- 15 hours ago
Abandoned Engineering - Season 15 Episode 1 -
Japan's Poison Island
Japan's Poison Island
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00:00In New Jersey, an illustrious complex infiltrated by an infamous gang.
00:07It's spiraled into a nationwide FBI investigation.
00:10...become the city's most notorious gangster.
00:14A tranquil Japanese island with a poisonous legacy.
00:20Doctors would perform surgery on the victims to examine the biological effects in real time.
00:25A facility in Detroit that became central to a national struggle and witnessed an iconic speech.
00:34It was a call for revolution and it was called the ballot or the bullet.
00:41And a top secret bunker in Lithuania raided in the name of freedom.
00:46If the Soviets had caught them doing this, they would have put them up against the wall and shot them.
00:55Near the famous Jersey Shore is a derelict facility tied to an extraordinary tale of corruption.
01:15What is this place doing gathering weeds just 15 minutes away from a glamorous destination like Atlantic City?
01:22It's got a tall brick tower, a large grandstand, and then this enormous overhanging roof.
01:31There are dozens of rows of stadium seats overlooking an overgrown mess.
01:36From the stands, you can barely see its full scale.
01:39It all looks over this oval track that is not really wide enough to be a racetrack for car racing,
01:49but clearly something went around here at a high rate of speed.
01:54It was a spectacle that attracted the rich and famous.
02:00This became known as Hollywood by the sea.
02:02It also had a dark side. It attracted criminal elements.
02:07And what unfolded was something straight out of a Scorsese film.
02:13And soon the FBI were closing its nets on one of the most notorious criminal gang leaders in the country.
02:21The investigation into the crimes that were committed here would ultimately lead to one of the biggest scandals in US law enforcement history.
02:30The investigation into the crimes of the country.
02:38Maureen Bugdon worked here up until 2015.
02:45Oh my God.
02:48When I see the structure now, and how quickly it declined, you remove the team, the staff, right?
02:56It's as if you remove the heart.
03:00Maureen began as a model and assistant.
03:03And over 20 years worked herself up to become president of this exclusive club.
03:10It was a facility designed in the 1940s to scream glitz and glamour.
03:18Atlantic City was one of the top vacation destinations in America.
03:22It had the famous boardwalk, hotels, restaurants, entertainment.
03:28John B. Kelly Sr., an Olympic rower and successful Philadelphia businessman, was trying to capitalize on Atlantic City's popularity.
03:37Construction got underway in 1945.
03:42A state-of-the-art clubhouse was erected, surrounded by restaurants, bars and a barber shop.
03:48At its heart was the main draw, a unique horse racing track.
03:57It was a mile and an eighth long, a distance that the horse racing press soon started calling a smile and an eighth.
04:05It cost around 875,000 pounds, the equivalent to over 30 million pounds in today's money.
04:14But high-profile help was on hand.
04:18In the post-war era, horse racing was a very glamorous sport.
04:24It attracted famous movie stars and celebrities.
04:28It was written up in every newspaper.
04:30Everyone followed the names of the top jockeys and the top horses and discussed horse racing
04:36with their friends the way people also discuss baseball and football today.
04:42The 22nd of July, 1946.
04:46The Atlantic City Racecourse was ready for action.
04:51It opened to a crowd of 25,000.
04:54Among them were shareholders Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope.
05:00Also in attendance that day was Kelly's young daughter.
05:04She would soon become a name the whole world knew, Grace Kelly.
05:09Nobody could have predicted the smash hit this place was going to be.
05:13The opening day betting came in at nearly 350,000 pounds, recouping more than a third of the overall
05:20construction costs.
05:22Over the coming months and years, this track would become a real magnet for all kinds of
05:28celebrities and artists.
05:31There was Jerry Lewis, Willie Mays, and Sinatra's Rat Pack.
05:35Even President Eisenhower stopped by for a visit in 1965.
