1 00:00:06,632 --> 00:00:09,932 Narrator: Tonight, a closer look inside 2 00:00:10,052 --> 00:00:13,352 the world’s most sinister castles and strongholds... 3 00:00:13,430 --> 00:00:15,600 Larissa Tracy: Nobody can fathom a mind 4 00:00:15,724 --> 00:00:17,434 that would create a place 5 00:00:17,559 --> 00:00:20,059 that seems welcoming, that seems safe, 6 00:00:20,145 --> 00:00:22,055 but was designed to kill. 7 00:00:22,189 --> 00:00:24,519 Narrator: From an iconic torture tower... 8 00:00:24,608 --> 00:00:27,398 Eileen Joy: It must have been terrifying for prisoners 9 00:00:27,528 --> 00:00:30,488 to be led down into the dungeon. 10 00:00:30,572 --> 00:00:32,162 Larissa Tracy: Your hips are being pulled apart. 11 00:00:32,241 --> 00:00:35,241 Your knees, your wrists, everything. 12 00:00:35,327 --> 00:00:38,537 It took some real time to get his head off the body. 13 00:00:38,622 --> 00:00:41,172 Narrator: ...to a hotel of hidden horrors. 14 00:00:41,250 --> 00:00:42,920 Clarence Goodman: They’re going to be murdered 15 00:00:43,001 --> 00:00:45,591 and the skeletons sold for money. 16 00:00:45,671 --> 00:00:48,301 It’s a tomb. It’s a trap. 17 00:00:48,423 --> 00:00:51,593 Narrator: These are the origin stories of true temples of doom. 18 00:00:54,930 --> 00:00:59,480 Not all inventions are made with good intentions. 19 00:00:59,601 --> 00:01:01,311 Unlock the twisted history 20 00:01:01,436 --> 00:01:04,726 behind the world’s darkest marvels. 21 00:01:08,110 --> 00:01:11,280 Looming over the north bank of London’s River Thames 22 00:01:11,405 --> 00:01:13,535 is an imposing stone structure 23 00:01:13,615 --> 00:01:15,945 that has been a fixture on the city skyline 24 00:01:16,076 --> 00:01:21,786 for nearly a 1,000 years-- the Tower of London. 25 00:01:21,915 --> 00:01:24,745 The Tower of London covers about 12 acres, 26 00:01:24,835 --> 00:01:26,965 which is about nine football fields of area. 27 00:01:27,087 --> 00:01:29,837 It’s surrounded by a huge moat. 28 00:01:29,965 --> 00:01:32,345 It dominates with its breadth. 29 00:01:32,467 --> 00:01:35,177 It dominates with its width. It dominates with its walls. 30 00:01:35,304 --> 00:01:38,144 Michael B. Young: The Tower of London is a phenomenal, 31 00:01:38,223 --> 00:01:40,023 spectacular building. 32 00:01:40,142 --> 00:01:45,562 It was in many ways the archetypal medieval castle. 33 00:01:47,816 --> 00:01:50,276 Narrator: This intimidating stronghold 34 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,700 is ordered to be built in the 11th century 35 00:01:53,822 --> 00:01:55,822 by King William I. 36 00:01:55,907 --> 00:01:59,367 In 1066, William the Bastard conquers England 37 00:01:59,494 --> 00:02:03,004 and becomes known forever as William the Conqueror. 38 00:02:03,081 --> 00:02:06,041 Larissa Tracy: Once he takes the reins of power, 39 00:02:06,168 --> 00:02:09,748 the Tower of London is built as his first main fortress. 40 00:02:09,838 --> 00:02:13,718 Rebecca Simon: William the Conqueror orders this tower to be built from stone. 41 00:02:13,842 --> 00:02:15,342 This is very unusual, 42 00:02:15,469 --> 00:02:18,559 because people haven’t really started crafting homes 43 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,390 out of stone yet in England, 44 00:02:20,515 --> 00:02:22,385 and the reason why William the Conqueror 45 00:02:22,517 --> 00:02:24,057 wanted it to be made out of stone 46 00:02:24,186 --> 00:02:27,186 is because the idea was stone would last forever. 47 00:02:27,314 --> 00:02:30,194 Larissa Tracy: The whole point of a castle was to say, 48 00:02:30,275 --> 00:02:32,395 "I am here, this is my land, 49 00:02:32,527 --> 00:02:34,897 and I have now built this structure 50 00:02:35,030 --> 00:02:36,950 that will outlast even me." 51 00:02:37,032 --> 00:02:41,332 Narrator: But construction isn’t complete until 1097, 52 00:02:41,411 --> 00:02:45,581 ten years after William’s death. 53 00:02:45,707 --> 00:02:48,497 Michael B. Young: The Tower of London was originally 54 00:02:48,585 --> 00:02:50,955 what is now just the White Tower. 55 00:02:51,046 --> 00:02:54,756 It was meant to be impregnable. 56 00:02:54,883 --> 00:02:58,893 It was the part of a castle that was then known as a keep, 57 00:02:59,012 --> 00:03:02,722 and the word means that you could keep safe there. 58 00:03:02,849 --> 00:03:06,599 Keep the royal family safe. Keep the royal jewels safe. 59 00:03:06,728 --> 00:03:11,478 Retreat there from an angry mob or an invading enemy. 60 00:03:11,566 --> 00:03:15,276 Over the course of the next three centuries, 61 00:03:15,404 --> 00:03:18,624 the White Tower in the middle was successfully, 62 00:03:18,740 --> 00:03:21,530 as we would say today, militarily hardened 63 00:03:21,618 --> 00:03:25,748 by the construction of two encircling curtain walls, 64 00:03:25,872 --> 00:03:28,922 moats, and drawbridges. 65 00:03:29,042 --> 00:03:34,342 Each of those walls had towers built on them. 66 00:03:34,423 --> 00:03:38,263 Narrator: The tower is considered so safe 67 00:03:38,343 --> 00:03:40,473 it serves as the royal living quarters 68 00:03:40,595 --> 00:03:43,055 throughout times of great upheaval. 69 00:03:43,140 --> 00:03:48,480 Larissa Tracy: In 1348, the first cases of the bubonic plague show up. 70 00:03:48,603 --> 00:03:50,233 Now the bubonic plague of course 71 00:03:50,313 --> 00:03:52,823 decimated the population of medieval Europe, 72 00:03:52,941 --> 00:03:54,941 killing six million people. 73 00:03:55,068 --> 00:03:57,778 There’s a recession, there’s economic depression. 74 00:03:57,904 --> 00:03:59,244 There’s famine. 75 00:03:59,322 --> 00:04:00,622 There’s a drought, which doesn’t help. 76 00:04:00,741 --> 00:04:02,241 And at the same time, 77 00:04:02,325 --> 00:04:04,285 you have the English monarchy 78 00:04:04,411 --> 00:04:06,451 pressing its claim to the French throne 79 00:04:06,538 --> 00:04:08,408 using English resources. 80 00:04:08,498 --> 00:04:11,708 And so that leads to dissent among the English population. 81 00:04:13,295 --> 00:04:15,885 Narrator: On May 30th, 1381, 82 00:04:15,964 --> 00:04:18,344 that dissent turns into an uprising 83 00:04:18,467 --> 00:04:21,337 against the king and his advisors. 84 00:04:21,470 --> 00:04:26,350 King Richard II came into power in 1377 when he was only ten. 85 00:04:26,475 --> 00:04:29,235 So in an England that’s run by a boy king, 86 00:04:29,311 --> 00:04:33,061 that’s still reeling from the bubonic plague 87 00:04:33,148 --> 00:04:35,858 and thirty years of economic upheavals, 88 00:04:35,984 --> 00:04:38,864 1381 marks a watershed moment 89 00:04:38,987 --> 00:04:40,657 in which the peasants, the farmers, 90 00:04:40,781 --> 00:04:43,871 the people who produce the food are fed up. 91 00:04:43,992 --> 00:04:46,702 Rebecca Simon: Richard II wants to appease the peasants, 92 00:04:46,828 --> 00:04:49,658 so he leaves the tower to go to talk to them. 93 00:04:49,748 --> 00:04:52,328 But naively, the gates are left open, 94 00:04:52,417 --> 00:04:55,337 because it’s assumed that no one would ever go into the tower 95 00:04:55,420 --> 00:04:57,340 because it is such a large fortress. 96 00:04:57,422 --> 00:05:00,552 Unfortunately, the peasants see their opportunity, 97 00:05:00,675 --> 00:05:03,085 and over 400 of them storm the tower. 98 00:05:03,178 --> 00:05:06,468 They go in, and they want to get major leaders. 99 00:05:06,556 --> 00:05:10,266 Cord Whitaker: They do get a hold of one of those advisors of the king 100 00:05:10,352 --> 00:05:13,232 who they consider an enemy of the people, 101 00:05:13,355 --> 00:05:17,695 and that is chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury Simon Sudbury. 