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Four Corners - Season 2026 Episode 11 - The Zero Line: Inside Russia's War
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00:04a mysterious tunnel is revealed below the streets of Washington DC the corridor ran about 60 feet
00:11before ending at a concrete wall rusted hinges were the only trace of a wooden door that once
00:18led to something beyond someone had built a multi-level labyrinth beneath the ground the
00:24only question was why archaeologists make a startling discovery beneath an Italian town an
00:31excavation unearthed the facade of a monumental chamber tomb it turned out to be an ancient
00:38sarcophagus what they found was stunning near a southwestern Colombian town massive subterranean
00:45chambers are uncovered the entire region is heavily affected by tectonic activity earthquakes are
00:52relatively common could these chambers have been built as some form of protection or even shelter
00:57from some other threat below the busy streets of the world cities exists a hidden realm of wonder
01:06sprawling ancient complexes mysterious tombs top-secret military bases strange structures
01:18and lost artifacts buried beneath our feet and long forgotten until now underground
01:28models are exposed to reveal what lies hidden beneath the cities
01:46set between maryland and virginia washington dc was defined from the start by a push and pull
01:53between federal authority local life and shifting visions of what the capital should be in 1790 george
02:01washington washington chose the site for a new federal district on the potomac and anacostia rivers on
02:07land seated by maryland and virginia he appointed pierre lenfant to design a bold modern city with grand
02:14boulevards ceremonial spaces and a central capital it was all inspired by lenfant's native city paris
02:22during the civil war washington's population swelled from 75 000 to 200 000 triggering sanitation
02:30crises and a wave of smallpox outbreaks in the decades that followed new streets sewer lines and
02:36public parks began to reshape the city around the turn of the century talk of a new washington
02:41reflected the city's rapid transformation gilded age wealth brought mansions to the upland neighborhoods
02:47embassies and statues lent a cosmopolitan air and in 1907 work began on the national cathedral
02:56washington was becoming a place everyone wanted to be from lobbyists and trade groups to anyone hoping
03:02to shape the nation's future in september of 1924 a truck delivering construction supplies sinks into an alley
03:11behind a house in the city when it's pulled free it reveals an opening wide enough to climb inside
03:18this clearly wasn't a sinkhole a nearby resident grabbed a flashlight and along with a janitor went
03:26to take a look they climbed down into the tunnel about four feet wide its walls lined with white enameled
03:34brick with an arched ornamental ceiling rising nearly eight feet overhead the corridor ran
03:41about 60 feet before ending at a concrete wall rusted hinges on the surface of that wall were the
03:48only trace of a wooden door that once led to something beyond but it didn't end there a separate
03:56passage led down six brick steps to a second tunnel which had a trap door in the floor beneath it
04:02an iron
04:02ladder vanished deeper underground above ground onlookers gathered as fresh cracks appeared exposing new
04:10entrances to the hidden network no one could explain it and rumors spread fast brick by brick someone
04:17had built a multi-level labyrinth beneath the ground the only question was why as exploration continues
04:26one detail stands out inside the tunnel clues from a different era began to surface
04:32pasted to the tunnel ceiling were german newspapers from 1917 and 1918 according to early newspaper reports
04:43many reference stories about submarine activity and had cryptic markings that looked like ciphers
04:51were these remnants of a covert german intelligence network operating beneath washington
04:59it made sense for people to be worried about german espionage back in world war one the secret
05:06service had seized the briefcase of dr heinrich albert he was germany's chief financial agent in america and he
05:13controlled over 27 million dollars for sabotage from strikes and factory disruptions to poison gas even
05:22plans for a naval landing near new york some neighbors recalled a german chemist who once lived nearby and
05:28speculated the tunnel had been used by spies to reach his home during the war neighborhood children
05:33said the passages ran to rock creek and even dropped into the sewers a possible escape route for those who
05:39knew the way as investigators pushed deeper parts of the story seemed to line up one tunnel did track toward
05:47rock creek others branched off in unexpected directions one skirted the home of washington post
05:53owner edward b mcclain another ended in a walled garden and a third was blocked with a cement door