05:41The nation's millions of racing fans are an interesting breed with a vigorous enthusiasm
05:47far surpassing that for the followers of any other spectator sport.
05:57That's the jocks building where the jockeys would get ready for the race.
06:02That's the paddock walk ring where the horses are paraded before the race.
06:08And just underneath is a saddling stall and a tunnel that runs right through the building
06:14onto the racetrack surface itself.
06:18As the jockeys emerged from the tunnel, the tension would build upstairs.
06:24On a busy day with 100 tellers, you would have had lines about 10 deep.
06:30And the closer you got to post time for each particular race,
06:35the more excited and anxious those who are waiting in line are going to be.
06:38They're hoping to get their bets in before they get shut out and can't place.
06:42Because the bell rings, bets are locked, and the horses are off.
06:46So it would be a flurry of activity.
06:50Throughout history, gambling has always had a dark underbelly.
06:54And this place was no exception.
06:55Bear up! Way to a good start.
06:59By the early 70s, there was a guy named Anthony Chiula.
07:03He was known as Big Tony in classic mobster parlance.
07:07And he claims that he was able to fix races in almost every state in the country.
07:14At the Atlantic City racecourse, he could rely on support from the notorious Winter Hill Gang.
07:20And one of its leaders, Whitey Bulger.
07:24This is a famous name to anyone who understands the history of organized crime.
07:30Whitey Bulger was this brutal crime lord in Boston.
07:35He had rivals executed. He was involved in all kinds of criminal enterprises.
07:42Big Tony went about bribing jockeys and drugging horses so that less favored horses would win.
07:50And that would give him and his cronies a huge payout.
07:55Big Tony could offer these jockeys as much as $10,000 to throw a race.
08:00And if the jockey resisted, he also had the muscle of the mob behind him.
08:06On a grand July 4th race in 1975, jockey Peter Fantini was a little too obvious in holding back his horse.
08:14When Fantini threw that race, the feds got interested.
08:19They pulled him in for questioning.
08:21Pretty soon, he rolled over on Big Tony.
08:24Fantini admitted that Big Tony bribed him to throw the race.
08:28He even agreed to go to Big Tony's hotel wearing a wire to implicate him.
08:33So Big Tony was given a choice.
08:35He could either snitch on his cohorts or he could face a very long sentence.
08:40His cooperation led to the conviction of over 40 people and implicated over half of the jockeys now in the Hall of Fame.
08:50His testimony included Whitey Bulger and 20 other members of the Winter Hill Gang.
08:57In 1979, they were nearly all sent to prison for race fixing.
09:01But mysteriously, Bulger was soon back on the streets.
09:07And now, he was the top boss.
09:10Of all the people investigated in this horse racing investigation,
09:14Whitey Bulger was never indicted or prosecuted.
09:18Why was he untouched?
09:21It turned out that Bulger was an FBI informant.
09:25And he was being protected by a corrupt agent named John Connolly.
09:29Bulger would tip Connolly off about what various Boston mobsters were up to.
09:35So he got rid of some of his competitors that way.
09:38Meanwhile, John Connolly was tipping Whitey Bulger off about what the FBI was up to
09:44and who the other informants were.
09:46A lot of those informants wound up getting knocked off themselves.
09:51Connolly was later convicted for his role in one of these murders.
09:55He also tipped Bulger off when the FBI was finally about to arrest him in 1994.
10:04Whitey Bulger escaped, went underground, and he lived undercover for years.
10:11Meanwhile, the Atlantic City Racecourse began to see legal and cultural changes
10:17eat away at its allure and popularity.
10:19As casino gambling was legalized in New Jersey in the 1970s,
10:25and they started building the big casinos in Atlantic City,
10:30traffic to the racetrack began to drop off.
10:33It continued to operate for decades, but was eventually abandoned in 2015.
10:39The future of this legendary racecourse remains uncertain.
10:49But the scandal that was sparked here in 1975 has left a damaging legacy.