102 00:05:17,776 --> 00:05:20,856 Along with him and several other royal officials, 103 00:05:20,987 --> 00:05:25,577 they drag them out of the tower across to Tower Hill. 104 00:05:25,700 --> 00:05:28,750 And there they proceed to behead these officials. 105 00:05:28,870 --> 00:05:33,460 The beheading of Simon Sudbury appears to have been done 106 00:05:33,542 --> 00:05:35,712 with, let’s say, a rather blunt axe... 107 00:05:37,838 --> 00:05:42,338 ...and it took some real time to get his head off the body. 108 00:05:44,386 --> 00:05:47,466 And they take these heads 109 00:05:47,556 --> 00:05:49,886 and put them on spears 110 00:05:50,016 --> 00:05:52,136 and display them on London Bridge. 111 00:05:54,229 --> 00:05:56,769 Several days later, the revolt would end 112 00:05:56,898 --> 00:06:01,438 with the heads of some of the leading rebellers on pikes 113 00:06:01,570 --> 00:06:05,950 and used to replace the heads on the bridge. 114 00:06:06,074 --> 00:06:08,744 Narrator: King Richard manages to crush the rebellion, 115 00:06:08,827 --> 00:06:12,577 but ultimately meets his own grisly fate. 116 00:06:12,706 --> 00:06:15,416 Larissa Tracy: Even though Richard is only 14 when this happens, 117 00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:18,750 his reign becomes very unstable after the Peasants’ Revolt, 118 00:06:18,879 --> 00:06:23,719 and he is seen as more and more authoritarian as his reign progresses, 119 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:28,810 until he’s deposed in 1399 and likely starved to death. 120 00:06:28,930 --> 00:06:30,810 Narrator: After the Peasants’ Revolt, 121 00:06:30,932 --> 00:06:33,432 the monarchy stops using the White Tower 122 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:35,690 as a primary residence. 123 00:06:35,770 --> 00:06:37,860 Larissa Tracy: In the late 15th century, early 16th century, 124 00:06:37,939 --> 00:06:39,479 the center of power shifts. 125 00:06:39,608 --> 00:06:41,898 The monarchy moves around a lot more, 126 00:06:41,985 --> 00:06:43,785 and actually Windsor becomes 127 00:06:43,904 --> 00:06:46,284 one of the primary royal residences. 128 00:06:46,364 --> 00:06:48,624 The Tower of London becomes a seat of government. 129 00:06:48,742 --> 00:06:53,252 Narrator: But it also serves another crucial purpose-- 130 00:06:53,330 --> 00:06:57,420 as a prison for people accused of high treason, 131 00:06:57,500 --> 00:07:00,630 including a queen. 132 00:07:00,754 --> 00:07:02,264 Cord Whitaker: Of Henry the VIII’s wives, 133 00:07:02,339 --> 00:07:05,009 Anne Boleyn is perhaps the most famous. 134 00:07:05,133 --> 00:07:07,643 Henry VIII, his main concern 135 00:07:07,761 --> 00:07:10,641 is to produce an heir for the kingdom. 136 00:07:10,764 --> 00:07:15,444 Anne Boleyn was not able to provide him this male heir whom he sought. 137 00:07:15,518 --> 00:07:19,228 He wanted to get her out of the way. 138 00:07:19,314 --> 00:07:21,864 She is accused of incest, adultery, 139 00:07:21,983 --> 00:07:23,693 and she’s even accused of witchcraft-- 140 00:07:23,818 --> 00:07:26,198 the idea that she bewitched Henry 141 00:07:26,321 --> 00:07:28,701 into divorcing his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, 142 00:07:28,823 --> 00:07:30,453 so he’d marry her instead. 143 00:07:30,533 --> 00:07:32,243 Ultimately, she is found guilty, 144 00:07:32,327 --> 00:07:34,697 and she’s thrown into the tower and condemned to death. 145 00:07:34,829 --> 00:07:39,789 Cord Whitaker: She is shut up in the same apartments 146 00:07:39,876 --> 00:07:41,666 where she had prepared for her wedding 147 00:07:41,795 --> 00:07:43,055 a mere three years before. 148 00:07:43,171 --> 00:07:46,221 While she’s held there for 17 days, 149 00:07:46,341 --> 00:07:49,721 she can watch the construction of the gallows 150 00:07:49,844 --> 00:07:53,474 on which she is to be beheaded. 151 00:07:53,556 --> 00:07:57,556 Henry wants to orchestrate a spectacle for her execution. 152 00:07:57,686 --> 00:08:03,106 But Anne was very afraid that an English axeman would botch the job. 153 00:08:03,191 --> 00:08:05,741 So Anne Boleyn asked and was granted 154 00:08:05,860 --> 00:08:09,410 the right to have a French swordsman come over from Calais. 155 00:08:09,531 --> 00:08:11,701 French beheadings at this time 156 00:08:11,825 --> 00:08:15,245 were done with a very sharp, very skilled swordsman. 157 00:08:15,370 --> 00:08:18,750 He was paid 23 pounds, 6 shillings, 158 00:08:18,873 --> 00:08:21,963 the equivalent of $10,000 today, 159 00:08:22,043 --> 00:08:25,673 to execute the first queen who’d been executed in English history. 160 00:08:25,755 --> 00:08:27,255 This is unprecedented. 161 00:08:33,013 --> 00:08:37,103 Narrator: Anne Boleyn is led to the site of her beheading, 162 00:08:37,225 --> 00:08:40,135 the Tower Green, cementing its legacy 163 00:08:40,228 --> 00:08:43,938 as a stage for bloody executions, 164 00:08:44,065 --> 00:08:47,565 which includes another of Henry VIII’s wives 165 00:08:47,694 --> 00:08:49,954 just six years later. 166 00:08:50,071 --> 00:08:52,241 Rebecca Simon: Catherine Howard is Henry VIII’s fifth wife. 167 00:08:52,365 --> 00:08:54,325 She’s very young when she marries Henry. 168 00:08:54,409 --> 00:08:57,579 Some historians believe that she’s only 15 years old. 169 00:08:57,662 --> 00:08:59,082 But Catherine is repulsed by him, 170 00:08:59,205 --> 00:09:01,115 and so she starts having an affair 171 00:09:01,249 --> 00:09:02,789 with a young member of court, 172 00:09:02,917 --> 00:09:05,167 and she doesn’t even really hide it. 173 00:09:05,253 --> 00:09:09,973 So Henry VIII orders her to be sent to the tower to be executed. 174 00:09:10,091 --> 00:09:14,431 In comparison to the quite regal death 175 00:09:14,554 --> 00:09:15,974 that attended Anne Boleyn, 176 00:09:16,097 --> 00:09:20,137 Catherine Howard’s was without pageantry. 177 00:09:20,268 --> 00:09:24,148 It was hurried. It was inglorious. 178 00:09:24,272 --> 00:09:25,982 Rebecca Simon: And this is very likely due 179 00:09:26,107 --> 00:09:28,317 to Henry’s extreme humiliation 180 00:09:28,443 --> 00:09:32,743 at not only having been cuckolded after just one year of marriage, 181 00:09:32,822 --> 00:09:34,572 but also having married someone 182 00:09:34,657 --> 00:09:37,537 who so openly was disgusted by him. 183 00:09:37,619 --> 00:09:41,789 Larissa Tracy: Her body is buried beneath the floor of the chapel. 184 00:09:41,915 --> 00:09:43,335 There’s not even a box. 185 00:09:43,458 --> 00:09:46,038 Catherine Howard is buried with lime. 186 00:09:46,127 --> 00:09:47,797 And there’s every suggestion 187 00:09:47,921 --> 00:09:52,681 that he just wanted to dissolve her body and move on. 188 00:09:52,801 --> 00:09:56,051 Narrator: During the course of its bloody history, 189 00:09:56,137 --> 00:10:00,597 many more meet their end beneath the executioner’s axe. 190 00:10:00,683 --> 00:10:02,693 Larissa Tracy: There is currently on display 191 00:10:02,811 --> 00:10:04,351 in the top of the White Tower 192 00:10:04,479 --> 00:10:07,729 one of four axes that was used for executions. 193 00:10:07,816 --> 00:10:12,316 It’s a very distinctive axe because it has a wide blade, 194 00:10:12,445 --> 00:10:16,065 and then it tapers into this almost hooked shape. 195 00:10:16,157 --> 00:10:18,657 And that axe, of course, very notoriously 196 00:10:18,743 --> 00:10:22,083 becomes an emblem of beheading in England specifically. 197 00:10:22,163 --> 00:10:25,043 Narrator: But the tower becomes even more well known 198 00:10:25,166 --> 00:10:27,876 for its brutal methods of torture. 