- 10 hours ago
- #brightside
Today, we are going to tell you the incredible story of Victor Lustig, a notorious con artist who managed to sell the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal. Not once, but twice. How did he pull off this audacious scam? Who were his victims? And how did he escape justice for so long? Find out in this video.
#brightside
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Vanishing landmarks on Earth
08:24 The man who sold the Eifel tower
17:23 They can repaint the Eifel tower its original color
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
#brightside
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Vanishing landmarks on Earth
08:24 The man who sold the Eifel tower
17:23 They can repaint the Eifel tower its original color
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00What if I told you you just won a round-the-world trip to visit the planet's most famous landmarks?
00:06Nice, right?
00:07But there's a catch.
00:08You might be visiting them for the last time in your life.
00:11That's because these landmarks are threatened to disappear during your lifetime.
00:16Yikes!
00:18Ah, Paris, the city of love.
00:20For our modern eyes, it's hard to imagine the city without its most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower.
00:27But it wasn't always there, of course.
00:30Gustave Eiffel, the tower's architect, was commissioned to expose it during the 1889 World Fair.
00:36But the so-called Iron Lady was only meant to stand for 20 years.
00:41After that, it was going to be demolished.
00:43Except that, um, this plan was never implemented.
00:47The tower wasn't taken down because of an antenna built on top of the tower, and it conducts wireless signals.
00:54But there's a problem.
00:55The Iron Lady is made of iron.
00:57And with time and bad weather, which Paris happens to get a lot of, iron deteriorates.
01:04It rusts.
01:04And this rusting makes the iron weak, up until the point where it can crack.
01:09And if a tower that is made purely of iron starts to crack, you know what this means.
01:14No more selfies eating croissants in front of the famous Tour Eiffel.
01:19Apparently, French authorities are aware that this is happening.
01:23But instead of repairing the whole tower, they're kind of just painting over the rust.
01:28You're next stop is in beautiful Rome.
01:31You are here to visit, you guessed it, the Colosseum.
01:35One of the world's most visited monuments.
01:37The gladiators used to put on shows there.
01:40Well, you might as well say, arrivederci to it while you can.
01:44Like a lot of ancient monuments, the Colosseum is in danger of disappearing.
01:49It's survived for almost 2,000 years since it was commissioned by Emperor Vespasian.
01:54But due to yearly exposure to harsh weather, the monument is getting weaker.
01:59The problem here is mainly snow.
02:02When snow falls upon the Colosseum, the freezing water infiltrates the cracks of the rocks and makes them bloat.
02:08You know, like when you put a soda can into the freezer and the bottom pops out.
02:12I know, snow is a kind of infrequent visitor in Rome.
02:16But even rare below zero temperatures can damage the Colosseum seriously.
02:22And since we can't control the weather, who knows how long we'll get to see this beauty around.
02:28After hopping on a red eye to India, you arrive at the unique Taj Mahal.
02:33It's even more mesmerizing in person than it is in pictures.
02:37The Taj is one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
02:40But why is it at risk of disappearing, you might ask?
02:44The monument was finished way back in 1643.
02:47It was made with pristine white marble as a gift from Emperor Shah Jahan to his beloved wife.
02:54But if our white shirts get dirty just by stepping outside the house,
02:58imagine an open-air monument that has existed for over four centuries.
03:03The Taj Mahal is located in the city of Agra, right beside the Yamuna River.
03:08Over the years, the region has become very polluted.
03:12And all of this pollution is helping to destroy the Taj.
03:16India's Supreme Court has been on the case for many years now.
03:19And they say the monument is turning greenish and brown.
03:23So, high authorities decided that either the local government restores the Taj Mahal completely,
03:29or they'll shut it down.
03:30Or worse, destroy it.
03:32For the good of humanity, I hope they decide to restore it already.
03:37Otherwise, we'll be down to only six wonders.
03:40Ah, finally, you've made it to South America.
