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Vast landscapes
poisoned by radiation.

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An English colony
that vanished without a trace.

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And cities that have been
forsaken by the gods.

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All over the world,
there are locations that were

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once thriving
and full of activity

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that are now abandoned,
empty, devoid of human life.

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Why do people
desert these places?

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Did they become too dangerous?

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Did the area become
incapable of sustaining life?

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Or is it possible
that some places

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are actually destined
to be abandoned?

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Well, that is what
we’ll try and find out.

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In northern Ukraine
stand the remains

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of an abandoned city
known as Pripyat.

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Pripyat was founded
by the Soviet Union in 1970

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to serve Chernobyl,
the nearby power plant.

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At its height,
nearly 50,000 people lived here,

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but today,
Pripyat’s streets are empty.

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Its buildings have fallen
into disrepair.

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Nature has reclaimed
large portions of the city.

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And it’s all because
of a tragic event

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that took place
on April 26, 1986.

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An event known as
the Chernobyl disaster.

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In 1986, we were horrified

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to see the greatest
nuclear accident of all time

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emerge at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant.

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The reactor went out of control,

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creating an uncontrolled
chain reaction

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like a small atomic bomb,

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blowing the roof
right off the reactor.

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A huge amount
of radioactive material

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shot through the roof
and then into the atmosphere.

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36 hours after the explosion,

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officials finally determined
that the residents of Pripyat

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needed to be moved to safety.

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The city was then evacuated
in less than four hours.

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They were evacuated very,
very quickly at that point.

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And when they’re evacuated,
they can only take

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certain things with them--
small things.

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And the government put guards

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outside some
of these apartments,

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basically saying,
"We’ll protect your material,"

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suggesting the residents

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would actually go back to
Pripyat, which they never did.

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Pripyat was built to be
a self-contained town

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which had everything
for the workers

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of the Chernobyl power plant.

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So that meant kindergartens
to send their kids to,

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all this leisure activity.

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So the Soviets, in that respect,
were getting better

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at providing their workers
with facilities.

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Working at Pripyat would be
a much better gig

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than different towns
in the Soviet Union.

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Before the Chernobyl
nuclear disaster in 1986,

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Pripyat was a city of dreams

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for the residents and the people
that lived around.

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It offered amenities
and resources

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that would not be found
in nearby cities and villages.

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After the accident,
people were evacuated,

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and they were forced to leave
their hopes and plans

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for the future behind them.

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And that’s really what we see
in Pripyat today

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is what was left behind.

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It is a ghost town.

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Pripyat is an example
of an abandoned place

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that was vacated
in a great hurry.

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And so, of course,
you have vehicles

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that are just left abandoned.

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You have household objects,

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children’s toys,

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kitchen utensils
that were just dropped

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in the middle
of meal preparation.

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There are a lot
of hopeful murals

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about science leading you
into a proud future.

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And they’re in buildings
that have been abandoned

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for over 30 years.

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That’s something that is
sort of impossible

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not to feel the weight of.

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While the nuclear meltdown
was caused

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by both human error
and technical failures,

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there are some former residents
of Pripyat who claim

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that the Chernobyl disaster
was actually destined to happen.

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Some of the workers
at Chernobyl,

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in the days immediately
preceding the explosion

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and following,

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reported seeing this mysterious
winged creature

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with blazing red eyes.

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This creature,
which is referred to

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as the Black Bird
of Chernobyl today,

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was thought to be
some sort of a warning

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or a kind of crisis apparition.

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The concept of
a harbinger of doom

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is incredibly common
and incredibly long-standing.

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Probably the most famous
example is

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the Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
the Four Horsemen

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who are said to foretell
the ending of the world.

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So, when Chernobyl explodes,
the Black Bird of Chernobyl

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was not just a strange
sighting in the sky.

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People start to think
that maybe this wasn’t

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so much an accident
as it was something predestined.

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Is it possible that Pripyat
was destined to be abandoned?

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As far-fetched as it may sound,

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many locals believe
the answer is yes.

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And for further evidence,
they point to a prophecy

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of death and destruction
that is written

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in the Book of Revelation
in the Holy Bible.

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Mc
It’s interesting because
the word "Chernobyl"

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is the Ukrainian word
for wormwood.

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And wormwood has a lot
of historical

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and cultural affiliations
with poison,

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with bitterness, with darkness.

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And we see that
most poignantly, perhaps,

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prophesied in the Bible

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that there will be seven angels
blowing seven trumpets.

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And trumpet number three
is the trumpet

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that causes the star
called Wormwood

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to fall from the sky

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and poison the land
and the waters

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so that people
who drink the waters will die.

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The story could be
an amazing symbolic description

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of a nuclear power plant

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exploding and irradiating
the landscape

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so that people
who live in that space,

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who touch those objects,
who drink that water will die.

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It’s really compelling
to see that connection,

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and it is hard to simply
write it off as a coincidence.

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You can imagine the way

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that people reacted
to this story

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after the disaster in 1986.

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The people that lived
in this region

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were highly dependent on water
for their way of life,

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and their lives were
forever disrupted

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by the radioactive materials
that were thrown

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out of the reactor
on the night of the disaster

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and left in the environment.

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When you add up
these different elements--

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the spotting of
a winged creature

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or some sort of
a harbinger of doom

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and the fact that a falling star
in the Book of Revelation

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has the same name as
the nuclear power plant itself--

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you can understand how
some people read meaning

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into the Chernobyl disaster.

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Whether the fate of Pripyat
was predestined

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or simply the result of modern
technology gone terribly wrong,

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this abandoned city
continues to spark

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both fascination and fear.

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We are endlessly fascinated
with abandoned places,

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whether they were abandoned
gradually or suddenly,

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because buildings are supposed
to be filled with people.

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They’re supposed to be used
for commerce or habitation.

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And when they’re empty,
it seems ghostly.

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The Chernobyl disaster
is a cautionary tale

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that reminds us that our cities
can become dangerous

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without any warning.

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But not all abandoned places
are deserted so quickly.

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Sometimes it happens over
a much longer period of time.

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Like in the case of
an ancient temple complex

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located in Cambodia
that is known as Angkor Wat.

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Deep in the northwestern jungles
of this small nation

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tucked between Vietnam
and Thailand

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sits the abandoned ruins
of Angkor Wat,

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a massive, ancient complex
of temples.

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Experts believe that
Angkor Wat is the largest

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religious structure ever built.

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It’s just a massive,
impressive sight

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swallowed up by the jungle.

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Trees are wrapping around

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some of the stones
and sculptures that-that remain,

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yet you can still make out
some of the exquisite sculptures

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between leaves and branches.

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And you can see something
really majestic underneath.

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Angkor Wat is huge.

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When you walk up
to its front entrance,

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it’s a bridge going
across the moat

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and then a causeway
going to the temples themselves.

