem is, They're dead.

In 1914, archeologist Sir aurel stein leads

One of several teams Into the desert.

Just 100 miles From the mysterious marks,

At a place known As the tarim basin,

The explorers discover The mummified remains of humans.

Some of the desert mummies Date back 4,000 years.

Lane: The mummies were uncovered

In the north Of the desert region.

Narrator: But there is something weird About these ancient mummies.

They look almost alive.

Lane: their clothes look as if They could have come straight

From the local clothes store.

The colors are bright And very vivid

And in perfect condition.

The mummies still Have hair on them,

They've still got wispy beards And very, very clear features.

They're beautifully preserved.

Narrator: closer inspection of The photograph reveals the grids

Are made up Of hundreds of holes.

A satellite image of similar,

Weird desert holes on The other side of the globe

Could offer a clue.

There are satellite images Of a desert area in peru

That has very similar Markings on the ground.

Lane: They bring to mind the pisco Holes in south american peru,

Which is a possibility.

But, yet again, Another reason

Why these are Such fascinating images.

Narrator: over 5,000 holes,

Each large enough For a mummified corpse,

Litter the floor Of pisco valley,

140 miles south Of the peruvian capital, lima.

Some suspect they were Created 500 years ago

By the incas, Some kind of necropolis,

A place for the dead.

Porges: these marks look like They could be

Some sort of ancient Burial site.

Narrator: this is, after all, The sea of death.

Its very name means "The place of no return."

If this is a necropolis Of mummies, it's huge.

There are 13,000 pits.

That's a lot Of bodies to bury.

This is a very remote area.

It's unclear whether Than many people

Actually ever lived here.

Narrator: the discovery Of mummies tells us something.

If there are dead people here,

It means that once, There were live people.

Despite the terrible reputation Of this sea of death,

The fearless mongols Regularly passed across it.

The ancient silk road Passed through here.

Could these markings Have anything to do with that?

Lane: the silk road Is a trade road

Connecting china in the east With, say, initially,

The islamic world In the west.

Narrator: Caravans laden with spices, Silks, and other goods passed

Through this arid terrain On the way to europe.

Lane: The movement of manpower,

The movement of people, Was unprecedented.

Narrator: This silk road flourished In the 13th century

Under the control Of genghis khan.

Genghis khan, even though He's known as a conqueror --

And he did conquer -- He was a trader.

It was under genghis khan

And his successors That silk road

Grew to its greatest extent.

Narrator: To travel the mighty silk road, Over 4,000 miles long,

Could take as long As two years.

Could the markings be Remnants of a staging post?

Just like a modern highway, Which has restaurants

And inns and gas stations,

The silk road had places For people to stay,

Places for people to shop, Fortifications.

Lane: In iran, to this day,

You can still see some of those Original fortified settlements.

Narrator: but despite All this activity,

It seems most likely That these mysterious mummies

Are even more ancient Than the mongols.

Lane: if the image was connected To the medieval period

And to the silk road, We would have known about it.

There'd have been Documentary evidence.

Narrator: There are almost certainly More mummies lying concealed

In the place of no return.

And there are no doubt many more Treasures of the mongols

Still to be discovered.

But some geologists believe

These strange marks May be evidence

Of a different kind Of treasure hunt.

This part of china Does have precious minerals,

Heavy metals, nickel, cobalt,

Perhaps some platinum.

Sometimes you get heavy minerals Concentrated in sandstones.

You can even get diamonds.

It is possible that the pattern Of squares that we're seeing,

Because it's so regular And set out on a grid,

Spaced very evenly,

Could be related To some kind of survey

For minerals or mining.

Narrator: whatever the cause Of these marks,

This remote desert, The sea of death,

Remains a place of mystery,

As fascinating as it Is frighteningly inhospitable.

Still to come...

The devil, unnatural sex acts,

And the top-secret American base.

That's an important thing, To be able to talk

To your nuclear guys.

Narrator: methods of torture And execution too horrific

To describe on tv.

Some of the worst human rights Abuses on this planet right now.