03:43More specifically, you're now in the mountainous country of Peru.
03:47If you're not used to such high altitudes, you might get a little dizzy.
03:51But it's worth it to see the mesmerizing Incan ruins of Machu Picchu.
03:56The city is located at over 7,000 feet above sea level.
04:01And no one knows how the Incas built such a sophisticated village.
04:04That's why the site attracts around 440,000 visitors every single year.
04:10But since regulation is not so strict, the site is also slowly deteriorating.
04:17Machu Picchu may be the victim of something known as overtourism.
04:21I mean, if you look at any footage from the site on a normal day, it's pretty packed up.
04:27And even if it's a stone-made town and stones are pretty resistant, they do suffer from erosion.
04:33Man-made or weather-made.
04:35Oh boy, I really don't like the sound of that.
04:39There's another stone monument that you need to check off your list.
04:43Can you guess which one it is?
04:45Yup, Stonehenge.
04:46Located in the peaceful hills of Wiltshire, England, Stonehenge has been around for over 5,000 years.
04:54Well, nobody knows exactly when it was built, but bear with me.
04:58If the only cause for disappearance would be erosion, then it would make the monument millions of years before it
05:04disappeared.
05:04But that's not the case.
05:06Since 1995, there have been multiple proposals from British authorities
05:10to build an underground tunnel that connects southeast and southwest England.
05:15The thing is, the tunnel passes underneath Stonehenge, and it might rock the site's foundation.
05:21Get it? Rock?
05:22Anyway, since the project was suggested, local supporters of the monument have found a safe Stonehenge alliance to keep the
05:30monument safe.
05:31They strongly believe that any enterprise, such as this tunnel, will severely harm the site.
05:38Ah, Egypt.
05:39This time, to arrive at your destination, you travel in style.
05:43And by that, I mean camels.
05:46Just for the photo op, of course.
05:48But why are you here?
05:49You came to check out the Great Sphinx.
05:52You know, the one with the broken nose?
05:55The Sphinx was also built way, way back in the day.
05:59Try over 4,000 years ago.
06:01And back then, they used what they had at their disposal, limestone.
06:06Now, some researchers think that hazardous weather may be damaging the Sphinx's limestones.
06:12You see, they're very porous types of rock, so water easily infiltrates inside of them, making erosion stronger and faster.
06:21But water is also coming from down below.
06:24Unlike the pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx was carved directly from the bedrock.
06:30And right underneath the monument, there's a riverbed, which also infiltrates into the Sphinx, making it weaker.
06:38Fingers crossed that Egypt doesn't get a lot of rainfall in the next few centuries.
06:43I hope you brought your swimsuit, because it's time to dive deep into the Dead Sea.
06:48Except that you probably won't get too deep.
06:50You know, since there's so much salt in the water that you basically only float.
06:55Fun fact, this sea is 10 times saltier than the ocean.
07:00It may be a little ironic that the Dead Sea is at risk of actually perishing.
07:05But it's true.
07:06The lake level is dropping 4 feet every year.
07:10It has to do with one of the sea's main tributaries.
07:13A tributary is a river that flows into a much larger body of water.
07:18The thing is, the region is not so rich in natural water.
07:22So some of the local authorities ended up diverting small tributaries for basic human uses.
07:28But since every action has a reaction, the Dead Sea is now facing some difficulties.
07:34Back in the USA, it's time to visit the city that never sleeps.
07:39And if you've understood this trip by now, you already know the landmark we're visiting.
07:44It's Lady Liberty.
07:46It may come as a surprise to some, but the famous Statue of Liberty was originally copper.
07:52It's turned green due to oxidation.
07:55I mean, maybe I would also turn green if I was constantly exposed to New York's harsh weather.
08:01Some researchers say that air pollution can also speed up oxidation processes, threatening the long life of Lady Liberty.
08:08Of course, New York City does its share of maintenance.
08:11Hopefully, it'll be enough for us to keep seeing the statue during our lifetime.