06:00all of this was less than two miles from the national mall close enough to raise genuine alarm about spies
06:07operating underneath washington over 4 000 miles away in berlin another tunnel reveals how intelligence
06:15operations can unfold entirely out of public view known as operation gold the berlin tunnel was built
06:23between 1954 and 1955 by the cia and britain's mi6 to tap soviet military phone lines carrying traffic between
06:33moscow warsaw and bucharest lined with 125 tons of steel it ran nearly 1500 feet deep across the border into
06:44east berlin
06:45the tunnel's entrance was hidden under a u.s air force warehouse in west berlin when it was complete
06:52british technicians installed the taps and over the next 11 months intercepted hundreds of thousands
06:58of calls and millions of hours of teletype traffic much of it was genuine intelligence despite the fact
07:06that the soviets knew about the tunnel for the start in washington early reports mentioned electrical wiring
07:13in the tunnel walls but its size and construction were nothing like the purpose-built espionage
07:18tunnels in berlin and unlike operation gold no records or credible accounts ever linked it to
07:23intelligence work meaning it might have been concealed for entirely different reasons as the discovery
07:28dominates the headlines some wonder if the tunnels serve a different kind of clandestine network early
07:35newspaper reports claim that an abundance of bottles was found in the tunnel what you have to
07:40understand about that is that washington enacted prohibition in 1917 three years before prohibition
07:47at the national level so after that the city's 267 licensed saloons multiplied into nearly 3 000
07:55speakeasies hidden beneath candy shops and tucked into drugstore basements they kept the capital supplied
08:02with alcohol could the tunnel have been part of the city's illicit trade in liquor bootlegging in washington
08:09wasn't always discreet in one case a prohibition bureau agent found two men unloading liquor off
08:18pennsylvania avenue shots were fired and a stray round struck senator frank green of vermont an injury he never
08:27recovered from in a city where the trade was sometimes public a tunnel would have offered bootleggers the
08:34benefit of cover and control from 1920 to 1930 george cassidy or the man in the green hat as he
08:43was known
08:43was the primary bootlegger for members of congress he kept a basement office in the cannon house office
08:49building and later moved to the senate and made up to 25 deliveries a day with near total freedom
08:55despite arrests in 1925 and 1930 he never named his clients but claimed at least 80 percent of lawmakers
09:03drank during prohibition with demand that high inside the capital a discreet route would have obvious value
09:09over 600 miles northwest of washington milwaukee's residents found similar methods to bypass prohibition
09:16restrictions in 2021 renovations at the historic turner hall uncovered a cutout in the wall leading to
09:23a hidden room many members of this athletic cultural and political society were part of milwaukee's german
09:30community which staunchly opposed prohibition locals say that the space was connected to a network of tunnels
09:37linking neighborhood bars some stretching all the way to the milwaukee river during prohibition
09:44rum runners from canada crossed lake michigan to bring liquor into wisconsin by 1928 the fbi had tallied
09:53more than 1100 speakeasies operating in milwaukee alone at turner hall traces of that era were found
10:03including handwritten notes recipes for hooch and personal effects from drinking clubs milwaukee's tunnels
10:11show how hidden spaces might have been used to fuel a thriving underground economy but in washington
10:19there's no sign that dupont tunnels were built or used for profit and certain details there point
10:26to a story that's way stranger than anything behind a speakeasy door eventually the trail leads to one man
10:33with a life as elaborate as the tunnels themselves when the tunnels were exposed in 1924 some long-time
10:41neighbors weren't surprised they'd seen them seven years earlier when a steam shovel broke through the
10:46same property which was once owned by harrison gray dyer jr who was one of america's most accomplished
10:52entomologists and one of its strangest scientific figures but why would a man devoted to moths and
10:57mosquitoes spend years meticulously digging tunnels beneath his own home born to a wealthy new york
11:03family dyer studied chemistry at mit and biology at columbia in 1897 he moved to washington to oversee
11:11the smithsonian's butterfly and moth collection while living on his inheritance along with his wife zella
11:16and their children in 1900 their marriage became strained zella was struggling with hearing loss and she
11:24didn't want to have any more children whereas dyer did that same year dyer began an affair with a
11:30kindergarten teacher named waleska pollack a few years later waleska married another man and around