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And they’re so far off
in the distance,

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you walk across that bridge
for ten minutes,

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and you’re still not
at the temple.

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All told,
Angkor Wat encompasses

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more than 401 acres of
buildings, temples and gardens,

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and a 700-foot-tall spire sits
at the center of the complex.

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Angkor Wat was built
in the 12 century A.D.

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by the Khmer people,

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and it was the spiritual center
of their empire.

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It’s difficult to explain

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just how important
this place was.

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In fact, "Angkor Wat" means
capital city or capital temple

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or city temple,
depending how you translate it.

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So this was not only
a religious center.

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It was also a political center.
It was a military center.

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There was absolutely
no separation

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between religion and daily life.

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The temple served
all of these purposes.

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And it was home
to tens of thousands

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of ordinary people
who were farmers, merchants

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living in this tremendously
important religious center.

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It was a massive, vibrant city.

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The urban landscape extended

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far beyond Angkor Wat itself,
in every direction,

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for, uh, miles.

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So there were anywhere
between about 750,000

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to a million people living, uh,
around the city of Angkor.

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In the year 1431 A.D.,

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the Khmer people
abandoned Angkor Wat.

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For decades,
archaeologists have speculated

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as to what caused
the demise of the city.

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Numerous theories,
blaming everything

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from climate change
to invading armies,

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have been proposed.

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And yet, no one knows
for certain

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why nearly a million people
chose to abandon

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these magnificent temples.

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The abandonment of Angkor Wat

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illustrates to us
that something catastrophic

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had occurred
within Khmer society.

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This incredible place
was still capable

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of supporting
large numbers of people.

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It was still
an important temple,

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but it was almost
completely abandoned.

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It was just left.

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And what that suggests is that

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00:13:03,491 --> 00:13:07,751
something changed
in the Khmer people.

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Some experts have proposed
that because Angkor Wat

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was such an important
religious site,

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it may have been abandoned
for spiritual reasons.

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Angkor Wat was the link between
mortal people and the gods.

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And it was built
by Suryavarman II...

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...who fought a series
of military campaigns

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to unify his people,

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brought stability, prosperity.

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And Suryavarman II intended
Angkor Wat to be his mausoleum.

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The tomb of Suryavarman II

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was intended to be located
underneath the central tower.

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And there’s a hole at the top
of the central tower

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that lets in a beam of light.

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00:14:01,591 --> 00:14:03,551
And that beam of light
would have shown

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00:14:03,676 --> 00:14:05,676
directly onto the tomb,

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demonstrating in a way
that Suryavarman

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was directly linked
to the divine.

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00:14:13,394 --> 00:14:18,274
Suryavarman II clearly intended
to be buried at Angkor Wat.

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He would be interred
in the central temple.

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But he died on a military
campaign in what is now Vietnam,

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00:14:25,990 --> 00:14:28,830
and nobody knows
what happened to the body.

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00:14:30,661 --> 00:14:33,661
Curiously, after
King Suryavarman died

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00:14:33,748 --> 00:14:37,838
and his body was not placed
in its intended tomb,

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00:14:37,919 --> 00:14:39,749
the living conditions
at Angkor Wat

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00:14:39,837 --> 00:14:41,587
took a turn for the worse.

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There were repeated droughts
in the region,

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00:14:44,092 --> 00:14:45,892
which led to famine

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00:14:45,968 --> 00:14:48,258
because there was not
enough water for crops.

251
00:14:48,388 --> 00:14:51,388
But on the other hand,
there were also huge monsoons

252
00:14:51,474 --> 00:14:55,444
that at times
would cause major flooding.

253
00:14:56,604 --> 00:14:59,904
Some scholars believe
that these calamities

254
00:14:59,982 --> 00:15:03,652
may have been seen
by the Khmer people as a sign

255
00:15:03,778 --> 00:15:06,068
that their connection
to the gods had been lost

256
00:15:06,155 --> 00:15:11,235
and that it was time
for them to abandon Angkor Wat.

257
00:15:12,662 --> 00:15:14,622
The Khmer people
would have remembered

258
00:15:14,705 --> 00:15:17,115
the time of Suryavarman II,

259
00:15:17,208 --> 00:15:20,168
of this golden age
that had existed.

260
00:15:20,294 --> 00:15:22,964
But later,
things weren’t as good.

261
00:15:23,089 --> 00:15:24,759
Could it be that the link

262
00:15:24,841 --> 00:15:28,301
between mortals and their god
had been broken?

263
00:15:29,804 --> 00:15:31,474
If what made Angkor City great

264
00:15:31,597 --> 00:15:34,847
was the blessings that were
sent down from the gods,

265
00:15:34,976 --> 00:15:38,226
then when things started going
more badly for the city,

266
00:15:38,312 --> 00:15:40,402
people would naturally
interpret that

267
00:15:40,481 --> 00:15:42,901
the gods again are taking away
their blessings.

268
00:15:44,318 --> 00:15:47,318
And then that, in turn,
would serve as a cue

269
00:15:47,405 --> 00:15:51,085
for the Khmer people
to also leave behind the city.

270
00:15:52,201 --> 00:15:54,161
All civilizations on the planet,

271
00:15:54,245 --> 00:15:57,675
no matter how big they are,
they eventually fall,

272
00:15:57,748 --> 00:15:59,668
and Angkor was no different.

273
00:15:59,750 --> 00:16:03,170
And the factors were not
just as simple as one thing.

274
00:16:03,296 --> 00:16:06,046
There were a number
of things happening.

275
00:16:06,174 --> 00:16:09,764
In many regards,
the abandonment of Angkor

276
00:16:09,844 --> 00:16:12,474
was just
an acknowledgement that,

277
00:16:12,555 --> 00:16:16,815
however large and grand
their life was there,

278
00:16:16,893 --> 00:16:20,523
that the gods didn’t favor it
and it was time to end it.

279
00:16:21,481 --> 00:16:23,901
Did the Khmer people
abandon Angkor Wat

280
00:16:24,025 --> 00:16:25,655
because they believed

281
00:16:25,735 --> 00:16:27,955
that they had fallen
out of favor with the gods?

282
00:16:28,029 --> 00:16:31,239
Seems possible,
especially when you consider

283
00:16:31,365 --> 00:16:35,365
that the entire complex
was built to honor the divine.

284
00:16:35,453 --> 00:16:40,423
And devotion to God also played
a role in the construction

285
00:16:40,541 --> 00:16:44,291
of an abandoned place
located in Portugal.

286
00:16:44,378 --> 00:16:49,168
A structure that may have once
been home to the Holy Grail.

287
00:16:54,639 --> 00:16:56,809
This popular tourist destination

288
00:16:56,891 --> 00:16:58,851
is known for
its pristine beaches,

289
00:16:58,935 --> 00:17:02,905
historic gardens
and numerous palatial estates.