199 00:10:31,548 --> 00:10:32,918 Narrator: Hidden beneath the Tower of London 200 00:10:33,007 --> 00:10:37,217 are several dungeons responsible for its bloody reputation. 201 00:10:37,345 --> 00:10:40,425 Eileen Joy: It must have been terrifying 202 00:10:40,515 --> 00:10:44,025 for prisoners to be led down into the dungeons, 203 00:10:44,102 --> 00:10:46,772 where they would have heard other prisoners screaming, 204 00:10:46,855 --> 00:10:49,075 moaning in agony. 205 00:10:49,190 --> 00:10:51,400 They would have also heard the torturers 206 00:10:51,526 --> 00:10:53,396 and what they were doing. 207 00:10:53,528 --> 00:10:55,568 Rebecca Simon: Torture was extremely prolific 208 00:10:55,697 --> 00:10:58,527 under the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. 209 00:10:58,658 --> 00:11:01,238 And this is because of Henry VIII’s growing paranoia 210 00:11:01,369 --> 00:11:02,789 of people working against him. 211 00:11:02,871 --> 00:11:04,961 And so, anybody who he even suspected 212 00:11:05,039 --> 00:11:09,459 of possibly being treasonous would get thrown into the tower. 213 00:11:09,544 --> 00:11:12,134 Cord Whitaker: In the dungeons at the Tower of London, 214 00:11:12,213 --> 00:11:15,803 you would have had three main forms of torture. 215 00:11:15,884 --> 00:11:17,594 One of them is the rack. 216 00:11:17,719 --> 00:11:20,259 Larissa Tracy: When somebody’s attached to a rack, 217 00:11:20,388 --> 00:11:23,558 they’re stretched, and what you hear is the popping sound 218 00:11:23,683 --> 00:11:25,523 of their joints and the cartilage 219 00:11:25,602 --> 00:11:27,852 as they are slowly dislocated. 220 00:11:27,937 --> 00:11:32,187 Your spine is being pulled apart. 221 00:11:32,275 --> 00:11:34,445 Your hips are being pulled apart, 222 00:11:34,569 --> 00:11:37,149 your knees, your wrists, everything. 223 00:11:37,238 --> 00:11:42,118 It would leave somebody completely and totally incapacitated. 224 00:11:44,412 --> 00:11:46,582 Cord Whitaker: Then you would have also had the manacles 225 00:11:46,706 --> 00:11:50,036 that could be employed when someone was accused of stealing 226 00:11:50,126 --> 00:11:52,456 because one is being hung by the hands. 227 00:11:52,587 --> 00:11:54,797 Larissa Tracy: Manacles were meant for imprisonment 228 00:11:54,923 --> 00:11:57,973 or to suspend somebody in a distended form. 229 00:11:58,092 --> 00:12:02,472 Someone’s hands are tied behind their back and they’re lifted up. 230 00:12:02,597 --> 00:12:05,267 So somebody in manacles could be suspended 231 00:12:05,350 --> 00:12:09,810 at varying angles that cause varying degrees of pain. 232 00:12:12,565 --> 00:12:15,025 And then, of course, you also had the scavenger’s daughter. 233 00:12:15,109 --> 00:12:18,109 Narrator: Like the rack, the scavenger’s daughter 234 00:12:18,196 --> 00:12:20,316 is used to elicit confessions. 235 00:12:20,448 --> 00:12:24,828 But instead of stretching victims, it compresses them. 236 00:12:24,953 --> 00:12:26,793 Larissa Tracy: The idea of the scavenger’s daughter, 237 00:12:26,871 --> 00:12:31,631 it’s a metal frame that holds someone’s hands and their feet 238 00:12:31,709 --> 00:12:36,169 so that they are forced into a stress position for a length of time. 239 00:12:36,297 --> 00:12:39,007 And it is designed specifically 240 00:12:39,133 --> 00:12:41,643 to cause severe pain and cramping. 241 00:12:41,761 --> 00:12:44,891 Narrator: Perhaps even worse is being locked up 242 00:12:44,973 --> 00:12:47,313 in the most fearsome dungeon of all, 243 00:12:47,433 --> 00:12:52,653 a dark four-by-four cell known as the Little Ease. 244 00:12:52,730 --> 00:12:55,360 Cord Whitaker: If you’ve ever had to even bend over 245 00:12:55,483 --> 00:12:59,033 for longer than you’d like, you know how painful it can get. 246 00:12:59,153 --> 00:13:02,823 People would be locked in it for hours or even days. 247 00:13:02,907 --> 00:13:05,697 Eileen Joy: But it’s also solitary confinement. 248 00:13:05,827 --> 00:13:10,327 You cannot see anyone. There is no window. 249 00:13:10,456 --> 00:13:15,166 And in my opinion, except for deaths that happen bit by bit, 250 00:13:15,253 --> 00:13:17,423 nothing is worse than solitary confinement. 251 00:13:17,505 --> 00:13:21,545 Narrator: A horrific fate experienced by its first 252 00:13:21,676 --> 00:13:25,006 unfortunate victim in 1534. 253 00:13:25,096 --> 00:13:29,516 There was a young woman named Alice Tankerville who had been accused of theft, 254 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,390 convicted for it, and imprisoned in the tower. 255 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:37,190 However, one of the guards of the tower named John Bawd 256 00:13:37,275 --> 00:13:39,405 fell in love with her. 257 00:13:39,527 --> 00:13:42,357 So one night they sought to slip out 258 00:13:42,447 --> 00:13:44,527 of the tower together. 259 00:13:44,657 --> 00:13:46,407 They made their way toward Tower Hill, 260 00:13:46,534 --> 00:13:50,504 when they were caught by one of John’s colleagues, 261 00:13:50,580 --> 00:13:54,750 who of course called other guards in. 262 00:13:56,544 --> 00:13:58,754 Narrator: As punishment, John Bawd is locked 263 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,590 inside Little Ease until he’s almost dead. 264 00:14:02,717 --> 00:14:06,717 Then he’s hung outside until he dies of exposure 265 00:14:06,846 --> 00:14:12,176 and his body is picked apart by ravens. 266 00:14:12,268 --> 00:14:15,598 John Bawd goes from being one of the guards of the tower 267 00:14:15,730 --> 00:14:17,940 to one of the tower’s victims. 268 00:14:18,066 --> 00:14:21,436 Michael Young: Alice, because she had originally committed 269 00:14:21,569 --> 00:14:26,199 a theft on the Thames, was convicted of piracy. 270 00:14:26,282 --> 00:14:29,452 And in keeping with the crime, 271 00:14:29,577 --> 00:14:34,667 she was hanged from the side of the River Thames as were all pirates, 272 00:14:34,749 --> 00:14:37,129 either to die of hanging first 273 00:14:37,251 --> 00:14:40,421 or die as the tide rose over her. 274 00:14:40,546 --> 00:14:45,426 Narrator: In 1640, torture is outlawed in England, 275 00:14:45,551 --> 00:14:50,601 bringing this dark chapter in the tower’s history to a close. 276 00:14:52,308 --> 00:14:54,438 But over two centuries later, 277 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,560 an even more menacing castle emerges. 278 00:14:59,857 --> 00:15:04,107 July 1895, Chicago, Illinois. 279 00:15:04,237 --> 00:15:08,817 While conducting an investigation of a South Side hotel, 280 00:15:08,950 --> 00:15:11,700 police make a shocking discovery. 281 00:15:11,786 --> 00:15:14,786 In the basement, the police find a dissection table. 282 00:15:14,872 --> 00:15:17,292 They find a kiln for burning things, 283 00:15:17,375 --> 00:15:21,505 and they ultimately find evidence of bones and jewelry inside this kiln. 284 00:15:21,629 --> 00:15:23,339 Also, a tub full of quicklime, 285 00:15:23,464 --> 00:15:27,304 which is a classic way to dissolve and dispose of a body. 286 00:15:27,385 --> 00:15:29,975 Larissa Tracy: And they find so many jumbled remains 287 00:15:30,096 --> 00:15:33,056 that it’s impossible for them to determine 288 00:15:33,141 --> 00:15:36,191 exactly how many corpses they’ve found. 289 00:15:36,310 --> 00:15:41,900 Narrator: News headlines dub the hotel "The Murder Castle," 290 00:15:41,983 --> 00:15:44,693 and investigators start to dig deeper 291 00:15:44,819 --> 00:15:48,739 into the building’s owner, Dr. H.H. Holmes. 