10:55Whitey Bulger went on to become the FBI's public enemy number one and was only captured in 2011.
11:02In 2018, he was brutally beaten to death in prison.
11:09But the relationship between FBI agent John Connolly and Whitey Bulger
11:14was a scandal that the FBI took years to really own up to.
11:19To this day, it's a stain on the reputation of the agency.
11:22In Lithuania, 15 miles from the capital Vilnius, is a facility shrouded in secrecy.
11:41We're in these dense, misty forests that really feel like they're in the middle of nowhere.
11:45If you were hoping to hide away from prying eyes, this would be the perfect place.
11:53And then in this clearing, there's what appears to be an office building.
11:57But what's kind of strange is that there's this inner complex with this big fence around it.
12:03There's clearly more here than first meets the eye.
12:07There's an entrance to something buried in the hillside.
12:10Chosen for its isolation, this site was built with one purpose in mind.
12:17To control a nation.
12:20There's this really kind of strange mix here.
12:22There's racks of electronics, but then there's kitchens and a dining area.
12:28And it has all kinds of space for storage and for personnel,
12:32but also one room after another clearly fitted as a recording studio.
12:37This was the site of a daring raid, right under the noses of Soviet special forces.
12:45If they were caught inside here, they'd be put up against a wall and shot.
12:49It was part of a larger struggle that culminated in a dramatic face-off that would shock the world.
12:57They leveled their rifles at unarmed protesters and ploughed into the crowds in their tanks.
13:07Since 2008, Mindigas Varnegas has been researching this site,
13:13trying to piece together the rumours that swirl around it.
13:18Many knew it only as object number 523.
13:23People who walked here told me that they were just told to get to the bus,
13:28and they were driving to some kind of place. They didn't know where they are going.
13:33Nobody knows about the place, where exactly it is.
13:38Built during the Soviet Union's occupation of Lithuania,
13:42this complex was designed to be used in the fallout from a nuclear strike.
13:47This is a decontamination zone.
13:49When somebody gets into the bunker from outside,
13:51he's washed and cleaned just to keep the contaminated materials out of this bunker.
14:00At the height of the Cold War, the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union
14:05really made nuclear conflict a real possibility.
14:10Constructed between 1983 and 1985,
14:14this is the Nemencine Communications Bunker.
14:19Part of a network that would enable the Soviet government to take over the Lithuanian media
14:25and control the information war.
14:28This place was going to be one of the critical nodes where there would be a
14:33communications studio to transmit to the people of the region what was going on,
14:39or what the regime wanted them to think was going on.
14:43So that's a radio studio.
14:44As you see, the soundproofing walls all around.
14:48The triple glass.
14:50So on one side was somebody sitting who was kind of speaking,
14:53and the other side was guys who worked with the sound.
14:58Inside, there were television and radio studio facilities,
15:02a full video and audio library, as well as offices for the journalists and technicians.
15:09Here you had everything getting produced and recorded.
15:12It would then send it along to another bunker,
15:16which was linked to the television tower in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
15:20In the event of war, the Lithuanian staff would be rapidly replaced by KGB personnel,
15:27who would take control of the bunker.
15:32But as the Soviet empire began to crumble, the threat of nuclear attacks subsided,
15:37and the people of Lithuania sensed an opportunity.
15:43The Berlin Wall famously comes down at the end of 1989, and this triggers ferment
15:47all over the old Warsaw Pact, as all the old subject nations of Russia
15:53start clamoring for independence, declaring independence, and this is what happens in Lithuania.
15:58The country held multi-party elections for the first time since 1940.
16:06Radio and television footage of these events was beamed around the country.
16:12The footage also included uprisings taking place in other countries across the Soviet Union.
16:18The Soviets were desperate to sever these lines of communication that were allowing the opposition to organize.
16:28On January 11, 1991, the Soviets had finally had enough.