290
00:17:04,065 --> 00:17:08,195
One of those estates
is named Quinta da Regaleira.

291
00:17:08,277 --> 00:17:11,857
This gothic palace
has been unoccupied

292
00:17:11,948 --> 00:17:14,738
for more than 30 years,
and it has a reputation

293
00:17:14,825 --> 00:17:19,325
for being a mysterious,
eerie place.

294
00:17:19,413 --> 00:17:23,423
Regaleira is really the... it’s
the spooky mansion on the hill.

295
00:17:24,669 --> 00:17:27,299
But when you get up closer,
it immediately

296
00:17:27,421 --> 00:17:30,591
seizes your imagination
and draws you in,

297
00:17:30,716 --> 00:17:35,046
and you begin to appreciate
the secrets that it holds,

298
00:17:35,137 --> 00:17:38,767
compared to the other
more glitzy palaces nearby.

299
00:17:38,849 --> 00:17:41,139
According to historical records,

300
00:17:41,269 --> 00:17:43,849
Quinta da Regaleira
is an ancient estate

301
00:17:43,938 --> 00:17:46,268
that dates back
nearly a thousand years.

302
00:17:46,357 --> 00:17:49,027
And it was bought
in the late 19th century

303
00:17:49,110 --> 00:17:51,360
by an eccentric
Portuguese businessman

304
00:17:51,445 --> 00:17:53,355
named Carvalho Monteiro,

305
00:17:53,447 --> 00:17:57,827
who reportedly had
a fascination with the occult.

306
00:17:57,952 --> 00:18:00,122
Monteiro was a multimillionaire,

307
00:18:00,246 --> 00:18:03,576
and he embraced all manner
of mystical, um,

308
00:18:03,666 --> 00:18:05,706
philosophies and traditions.

309
00:18:05,793 --> 00:18:11,473
And so he invested an awful lot
of his wealth at Quinta.

310
00:18:11,549 --> 00:18:16,639
He enhanced the property
to add symbolism.

311
00:18:16,762 --> 00:18:18,972
There are statues

312
00:18:19,056 --> 00:18:22,726
and inscriptions and carvings

313
00:18:22,810 --> 00:18:25,940
that are connected
with Freemasonry,

314
00:18:26,022 --> 00:18:27,562
the Knights Templar

315
00:18:27,648 --> 00:18:30,148
and occultists
of various descriptions.

316
00:18:31,193 --> 00:18:34,743
Monteiro basically
adapted the property

317
00:18:34,822 --> 00:18:38,372
into this extraordinary sort of
theme park to the occult.

318
00:18:38,492 --> 00:18:41,042
People thought it was odd,

319
00:18:41,162 --> 00:18:45,082
but to a serious occultist,
if you’ve got the money,

320
00:18:45,166 --> 00:18:47,746
you’re gonna go for it,
and that’s exactly what he did.

321
00:18:49,170 --> 00:18:52,670
Each year, thousands of tourists
visit Quinta da Regaleira

322
00:18:52,798 --> 00:18:55,798
to walk through
the palace and gardens.

323
00:18:55,885 --> 00:18:58,605
But what attracts
the most attention

324
00:18:58,679 --> 00:19:01,349
is a curious
underground structure

325
00:19:01,432 --> 00:19:04,522
known as the Initiation Well.

326
00:19:06,020 --> 00:19:10,940
The Initiation Well is like
some kind of Gothic fantasy.

327
00:19:12,109 --> 00:19:15,819
It’s called the Initiation Well,
but it’s not a well.

328
00:19:15,905 --> 00:19:19,035
It’s like an inverted tower

329
00:19:19,116 --> 00:19:21,906
that’s going 90 foot deep
into the ground,

330
00:19:22,036 --> 00:19:27,076
and your senses are completely
confused by the sight of this.

331
00:19:27,208 --> 00:19:29,168
When you enter,

332
00:19:29,251 --> 00:19:31,301
you’re looking down
at this shaft

333
00:19:31,379 --> 00:19:35,509
with the spiral staircase
full of niches

334
00:19:35,591 --> 00:19:37,221
going, uh, clockwise

335
00:19:37,301 --> 00:19:39,141
down this corkscrew,
deep into the earth,

336
00:19:39,220 --> 00:19:41,720
and you become very aware
that you’re passing through

337
00:19:41,847 --> 00:19:43,847
into a completely new
level of reality.

338
00:19:43,933 --> 00:19:46,813
You almost have
a spiritual, uh, moment,

339
00:19:46,894 --> 00:19:48,904
like a revelation.

340
00:19:51,190 --> 00:19:53,730
The Initiation Well is
the most elaborate creation

341
00:19:53,818 --> 00:19:56,568
in Monteiro’s sprawling
monument to the occult.

342
00:19:56,696 --> 00:19:59,986
However, some historians
believe that Monteiro was not

343
00:20:00,074 --> 00:20:02,034
the original architect
of the well.

344
00:20:02,118 --> 00:20:04,868
They claim that
he merely refurbished it

345
00:20:04,954 --> 00:20:08,044
and that this structure was
first built in the Middle Ages

346
00:20:08,124 --> 00:20:10,884
by the Knights Templar,
who were a secretive group

347
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,090
of Christian warrior monks.

348
00:20:13,212 --> 00:20:15,092
It’s highly likely

349
00:20:15,172 --> 00:20:18,722
that the Templars
were responsible for the well.

350
00:20:18,801 --> 00:20:21,261
The Templars were
the first deed holders

351
00:20:21,345 --> 00:20:24,675
of the property that became
Regaleira many centuries later,

352
00:20:24,765 --> 00:20:26,725
and they were definitely
working on this property

353
00:20:26,809 --> 00:20:28,099
in the 12th century.

354
00:20:29,228 --> 00:20:31,018
Another piece of evidence
which suggests

355
00:20:31,105 --> 00:20:33,695
that the Knights Templar
built the Initiation Well

356
00:20:33,774 --> 00:20:37,444
is the fact that there is
a network of underground tunnels

357
00:20:37,528 --> 00:20:39,988
that extend out from it.

358
00:20:40,114 --> 00:20:42,744
At the bottom of the well,
you suddenly find yourself

359
00:20:42,825 --> 00:20:46,045
in this labyrinth of tunnels
which go every single direction.

360
00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,370
Some of the tunnels extend
deep into the mountain

361
00:20:49,457 --> 00:20:51,457
to the point where
you can come up underneath

362
00:20:51,542 --> 00:20:55,252
a chapel or a convent
in a hilltop five miles away.

363
00:20:55,337 --> 00:20:57,457
Mc
The whole place is
honeycombed with tunnels.

364
00:20:57,548 --> 00:21:00,878
So there’s plenty of evidence
for the Templars being there.