292 00:15:48,823 --> 00:15:52,703 Clarence Goodman: Holmes was born in May of 1861 293 00:15:52,827 --> 00:15:54,867 as Herman Webster Mudgett. 294 00:15:54,996 --> 00:15:58,666 And then it is upon his graduation from medical school 295 00:15:58,791 --> 00:16:02,631 that he decides to take on an assumed name. 296 00:16:02,712 --> 00:16:06,552 Ed O’Donnell: Holmes also displays a macabre fascination with cadavers, 297 00:16:06,674 --> 00:16:08,554 with bodies, with dissection, 298 00:16:08,676 --> 00:16:10,506 and some of his earliest known scams 299 00:16:10,636 --> 00:16:13,346 are taking out insurance policies on fictitious people 300 00:16:13,431 --> 00:16:15,181 and presenting a cadaver as the dead person, 301 00:16:15,266 --> 00:16:18,886 collecting the insurance money. 302 00:16:19,020 --> 00:16:21,190 Narrator: After leaving New York and Philadelphia 303 00:16:21,314 --> 00:16:24,154 under suspicious circumstances, 304 00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:28,243 Holmes moves to Chicago in 1886 to work at a pharmacy. 305 00:16:28,362 --> 00:16:31,622 Soon after, he buys the vacant lot across the street 306 00:16:31,699 --> 00:16:35,739 to build a new endeavor-- a hotel. 307 00:16:35,870 --> 00:16:38,080 Ed O’Donnell: Holmes is a guy who wants to keep his business secret. 308 00:16:38,206 --> 00:16:40,536 So no contractor, no carpenter, no bricklayer, 309 00:16:40,666 --> 00:16:43,666 does more than a couple of weeks work before they’re fired, 310 00:16:43,753 --> 00:16:46,713 which means they won’t see the diabolical plan in full. 311 00:16:46,839 --> 00:16:50,089 When this building of Holmes’ springs up 312 00:16:50,218 --> 00:16:53,138 in the middle of the town, it is so singular, 313 00:16:53,221 --> 00:16:54,811 even down to the turrets. 314 00:16:54,889 --> 00:16:56,889 It has the resemblance of a castle, 315 00:16:57,016 --> 00:17:00,936 and it is so tall and takes up so much real estate, 316 00:17:01,062 --> 00:17:02,482 that it is eye-catching. 317 00:17:04,398 --> 00:17:06,188 Narrator: The ground floor of Holmes’ hotel 318 00:17:06,275 --> 00:17:09,445 is built out as a conventional retail space. 319 00:17:09,570 --> 00:17:13,240 But the second level is a maze of hidden passageways, 320 00:17:13,324 --> 00:17:16,744 trap doors, and dead ends. 321 00:17:16,869 --> 00:17:19,499 On the second floor, we’re looking at approximately, 322 00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:21,460 say 8,000 square feet, 323 00:17:21,582 --> 00:17:24,212 and you’ve got roughly 30-some-odd rooms 324 00:17:24,293 --> 00:17:26,963 and about 50-plus doors. That’s a lot. 325 00:17:27,088 --> 00:17:29,758 Clarence Goodman: He folds asbestos into the plans. 326 00:17:29,882 --> 00:17:34,142 This makes everything silent. Why is this important? 327 00:17:34,262 --> 00:17:37,182 Because you can’t hear someone in a muffled room. 328 00:17:37,265 --> 00:17:41,315 Holmes wants to keep you in. So, the hallways are mazes. 329 00:17:41,435 --> 00:17:45,305 The exits are not clear. The windows are boarded over. 330 00:17:45,439 --> 00:17:47,609 So, it’s almost the opposite of what a hotel should be. 331 00:17:47,692 --> 00:17:53,662 It’s a tomb. It’s a trap. 332 00:17:53,781 --> 00:17:55,321 Narrator: In late 1892, 333 00:17:55,449 --> 00:17:58,369 H.H. Holmes’ hotel is open for business. 334 00:17:58,452 --> 00:18:02,412 And his timing is deviously perfect, 335 00:18:02,498 --> 00:18:04,578 because in just a few months 336 00:18:04,667 --> 00:18:06,957 the World’s Fair will open in Chicago 337 00:18:07,086 --> 00:18:10,166 in the spring of 1893. 338 00:18:10,298 --> 00:18:13,878 Clarence Goodman: Holmes put ads in newspapers around the middle-west, 339 00:18:13,968 --> 00:18:18,428 and incredibly, he has women answering his ads 340 00:18:18,514 --> 00:18:20,684 who are planning on coming to Chicago. 341 00:18:20,808 --> 00:18:24,478 These people have no idea what they have walked into. 342 00:18:24,604 --> 00:18:26,484 Larissa Tracy: He would put them in rooms 343 00:18:26,606 --> 00:18:28,516 where he knew that he could either control them entirely, 344 00:18:28,649 --> 00:18:31,649 or he could control their sense of perception. 345 00:18:31,777 --> 00:18:34,317 The hotel itself is set up like a maze. 346 00:18:34,447 --> 00:18:36,157 It’s a labyrinth. There are dead ends. 347 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,030 They’re staircases that lead nowhere. 348 00:18:38,159 --> 00:18:42,159 There are doors that open out onto alleys with a drop. 349 00:18:42,246 --> 00:18:45,206 And if a young woman is disoriented 350 00:18:45,333 --> 00:18:48,753 and tries to leave her room, she’d get lost. 351 00:18:50,630 --> 00:18:52,630 Clarence Goodman: They are put to sleep, 352 00:18:52,715 --> 00:18:55,225 because Holmes has introduced gas 353 00:18:55,343 --> 00:18:56,723 into their sleeping chamber. 354 00:18:56,844 --> 00:19:00,394 And then they sadly wake up in the basement 355 00:19:00,514 --> 00:19:01,894 strapped to a table. 356 00:19:03,476 --> 00:19:05,096 And he might be experimenting on them. 357 00:19:05,186 --> 00:19:07,056 He might be torturing them. 358 00:19:07,188 --> 00:19:11,018 For those unfortunate enough to actually see this basement, 359 00:19:11,150 --> 00:19:14,740 they must have felt like they were seeing some new form 360 00:19:14,862 --> 00:19:16,952 of a medieval torture dungeon. 361 00:19:17,031 --> 00:19:19,871 A rack for stretching human bodies, 362 00:19:19,992 --> 00:19:23,832 a dissection table for experimenting and for torture. 363 00:19:23,913 --> 00:19:27,713 A vat for quicklime, a vat for acid. 364 00:19:27,792 --> 00:19:32,592 A huge furnace that could accommodate a full human body. 365 00:19:32,713 --> 00:19:37,633 And then so many surgical and dissection tools all around the room. 366 00:19:39,387 --> 00:19:40,927 Ultimately, they’re going to be murdered, 367 00:19:41,055 --> 00:19:43,225 the soft tissue disposed of, 368 00:19:43,349 --> 00:19:45,849 and the skeletons sold for money. 369 00:19:47,436 --> 00:19:49,856 Holmes is a spider, 370 00:19:49,939 --> 00:19:53,109 and the Murder Castle itself is the ultimate spider’s web. 371 00:19:53,234 --> 00:19:58,574 He was charming and could convince women to come with him. 372 00:19:58,656 --> 00:20:01,446 Ed O’Donnell: Most of the victims of H.H. Holmes were young women, 373 00:20:01,575 --> 00:20:03,485 many of them who had resources, who had wealth. 374 00:20:03,577 --> 00:20:06,457 The best example of that is the Williams sisters, 375 00:20:06,580 --> 00:20:09,170 Minnie and Nannie Williams. 376 00:20:09,250 --> 00:20:11,130 Minnie comes to Chicago, and she and Holmes 377 00:20:11,252 --> 00:20:13,592 not only take up with one another, 378 00:20:13,671 --> 00:20:17,381 but Minnie begins to work for Holmes as a stenographer. 379 00:20:17,466 --> 00:20:18,796 They become engaged. 380 00:20:18,926 --> 00:20:21,086 Minnie Williams is convinced 381 00:20:21,220 --> 00:20:24,390 to sign over all of her material wealth, 382 00:20:24,473 --> 00:20:28,483 and Holmes does the same thing with young Nannie Williams. 383 00:20:28,602 --> 00:20:33,572 And now he really has no use for the sisters Williams. 384 00:20:33,649 --> 00:20:36,279 Minnie is killed. When Nannie gets there, she is killed. 385 00:20:36,402 --> 00:20:39,822 That’s sort of the distillation of Holmes’ kind of MO, 386 00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:41,447 drawing in young vulnerable women, 387 00:20:41,574 --> 00:20:43,874 ultimately killing them, and acquiring their property. 