08:16Hey, it's time to head back home.
08:18I sure enjoyed this trip.
08:19Hope you did too.
08:21Let's hope we can still visit these places.
08:29But what if someone tried to sell you the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, or even the Brooklyn Bridge?
08:37Hard to believe, but all of these and so many other similar things happened throughout history.
08:45You may have already heard of George C. Parker, one of the most fascinating American con artists that mostly operated
08:52in the late 1800s.
08:54Con man is usually a term for a person who tricks others.
08:57First, they gain their trust and then persuade them into believing something that's not true.
09:04Parker was a native New Yorker, and he made his living by making illegal sales of landmark items he didn't
09:11really own.
09:11He managed to sell popular properties such as the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
09:19and, of course, the Brooklyn Bridge.
09:22That's the one he's best known for.
09:24He repeatedly sold the bridge, at least twice a week.
09:27One time, he even got to a price of $50,000.
09:32The new owner wouldn't even know he was a victim of a con until the New York police officers would
09:38stop them from doing things you'd normally be able to do on your own property,
09:42like setting up toll booths in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge.
09:46The Brooklyn Bridge opened for business at the end of the 19th century.
09:50It was a toll bridge, which means pedestrians had to pay money every time they wanted to cross it.
09:57Riders with horses had to pay 5 cents, and if you had a horse and wagon, it would cost you
10:0210 cents.
10:03Tens of thousands of people would cross the bridge every day as they were heading to work from Brooklyn to
10:08Manhattan.
10:09A couple of years later, this pedestrian toll was repealed, so some obviously thought they could bring it back.
10:17Parker would often choose different names, such as Warden Kennedy, James J. O'Brien, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Roberts, and so
10:25on, while pursuing his scams.
10:27He also used multiple methods to present himself as the legal owner of properties he was selling.
10:33For example, forging documents to make his cons more believable, and setting up fake sales offices when needed.
10:41Also, when he sold Grant's tomb, he posed as the general's grandson.
10:47One of the most popular places he'd operate was Ellis Island.
10:51He'd wait for people coming from different countries, especially those who had money they wanted to invest in some new
10:57enterprises.
10:58His favorite target wasn't just people who wanted to move to the U.S., but tourists on their first visit
11:04to New York.
11:05What a welcome, huh?
11:08The United Kingdom had a man who did a similar thing, but in the opposite direction.
11:13Arthur Ferguson was selling famous English national monuments and other public properties to tourists coming from the U.S. during
11:22the 1920s.
11:23He sold monuments like Big Ben, Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace.
11:30And yes, he'd also sell such buildings over and over again, finding different buyers for them.
11:36He managed to scam so many people because buyers were not informed well.
11:41Plus, they were too embarrassed to tell their stories in public once they found out the truth.
11:48Ferguson then went to the United States and sold the White House to a rancher who had to pay $100
11:53,000 yearly.
11:55Like George Parker, Ferguson also tried to sell the Statue of Liberty to a tourist from Australia.
12:01The man wanted to buy the impressive structure, but he couldn't collect the money in time.
12:06Ferguson was getting more and more impatient, bringing it up all the time and pushing his buyer to get the
12:12money.
12:13The buyer pretty soon grew very suspicious.
12:16Finally, he decided to share the entire story with the police.
12:20They finally managed to catch Ferguson.
12:23He was sentenced to five years because they found out about some other scams he did in the past.
12:29The Eiffel Tower was made available for sale, too, somewhere in the 1930s.
12:35Victor Lustig was another famous con man who was 46 years old at the time.
12:40He rocked jazz-era America as well as the rest of the world.
12:44While in Paris, he made an enormous business deal.
12:48He actually sold the Eiffel Tower.
12:50And not just once, but twice.
12:54Victor's deal was pretty simple.
12:57He set up meetings with people who needed scrap iron.