16:33They launch a full-scale attack to retake control of the country.
16:36But the Soviet special forces sent into Lithuania didn't go straight to the capital.
16:45They prioritized the Nemancine communications bunker just outside Vilnius.
16:51On the first night of the invasion, heavily armed units appeared out of the darkness and stormed the compound.
16:57And these elite secret police units called OMON, O-M-O-N,
17:03they go into the bunker to secure it to make sure the Lithuanians can't use its facilities.
17:10Two days after having secured this secret radio and television facility,
17:15Soviet forces turned to the capital's television building and tower.
17:19This is where the events unfolding across the country were being broadcast.
17:24This is where people were getting their information and understanding what was going on.
17:29The TV tower was broadcasting footage of the invasion and the Lithuanian independence movement.
17:36Soviet forces arrived to take control of the narrative, but found crowds of citizens had surrounded the buildings.
17:44Ready to defend their freedoms at any cost, it escalated into a deadly face-off.
17:49The Soviets finally ran their tanks into these human shields.
17:56They killed 14 people and they wound more than 600 at the TV tower and other buildings around the city.
18:04You can actually see footage of the Soviet soldiers breaking into the studio and cutting the broadcaster's feed.
18:11You can actually see footage of the Soviet soldiers.
18:17With the bunker and tower now under Soviet control, TVs and radios across the nation fell silent.
18:27In the coming days, pro-independence journalists and broadcasters scrambled to continue covering the story by any means necessary.
18:35Lithuanian people needed to know that our government is still working and we are not going to give up and give everything to Russian soldiers.
18:46Across the city, makeshift offices and studios were set up, but there was a real shortage of equipment needed to continue broadcasting.
18:53This closely guarded bunker held that much needed equipment.
19:01There was one guy who kind of built this bunker.
19:04He was looking after all the building site and he knew the bunker very well, so he decided to help Lithuanian journalists.
19:13One thing that the Soviet guards didn't know was that there was a tunnel connecting the bunker to apartments nearby.
19:20This man put his life on the line and decided to sneak in past the guards.
19:28So he used this long corridor and he was taking all the equipment silently and bringing all that stuff to Lithuanian journalists.
19:38And obviously if the Soviets had caught them doing this, they would have put him up against the wall and shot him.
19:43The man's bravery paid off.
19:46Journalists took the smuggled equipment and got to work.
19:50Images of the independence movement were shared around the world.
19:55International pressure mounted and after several more months, the Soviets eventually backed down.
20:01It would take until September 1991 for the Soviet Union to recognize Lithuanian independence.
20:08With that, they withdrew their troops from the capital and abandoned the bunker.
20:13So the bunker was left without radio equipment and the cameras were stolen.
20:19And after the Russian soldiers left, this bunker was left without any purpose and use.
20:25For a long time, the authorities weren't really sure what to do with the bunker.
20:37Today, it's been put to a rather surprising new use.
20:41The bunker is host to a sort of simulator of what it was like to live under Soviet control.
20:49For three hours, we are kind of taking people back to Soviet times on the ground,
20:53and we are kind of showing them all the baddest things of these times, like interrogations and so on.
21:00It's a reminder that many of the freedoms we hold dear are often more on a knife edge than we would like to believe.
21:10In midtown Detroit, two unusual structures straddle an otherwise typical suburban street.
21:29They seem to be a sort of a conflation of an industrial building with something else more innate.
21:36One is low and almost fortress-like, and the other is a mix of styles.
21:42It's almost as if you sandwiched a historic building in between two factories.
21:47It's an intriguing mix.
21:50They may look different, but they're very much connected.
21:55Inside the older structure, there's no mistaking what this once was.
22:00As we enter, we see the stained glass windows, the pews, but no parishioners.
22:08And we see a stage and an altar, but no priest.
22:12This church and the surrounding complex was more than a place of worship.
22:18This building did not only provide a foundation for the civil rights movement,
22:23but many might argue that it was here that the first speech around black power was given.