11:38that time zella asked dyer for a hollyhock garden at their home he began digging and didn't stop until he
11:46left the property in 1914 but it wouldn't be his last time underground by 1915 the marriage of the dyers
11:56was collapsing he sued zella for desertion she sued him for adultery then waleska tried to divorce her
12:05long-absent husband this was a man no one had ever seen in whom many believed was actually dyer rumors
12:12that he'd fathered her three sons turned out to be true and in 1917 that scandal cost dyer his job
12:19at
12:19the department of agriculture four years later he married waleska and the digging began again beneath
12:27the side yard of their new home dyer built an impressive bunker the tunnels and shafts dropped 24
12:33feet with arch ceilings and electric lights strung through the passageways sculpted human and animal
12:39heads stared from the walls and over one arch a latin inscription read the way down to hell is easy
12:46dyer's tunnels were definitely strange undertakings but they weren't commercial and they weren't
12:51criminal these were private environments seemingly shaped for control comfort and personal meaning
12:56though dyer insisted that his digging was nothing more than exercise dyer died of a stroke in 1929
13:05his tunnels were later used for mushroom cultivation and considered as world war ii air raid shelters
13:13before being demolished for the federal aviation administration's headquarters the tunnels were partially
13:20uncovered in 1958 but then sealed
13:26in the science world dyer is a bit of a big deal he named or co-named almost 3 000
13:31species of moths and
13:33butterflies along with 600 different kinds of mosquitoes and he's been honored by having a whole bunch of
13:39different insects named after him almost 70 of them but in washington he's remembered differently he's the
13:44human mole this brilliant defiant scientist living a double life above and below ground the bizarre tale of
13:55harrison dyer and his tunnels reminds us that in some subterranean spaces the mystery runs deeper than the
14:02complexes themselves and his story leaves a broader question how many other hidden worlds might still
14:09lie beneath washington waiting to be uncovered
14:25just over a hundred miles from rome in the northwestern part of italy's campania region is the city of juliano
14:33juliano is situated on a fertile coastal plain with a population of over 120 000 people it's part of a
14:41string of agricultural communities in campania that have been active for centuries in this area
14:47the city is also part of a region called the campania volcanic arc because there's a lot of
14:53geological activity here earthquakes regularly rock the region and residents sometimes experience daily
15:00trekkers in 2025 juliano and its surrounding area were hit by their largest earthquake in 40 years
15:09it's only a short drive to pompeii the town famous for being buried by a devastating volcanic eruption
15:16from nearby mount vesuvius juliano is also an area designated for potential evacuation in case of another
15:25devastating blast from this dreaded volcano just outside of town in a cluster of volcanic craters
15:32known as the flagrant fields an archaeological survey is being conducted in advance of a planned
15:38update to juliano's water system and the results are incredible an excavation unearthed the facade of a
15:46monumental chamber tomb with a large piece of volcanic rock covering its entrance inside the tomb was a
15:54revelation the funerary chamber itself was approximately 10 feet underground and measured around 10 by 13 feet
16:02that tightly sealed entryway had helped keep the burial site in a remarkable state of preservation
16:09two coffins were laid on funeral beds and towering over them were a number of frescoes including
16:15paintings which depicted monsters from classical mythology
16:20one fresco showed the greco-roman god hercules and fellow deity mercury facing off against the
16:26three-headed dog cerberus considered to be the guardian of the underworld the other featured two creatures
16:33called ichthyocentours half men half horses with green coiled fishtails who were accompanied by two winged
16:41cupid-like babies the colors of both paintings remained incredibly vibrant and there were other
16:47discoveries including three altars called clean eye that held ceramic vessels which would have been
16:53used for libations there was also evidence of cremated remains beside the coffins to say this was an
17:00important archaeological find is an understatement the question is who was buried here archaeologists
17:07notice another mysterious object in the tomb it appears to be a table of some kind but they soon discover
17:13it is much more than that it turned out to be an ancient sarcophagus before it was open a miniature
17:22camera was threaded inside so that the contents could be seen without being disturbed what they found was