388 00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:49,619 Narrator: But after a series of suspicious fires, 389 00:20:49,707 --> 00:20:52,127 by the summer of 1893, 390 00:20:52,251 --> 00:20:56,131 his crimes start catching up with him. 391 00:20:56,255 --> 00:20:58,915 Holmes had taken out insurance on the castle, 392 00:20:59,008 --> 00:21:00,968 and so he was trying to collect. 393 00:21:01,093 --> 00:21:04,643 But because of the really, really sketchy nature 394 00:21:04,722 --> 00:21:07,642 of the fires, he was not paid off. 395 00:21:07,767 --> 00:21:11,097 Narrator: Undeterred, Holmes cooks up a new scam 396 00:21:11,187 --> 00:21:15,977 with his business partner Benjamin Pitezel. 397 00:21:16,066 --> 00:21:20,196 Clarence Goodman: Holmes and Benjamin Pitezel have a plan to defraud 398 00:21:20,321 --> 00:21:22,031 an insurance company in Philadelphia, 399 00:21:22,156 --> 00:21:24,906 where they will present a dead body 400 00:21:24,992 --> 00:21:28,042 after taking out an insurance policy 401 00:21:28,162 --> 00:21:29,712 on Benjamin Pitezel. 402 00:21:29,830 --> 00:21:32,500 Pitezel, sadly, he thinks he’s a partner, 403 00:21:32,625 --> 00:21:34,675 but he’s actually going to be the victim, 404 00:21:34,794 --> 00:21:37,714 because Holmes is going to present the real body 405 00:21:37,838 --> 00:21:41,048 of one Ben Pitezel to the insurance company. 406 00:21:41,175 --> 00:21:43,895 Larissa Tracy: Holmes had a tendency to eliminate 407 00:21:44,011 --> 00:21:45,681 anybody who knew his secrets. 408 00:21:45,763 --> 00:21:47,643 Pitezel knew of his fraud. 409 00:21:47,723 --> 00:21:49,523 Ed O’Donnell: He kills his business partner, 410 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:50,930 and then acquires possession 411 00:21:51,018 --> 00:21:52,308 of Benjamin Pitezel’s three children. 412 00:21:52,394 --> 00:21:54,864 Narrator: Holmes goes on the run 413 00:21:54,980 --> 00:21:57,020 with Pitezel’s children in tow, 414 00:21:57,149 --> 00:21:58,729 ultimately killing them. 415 00:21:58,859 --> 00:22:02,529 After two of the bodies are discovered in Toronto, 416 00:22:02,613 --> 00:22:06,413 police search his Chicago hotel in 1895, 417 00:22:06,534 --> 00:22:09,954 and what they uncover is truly horrific. 418 00:22:10,037 --> 00:22:13,077 When the police arrive, this one-time fortress 419 00:22:13,207 --> 00:22:15,127 is in tremendous disrepair. 420 00:22:15,209 --> 00:22:17,039 And so they’re looking around, 421 00:22:17,127 --> 00:22:19,707 and they see these nefarious and weird rooms. 422 00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:22,419 But it’s when they go to the basement 423 00:22:22,550 --> 00:22:27,100 that they are greeted with the sight of bones and blood and bloody clothing, 424 00:22:27,221 --> 00:22:31,061 and a basement that looks like it had been a medieval torture dungeon. 425 00:22:31,141 --> 00:22:34,851 Larissa Tracy: Nobody can fathom a mind that would create a place 426 00:22:34,937 --> 00:22:37,517 that seems welcoming, that seems safe, 427 00:22:37,606 --> 00:22:39,396 but was designed to kill. 428 00:22:39,483 --> 00:22:42,943 Narrator: Ultimately, Holmes is sentenced to death 429 00:22:43,070 --> 00:22:46,110 for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel. 430 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:50,950 But before he’s executed, he writes a shockingly detailed confession, 431 00:22:51,078 --> 00:22:55,958 admitting to a total of 27 gruesome murders. 432 00:22:56,083 --> 00:23:00,423 Because the stories of Holmes’ crimes is nationwide news, 433 00:23:00,546 --> 00:23:04,086 the tabloid medium makes him into a celebrity. 434 00:23:04,174 --> 00:23:06,304 Now that he knows he can do no further, 435 00:23:06,427 --> 00:23:08,347 he wants his crimes to be revealed. 436 00:23:08,429 --> 00:23:11,429 Whether or not he reveals accurately 437 00:23:11,557 --> 00:23:14,557 or exaggerates and embellishes his own reputation 438 00:23:14,643 --> 00:23:16,603 is impossible to know. 439 00:23:20,441 --> 00:23:23,821 Narrator: H.H. Holmes hangs on May 7th, 1896. 440 00:23:23,944 --> 00:23:27,414 But the building dubbed the Murder Castle 441 00:23:27,489 --> 00:23:33,119 stands as a grim reminder of his crimes until 1938. 442 00:23:33,245 --> 00:23:36,825 Clarence Goodman: The city of Chicago, they take possession of this building, 443 00:23:36,957 --> 00:23:42,417 they bulldoze it, and they build a brand-new U.S. post office, 444 00:23:42,504 --> 00:23:48,304 using in part the original Murder Castle basement 445 00:23:48,427 --> 00:23:51,757 as the basement for the new post office. 446 00:23:51,847 --> 00:23:55,517 And so in that regard, this hotel, this fortress, 447 00:23:55,643 --> 00:23:57,813 this monster is still there. 448 00:23:57,895 --> 00:23:59,815 Just because this building was torn down 449 00:23:59,897 --> 00:24:02,227 doesn’t mean that whatever happened there didn’t happen there. 450 00:24:02,316 --> 00:24:04,566 The horrors that took place on that ground, 451 00:24:04,652 --> 00:24:07,112 the blood that was shed there, is still there. 452 00:24:07,196 --> 00:24:11,656 Narrator: The Murder Castle might never escape its bloody past, 453 00:24:11,784 --> 00:24:17,334 but about 1,800 miles away, there’s an island where escape 454 00:24:17,414 --> 00:24:24,214 is said to be downright impossible. 455 00:24:24,338 --> 00:24:26,338 Narrator: A mile and a half from San Francisco 456 00:24:26,465 --> 00:24:28,175 stands one of the most notorious 457 00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:33,640 maximum-security prisons in America-- Alcatraz. 458 00:24:33,722 --> 00:24:35,772 Ed O’Donnell: The nickname of Alcatraz was The Rock. 459 00:24:35,849 --> 00:24:37,679 Someone once wrote about Alcatraz 460 00:24:37,768 --> 00:24:40,188 that it was the great garbage can in San Francisco Bay, 461 00:24:40,270 --> 00:24:43,940 into which all the federal penitentiaries sent their most rotten apples, 462 00:24:44,024 --> 00:24:47,074 so it had that reputation of being a terrible place. 463 00:24:47,194 --> 00:24:49,784 Narrator: Ironically, Alcatraz, 464 00:24:49,863 --> 00:24:52,413 a place known for locking people in, 465 00:24:52,533 --> 00:24:55,623 was initially built to keep people out. 466 00:24:55,703 --> 00:24:59,333 Ian Craig: Alcatraz has history going back to the 1850s 467 00:24:59,415 --> 00:25:02,675 as a U.S. Army post, the first fortress built 468 00:25:02,751 --> 00:25:04,881 by the American government on the West Coast. 469 00:25:06,714 --> 00:25:10,224 Narrator: After a major natural disaster in 1906, 470 00:25:10,342 --> 00:25:12,722 the fort gets a new purpose. 471 00:25:12,845 --> 00:25:14,145 Greg Jackson: The thing we need to remember 472 00:25:14,221 --> 00:25:16,851 about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 473 00:25:16,932 --> 00:25:18,522 is that it wasn’t just an earthquake. 474 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,140 It was also a great fire. 475 00:25:21,228 --> 00:25:24,688 Fire sweeps through and obliterates San Francisco. 476 00:25:24,773 --> 00:25:27,863 Alcatraz is an island just a mile away, 477 00:25:27,943 --> 00:25:30,823 and it becomes the dumping ground for all of the people 478 00:25:30,904 --> 00:25:32,864 who had been incarcerated in San Francisco. 479 00:25:32,948 --> 00:25:35,078 Ian Craig: Ultimately, it would be decided 480 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:36,740 that building would be torn down, 481 00:25:36,827 --> 00:25:40,707 and rebuilt by a much larger prison building. 