22:30It would also produce some of Motown's most iconic performers.
22:36It was a famous center of gospel music,
22:39and it gave rise to one of the most successful vocal groups of all time.
22:43After the First World War, there was an influx of white southerners drawn to cities like Detroit
22:57because of the high wages in the auto industry.
23:00In 1921, a Baptist church was formed in this building to cater to some of those new southern residents.
23:07It was called Temple Baptist Church, and it had an all-white, segregated congregation.
23:13But a bigger migration was already underway, and when the church was put up for sale,
23:18a cultural shift would send it in a new direction.
23:22Motivated by the desire to escape racial violence and pursue greater economic opportunity,
23:28there was an exodus of black Americans from the Jim Crow South.
23:33The need for industrial workers in Detroit and other northern cities
23:37drew millions of African Americans from the South.
23:40It's part of what became known as the Great Migration.
23:45In 1952, an all-black church that was really trying to cater to these southern transplants
23:52decided to make this place their home.
23:55It was transformed into the King Solomon Baptist Church.
24:02Current Reverend Charles William II knows all too well the scale of the challenge they were taking on.
24:08When King Solomon, one of the first black churches on a major street in the city of Detroit,
24:15purchased Temple Baptist Church, which was originally a white separatist church,
24:21they purchased 150,000 square feet.
24:26That meant two buildings, one auditorium building and one education building with recreation,
24:32as well as a sanctuary.
24:35This was more than a church. It was really the heart of the community.
24:41Youth outreach programs were run here, with facilities ranging from an indoor
24:46roller skating rink to a boxing ring. Thomas the Hitman Hearns, the first boxer to win world titles in
24:54five weight divisions, began his career right here.
24:58There was a poetry center that attracted the likes of Langston Hughes.
25:03And it's where so many of the world's finest performers graced the stage.
25:10So this facility served as an opportunity and a place for gospel concerts. Everybody played King Solomon.
25:18If you were Lou Robb, Sam Cooke, who we all know and love, played King Solomon.
25:25And then, of course, we're strategically placed right around the corner from Motown Museum.
25:32With its 5,000-seater auditorium, it became a regular stop on what was known as the Chitlin circuit,
25:39a collection of key venues that top performers would hit on their tours across America.
25:44This was one of the places on that Chitlin circuit that all of the gospel artists wanted to play,
25:52because it was the largest facility where you could have a real knockdown concert.
26:00Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, was actually sitting here in the audience when he heard
26:05three young, talented women do an audition.
26:09And their names were Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Diana Ross.
26:16This audition ultimately landed them a deal with Motown Records, but there was just one condition.
26:22Gordy insisted the group change their name, and the Supremes were born.
26:28The size of the church ensured that it served not only as a community center, but also a hub of political activism.
26:43Because of our classrooms across the street and the auditorium right next door,
26:50this became one of the convention centers for, quite frankly, Black America.
26:55And this put it right at the center of a rapidly unfolding civil rights movement that was really at a critical juncture.
27:041963 marked the centenary of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, ending legal slavery in America.
27:14To mark the occasion, the church hosted the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
27:19And the keynote speaker was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
27:26His speech a week earlier, during the March on Washington, meant the eyes of the world were now on the church where 10,000 people had gathered.
27:35Coming so soon after his I have a dream speech, you can imagine the atmosphere.
27:43It must have been electric.
27:45This was a pivotal speech made at a time when America was at the crossroads.
27:52This place provided the foundation for the next phase of that movement.
27:59A movement towards direct action and away from just the theorizing about equality.
28:06Just a few weeks later, another speaker came here and he offered a stark alternative to MLK's vision.
28:14On the 10th of November 1963, Malcolm X delivered a seminal speech.
28:22It would inspire many in the burgeoning Black Power movement.
28:27He was heavily critical of the non-violent civil rights movement that was put forward by the likes of MLK.