365
00:21:00,968 --> 00:21:04,548
Monteiro was effectively
buying a chunk of real estate

366
00:21:04,638 --> 00:21:06,768
right on top of where
the Templars had been.

367
00:21:06,849 --> 00:21:08,389
There’s no accident in this.

368
00:21:08,476 --> 00:21:10,976
He’s then recreating

369
00:21:11,061 --> 00:21:13,361
what he thinks
the Templars stood for.

370
00:21:13,481 --> 00:21:16,071
It’s believed that Monteiro
may have been

371
00:21:16,150 --> 00:21:18,320
looking for something
the Knights Templar

372
00:21:18,402 --> 00:21:20,822
have left behind
in those many tunnels

373
00:21:20,905 --> 00:21:22,455
that were underneath,

374
00:21:22,531 --> 00:21:24,781
which may have included
the Holy Grail.

375
00:21:26,035 --> 00:21:28,125
According to
Christian tradition,

376
00:21:28,204 --> 00:21:30,374
the Holy Grail was the chalice

377
00:21:30,498 --> 00:21:32,958
that Jesus drank from
at the Last Supper.

378
00:21:33,042 --> 00:21:35,632
The Knights Templar were known
to have searched

379
00:21:35,711 --> 00:21:37,501
for important
religious artifacts

380
00:21:37,588 --> 00:21:39,628
while in the Holy Land
during the Crusades.

381
00:21:39,715 --> 00:21:41,795
And there is evidence to suggest

382
00:21:41,884 --> 00:21:44,854
that if they did find
the Holy Grail

383
00:21:44,970 --> 00:21:47,640
they may have brought it
to Portugal.

384
00:21:48,682 --> 00:21:50,352
One of the big clues
that we know

385
00:21:50,434 --> 00:21:53,194
that the Templars left something
of incredible importance there

386
00:21:53,270 --> 00:21:55,360
lies in the seal
that was printed

387
00:21:55,439 --> 00:21:57,359
by the first king of Portugal

388
00:21:57,441 --> 00:22:00,031
in a deed that he gave
to the Templars.

389
00:22:00,110 --> 00:22:01,820
And if you look
very carefully at the seal

390
00:22:01,904 --> 00:22:03,664
that the king put on there,

391
00:22:03,739 --> 00:22:07,869
it has the word "Portugal"
written as an anagram.

392
00:22:07,952 --> 00:22:11,202
It reads "por tu o gral,"

393
00:22:11,330 --> 00:22:13,870
which means
"through you the Grail."

394
00:22:13,958 --> 00:22:15,878
What the king of Portugal
is insinuating

395
00:22:16,001 --> 00:22:19,711
is that the Templars
brought the Grail to Portugal.

396
00:22:20,881 --> 00:22:22,631
Mc
So, when the Templars

397
00:22:22,716 --> 00:22:24,546
are bringing their treasure
out of Jerusalem,

398
00:22:24,635 --> 00:22:27,895
they could have brought
the Grail to Regaleira.

399
00:22:27,972 --> 00:22:32,062
They had fortresses,
and they had secret tunnels.

400
00:22:32,142 --> 00:22:33,812
They could get
their treasure there,

401
00:22:33,894 --> 00:22:35,694
and it would be protected.

402
00:22:35,771 --> 00:22:37,651
If you look around Regaleira,

403
00:22:37,731 --> 00:22:40,901
you’ll see evidence
for the Grail.

404
00:22:41,944 --> 00:22:43,654
We have, rather intriguingly,

405
00:22:43,737 --> 00:22:47,657
a bench referred to
as Bench 515.

406
00:22:48,701 --> 00:22:52,081
At the center of it
is a female character,

407
00:22:52,162 --> 00:22:55,422
and she’s holding out a chalice,

408
00:22:55,499 --> 00:22:59,039
and that’s believed
to represent the Holy Grail.

409
00:23:01,672 --> 00:23:03,262
Was the Holy Grail hidden

410
00:23:03,382 --> 00:23:06,342
somewhere in
the Initiation Well?

411
00:23:06,427 --> 00:23:09,547
And if so,
did Monteiro find it there?

412
00:23:09,638 --> 00:23:13,598
We’ll never know for sure,
because Monteiro died in 1920

413
00:23:13,684 --> 00:23:18,404
and took the secrets of the
Initiation Well to the grave.

414
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,020
You come away from Regaleira,
there’s no doubt

415
00:23:21,108 --> 00:23:23,898
it’s the Initiation Well
that plays on your mind.

416
00:23:25,112 --> 00:23:28,742
It’s so odd that so much effort
went into creating this,

417
00:23:28,824 --> 00:23:31,284
and yet, what does it all mean?

418
00:23:31,368 --> 00:23:34,698
And that’s what is
the big unanswered question.

419
00:23:36,165 --> 00:23:39,755
Did the Knights Templar
hide the Holy Grail

420
00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:41,745
in the Initiation Well?

421
00:23:41,837 --> 00:23:46,297
Or perhaps in the underground
tunnels that it’s connected to?

422
00:23:46,425 --> 00:23:48,795
It’s a fascinating notion,
and the truth is

423
00:23:48,886 --> 00:23:54,426
that abandoned places often
raise intriguing questions.

424
00:23:54,516 --> 00:23:56,266
For instance, there’s an island

425
00:23:56,352 --> 00:23:58,482
just off the coast
of North Carolina

426
00:23:58,604 --> 00:24:01,024
where, over 400 years ago,

427
00:24:01,148 --> 00:24:04,228
115 people
mysteriously vanished.

428
00:24:12,159 --> 00:24:13,989
More than 400 years ago,

429
00:24:14,078 --> 00:24:16,828
this was the site
of a colony called Roanoke,

430
00:24:16,914 --> 00:24:21,294
the first English settlement
in North America.

431
00:24:21,377 --> 00:24:24,627
Roanoke is known
as the Lost Colony

432
00:24:24,713 --> 00:24:29,343
because it was
mysteriously abandoned in 1590

433
00:24:29,426 --> 00:24:33,806
and the colonists vanished
without a trace.

434
00:24:34,765 --> 00:24:37,025
The Lost Colony remains
this mystery

435
00:24:37,101 --> 00:24:39,691
that’s at the very heart
of the origin of our nation.

436
00:24:39,770 --> 00:24:42,520
People remain fascinated
by Roanoke because

437
00:24:42,606 --> 00:24:44,766
we know so little
about the place.

438
00:24:45,776 --> 00:24:47,776
We know what happened
in Jamestown.

439
00:24:47,861 --> 00:24:50,111
We know
what happened at Plymouth.

440
00:24:50,197 --> 00:24:52,157
But Roanoke is this mystery

441
00:24:52,241 --> 00:24:54,411
because we don’t know
what happened.