17:30stunning an exceptionally well preserved human skeleton laying on its back covered by a shroud
17:40beside the remains were grave goods like glass jars for ointment and perfume as well as an instrument
17:47called astrigal which ancient greeks and romans used to scrape their skin clean the perfectly sealed tomb
17:56created a microclimate that allowed for an incredible level of preservation interestingly the artifacts found
18:03inside the sarcophagus were slightly older than the artifacts found throughout the rest of the tomb
18:10this suggests the individual in the sarcophagus was the first burial here
18:15and likely the elder of the family the site is dubbed the tomb of cerberus and an inscription marking
18:21its final internment to the year 27 ce places its age at roughly 2 000 years old the tomb was
18:29not far from
18:30the roman colony of laturnum where over 300 veteran soldiers retired during the second century bce
18:37the roman empire was often plagued by epidemics and traveling soldiers in particular could easily contract
18:44and spread virulent diseases the infamous antonine plague that exploded in 165 ce was reportedly killing
18:522 000 people a day at its height so maybe the body in the sarcophagus belongs to a high-ranking
18:59roman
18:59soldier who contracted some kind of sickness while away fighting and then was buried here
19:05the elder skeleton was analyzed and herbs found on the body were determined to be wormwood and something
19:12called goosefoot both of which have purifying and antiseptic qualities these ointments are believed to have
19:18been used to preserve the body but could they also have been employed to treat disease and could the rock
19:24that sealed the entrance to the tomb have been put in place out of fear that the contagions inside might
19:31escape the burial site it's certainly possible that the individual in the sarcophagus was a soldier who
19:38succumbed to an epidemic but the thing is the romans would sometimes resort to placing the dead from a plague
19:45into mass graves or hurried burials as the most efficient form of internment and given the meticulous
19:54burial in the tomb of cerberus this scenario seems improbable it's still a possibility that they were a
20:01high-ranking soldier but maybe not one who died from an epidemic the imagery found within the tomb and its
20:08location may point to a belief in the occult the ancient greeks called this volcanic landscape the fiery
20:16fields and within greco-roman traditions it was considered to be a physical gateway to the afterlife
20:22the choice to place the tomb here suggests a deep understanding of the spiritual importance of this
20:28location the frescoes of cerberus and the ichthyocentours are also potential signifiers that the family who
20:36controlled this tomb knew the roles these mythological creatures played in the afterlife
20:42while cerberus was the guardian of the underworld hades the ichthyocentours had been interpreted to
20:48be spiritual guides who could escort the deceased to the paradise of the so-called blessed isles during
20:55this era the roman empire certainly had its share of mysterious cults that possessed secret theories about
21:01the afterlife so was the deceased a high-ranking member of one of these groups it's highly plausible
21:08that these cults known as mysteries had a presence in this region not far from the burial site is the
21:15necropolis of the town of kumai deep below the ground is an ornate complex where according to legend
21:22an oracle would commune with the greco-roman god apollo similarly when the tomb of cerberus was built
21:30you can imagine that the intention was to provide the deceased with direct communion with the gods
21:37ultimately though there's no evidence that the individuals in the tomb had any kind of membership
21:42in one of the mystery cults of the day far from being representative of a belief in magic and the
21:49occult the frescoes in the cerberus tomb may simply be indicative of an elite and educated family
21:56that was well versed in the fashionable cultural signifiers of the day the status of the family
22:02and toured here may ultimately be the key to understanding the origins of this enigmatic burial
22:08site this idea of a highly honored senior member of a wealthy clan is supported by the incredible care
22:15that was lavished on the body found in the sarcophagus it's very possible that they were a wealthy member of
22:21the nearby laturnum settlement the shroud the preservative ointments and instruments laid around
22:29the remains are all evidence of the respect this person commanded within their community ultimately
22:35much about the tomb of cerberus remains unclear a thorough scientific analysis of the skeleton may
22:42one day give us a better idea of who this person was until then it seems the three-headed monster
22:49on the vibrant fresco who stands guard at the gates of the underworld is also protecting the centuries-old
22:56secrets locked inside this mysterious tomb