28:34And he promoted revolution with violence if necessary.
28:39But his fiery rhetoric didn't go down well with everyone connected to the church.
28:47Some ministers felt it might harm the civil rights cause.
28:50So when he was scheduled to make another appearance in April of the following year,
28:56the church actually tried to prevent him from coming back.
28:59Since Malcolm X had already paid for and advertised the speech, he took the matter to court and prevailed.
29:09When he arrived in April 1964, a presidential election was looming.
29:15But many Black Americans were still being denied their right to vote.
29:20We are in the balcony of a place where individuals watched Malcolm X give the speech ballot or the bullet.
29:30His message was clear.
29:32If Black Americans were prevented from voting in the upcoming election, they should take up arms.
29:40He declared they were no longer willing to turn the other cheek.
29:44So 1964 was the year of the ballot for the bullet.
29:50Malcolm's speech was intended to light a fire under resistance.
29:56He was saying that if the peaceful civil rights movement doesn't work, then armed resistance is going to be necessary.
30:08And in this sense, his speech was extraordinarily dangerous to the powers that be.
30:16The following year, he was assassinated.
30:18Speculation over who was behind his murder has been rife ever since.
30:23And in 2024, his family sued the CIA, FBI and NYPD over their alleged involvement.
30:34In death, Malcolm X's teachings and speeches continued to inspire a growing Black Power movement,
30:40which was further fuelled by the assassination of Dr. King in 1968.
30:47Riots swept through cities like Detroit, which at this time was suffering economic decline, driven by a collapsing motor industry.
30:58The city's population shrank by 60% between 1950 and 2010, and the church's congregation shrank with it.
31:05Eventually, they could no longer afford the bills,
31:09and so they moved into the auditorium, leaving the church building to decay.
31:18I'm honored, and I've never gotten used to the fact that I stand in the same place where Malcolm stood, where Dr. King stood.
31:29The old church building remains closed.
31:32But community work and services continue to take place in the auditorium.
31:39As we're getting back to our roots, we're utilizing the space for the community.
31:44A place where if you can't get child care, you can get child care.
31:49A place where if you need a meal, you can get a meal.
31:53A place where you can get inspiration in song and prayer.
31:57We want to continue on that legacy, continue on their tradition,
32:00and that's why the doors of the church swing open today.
32:11On the Japanese coast, 43 miles from Hiroshima, is an island famed for its nature.
32:19This island is one of 3,000 in this beautiful region, and it really is tiny, less than half a square mile in size.
32:32The first thing you notice is rabbits. They are everywhere. Where did they all come from?
32:38A closer examination reveals a number of strange structures camouflaged in the rock.
32:46At the top of the hill, we find this big stone expanse sunken into the land, almost like an arena.
32:53Underneath, we see arched brick structures and domed rooms, perhaps for storage.
32:58What was produced at this facility has left a toxic legacy.
33:06So for decades, no trees could grow here because of what was buried in the soil.
33:11What happened here was so secret, the island was erased from the map.
33:22Local historian Naoto Shinmoto first visited this site as a young boy.
33:28I was in a national park.
33:47Like many who grew up nearby, Shinmoto was aware that the island had an unsettling past.