442
00:24:54,535 --> 00:24:58,005
When we think about the founding
of the United States of America,

443
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,500
we think of it
in this fairly linear way

444
00:25:00,582 --> 00:25:03,082
that colonists showed up,
they settled,

445
00:25:03,210 --> 00:25:05,130
they move west-- America.

446
00:25:05,212 --> 00:25:07,342
And really, it turns out

447
00:25:07,423 --> 00:25:09,973
that there were a number
of false starts

448
00:25:10,050 --> 00:25:13,050
in how this country got started.

449
00:25:13,178 --> 00:25:15,888
And one of those was
the colony at Roanoke.

450
00:25:16,015 --> 00:25:18,185
This was a group of people

451
00:25:18,267 --> 00:25:21,017
who showed up
and were ready to settle,

452
00:25:21,103 --> 00:25:24,403
but what happened to that colony

453
00:25:24,481 --> 00:25:28,321
is one of the big unanswered
questions of American history.

454
00:25:29,611 --> 00:25:33,201
What happened to
the Roanoke colonists?

455
00:25:34,408 --> 00:25:37,078
Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining the events

456
00:25:37,161 --> 00:25:39,451
in the late 16th century

457
00:25:39,580 --> 00:25:42,580
that led to
their fateful disappearance.

458
00:25:43,834 --> 00:25:45,504
In the 1580s, England was

459
00:25:45,586 --> 00:25:48,586
a very small, poor,
struggling island

460
00:25:48,714 --> 00:25:50,384
that really wanted to get in

461
00:25:50,466 --> 00:25:53,006
on the game
of colonizing the Americas,

462
00:25:53,093 --> 00:25:54,933
because that’s where
the money was.

463
00:25:55,012 --> 00:25:57,262
GABRIEL-
The English were looking
at the Spanish ships

464
00:25:57,347 --> 00:25:59,557
coming back laden with gold
and various commodities

465
00:25:59,641 --> 00:26:01,521
from their empire, if you like,

466
00:26:01,602 --> 00:26:03,902
in Mexico,
South America, Florida,

467
00:26:03,979 --> 00:26:07,019
and of course, that was making
the Spanish very powerful.

468
00:26:07,107 --> 00:26:10,607
Essentially, it was a case of,
if we don’t find

469
00:26:10,694 --> 00:26:13,074
our own source of wealth
in this New World,

470
00:26:13,155 --> 00:26:16,455
we could be sort of overrun
by our enemies.

471
00:26:17,659 --> 00:26:21,369
In 1587, an English mapmaker
named John White

472
00:26:21,455 --> 00:26:24,585
was commissioned to found
a new colony on Roanoke Island,

473
00:26:24,666 --> 00:26:27,036
which had been claimed
by a British expedition

474
00:26:27,127 --> 00:26:29,957
to the New World
two years earlier.

475
00:26:30,047 --> 00:26:32,507
After an arduous
two-month voyage

476
00:26:32,633 --> 00:26:37,803
across the Atlantic Ocean,
White and 117 colonists

477
00:26:37,888 --> 00:26:40,428
landed on Roanoke Island.

478
00:26:40,516 --> 00:26:42,926
The people who chose
to come along

479
00:26:43,018 --> 00:26:45,148
on this ill-fated expedition

480
00:26:45,229 --> 00:26:47,309
were middle-class people
from London.

481
00:26:47,397 --> 00:26:50,897
So, they were eager
to find new lands,

482
00:26:50,984 --> 00:26:53,404
because to have land
in England meant everything.

483
00:26:53,487 --> 00:26:55,777
That’s what gave you status.

484
00:26:56,990 --> 00:27:00,490
But they knew they needed
more supplies and more colonists

485
00:27:00,577 --> 00:27:03,037
in order to succeed,
in order to thrive.

486
00:27:03,163 --> 00:27:06,543
So John White decided
to return to England

487
00:27:06,667 --> 00:27:09,457
in order to get those
needed supplies and colonists.

488
00:27:09,545 --> 00:27:13,475
On August 25, 1587,

489
00:27:13,549 --> 00:27:16,429
only three months after
first arriving on Roanoke,

490
00:27:16,510 --> 00:27:19,800
John White set sail for England.

491
00:27:19,888 --> 00:27:24,098
He planned to return with aid
in less than six months.

492
00:27:24,184 --> 00:27:27,484
But a series of conflicts
with the Spanish navy

493
00:27:27,563 --> 00:27:29,773
would delay
White’s return mission

494
00:27:29,857 --> 00:27:32,777
for three long years.

495
00:27:32,860 --> 00:27:37,030
In August of 1590, John White
returns to Roanoke Island.

496
00:27:37,114 --> 00:27:38,954
They anchor offshore.

497
00:27:40,117 --> 00:27:41,987
And when they arrive, it’s dark

498
00:27:42,077 --> 00:27:43,907
and it’s too late
for them to go ashore,

499
00:27:44,037 --> 00:27:46,207
but John White is happy

500
00:27:46,290 --> 00:27:48,630
because he sees a fire
in the distance,

501
00:27:48,709 --> 00:27:51,629
and he assumes that the settlers
are there waiting for him,

502
00:27:51,712 --> 00:27:53,632
maybe even have seen his ship

503
00:27:53,714 --> 00:27:56,804
and have lit a bonfire
in order to guide him in.

504
00:27:56,884 --> 00:27:59,514
The next morning,
White came ashore,

505
00:27:59,595 --> 00:28:03,645
expecting to find the colonists
there to welcome him back.

506
00:28:03,724 --> 00:28:06,064
But to his surprise,
there was no sign of them.

507
00:28:07,895 --> 00:28:11,565
The entire settlement
was completely abandoned.

508
00:28:11,648 --> 00:28:14,938
GABRIEL-
John White gets back to Roanoke,
but there’s no sign of anyone,

509
00:28:15,068 --> 00:28:18,358
and he finds all the houses
have been taken down.

510
00:28:18,447 --> 00:28:22,197
And in their place is a very,
very well-built defensible fort.

511
00:28:22,284 --> 00:28:24,834
So, little bit of a mystery.

512
00:28:24,912 --> 00:28:28,752
You’ve got this new fort
that wasn’t there in 1587

513
00:28:28,832 --> 00:28:32,002
when he last saw them,
and the place is deserted.

514
00:28:32,085 --> 00:28:34,085
Where have they gone?

515
00:28:34,213 --> 00:28:37,263
Eventually, John White
came across a cryptic clue

516
00:28:37,341 --> 00:28:40,221
as to the whereabouts
of the colonists.

517
00:28:40,302 --> 00:28:43,432
He found the word "Croatoan"

518
00:28:43,555 --> 00:28:46,925
mysteriously carved
into a wooden post.