23:13tucked into the remote reaches of southwestern columbia the tiradentro national park spans several
23:20square kilometers along the highest ridges of the colombian andes the park is made up of four distinct
23:25areas that stretch along the andes range the terrain is incredibly variable ranging from 4 000 to more
23:31than 8 000 feet above sea level these steep elevation changes coupled with a tropical climate create sudden
23:38and dramatic shifts in weather and temperature often within just a few kilometers the andes are marked by two
23:45principal rainy seasons one in the spring and one in the fall together they bring nearly 60 inches of
23:52rainfall every year the rain helps sustain the forests that cover the mountains themselves
23:57and eventually drains down to the valleys below enriching the soil with sediment
24:03tiradentro also happens to be one of the most important archaeological sites in colombia
24:08but it's incredibly remote there are no flights close to the area and the nearest city is about a
24:14five-hour drive away the roads are rough cell phone service is patchy and the area is prone to landslides
24:21which can make getting to the site nearly impossible nearly impossible but not totally impossible because
24:28the site has been the subject of archaeological study when archaeologists begin to systematically
24:34investigate the tiradentro park they uncover a remarkable site concealed beneath the forest canopy
24:42several meters below the surface explorers uncovered enormous chambers carved right into the rock
24:50these range from small structures with a single small room to massive 40-foot wide chambers with support columns
25:00these underground chambers are a testament to the engineering skill of the people who built them
25:04especially given that they were likely excavated entirely by hand this was largely possible because
25:09of the local geology the volcanic landscape of the andes left behind thick layers of hardened ash
25:14which formed a relatively soft and workable stone radiocarbon dating tells us that these underground chambers
25:21were likely carved out and used from about 600 to 900 ce long before the spanish colonized colombia
25:30but what exactly were these structures for the underground chamber's unique geography and architecture
25:36point to a possible explanation the name tierra dentro was first used by the spanish conquistadors back
25:44in the 1500s and it translates roughly to the interior land or inland which fits because
25:50this region is way off the beaten path it is tucked deep into the mountains and forests far from the
25:57coast
25:58now why here well maybe that remoteness was the whole point maybe the ancient people built these underground
26:05chambers way out here and hid them below ground for protection or an edge against potential invaders
26:12looking back we can see several examples of incredibly impressive military fortifications in the andes mountains
26:18one of the most famous examples is saxay woman a massive inca fortress that sits above the city of
26:24cuzco in peru it was built during the 15th century using huge stone blocks some of which reach nearly 30
26:31feet
26:31tall and weigh several tons the fortress is so strong that it survived earthquakes that easily take down more
26:37modern buildings in the area because it was so strategically important saxay woman played a huge role in the
26:44inca's last stand against the spanish conquistadors some of the most intense and bloody battles happened
26:50right here as the incas tried to hold on to their fortress in the end the spanish managed to take
26:57control of
26:58saxay woman after months of fierce fighting but there's another legendary andean site that was so
27:04well hidden the conquistadors never even found it machu picchu stands about 50 miles northwest of cuzco
27:13roughly 8 000 feet above sea level it's a massive site spread over 80 000 acres of steep mountain peaks
27:21and slopes although it was probably built in the 15th century machu picchu was essentially unknown to
27:28the rest of the world until a local took a professor who was visiting from yale university to see it
27:34in
27:34the early 1900s machu picchu is actually made up of hundreds of structures including enormous fortifying
27:40walls and terraces and ramps that all blend into the landscape it was most likely first built as a royal
27:48residence and a retreat for the inca elite but over the years it may also have served a bunch of
27:54other
27:54religious and spiritual functions looking at the terra dentro chambers it becomes clear that they were
28:01also intended for the elite carving of these huge underground spaces required a significant amount of
28:06organization and labor and wouldn't have been done for just anyone but what was it for was it like
28:13machu picchu a retreat for the ancient upper class or did it serve another more ritualistic function
28:18nearly a thousand miles away concealed deep in the peruvian highlands another set of extraordinary