13:00He convinced them the Eiffel Tower was going to be demolished because it was in desperate need of repair.
13:06So, whoever offers the biggest price gets the materials.
13:11He was a charming man with strong communication skills that helped him convince his buyers that the Eiffel Tower was
13:17really going to become theirs after that purchase.
13:20He had dozens of fake passports, often changing names while making illegal business deals.
13:28There's an interesting local legend told in Wichita Falls, Texas.
13:33In 1919, one man, J.D. McMahon, had an idea to convince people who lived there he was going to
13:40build a large property that would stretch far in the air.
13:43Something we'd call a skyscraper today.
13:45He collected $200,000 and then constructed a building that was only four stories high.
13:52It was 16 feet deep and 10 feet wide, way smaller than it was supposed to be.
13:58The measurement he presented in the paperwork wasn't in feet, but in inches, which, as a detail, investors kind of
14:05overlooked.
14:07The investor who came up with the original idea, of course, ran off with his windfall, leaving the embarrassment called
14:15the world's littlest skyscraper behind.
14:19Back in the 18th century, a woman called Barbara Ernie traveled across and around Liechtenstein.
14:25During her trip, she would tote a big trunk secured to her back.
14:29She lived a nomadic existence, which is why she'd often make stops to try to get lodging for the night.
14:37Every time she stopped, Ernie would tell her innkeeper that her most valuable items were in her trunk.
14:43Then she'd ask the owner to lock the trunk in the most secure room in the inn.
14:49The innkeepers obliged.
14:51They weren't aware there weren't jewels or clothes inside of the trunk.
14:54It was actually her traveling buddy, who would then spring out of the trunk, grab all the valuables, and then
15:01run away with Ernie again.
15:03And that's something that lasted for 15 years, until they finally caught the traveling duo.
15:10A furniture salesman, Ed Barbara, from the San Francisco Bay Area, discovered his business formula back in the 1970s and
15:181980s.
15:19He peppered that region with commercials that irritated people very much.
15:24Then he took it to another level.
15:26At one point, he told everyone he had a 50% interest in the Golden Gulch gold mine, right next
15:32to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
15:36Everyone heard the story that the site was ready to excavate gold.
15:40And we're talking about a lot of gold, worth as much as $93 million in the first year only.
15:47His company sold shares, which netted the salesman big profits.
15:51Of course, all that was a con.
15:55A certain truck driver didn't have a job in 2010, so he came up with a pretty unusual idea.
16:02He tried to sell the Ritz Hotel in London for almost $300 million.
16:07Not bad for the person who wants to buy it, considering the real value was going up to over $700
16:13million.
16:14The driver was pretending he was a good friend of the owners of this fancy hotel.
16:18He also introduced himself as their associate.
16:22He said the owners had their own reasons to sell the hotel through a third party, and they couldn't discuss
16:28them.
16:29His buyer even handed him over $1 million as an initial fee.
16:34The driver then told him he got an even better offer, so he would pass the offer to another buyer,
16:40but wouldn't return the money.
16:43People tried to sell bizarre things on the internet, too.
16:47For example, in the early 2000s, when the internet was only rising, and many people didn't even understand the concept
16:54of online shopping yet,
16:55one man from Australia tried to sell a whole country on eBay.
17:00Yep, you could buy New Zealand in a one-month auction, and the starting price was $0.01 Australian dollars.
17:08Some potential buyers took this pretty seriously, so the price got to $3,000 before eBay stopped it.
17:25It's one of the most important national monuments of the United States, with over a half a million visitors each
17:31year.
17:31The Washington Monument was constructed to commemorate George Washington, the first American president.
17:38But if you've ever looked at it closely, in person, or by Googling his pictures, you've surely noticed it has
17:44two different colors.
17:46Well, it's not a design choice, if that's what you're wondering.
17:49The Washington National Monument Society, the authority in charge of the construction, ran out of funding, and the project was
17:57put on hold in the 1850s.