482 00:25:40,789 --> 00:25:43,119 When the prison building that we see today was completed, 483 00:25:43,250 --> 00:25:46,170 it was the largest reinforced concrete building 484 00:25:46,253 --> 00:25:47,963 ever built at that time. 485 00:25:49,465 --> 00:25:53,765 Narrator: In 1934, it officially opens. 486 00:25:55,637 --> 00:25:56,887 Ian Craig: Letters were sent out to the wardens 487 00:25:56,972 --> 00:25:58,472 of other federal prisons, 488 00:25:58,599 --> 00:26:00,389 "Make your prison safer. 489 00:26:00,476 --> 00:26:02,016 Send us your worst." 490 00:26:02,102 --> 00:26:03,402 They wanted to round up 491 00:26:03,479 --> 00:26:05,519 all the most troublesome prisoners, 492 00:26:05,606 --> 00:26:07,266 and the most dangerous prisoners, 493 00:26:07,399 --> 00:26:08,899 and put them all in one place. 494 00:26:08,984 --> 00:26:11,404 Ed O’Donnell: Al Capone ended up at Alcatraz. 495 00:26:11,487 --> 00:26:13,237 Machine Gun Kelly as well. 496 00:26:13,322 --> 00:26:15,162 And in a later date, Whitey Bulger. 497 00:26:15,282 --> 00:26:17,702 So lots of well-known criminals who had made headlines 498 00:26:17,785 --> 00:26:19,795 before they ended up getting incarcerated. 499 00:26:19,912 --> 00:26:23,622 Narrator: Most convicts are housed in three blocks, 500 00:26:23,707 --> 00:26:26,877 A, B, and C. 501 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:28,590 But the worst offenders 502 00:26:28,670 --> 00:26:31,130 are sent to solitary confinement, 503 00:26:31,256 --> 00:26:34,296 the dreaded D block. 504 00:26:34,426 --> 00:26:38,756 Ian Craig: The lower floor of D block contains six dark cells. 505 00:26:38,847 --> 00:26:43,767 The door leading in is a three-inch thick steel door filled with concrete. 506 00:26:43,852 --> 00:26:46,982 And when they closed that cell door, 507 00:26:47,106 --> 00:26:48,566 you were in there in the dark. 508 00:26:48,649 --> 00:26:51,359 The diet was basically bread and water 509 00:26:51,485 --> 00:26:54,615 with a real meal every third day by government order. 510 00:26:54,696 --> 00:26:58,116 Ian Craig: Some prisoners who would be taken to the dark cells, 511 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,160 and they would be complaining, "I have pain. 512 00:27:00,244 --> 00:27:02,334 I think I’m really sick. I should see the doctor." 513 00:27:02,412 --> 00:27:04,162 And on a couple of occasions, 514 00:27:04,248 --> 00:27:06,958 when they were checked on, they had died. 515 00:27:07,042 --> 00:27:11,132 They had six cells that were psychotic cells, you know? 516 00:27:11,213 --> 00:27:14,263 Sort of where you put the guys that are cracking up, 517 00:27:14,341 --> 00:27:17,301 that are uncontrollable. 518 00:27:17,386 --> 00:27:20,136 There’s nothing but a hole in the floor. That’s all they got. 519 00:27:20,222 --> 00:27:25,942 No bed, no sink, no toilet, nothing. Just a hole in the floor. 520 00:27:26,019 --> 00:27:29,649 Rebecca Simon: The solitary confinement wasn’t completely solitary, 521 00:27:29,731 --> 00:27:32,651 because being in the center of the bay and very, very isolated, 522 00:27:32,734 --> 00:27:35,994 the prisoners, they were able to hear the ocean waves outside. 523 00:27:36,071 --> 00:27:38,701 If there were boats sailing by with people celebrating 524 00:27:38,782 --> 00:27:40,582 or even just people laughing, 525 00:27:40,701 --> 00:27:42,541 prisoners could hear that very clearly. 526 00:27:42,619 --> 00:27:44,999 It was like freedom was just at the tip of their fingers 527 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,000 but they could never touch it. 528 00:27:48,083 --> 00:27:52,343 The most high-profile guy that was there when I was there was the Birdman. 529 00:27:52,421 --> 00:27:55,801 They gave him life in solitary confinement. 530 00:27:55,883 --> 00:27:59,393 Now can you imagine that? Never to come out. 531 00:27:59,469 --> 00:28:03,009 They did the same thing to a guy in later years, 532 00:28:03,098 --> 00:28:07,388 only they put him actually underground in a cell. 533 00:28:07,477 --> 00:28:10,017 They buried him alive. 534 00:28:10,105 --> 00:28:13,435 Eileen Joy: Solitary confinement is the most brutal punishment 535 00:28:13,567 --> 00:28:15,317 a prisoner can receive. 536 00:28:15,402 --> 00:28:19,032 If you’re in a room like that day after day after day, 537 00:28:19,114 --> 00:28:23,914 it’s been proven that your mind completely breaks down. 538 00:28:23,994 --> 00:28:27,874 Narrator: Solitary confinement isn’t the only form of punishment. 539 00:28:27,956 --> 00:28:31,576 Ed O’Donnell: In the early years, you’re not allowed to speak at all. 540 00:28:31,710 --> 00:28:33,880 The theory was it was a good idea to keep order. 541 00:28:33,962 --> 00:28:36,172 But it actually was terrible for the psychological well-being of prisoners. 542 00:28:36,256 --> 00:28:38,876 Narrator: Conditions are so bad, 543 00:28:38,967 --> 00:28:42,347 some inmates contemplate drastic measures. 544 00:28:42,429 --> 00:28:44,679 Daniel Dickrell: To build a prison, you have to understand 545 00:28:44,765 --> 00:28:48,275 that the people inside will do everything in their power 546 00:28:48,393 --> 00:28:50,603 to try and break out of that prison. 547 00:28:50,687 --> 00:28:52,107 And so you have to keep that in mind 548 00:28:52,189 --> 00:28:53,939 as you’re designing and building it, 549 00:28:54,024 --> 00:28:56,284 human beings inside are very creative 550 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,610 and they’re very effective at finding weaknesses. 551 00:28:58,737 --> 00:29:01,527 Narrator: Preventing any attempts to escape 552 00:29:01,615 --> 00:29:06,295 are armed guards who patrol 24/7 from the gun galleries, 553 00:29:06,370 --> 00:29:11,580 a maze of walkways protected by bars and mesh. 554 00:29:11,667 --> 00:29:15,547 They had holes where they’d stick their gun through the window. 555 00:29:15,629 --> 00:29:19,299 Any time there was a fight in Alcatraz, 556 00:29:19,383 --> 00:29:22,143 they’d shoot one shot, a warning shot. 557 00:29:22,219 --> 00:29:25,309 If you didn’t break it up, they would shoot you. 558 00:29:25,389 --> 00:29:27,219 We hated the ( bleep ). 559 00:29:27,307 --> 00:29:30,097 Ed O’Donnell: In addition to all of these guards, 560 00:29:30,185 --> 00:29:33,095 highest percentage of guards to prisoners than anywhere in the country, 561 00:29:33,188 --> 00:29:36,108 is a system of tear gas canisters that are suspended from the ceiling. 562 00:29:36,191 --> 00:29:39,071 So, if there’s a prison uprising or an escape attempt, 563 00:29:39,152 --> 00:29:42,412 they can release this tear gas and immobilize the prisoners. 564 00:29:42,489 --> 00:29:46,119 Narrator: But these defenses don’t stop prisoners 565 00:29:46,201 --> 00:29:52,421 from risking it all to break out. 566 00:29:52,499 --> 00:29:54,919 Narrator: In the 29 years the prison is open, 567 00:29:55,002 --> 00:29:57,422 few inmates are daring enough 568 00:29:57,504 --> 00:30:00,844 to put the escape-proof Alcatraz to the test. 569 00:30:00,966 --> 00:30:03,466 One of the most violent attempts 570 00:30:03,552 --> 00:30:07,062 occurs in May of 1946. 571 00:30:07,180 --> 00:30:11,770 Bernard Coy is a bank robber, and he’s hell-bent on escaping. 572 00:30:11,852 --> 00:30:14,522 He enlists the help of several other inmates 573 00:30:14,646 --> 00:30:17,186 in a scheme to find a way to break out. 574 00:30:17,274 --> 00:30:19,984 They study for a period of months 575 00:30:20,068 --> 00:30:22,948 the movements of the guards and the changing of shifts. 576 00:30:23,030 --> 00:30:26,120 Ian Craig: Bernard Coy successfully navigated 577 00:30:26,199 --> 00:30:27,699 his way to the gun gallery 578 00:30:27,826 --> 00:30:30,196 when the guard had gone around the corner. 