28:24underground chambers raises intriguing possibilities chavin de juantar is the largest and most important
28:32ruin left by the chavin people an ancient culture that predates the inca by more than 2 000 years the
28:40site stands
28:40more than 10 000 feet above sea level and features a massive stone temple complex built out of huge
28:47rectangular blocks the earliest part of the complex is known as the old temple and it was built in a
28:54distinct u-shape around 900 bce several centuries later around 500 bce the new temple was added expanding
29:03the existing structure and adding a massive sunken plaza these plazas were central to ancient andean
29:09spiritual and political power and would have been the site of major religious and ceremonial practices
29:17the site's most unusual feature sits beneath the temples themselves where there's this network of
29:23tunnels and maze-like galleries underground some of them intersect some of them stand alone but these
29:29chambers are in near total darkness with small tunnels maybe for ventilation but no windows that let any
29:37day later using computational acoustics modeling and careful reenactments a team of experts makes an
29:44astonishing discovery these chambers were likely built with one thing in mind sound analyses have found
29:52that sound waves travel extremely quickly down the narrow passages bouncing off the walls to fill the
29:57adjoining alcoves and galleries the effect would have been quite dramatic music or human voices would
30:02effortlessly fill the space with little to no echo meaning that even if you were standing far from
30:07the source you could hear incredibly clearly the architecture of the tunnels would have allowed the
30:13chavin to project this sound out of the building itself to pilgrims in the plaza outside in effect the
30:20entire building would have seemed alive we can't be sure exactly what these chavin ceremonies sounded like
30:27but excavations have uncovered several ancient trumpets made out of conch shells that we've actually been
30:33able to reproduce and record the intense soundscapes from the galleries weren't the only way the chavin
30:42enhanced their ritual experiences bone tubes that were once used to inhale psychoactive plants have also been
30:49found in these galleries the combination of ritual drug use and elaborate soundscapes would have made for a
30:56truly otherworldly experience so could the chambers at tiara dentro have served a similar ritual purpose
31:04based on the existing evidence the chambers at tiara dentro don't appear to have been carved with
31:09acoustics in mind there are no plazas to host crowds of pilgrims and to date there's no evidence of ritual
31:17drug use either but there are signs that these were places of profound spiritual importance a closer look at
31:26the architecture of the tiara dentro chambers reveals their true function most of the tiara dentro structures
31:32have a central staircase or shaft that leads down into a main chamber which is surrounded by a series of
31:37side alcoves or niches these impressive underground burial spaces are known today as hypogea
31:43these were grand collective tombs so instead of just one person entire elite families or clans could be
31:51buried together in the same space grave offerings were left with the bodies including gold ornaments
31:57ceramic pottery and stone statues underscoring just how important these people were
32:05sadly over the centuries many of these tombs were looted and most of the original objects are now gone
32:12but some artwork remains gold black red and white lines zigzag and spiral their way across the walls in
32:21intricate geometric designs some of the murals appear to depict animal and human forms it's possible that
32:29these represented gods or guardians of some sort but their true symbolic meaning remains a mystery work is
32:37still underway at tiradentro where archaeologists continue to piece together the story of a
32:43civilization that left behind only its extraordinary ornate tombs
33:01a hundred and eighty miles northwest of london liverpool stands as one of britain's most historically
33:07significant sea ports liverpool was founded in 1207 when king john granted a charter for a new town
33:14on the river mersey now early trade with ireland helped it grow but by the 18th century it had
33:20become a hub of transatlantic commerce and there's a dark side to that there is this trade system
33:25called the liverpool triangle in which manufactured goods from liverpool were sent to west africa to
33:31be traded for enslaved people and those enslaved people went across the atlantic to the west indies where
33:37they were traded for sugar and other crops the 19th century brought explosive growth the liverpool and
33:43manchester railway opened in 1830 the world's first commercial passenger line the albert dock followed
33:49in 1846 with fireproof warehouses and hydraulic cranes that cut ship turnaround time in half
33:55during the irish famine thousands arrived by ship and by mid-century liverpool was known as the new york