17:58It took another 25 years for the authorities to resume the construction.
18:03They finished the upper two-thirds of the monument in 1884.
18:07Since they evidently used marble from a different location, given the time that had passed,
18:12it was difficult to envision how these materials would behave in the future.
18:16These two sections looked very much alike at first, but with time, mostly due to winds, rain, and erosion, they
18:23ended up having different hues.
18:24There's even a third portion of marble, which is noticeable only if you pay very close attention.
18:31The constructors initially went for a marble provider in Massachusetts, but quickly realized the colors didn't match.
18:38They had to switch to another supplier, but their mistake resulted in this third shade of marble.
18:43It's only noticeable up front, so people mostly think that the monument has two colors.
18:49The builders figured out the difference quite fast and found a type of marble that resembled the initial one.
18:55But the new material eventually turned to a different color, too, mostly to weather conditions.
19:10Are you one of those people who like to spend their free time on Pinterest or Instagram in search of
19:16your next travel location?
19:17Then you surely haven't missed a little Italian town called Cinque Terre.
19:22The reason why it's so popular among photographers and globetrotters is its brightly painted buildings,
19:28which come in a nice contrast to the crystal-clear ocean waters.
19:32These houses come in a huge selection of colors, from green to yellow and even bright pink.
19:38So it's no wonder this location is such a hit.
19:41It looks more like a painting than an actual place on Earth.
19:44But why are these houses so gorgeously bright?
19:46Local legends say that fishers used to paint their homes in various colors
19:51so that they could quickly spot them from the water as they came back home from the sea.
19:56Now, some other buildings come with coloring so specific
20:00that their inhabitants are prohibited from changing it by law.
20:04It's the case of the Pink City, otherwise known as Jaipur in India.
20:08It has numerous buildings of different hues of pink, from dusty rose to fuchsias.
20:13This impressive coloring dates back to the 1800s.
20:17Rumor has it that the Indian Maharaja of the time,
20:20Sawai Ram Singh, wanted to welcome Prince Albert during his visit.
20:24So he literally painted the whole town pink.
20:27Which, of course, begs the question, why he chose pink and not any other color?
20:32And it turns out this hue was meant to subtly imply the idea
20:36of a welcoming location or a place of hospitality.
20:41Jaipur isn't the only monochrome city in the world.
20:44Its blue counterpart is located in Morocco.
20:47It's called Chefchowin.
20:49Some locals say that the city is painted blue
20:51to symbolize the beautiful coloring of the Mediterranean Sea.
20:55Others consider that painting their houses blue keeps them cooler when it's hot.
21:00There are even claims that painting a house blue can help keep mosquitoes away.
21:04People believe that the hue resembles the waves of the sea,
21:08which isn't a really desirable location for insects, if you think about it.
21:21Now, this construction has become the undeniable symbol of the city of love.
21:26Ah, the Tour Eiffel.
21:28I can smell the freshly baked baguette, can't you?
21:31Well, it turns out the Eiffel Tower has a little chromatic secret of its own.
21:36This famous French monument is painted chestnut brown these days,
21:40but it hasn't always been this color.
21:43The engineer who built the tower and also gave it its name was a man called Gustave Eiffel.
21:48He claimed that the initial paint used for the tower, a very bright red,
21:53was supposed to help protect the construction from rust,
21:56kind of like the Golden Gate Bridge does in San Francisco.
21:59But since it was built, the Eiffel Tower has had many different hues,
22:04like ochre, yellow, and several shades of brown.
22:07At one point, they even used the ombra paint effect.
22:10It made the tower look as if it was fading upon reaching the sky.
22:15I've hardly ever heard a more touching story than that of the Taiwanese rainbow grandpa.
22:21His name is Huang Yong-fu, and his story begins in the late 2000s.
22:25Given he was officially the last resident,
22:28the local authorities were just about to bring down his small village
22:32in order to make room for a modern apartment complex.