519
00:28:47,059 --> 00:28:50,599
John White had told the
colonists when he left in 1587

520
00:28:50,687 --> 00:28:52,767
that if they were to abandon
the settlement

521
00:28:52,856 --> 00:28:55,436
that they should leave a secret
token, as he called it, behind

522
00:28:55,567 --> 00:28:57,437
so that he would know
where to find them,

523
00:28:57,527 --> 00:28:59,607
and this seemed
to be the answer.

524
00:28:59,738 --> 00:29:01,948
Here was "Croatoan"
carved onto the post.

525
00:29:02,074 --> 00:29:05,084
Croatoan was what
we call Hatteras today,

526
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,040
an island about 50 miles
to the south.

527
00:29:08,121 --> 00:29:11,121
It’s also the name of the tribe
of Native Americans

528
00:29:11,208 --> 00:29:13,288
who lived on the island.

529
00:29:13,377 --> 00:29:16,047
But when John White
prepared to set sail

530
00:29:16,129 --> 00:29:18,089
to search for the colonists,

531
00:29:18,173 --> 00:29:20,973
a storm blew in
and damaged his ship,

532
00:29:21,093 --> 00:29:24,303
and he was forced
to return to England.

533
00:29:25,722 --> 00:29:28,312
Unfortunately,
John White was never able

534
00:29:28,433 --> 00:29:32,733
to return to the New World to
search for the lost colonists.

535
00:29:35,357 --> 00:29:38,147
But in recent years,
archaeologists have carried out

536
00:29:38,235 --> 00:29:40,405
extensive excavations
to try and solve

537
00:29:40,487 --> 00:29:44,237
this 400-year-old mystery.

538
00:29:44,324 --> 00:29:46,034
Archaeologists have been
digging on Hatteras--

539
00:29:46,159 --> 00:29:47,829
what was called Croatoan--

540
00:29:47,953 --> 00:29:51,463
and they have come up
with some remarkable evidence.

541
00:29:51,540 --> 00:29:54,540
The first, most important
piece of evidence found

542
00:29:54,668 --> 00:29:58,668
was a gold ring that was made
in Elizabethan times.

543
00:29:58,755 --> 00:30:01,005
This was big news
because it seemed to indicate

544
00:30:01,133 --> 00:30:03,763
the possibility that
at least one of the colonists

545
00:30:03,844 --> 00:30:06,764
had been on Croatan Island.

546
00:30:06,847 --> 00:30:11,517
And then another competing team
was digging on Hatteras Island,

547
00:30:11,643 --> 00:30:14,273
and what they found
was really intriguing.

548
00:30:14,354 --> 00:30:16,484
They actually
discovered the hilt

549
00:30:16,565 --> 00:30:18,865
of an Elizabethan-era sword

550
00:30:18,984 --> 00:30:22,204
that was found in
a Native American village.

551
00:30:22,279 --> 00:30:24,949
Now, whether or not
this is something

552
00:30:25,032 --> 00:30:27,532
that belonged to a lost colonist
remains to be seen.

553
00:30:29,411 --> 00:30:32,541
GABRIEL-
It’s possible some did survive
long enough to have a family

554
00:30:32,622 --> 00:30:36,042
and that there would have been
assimilation with the Croatoans.

555
00:30:37,044 --> 00:30:38,924
And yet, considering
how much archaeology

556
00:30:39,046 --> 00:30:41,296
that’s been done,
we have no skeletons.

557
00:30:41,381 --> 00:30:43,221
Where are they?

558
00:30:43,342 --> 00:30:44,552
That is a mystery.

559
00:30:45,927 --> 00:30:48,007
Mc
If we had found
dead bodies scattered

560
00:30:48,096 --> 00:30:50,516
or obvious signs
of a siege or an attack,

561
00:30:50,599 --> 00:30:52,679
that would be
the answer that we need.

562
00:30:52,768 --> 00:30:55,688
We get this word "Croatoan."

563
00:30:55,771 --> 00:30:57,981
But did people actually
make it there?

564
00:30:58,065 --> 00:30:59,775
Where did they go?

565
00:30:59,900 --> 00:31:03,700
What happened
to this group of settlers?

566
00:31:03,779 --> 00:31:07,529
It’s the ambiguity that really
keeps this legend alive.

567
00:31:09,534 --> 00:31:12,004
It’s hard to imagine
that an entire colony

568
00:31:12,079 --> 00:31:14,539
that was home
to over a hundred people

569
00:31:14,623 --> 00:31:17,793
could just vanish into thin air.

570
00:31:17,918 --> 00:31:20,378
Did the colonists at Roanoke
simply decide

571
00:31:20,462 --> 00:31:22,212
to move somewhere else?

572
00:31:22,297 --> 00:31:27,587
Or was there a darker reason
behind their disappearance,

573
00:31:27,677 --> 00:31:30,927
like in the case of an island
near Mexico City

574
00:31:31,014 --> 00:31:34,024
that was abandoned
because locals are convinced

575
00:31:34,101 --> 00:31:37,771
that it’s haunted
by an evil entity?

576
00:31:44,444 --> 00:31:47,204
Just south of Mexico City.

577
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,620
Dotted amongst the numerous
tree-filled canals

578
00:31:50,742 --> 00:31:52,742
that run through
this ancient city

579
00:31:52,828 --> 00:31:56,828
are dozens of artificial
floating islands

580
00:31:56,957 --> 00:31:59,207
known as chinampas.

581
00:32:00,293 --> 00:32:03,423
But one chinampa stands out

582
00:32:03,505 --> 00:32:06,135
because the branches
of its willow and cypress trees

583
00:32:06,216 --> 00:32:10,046
appear to be growing
something rather unusual.

584
00:32:12,305 --> 00:32:15,305
The place is called
Isla de las Muñecas,

585
00:32:15,392 --> 00:32:18,942
otherwise known
as the Island of the Dolls.

586
00:32:22,482 --> 00:32:25,442
The island is
a forestlike enclave

587
00:32:25,527 --> 00:32:27,397
draped with thousands

588
00:32:27,487 --> 00:32:30,697
and thousands of ordinary dolls.

589
00:32:31,741 --> 00:32:34,741
Childhood playthings
hanging from trees,

590
00:32:34,828 --> 00:32:36,828
vines and branches.

591
00:32:36,913 --> 00:32:38,673
It’s very eerie.

592
00:32:39,666 --> 00:32:42,996
These look like
suspended living presences

593
00:32:43,128 --> 00:32:45,708
that are believed
to ward off evil.

594
00:32:47,674 --> 00:32:49,514
It’s a spooky living sculpture

595
00:32:49,593 --> 00:32:53,973
that some people say, um,
is cursed.

596
00:32:55,557 --> 00:32:58,227
And according to folklore,

597
00:32:58,351 --> 00:33:00,271
you can hear whispering...

598
00:33:02,063 --> 00:33:05,153
...and you can hear
little girls’ voices.