Narrator: And the mountain in the sky.

It's insane.

How do you do that in Secret without anybody knowing?

Narrator: A satellite image of a remote Patch of australian desert

Reveals a giant satanic symbol.

Why would anyone create A hexagon a mile wide

In the middle of the desert?

One doesn't really Think of australia

As a hotbed of witchcraft Or satanism.

Narrator: november 2014.

The worldview-3 satellite is Passing over the vast,

Empty wilderness of australia's North west cape

When it captures a huge symbol Etched onto the earth.

The strangest thing About this image

Is its geometric regularity.

These lines are very straight. The markings are very clear.

Narrator: the shape covers Over 1 1/2 square miles.

A hexagon a mile wide In the middle of the desert.

This site is one Of the furthest points west

On the australian continent.

It's miles from anything.

Narrator: this area contains Some of the world's largest

Examples of ancient Cave paintings.

Close to the hexagon Are markings

Dating back To prehistoric times.

The carvings on The burrup peninsula

Were created 10,000 years ago.

Nelson: some of them are Geometric shapes,

Some of them are images Of animals and humans.

Narrator: but neither the design Nor the size of this symbol

Resembles the work Of prehistoric cavemen.

There is very ancient Aboriginal rock art

All across australia, But nothing on this scale.

Narrator: The geometry of the hexagon is Fascinating to mathematicians.

Due to its peculiar properties,

It occurs naturally In honeycombs

And geological structures

Like the so-called Giant's causeway.

But the shape also has cultural And mystical significance.

Capps: the shape forms A six-sided hexagram,

Which is a classic Occult symbol.

Is that related somehow?

Narrator: according to the book Of revelations,

666 is the number of the beast, A signature of satan.

His symbol is The six-sided hexagram.

It has six points on six Equilateral triangles

Surrounding a six-sided shape.

This so-called "Star of lucifer"

Is to devil worshippers What the cross is to christians.

One doesn't really Think of australia

As a hotbed of witchcraft Or satanism.

But some pretty crazy stuff Happened there

In the '40s and '50s.

Narrator: in the 1940s, The teachings

Of the infamous british Occultist aleister crowley

Gained a following In australia.

His leading acolyte was A notorious witch.

Australia is infamous For its pagan roots,

And its most famous witch

Is a woman by the name Of rosaleen norton,

Who exhibited her work In the '40s,

And she has this Sexually provocative

Satanic imagery in her work.

Narrator: Norton was accused by police Of committing unnatural sex acts

And possessing blasphemous And obscene photographs.

But norton claimed To be a pagan,

Not a devil worshipper.

Analysts look for other Explanations for the image.

Petford: A lot of work has been done And continues to be done

Looking for uranium Deposits in australia.

Narrator: Enriched uranium is the vital Ingredient in nuclear weapons,

And geologists believe that There are huge deposits buried

Beneath the sun-baked Ground here --

Almost two million Tons of uranium,

Enough to make 100,000 nuclear warheads.

Enough to destroy the planet.

Petford: We have to consider this As a very real possibility,

As a mining structure Or something related

To metal prospecting.

Oftentimes, Exploration for minerals

Is done in A very systematic way.

Trying to determine what's Underneath the ground

From the surface,

We lay things out In orderly patterns

So that we can make grids

And do calculations That are rigorous.

So, there are lots of shapes

That you can trace out In terms of doing the survey,

But the most effective One is a hexagon.

Narrator: similar shapes visible In satellite images

Of the utah desert are remnants Of uranium prospecting.

Nelson: uranium processing In the u.S.A.,

Especially after world war ii,

Was a vigorous, Frenzied activity.

The most vigorous Uranium prospecting

Was in an area Called the colorado plateau,

Which overlaps western colorado, Eastern utah,

And portions of northern New mexico and arizona.

Narrator: but key details Of the image don't fit.

I don't think this is related To uranium prospecting,

Because, first, It's a very large feature.

If this were for prospecting,

The individual points Would be closer together.

Second, it's not in an area Of australia, the west coast,

That really has large Uranium deposits.