33:54this island was once a key part of japan's defense in the early 1900s a rapidly modernizing japan
34:16began fortifying the region on this island three gun batteries were constructed as part of the geyo
34:23fortress by the 1920s the gun emplacements were outdated and the fortress was retired but the
34:31japanese imperial army would find a chilling new use for the island they were inspired by
34:39technological developments on the european battlefields during world war one the 22nd of
34:46april 1915 the german army releases clouds of poisonous chlorine against british and canadian
34:53soldiers at the second battle of ypres forcing the allied troops from their trench positions
35:01and this was a new weapon no one was prepared for it no one had gas masks so it caused quite a panic
35:07the physical effects of gas were excruciating but it also proved to be a devastating psychological
35:14weapon because of the horrific injuries and indiscriminate nature of poison gas the geneva
35:22protocols of 1925 banned its deployment in warfare there are a lot of loopholes it didn't ban the
35:31development of the technology and it didn't ban the stockpiling of supplies either a new japanese
35:38leader would soon take advantage of these loopholes as emperor hirohito took the throne in 1926 an
35:46increased focus on militarism took hold of the country the old geyo fortress was converted and
35:53expanded for industrial scale production of a product that would give the island its name
35:58this place was once known as poison gas island in choosing this island as the site of a toxic gas
36:09factory the japanese military was finding a careful balance between a site remote enough that they
36:16could conceal it but close enough that they could get workers to it only a 15 minute commute from the
36:24mainland okanashima ticked all the boxes construction began in 1927 and the factory started operating in 1929
36:48it was soon producing a range of terrible poisons mustard gas chlorine vomiting
36:54and sneezing agents and sneezing agents and hydrogen cyanide
37:12when japan launched a full-scale invasion of china in 1937 they unleashed a reign of terror
37:19chinese troops were pounded with poison gas shells had no gas protective clothing and couldn't retaliate
37:27with gas of their own during the battle of shanghai the japanese attacked the chinese with gas 13 separate
37:35times the imperial japanese army quickly occupied huge swathes of northwest china in manchuria the use of
37:45chemical weapons would reach disturbing new levels under the highly secretive program unit 731
37:54it was masterminded by the army's surgeon general shiro ishi
38:00shiro ishi was trying to develop new techniques of chemical and bacteriological warfare the gas developed
38:09on okanashima was used by the infamous unit 731 which was a group that conducted human experiments
38:19inside unit 731 more than 3 000 chinese prisoners of war and civilians were subjected to disgusting
38:27experiments gas chambers were set up to test subjects with blister agents and nerve gas
38:33doctors would perform surgery on the victims to examine the biological effects in real time
38:40by 1944 the tide of war was turning against japan and the poison gas factory was suffering due
38:48to a loss of labor and necessary supplies they drafted in school girls to fill the gap
38:55girls as young as 14 were made to produce poison gas
39:02but eventually shortages forced authorities to convert the site to a different use developing evermore
39:09outlandish weapons balloon bombs were hydrogen refueled and carried on jet streams at high altitude across the pacific
39:31these were fitted with incendiary devices that would be dropped randomly across the united states
39:39of the 9 300 balloons that were sent only 300 of them ever landed on u.s soil although six people
39:47did die when they came across an unexploded balloon at a campground in oregon they were the only fatalities
39:55on mainland america inflicted by axis forces after the japanese surrendered in 1945 they tried to hide the evidence
40:06by dumping the gas large quantities were quietly disposed of in china most of the factory complex was demolished
40:16and its employees left to suffer alone as the government tried to cover up the program
40:21and it's thought that nearly 7 000 factory workers were left with lung disease cancers and other
40:28debilitating conditions the use of chemical weapons wasn't even mentioned in the tokyo war crimes
40:36tribunals nor were the doctors who were part of unit 731. in the 1990s the japanese government was
40:45finally forced to confront the terrible legacy of its chemical weapons program leaks from the gas dumps
40:53in china began causing injury and even deaths among innocent civilians in the 2000s japan paid compensation
41:01to some of the victims and built a facility to dispose of abandoned mustard gas shells but many still live
41:09with long-term conditions today as for the rabbits their origin remains a mystery
41:19200羽ぐらいのうさぎを飼ってたというそのうさぎさんを使って毒発実験をしてたっていう
41:26残ってたけど終戦と同時に全部処分をされたんで今のうさぎさんは違うんだという風に証言をいただいて
41:39today okunashima is a place for people to come and enjoy nature
41:47but the island does not shy away from this dark chapter
42:01a museum was opened on the island to chart and educate about its dark past
42:09i god
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