579 00:30:30,329 --> 00:30:33,789 When he came back, Coy punched him unconscious. 580 00:30:33,874 --> 00:30:36,714 He succeeded in getting his guns, 581 00:30:36,793 --> 00:30:40,053 a .30-06 rifle and a handgun. 582 00:30:40,172 --> 00:30:45,222 Their plan was to retrieve the key that hung on a chain 583 00:30:45,344 --> 00:30:48,564 from the gun gallery, and it wasn’t there. 584 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:53,810 Narrator: Coy and his cohorts grab the keyring off the unconscious guard. 585 00:30:53,894 --> 00:30:58,774 Daniel Dickrell: They try as many keys as possible in the mechanism, 586 00:30:58,899 --> 00:31:02,609 but they jam the mechanism, and they can’t get out. 587 00:31:02,736 --> 00:31:05,276 Ed O’Donnell: One of the prisoners says, 588 00:31:05,405 --> 00:31:07,315 "We’ve gotta kill these guards because 589 00:31:07,407 --> 00:31:09,117 they’re gonna testify against us 590 00:31:09,242 --> 00:31:10,992 and send us all to the electric chair." 591 00:31:11,078 --> 00:31:15,578 So Coy kills one, seriously injures several others. 592 00:31:15,707 --> 00:31:19,747 Narrator: This ultimately leads to a tense three-day standoff 593 00:31:19,878 --> 00:31:22,588 between the escaping inmates and law enforcement. 594 00:31:22,672 --> 00:31:25,682 Ed O’Donnell: Marines come in with grenades 595 00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:29,509 and the real heavy equipment and begin blasting away, 596 00:31:29,596 --> 00:31:31,926 not really caring whether they take down the building 597 00:31:32,057 --> 00:31:33,807 or kill a lot of innocent prisoners. 598 00:31:33,934 --> 00:31:36,904 It’s all about simply suppressing the insurrection. 599 00:31:39,064 --> 00:31:40,524 Ian Craig: And there was no escape, 600 00:31:40,607 --> 00:31:42,477 and they would die in the plumbing corridor 601 00:31:42,609 --> 00:31:45,029 under gunfire by guards and the Marines. 602 00:31:45,112 --> 00:31:47,742 Announcer: The prison launch takes aboard the bodies 603 00:31:47,823 --> 00:31:50,203 of the three leaders of the mutiny-- 604 00:31:50,283 --> 00:31:51,703 Coy, Hubbard, and Cretzer. 605 00:31:51,785 --> 00:31:53,375 Narrator: The deadly mayhem 606 00:31:53,453 --> 00:31:56,213 reminds prisoners that the harshest torture 607 00:31:56,289 --> 00:31:59,959 is knowing that escape is all but impossible. 608 00:32:00,043 --> 00:32:05,383 Bill Baker: I thought about escaping from Alcatraz. Everybody did, of course. 609 00:32:05,465 --> 00:32:08,545 But I learned very quickly that if you’re gonna escape from Alcatraz, 610 00:32:08,635 --> 00:32:12,095 you have to be willing to give up your life. 611 00:32:12,180 --> 00:32:14,770 ’Cause if you don’t make it, you’re either gonna drown 612 00:32:14,850 --> 00:32:16,940 or they’re gonna shoot you-- one or the other. 613 00:32:18,645 --> 00:32:20,555 There’s no second chances. 614 00:32:20,647 --> 00:32:22,727 Ian Craig: During the federal penitentiary era, 615 00:32:22,816 --> 00:32:25,396 from 1934 to 1963, 616 00:32:25,485 --> 00:32:30,235 we had 1,576 federal prisoners sent to Alcatraz. 617 00:32:30,323 --> 00:32:32,203 There were 14 official escape attempts. 618 00:32:32,325 --> 00:32:34,155 36 men took part in those. 619 00:32:34,286 --> 00:32:36,156 And we just have five men unaccounted for 620 00:32:36,246 --> 00:32:37,576 out of that number. 621 00:32:37,664 --> 00:32:40,584 Narrator: Even if on the off-chance 622 00:32:40,667 --> 00:32:44,797 those five survived, an escape rate of 0.3% 623 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:50,130 makes Alcatraz one of the most escape-proof prisons in U.S. history. 624 00:32:52,721 --> 00:32:56,641 Narrator: While Alcatraz proves effective at locking evil away, 625 00:32:56,725 --> 00:33:02,315 there’s a temple of doom built to help unleash it out into the world. 626 00:33:04,524 --> 00:33:08,074 Narrator: Germany, 1933. 627 00:33:08,195 --> 00:33:11,615 As the Nazi party continues its rise to power, 628 00:33:11,698 --> 00:33:14,368 Adolph Hitler’s chief deputy Heinrich Himmler 629 00:33:14,493 --> 00:33:16,793 begins searching for a base of operations 630 00:33:16,870 --> 00:33:19,960 for his elite soldiers, the Schutzstaffel, 631 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,210 otherwise known as the SS. 632 00:33:23,335 --> 00:33:27,465 The SS under Himmler is exploding. 633 00:33:27,547 --> 00:33:31,047 It’s an enormous number of new recruits that are coming in, 634 00:33:31,176 --> 00:33:33,546 and they need to be trained. 635 00:33:33,637 --> 00:33:35,967 And Himmler needs a place to do this. 636 00:33:36,056 --> 00:33:41,846 The Nazis have for a long time been associated with the occult, 637 00:33:41,937 --> 00:33:45,977 especially Himmler, who’s absolutely invested 638 00:33:46,066 --> 00:33:49,526 in medieval chivalric culture. 639 00:33:49,611 --> 00:33:52,491 Narrator: Himmler’s obsession with medieval culture 640 00:33:52,572 --> 00:33:54,742 leads to the perfect location 641 00:33:54,866 --> 00:33:57,406 deep in Germany’s Teutoburg Forest. 642 00:33:57,536 --> 00:34:03,076 The Wewelsburg Castle is very near a site 643 00:34:03,208 --> 00:34:07,498 where it is believed that native Germans 644 00:34:07,587 --> 00:34:10,337 were able to defeat invading Roman armies 645 00:34:10,423 --> 00:34:13,133 in the first decade of the common era. 646 00:34:13,260 --> 00:34:18,810 This space is so important to Heinrich Himmler 647 00:34:18,932 --> 00:34:21,312 and the Nazi regime because it connects it 648 00:34:21,434 --> 00:34:24,194 to a storied and ancient history. 649 00:34:24,271 --> 00:34:29,031 And this fortress, which is built in the 17th century 650 00:34:29,109 --> 00:34:31,359 on much earlier medieval foundations, 651 00:34:31,444 --> 00:34:34,204 comes to symbolize the heart of the Nazi regime. 652 00:34:34,281 --> 00:34:36,911 Michael Livingston: All of this is coming together 653 00:34:36,992 --> 00:34:39,702 in this kind of soup of symbolism 654 00:34:39,786 --> 00:34:43,116 that Himmler distills into a vision 655 00:34:43,248 --> 00:34:45,288 of this being the heart of the SS, 656 00:34:45,375 --> 00:34:50,385 and a place to educate the future leaders of the great new Reich. 657 00:34:50,463 --> 00:34:54,053 Narrator: Himmler signs a 100-year lease on the castle 658 00:34:54,134 --> 00:34:57,144 and forces prisoners to help renovate it. 659 00:34:57,262 --> 00:35:02,102 One of the most insidious aspects of Wewelsburg Castle 660 00:35:02,183 --> 00:35:07,563 is its association with the death by work program. 661 00:35:07,647 --> 00:35:11,107 And over 4,000 workers 662 00:35:11,192 --> 00:35:13,572 were brought in from the concentration camps. 663 00:35:13,653 --> 00:35:16,163 Himmler used the enforced labor 664 00:35:16,281 --> 00:35:19,531 of individuals at concentration camps nearby, 665 00:35:19,659 --> 00:35:23,039 and he then put into practice what he was teaching, 666 00:35:23,163 --> 00:35:27,083 how to force people to death by laboring. 667 00:35:27,167 --> 00:35:30,417 Larissa Tracy: Over a 1,000 people died in the reconstructing 668 00:35:30,503 --> 00:35:33,593 and building of various aspects of this castle. 669 00:35:33,673 --> 00:35:35,593 They were either starved to death, 670 00:35:35,675 --> 00:35:38,005 worked to death, or they were beaten, or they were shot. 671 00:35:38,094 --> 00:35:42,564 So this castle is literally built on the blood of the people 672 00:35:42,682 --> 00:35:44,602 who were interned in those concentration camps 673 00:35:44,684 --> 00:35:52,904 and forced to work to fulfill this sadistic Nazi ideal. 