22:35To cope with his sadness, the man started painting the walls of the houses in his village.
22:40He began with drawings of birds, cats, and eventually people.
22:44In 2010, a local university student found out about this little DIY project,
22:49and the rest was history.
22:51With the help of a fundraising campaign,
22:53this little village now attracts a staggering number of tourists each year.
22:58Over a million.
22:59It's no wonder the local authorities eventually renounced their plans.
23:03While we're on the subject of beautiful designs,
23:06there's a library out there that actually looks like a giant bookshelf.
23:10No, it's not a scene from a fantasy movie.
23:13Somebody actually built that.
23:15One of the facades of the Kansas City Public Library
23:18looks like an ordinary row of books lined up on a shelf.
23:21Well, not really ordinary, since the books are 25 feet tall and 9 feet wide each.
23:27You don't need to be a book nerd to want to check this one out soon.
23:31The world's largest basket isn't meant for overweight cats.
23:35It's actually a building.
23:36Yep, there's a building out there that is actually shaped like a basket.
23:40You can find it in Newark, Ohio.
23:42It was initially built to serve as headquarters for the Longaberger Company,
23:47an American producer of handcrafted wood baskets.
23:50It's also renowned among professionals as one of the best-known examples of mimetic architecture.
23:55It's a type of design where buildings are constructed to mimic their function or purpose.
24:01The building covers 180,000 square feet.
24:03It cost around $30 million to build and was completed in 1997.
24:08With seven floors and a central atrium,
24:11it also has a glass ceiling, which lets natural light get inside.
24:15This immense basket is also topped with two steel handles.
24:19They're equipped with heating elements that prevent them from freezing.
24:22They also protect the glass atrium situated right below
24:26from any ice that might fall on it during the winter season.
24:30Darmstadt, Germany.
24:31There's a residential building complex built in the 1990s named the Weissspirale.
24:36It has a wonderful design, as well as an interesting story to back it up.
24:41The name literally translates to forest spiral.
24:44This might refer to the plan of the building, along with the fact that its roof is green.
24:49Not simply in color, though.
24:50This swirly building has a jaw-dropping forest on its roof with maple and lime trees.
24:56The unique construction was completed in 2000.
24:59It has 105 apartments and more than 100 windows,
25:03each of them with its particular shape and size.
25:06With 12 floors at its highest point, the building also houses a cafe and a bar.
25:11Another interesting feature?
25:13Each corner in the construction is rounded off.
25:16Now, should you ever find yourself visiting the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands,
25:21try not to miss the cube houses.
25:23These unique buildings are placed above ground level on top of a pedestrian bridge
25:28close to the city center and the Rotterdam Black metro station.
25:32In the 20th century, the city of Rotterdam was damaged.
25:35That's why later, it became the focus of new, cutting-edge architecture designs.
25:40Dutch architect Piet Brom started designing functional housing,
25:44which could also leave some room for pedestrians on the ground level.
25:47He got the idea for these houses from simple elements, such as forests and trees.
25:53Each house is placed on a hexagonal pylon,
25:55a construction made of concrete and designed to look like the trunk of a tree.
26:00Each of these pylons has a staircase that leads to well-spaced living areas.
26:05Another example of a house that looks like it has just escaped from a fairy tale
26:09is the Nautilus house.
26:11You can find it near Mexico City, Mexico.
26:13With its shell-like shape, it's also one of the first representations of bio-architecture.
26:19The man behind this unique design is Javier Senosien.
26:23He was inspired by the works of Gaudi and Frank Lloyd Wright.
26:27The very concept of bio-architecture is that buildings should be constructed
26:31based on structures found in nature.
26:34It's also supposed to remind people of their local history and traditions.
26:38The Nautilus house doesn't have a lot of storage space, according to the builders.
26:42But this structure is supposed to be earthquake-resistant and maintenance-free.
26:47Not to mention hundreds of tiny rainbow-colored stained-glass windows decorating the building.
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