Narrator: close analysis Of the image reveals

That at the points Of the hexagram, there are thin,

Spike-like structures Casting long shadows.

Zooming in on this image,

We see a massive array Of antennae.

So, the original pattern We saw was actually roads

Connecting all these antennae For servicing.

Narrator: this is no mine.

The worldview-3 Satellite has captured

An aerial image Of the most secretive

And controversial military Site in australia,

A site established By the u.S. Military.

It's called base harold holt,

And it's a u.S. Navy/ Australian navy collaboration.

They use it to communicate With ships all over the world.

Narrator: the base is rumored To operate

Top-secret Space surveillance systems

Developed at White sands missile range.

People believe that These hexagon antennae

Transmit very Low-frequency radio waves.

These are used, Among other things,

To issue orders to submerged Nuclear submarines.

An extreme low-frequency -- E.L.F. --

Penetrates into the water

Because it's got A long wavelength.

It's hard to communicate To submarines.

Really hard.

And that's an important thing,

To be able to talk To your nuclear guys.

Narrator: some people believe That signals

From the hexagon interfered

With the controls Of a civilian plane in 2008...

...Forcing it to make An emergency landing

And injuring over 70 people.

The incident Provoked speculation

That the site could be part

Of a secret radio wave Weapons program.

The international pilots Association

Has called for Commercial aircraft

To be barred from The area as a precaution.

Access to the harold e. Holt Facility is highly restricted.

Even today, the secrets

Of what goes on here Remain classified.

Coming up, The prison of terror

That can only be Seen from space.

Even the united nations doesn't Have the ability to go in.

They are completely off limits.

Narrator: april 7, 2011.

A satellite orbiting above North korea

Takes a photograph Of a structure

That officially Does not exist.

Hansen: You have these huge areas,

Electric fences with guard posts Around them,

And it's a very clear indication

That there's some people That they want to keep in.

Pavelec: looking at the imagery, You can see walls

And barbed wire And watch towers.

Out in the middle of nowhere?

Narrator: the structure Is in a remote,

Mountainous region northeast Of the capital, pyongyang.

North koreans Who have escaped to the south

Claim it is A brutal concentration camp.

The methods of torture And execution

Allegedly conducted here Are so horrific,

They cannot be described On television.

One of the best human Intelligence sources we have

Is a by the name Of kang chol-hwan,

Who was able to defect From north korea through china

To south korea.

Narrator: The socialist government Of north korea, naturally,

Dismisses the defector's Claims as propaganda.

Pavelec: The north korean party line

Is that these images Have been fabricated,

C.G.I. Or whatever,

And that someone is trying To discredit their regime.

So, their reaction was typical.

They basically just denied Everything and said

It's just a big plot Against the country.

Narrator: north korea is A closed society.

Gathering evidence Of the state's crimes

Is an almost impossible task.

Even the united nations Doesn't have the ability

To go in and examine These camps,

To see what conditions For prisoners are.

There are no inquiries Taking place into these camps.

They are completely off limits.

Narrator: kang claims that The mysterious structure

Is known as camp 15,

And it holds more than 50,000 enemies of the state.

I don't know of any other Country in the world

That has these enormous Prison encampments.

I don't know of Anywhere else like that.

Narrator: the satellite images Are undeniable.

And yet, the north korean Government insists

That the concentration camp Does no exist.

When confronted with evidence Of their prison-camp system,

North korean officials, First of all,

Say that all Defector testimonies is lies,

That these people are traitors.

Narrator: but the testimony of Survivors is harrowing.

[ gunshot, bird cawing ]

In 1992, kang escapes By bribing his guards

And getting across The frontier to china.

It's very hard to get Out of north korea,

Especially if you're A north korean.

Narrator: in the face Of mounting evidence,

Including satellite imagery, North korean officials

Finally admit That camp 15 exists.

It is described as A re-education center,

Which is now being shut down.

More recent imagery Shows that, in fact,

It's not being shut down -- It's being expanded.