674 00:35:53,026 --> 00:35:55,026 Narrator: In 1941, 675 00:35:55,111 --> 00:35:58,201 with construction of his temple of doom well underway, 676 00:35:58,281 --> 00:36:03,041 Himmler plans his sadistic hub of Nazi ideology. 677 00:36:03,119 --> 00:36:07,369 They wanted to create a sort of academy of Nazism within this castle. 678 00:36:07,499 --> 00:36:09,709 Kelly Devries: It was in Wewelsburg that Himmler 679 00:36:09,834 --> 00:36:13,384 would have taught his philosophy to willing men. 680 00:36:13,505 --> 00:36:17,095 They were going to become these elite, the ubermensch. 681 00:36:17,217 --> 00:36:18,547 Larissa Tracy: They would have been educated 682 00:36:18,677 --> 00:36:20,797 and taught in the rooms of this castle 683 00:36:20,887 --> 00:36:23,557 about the Final Solution and about their role in it, 684 00:36:23,682 --> 00:36:27,102 and their role in essentially exterminating anybody 685 00:36:27,227 --> 00:36:30,187 who was not of pure Aryan blood. 686 00:36:32,691 --> 00:36:34,781 Narrator: After training, recruits would be led 687 00:36:34,901 --> 00:36:39,861 to the Obergruppenfuhrersaal, or the General’s Hall. 688 00:36:39,948 --> 00:36:42,068 In the Obergruppenfuhrersaal, 689 00:36:42,158 --> 00:36:45,578 he has a mosaic of a black sun on the floor, 690 00:36:45,704 --> 00:36:48,124 because he believes that the astral significance 691 00:36:48,248 --> 00:36:50,498 and the alignment of the building itself 692 00:36:50,583 --> 00:36:54,093 would somehow endow them with a sense of immortality. 693 00:36:54,212 --> 00:36:55,882 Cord Whitaker: In this chamber, 694 00:36:55,964 --> 00:36:58,304 there would have been a large round oak table, 695 00:36:58,425 --> 00:37:00,765 evocative of the Round Table. 696 00:37:00,844 --> 00:37:05,014 Around the edges of the room, there are twelve seats 697 00:37:05,098 --> 00:37:07,138 for the twelve knights of the Round Table. 698 00:37:07,267 --> 00:37:10,727 And of course, there’s the central seat, 699 00:37:10,812 --> 00:37:13,152 which is for the king himself, 700 00:37:13,273 --> 00:37:15,783 which for Himmler would have been the Fuhrer. 701 00:37:15,900 --> 00:37:19,650 Michael Shelden: The Nazis are not inventive enough 702 00:37:19,779 --> 00:37:22,109 to create their own mythology. They’ve got to borrow it. 703 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:24,450 It’s especially ironic that they take 704 00:37:24,576 --> 00:37:27,496 the whole Arthurian myth from the English 705 00:37:27,620 --> 00:37:32,210 and try to put it in Germany and make their own version 706 00:37:32,292 --> 00:37:35,882 of a kind of dark Camelot within this castle. 707 00:37:35,962 --> 00:37:39,092 Narrator: It is here that members of the SS 708 00:37:39,174 --> 00:37:41,884 would be officially indoctrinated. 709 00:37:41,968 --> 00:37:45,298 Every cult needs to have its initiation, 710 00:37:45,388 --> 00:37:47,968 and part of that is to give these SS men 711 00:37:48,057 --> 00:37:51,887 a death’s head ring, something that will bond them 712 00:37:51,978 --> 00:37:54,358 as though in a marriage to the cult, 713 00:37:54,481 --> 00:37:56,361 but also as a reminder to future recruits, 714 00:37:56,483 --> 00:37:57,943 "You belong to us." 715 00:37:58,026 --> 00:38:01,196 Himmler would go so far as to have SS members 716 00:38:01,321 --> 00:38:04,451 renounce the Judeo-Christian holidays 717 00:38:04,532 --> 00:38:09,952 in favor of the pagan holidays that largely preceded them. 718 00:38:10,038 --> 00:38:12,668 So in order to isolate them 719 00:38:12,749 --> 00:38:15,669 from the lives they had lived previously, 720 00:38:15,794 --> 00:38:19,674 you got to get rid of those things like Christmas. 721 00:38:21,299 --> 00:38:23,429 Narrator: Himmler even goes as far 722 00:38:23,510 --> 00:38:26,720 as to make plans for the afterlife. 723 00:38:26,846 --> 00:38:31,226 In the north tower, he has the room constructed 724 00:38:31,351 --> 00:38:34,101 with a domed roof like a Mycenaean tomb. 725 00:38:34,187 --> 00:38:36,727 Daniel Dickrell: The crypt, or as Himmler called it, the gruft, 726 00:38:36,856 --> 00:38:39,356 was the cistern of the castle that was modified 727 00:38:39,484 --> 00:38:42,744 to become sort of a symbolic tomb 728 00:38:42,862 --> 00:38:46,202 that Himmler himself wanted to be interred in. 729 00:38:46,282 --> 00:38:48,532 Larissa Tracy: In this room, there are twelve niches 730 00:38:48,618 --> 00:38:51,538 set up along in the circle along the walls 731 00:38:51,663 --> 00:38:54,963 for the urns of elites of the SS. 732 00:38:55,041 --> 00:38:57,961 And there’s an eternal flame in the center, 733 00:38:58,044 --> 00:39:01,094 and that flame was meant to last as long as the Reich. 734 00:39:01,214 --> 00:39:06,304 Narrator: A vile legacy Himmler and the SS work towards cementing. 735 00:39:06,386 --> 00:39:07,756 Michael Shelden: Probably the most important event 736 00:39:07,887 --> 00:39:10,097 that ever took place at the castle 737 00:39:10,223 --> 00:39:14,103 was the meeting to plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union, 738 00:39:14,227 --> 00:39:15,897 Operation Barbarossa. 739 00:39:16,020 --> 00:39:18,610 The people belonging to this death cult 740 00:39:18,731 --> 00:39:23,611 they were told, "Go out and kill as many people as you can." 741 00:39:23,736 --> 00:39:26,776 It was assumed 30 million would die 742 00:39:26,906 --> 00:39:31,446 who were mostly civilians or political officials or Jews, 743 00:39:31,578 --> 00:39:35,458 and it was the SS’s job to do this methodical killing 744 00:39:35,582 --> 00:39:39,502 in order to make it so that you purified the country 745 00:39:39,586 --> 00:39:42,296 as you moved along in the battle. 746 00:39:42,422 --> 00:39:46,222 Narrator: But Himmler’s dream of making this fortress 747 00:39:46,301 --> 00:39:48,591 the center of a new Aryan empire 748 00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:51,510 is ultimately crushed. 749 00:39:51,598 --> 00:39:54,638 March of 1945, the Allies have landed 750 00:39:54,767 --> 00:39:58,307 and are advancing across Germany. 751 00:39:58,438 --> 00:40:00,728 And Himmler runs like a coward 752 00:40:00,815 --> 00:40:04,815 and gives orders to destroy Wewelsburg Castle behind him. 753 00:40:04,944 --> 00:40:07,994 Larissa Tracy: And of course, all that happens 754 00:40:08,114 --> 00:40:09,994 is small fires throughout. 755 00:40:10,116 --> 00:40:12,616 Tapestries, flammables burn, but for the most part 756 00:40:12,744 --> 00:40:14,294 the castle itself is still standing 757 00:40:14,370 --> 00:40:17,960 and the local population loot it once the Nazis vacate. 758 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:24,460 Narrator: Today, Wewelsburg Castle is home to a museum 759 00:40:24,589 --> 00:40:27,169 commemorating the victims who suffered violence 760 00:40:27,300 --> 00:40:30,680 at the hands of the Nazi SS. 761 00:40:30,803 --> 00:40:32,853 Larissa Tracy: So Wewelsburg Castle, which was meant to be 762 00:40:32,972 --> 00:40:36,022 the physical stone fortress 763 00:40:36,142 --> 00:40:38,692 that symbolized the heart of the Nazi regime, 764 00:40:38,811 --> 00:40:42,861 ultimately becomes a place for young German students 765 00:40:42,982 --> 00:40:45,782 gaining a broader perspective of their history. 766 00:40:45,860 --> 00:40:50,530 Narrator: The storied halls of these dark places 767 00:40:50,657 --> 00:40:54,787 remind us that even though they were originally designed to protect, 768 00:40:54,869 --> 00:41:00,249 they can just as easily become bastions of evil.