599
00:33:05,233 --> 00:33:09,323
Uh, you can see the-the dolls’
eyes blinking on their own,

600
00:33:09,404 --> 00:33:10,994
which is just terrifying.

601
00:33:12,782 --> 00:33:15,202
The only permanent residents
of the island

602
00:33:15,285 --> 00:33:17,755
are the strange dolls
that have given the place

603
00:33:17,871 --> 00:33:19,621
a ghoulish reputation.

604
00:33:19,706 --> 00:33:23,376
But who created
this macabre spectacle?

605
00:33:23,502 --> 00:33:25,002
And why?

606
00:33:25,086 --> 00:33:27,256
Well, according to local lore,

607
00:33:27,380 --> 00:33:30,680
the story began in the 1950s
when the island was owned

608
00:33:30,759 --> 00:33:35,179
by a man named
Julian Santana Barrera.

609
00:33:35,263 --> 00:33:39,983
Julian Santana Barrera
came to live on the chinampa.

610
00:33:40,060 --> 00:33:45,650
And according to the stories,
he came across, uh,

611
00:33:45,732 --> 00:33:49,192
a little girl floating
in one of the canals.

612
00:33:49,277 --> 00:33:52,857
Barrera is devastated that
he can’t save the little girl

613
00:33:52,948 --> 00:33:55,198
and pulls her out of the water

614
00:33:55,283 --> 00:33:58,453
and buries her on the island.

615
00:33:59,746 --> 00:34:02,036
Barrera felt eventually

616
00:34:02,123 --> 00:34:04,633
that he was seeing
the ghost of this girl

617
00:34:04,751 --> 00:34:07,711
walking around
his little chinampa island.

618
00:34:09,256 --> 00:34:14,256
To try to make her happy,
he hung some dolls in the trees.

619
00:34:14,344 --> 00:34:16,724
And he hung
more and more dolls up

620
00:34:16,805 --> 00:34:20,185
to appease the spirit
of this little girl

621
00:34:20,267 --> 00:34:22,637
who died tragically.

622
00:34:22,769 --> 00:34:27,019
We can think about what
Barrera did as a talisman

623
00:34:27,107 --> 00:34:32,147
or a symbol, um,
that is used to, uh, protect.

624
00:34:32,279 --> 00:34:36,319
All across the globe,
you see these totems

625
00:34:36,449 --> 00:34:39,079
being used
in this particular way.

626
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,620
There are stones,
and there are ornaments

627
00:34:42,706 --> 00:34:47,166
that people hang
in their houses, in their cars.

628
00:34:47,294 --> 00:34:50,424
Sometimes people carry them
on their physical person.

629
00:34:50,505 --> 00:34:54,675
And the act is done
as a kind of protective gesture.

630
00:34:56,845 --> 00:34:59,395
Ultimately, Barrera hung
thousands of dolls

631
00:34:59,472 --> 00:35:01,392
all over the island

632
00:35:01,474 --> 00:35:05,144
not only to honor
the memory of the young girl

633
00:35:05,228 --> 00:35:07,858
but also to guard
against a dark entity

634
00:35:07,981 --> 00:35:10,941
that he believed
had caused her death.

635
00:35:11,985 --> 00:35:15,705
An entity known as La Llorona.

636
00:35:18,241 --> 00:35:20,281
La Llorona is
a tragic character.

637
00:35:22,662 --> 00:35:26,672
She is the first Native mother

638
00:35:26,750 --> 00:35:32,170
who gave birth to children
from a conquistador, a Spaniard.

639
00:35:34,549 --> 00:35:38,389
The story says that
her community rejected her

640
00:35:38,511 --> 00:35:41,931
because her children were
Spaniard, and so she was shamed.

641
00:35:42,015 --> 00:35:44,895
She was so ashamed
of this, in fact,

642
00:35:45,018 --> 00:35:48,808
that she went down to the river
and she drowned her children.

643
00:35:50,565 --> 00:35:53,065
She immediately regretted this.

644
00:35:55,028 --> 00:35:59,448
Now she’s this spirit
that haunts lakes and rivers.

645
00:36:00,700 --> 00:36:04,330
La Llorona is a well-known myth
all around Mexico.

646
00:36:04,412 --> 00:36:07,082
And so, a man like Barrera

647
00:36:07,207 --> 00:36:10,207
who sees a child
floating in the water,

648
00:36:10,335 --> 00:36:13,385
he almost certainly,
at least for a moment,

649
00:36:13,505 --> 00:36:16,885
thought of La Llorona and that
this is her children floating.

650
00:36:18,218 --> 00:36:20,598
Since Barrera’s death in 2001,

651
00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:23,850
the Island of the Dolls
has remained abandoned.

652
00:36:25,266 --> 00:36:29,096
But locals continue to tell
the story of the drowned girl,

653
00:36:29,229 --> 00:36:31,109
and many are convinced
that there’s

654
00:36:31,231 --> 00:36:33,521
an evil presence on this island.

655
00:36:33,608 --> 00:36:37,608
And as evidence, they point
to the chilling circumstances

656
00:36:37,737 --> 00:36:40,317
of Julian Barrera’s death.

657
00:36:41,366 --> 00:36:43,486
After suffering
from a fatal heart attack,

658
00:36:43,576 --> 00:36:48,366
his body was found
in an unsettling location.

659
00:36:49,582 --> 00:36:51,292
Barrera dies.

660
00:36:51,418 --> 00:36:53,668
And not only does he die
on the island

661
00:36:53,753 --> 00:36:56,463
but his body is found
in the exact canal

662
00:36:56,589 --> 00:36:57,799
where he found the little girl.

663
00:36:59,592 --> 00:37:02,092
Is there correlation?
We don’t know.

664
00:37:02,178 --> 00:37:04,968
But many people believe

665
00:37:05,098 --> 00:37:08,268
that if you are out
at night by yourself,

666
00:37:08,351 --> 00:37:10,061
playing down by the river,

667
00:37:10,145 --> 00:37:13,695
that La Llorona will "get you."

668
00:37:14,774 --> 00:37:18,114
Is there a dark entity
that lurks in the water

669
00:37:18,194 --> 00:37:20,614
surrounding
the Island of the Dolls?

670
00:37:20,697 --> 00:37:22,777
Well, if there is,
it hasn’t stopped visitors

671
00:37:22,866 --> 00:37:25,736
from wanting to see this
bizarre site for themselves.

672
00:37:25,827 --> 00:37:28,117
In fact, there are many
abandoned places

673
00:37:28,204 --> 00:37:30,084
around the globe

674
00:37:30,165 --> 00:37:32,255
that have become
tourist attractions,

675
00:37:32,333 --> 00:37:36,553
including a city that was once
a thriving capital

676
00:37:36,629 --> 00:37:40,009
until it was covered
in volcanic ash.