Narrator: there could be as many As 200,000 enemies of the state

In north korea's horrific Torture camps.

Pavelec: Kang's story tells us

That this is Political prison camp number 15.

You can immediately assume That there's a 1 through 14,

And there's probably A couple of dozen

Of these places yet to be found.

On a political level, The camps are actually expanding

Because the number of people Who have fallen out of favor

Seems to be greater

As kim jong-un Consolidates his regime.

We've seen unprecedented Levels of purging

Within the party itself.

Hanham: I'm not a psychologist,

But I sure would like Kim jong un to see one.

He is, in many ways,

More dangerous Than his father or grandfather.

Narrator: Today, kang risks his life

Trying to smuggle information into north korea.

The north korean Socialist government

Is known for having its critics And opponents killed.

The package contained An ax and a death threat

Written in blood-red ink.

Satellite images Are revealing atrocities

The north korean state Would prefer to keep hidden.

Pavelec: North korea's perpetuating Some of the worst

Human rights abuses On this planet right now,

And something really needs To be done about them.

Narrator: still to come... Big trouble in little china.

The towering terror in beijing.

A lot of people thought He was absolutely bonkers

And it was quite dangerous.

Narrator: september 2010.

The geoeye-1 satellite Captures photographs

Of the chinese capital, beijing.

One image shows a cluster

Of apartment blocks Next to a lake.

But one of the towers Doesn't look right.

It appears to be Half skyscraper, half mountain.

French: We see this one skyscraper That is covered

With what appears to be An enormous rockery.

Blasina: I think that's pretty awesome.

I mean, that's one of The craziest skyscrapers

I've ever seen.

Narrator: the image is captured In the haidian district

Of beijing, eastern china.

The address Of this apartment block

Appears in several reports To local authorities

Of strange activities On the roof.

Local residents started Complaining about noise,

About weird objects being Hoisted up to the roof,

Very long waits For the elevator.

Leaks and cracks Are starting to form all over.

Narrator: A local drone operator flies A camera over the rooftop

To get a better look at what Could be causing the problems.

The drone spots An artificial mountain

On top of this building...

...With shrubs, A swimming pool.

It's the size of two Basketball courts.

This is totally crazy.

Narrator: The aerial footage reveals

The huge mountain-like structure Is two stories high,

Has its own sun terrace And even a vineyard.

This is incredible to me,

That this luxury Mountain retreat

Went unnoticed for so long.

Blasina: I want to know how he did it.

Like, did he, you know, Climb up every day

With a few rocks In his pockets?

[ chuckles ] Like, I mean, it's insane.

Like, how do you do that in Secret without anybody knowing?

Capps: this was a huge Amount of work.

You see these massive Metal structures

On the sides of the towers To hold it all together.

This is no roof garden.

Narrator: The drone footage goes viral,

And the beijing morning post Launches an investigation

Into who built The bizarre rooftop mountain.

Fletcher: So, who is this guy?

How did he get away With this building project?

A lot of people thought He was absolutely bonkers

And it was quite dangerous In what he'd done.

But other people thought That what he'd done

Was actually beautify the city.

Narrator: but local residents Aren't convinced.

All this adverse publicity Comes home to roost,

And the authorities Finally decide to act.

Narrator: Officials give the owner of the Top-floor penthouse two weeks

To remove his rooftop mountain.

Days later, workers start To remove the weird mountain.

Its owner was given Just 15 days to dismantle

What took More than six years to build.

Rumor has it that one year on,

They're still struggling To take it down.

But the homemade mountain

Is not the strangest thing On this skyline.

Since the 1980s, The cities in the region

Have been transformed From low-rise peasant dwellings

To amazing flights of fancy As their residents get creative.

Blasina: There are replicas of the Eiffel tower that's been built

That stands at 108 meters high,

There's a church That's been built recently

That's actually in the shape Of a giant, glass,

High-heel shoe.

Narrator: Even ordinary streets like these Are not quite as they seem.

Some enterprising entrepreneurs

Have started Constructing housing

And entire street complexes On top of china's towers.