677
00:37:45,013 --> 00:37:47,103
On the rim of the Caribbean Sea

678
00:37:47,182 --> 00:37:49,392
300 miles southeast
of Puerto Rico

679
00:37:49,476 --> 00:37:53,556
lies the tiny island nation
of Montserrat.

680
00:37:54,647 --> 00:37:56,647
The most popular tourist
destination on Montserrat

681
00:37:56,733 --> 00:37:58,733
is not its sandy beaches

682
00:37:58,818 --> 00:38:03,488
but rather the remains
of its capital city, Plymouth.

683
00:38:04,574 --> 00:38:07,034
Plymouth was once
a bustling town,

684
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:11,660
but it now lies buried
under volcanic ash and mud.

685
00:38:13,708 --> 00:38:16,668
Mc
The city of Plymouth
on the island of Montserrat

686
00:38:16,795 --> 00:38:19,845
was considered
this luscious island resort,

687
00:38:19,923 --> 00:38:21,633
this beautiful city.

688
00:38:22,675 --> 00:38:24,925
There was sort of
this whole atmosphere

689
00:38:25,011 --> 00:38:27,471
of people getting together,
enjoying themselves,

690
00:38:27,555 --> 00:38:29,675
having a good time.

691
00:38:29,766 --> 00:38:31,516
Plymouth is
the capital city there,

692
00:38:31,601 --> 00:38:33,851
and in 1995,

693
00:38:33,937 --> 00:38:36,147
this was a city of 4,000 people.

694
00:38:36,231 --> 00:38:39,651
So it’s not just
a tiny little town.

695
00:38:39,734 --> 00:38:43,704
But Plymouth was completely
wiped out by the volcano there.

696
00:38:48,701 --> 00:38:53,041
Between July of 1995
and August of 1997,

697
00:38:53,164 --> 00:38:57,294
a series of eruptions of the
nearby Soufrière Hills volcano

698
00:38:57,377 --> 00:39:01,877
turned Plymouth into
an uninhabitable wasteland.

699
00:39:03,466 --> 00:39:05,836
19 people were killed.

700
00:39:05,927 --> 00:39:09,807
Everyone else
was forced to evacuate.

701
00:39:10,890 --> 00:39:12,730
You have the mudslide

702
00:39:12,809 --> 00:39:15,139
that went through
the center of the town,

703
00:39:15,228 --> 00:39:18,228
and then all around that,
you have the husks of the homes

704
00:39:18,314 --> 00:39:20,694
and the schools
and things like that

705
00:39:20,775 --> 00:39:23,025
that are left there
and overgrown.

706
00:39:24,487 --> 00:39:27,317
When you see pictures of this,
you’re going to see

707
00:39:27,407 --> 00:39:31,827
rooftops of buildings
poking out of ash, basically.

708
00:39:31,911 --> 00:39:34,581
There’s a very famous image
of this church

709
00:39:34,706 --> 00:39:37,416
buried up to its roof,
essentially.

710
00:39:38,418 --> 00:39:40,248
The whole city is
sort of frozen in time.

711
00:39:42,380 --> 00:39:45,090
Plymouth sees
thousands of visitors each year

712
00:39:45,216 --> 00:39:48,336
who arrive from all over
the world to explore the ruins

713
00:39:48,428 --> 00:39:51,008
and take photographs
of the wreckage.

714
00:39:52,140 --> 00:39:54,350
People visit this abandoned city
in spite of the fact

715
00:39:54,434 --> 00:39:58,404
that the nearby volcano
is still dangerously active.

716
00:39:58,479 --> 00:40:00,939
It’s a strange phenomenon

717
00:40:01,024 --> 00:40:04,074
known as dark tourism.

718
00:40:05,737 --> 00:40:08,487
Plymouth today is like
a modern-day Pompeii.

719
00:40:08,615 --> 00:40:11,955
Its buildings, its stores,

720
00:40:12,035 --> 00:40:14,455
its squares, its plazas,
its churches

721
00:40:14,579 --> 00:40:18,169
are covered in
and buried in volcanic ash.

722
00:40:18,291 --> 00:40:20,581
And people go to view it
because they feel like

723
00:40:20,668 --> 00:40:22,798
they’re viewing ancient ruins

724
00:40:22,879 --> 00:40:25,129
but they belong
to our own generation.

725
00:40:26,466 --> 00:40:28,466
The reason people
are drawn to places

726
00:40:28,551 --> 00:40:31,931
like Plymouth and Pompeii
for dark tourism

727
00:40:32,013 --> 00:40:34,723
is because they give you
a chance to see

728
00:40:34,807 --> 00:40:37,637
maybe what our cities
are gonna look like.

729
00:40:37,727 --> 00:40:41,357
Is there gonna be a point where
coastal cities are underwater

730
00:40:41,481 --> 00:40:44,111
or where the neighborhoods
that we live in,

731
00:40:44,192 --> 00:40:47,572
nobody’s in anymore and they’ve
turned into a forest?

732
00:40:48,821 --> 00:40:52,281
Mc
To go to a place
where such terror

733
00:40:52,367 --> 00:40:54,907
and trauma took place

734
00:40:54,994 --> 00:40:57,084
is a way to engage
with those things

735
00:40:57,163 --> 00:40:59,213
without having to experience

736
00:40:59,332 --> 00:41:02,842
the actual terror
and trauma ourselves.

737
00:41:02,961 --> 00:41:06,421
We are really intrigued
by seeing

738
00:41:06,506 --> 00:41:10,336
the finality
of a natural disaster

739
00:41:10,426 --> 00:41:12,506
in just the stillness.

740
00:41:14,222 --> 00:41:17,602
In a lot of ways,
places that are abandoned

741
00:41:17,684 --> 00:41:19,814
kind of have
that memento mori aspect,

742
00:41:19,894 --> 00:41:23,484
so there’s this element of
coping with your own mortality,

743
00:41:23,564 --> 00:41:27,784
and seeing something like that,
I think, gives you

744
00:41:27,860 --> 00:41:30,820
the opportunity
to come to terms with it.

745
00:41:32,115 --> 00:41:34,125
So, what do you think?

746
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:37,370
Would you like to visit the site
of the Chernobyl disaster

747
00:41:37,453 --> 00:41:40,873
or take a boat ride
to the Island of the Dolls?

748
00:41:40,957 --> 00:41:44,537
The truth is that
abandoned places fascinate us.

749
00:41:44,669 --> 00:41:48,129
There’s something
that draws us to them,

750
00:41:48,214 --> 00:41:50,264
even when they might
be dangerous.

751
00:41:50,383 --> 00:41:53,973
Which is why we’ll continue
to explore these places

752
00:41:54,053 --> 00:41:56,513
in hopes of unlocking
all of their secrets

753
00:41:56,597 --> 00:41:59,727
that, for now,
remain unexplained.

754
00:41:59,851 --> 00:42:02,561
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