34:00of europe in the 20th century liverpool faced disruption and decline its port made it a target
34:08during both world wars and the city was hit hard during the blitz post-war the city faced economic
34:15depression but liverpool remained culturally vital from the three graces iconic buildings located at the
34:23waterfront to the global explosion of music and identity that came with the beatles
34:28in 2001 a small team cuts through the roof of a buried cellar in the paddington district of liverpool
34:36lowered in by harness they find themselves in a rubble choked chamber an upper level of a long lost
34:43passage over the next two decades volunteers cleared tons of soil ash and debris revealing a hidden
34:52network of at least 15 chambers carved in sandstone some are narrow crawl spaces just four feet wide and six
35:01feet high others are far more dramatic like the vaulted banqueting hall measuring roughly 64 feet long
35:1014 feet wide and 27 feet high it reportedly connects to more than two dozen other tunnels
35:21paddington is one of the deepest parts of the network it's this stacked complex of at least three levels
35:27dropping 56 feet below ground brick pillars sit on sandstone supports and according to one old account
35:34the layout runs deeper than the four-story building that once stood above for decades the tunnels were
35:42mostly rumor until a rediscovered 1925 newspaper article described a man walking underground for over a mile
35:49beneath the streets reigniting public interest earlier maps and surveys had recorded parts of the system
35:54but later construction buried much of it it wasn't until the mid 90s that official archaeological
36:00investigation began computer scans now show over 460 000 square feet of map excavations spreading
36:09underground in a spider-like pattern but the full extent of the tunnels is still unknown so what kind of
36:16purpose or obsession could justify building a hidden world beneath the city inside the tunnels scattered
36:24artifacts raised questions about their possible use and who was moving through them these tunnels
36:31don't look like spaces that were simply quarried and left behind excavations have uncovered hundreds of
36:38artifacts like glass whiskey bottles and stoneware jars given the volume and variety is it possible these tunnels
36:47supported contraband movement or some form of underground trade in the late 1700s and early 1800s
36:56smuggling was rampant across britain and it was fueled by high taxes on things like tea tobacco and booze
37:05what began as a small scale evasion grew into a full-blown underground industry smuggled spirits may have
37:14at times outnumbered the legal shipments coming through london's docks whole communities even came up that
37:21relied entirely on the economic benefits of smuggling beneath liverpool some of the tunnels are blocked or
37:28collapsed but they may have once linked to larger features like the great tunnel a vast chamber documented in
37:33the 19th century in the 2000s researchers drilled into the site in an attempt to relocate it but found nothing
37:39conclusive if the tunnel still exists it could suggest the network was once organized around a central hub
37:45built to move discreetly between different areas just northwest of liverpool in new brighton
37:53a different underground network reveals how tunnels could support large-scale secretive operations
37:59during world war ii new brighton's seaside arcade concealed a full-scale munitions factory below ground
38:07the tunnels said to be around a hundred years old at the time were cleared and converted to house up
38:13to
38:14200 women producing more than 250 000 bullets and shell casings a week all while the arcade above kept up
38:22appearances
38:23the operation was such a secret that even nazi bombing maps failed to pick up the factory beneath the arcade
38:31by 1943 the site also served as a u.s ordnance base assembling vehicles and repairing equipment from the normandy
38:41front
38:42it was a vast covert network right under the public's feet
38:49so the new brighton tunnels show that older spaces could be adapted for covert use but
38:54there's no evidence that the liverpool tunnels were built for this or repurposed for this after 1815
39:00the economics of smuggling collapsed as coastal blockades strengthened and free trade policies took
39:06hold it just didn't make economic sense anymore and by the time excavation began in liverpool smuggling was
39:12already in decline so these tunnels were built for a different purpose other artifacts suggest the
39:20tunnels may have been designed to sustain a long-term vision in ways these spaces seem designed with daily
39:26life in mind excavations have uncovered bed warmers chamber pots infant feeding bottles toothbrushes
39:32children's toys and chillingly bottles of poison more than 100 years of rubbish was found in the tunnels
39:39some dating to a period shaped by religious upheaval and apocalyptic belief is it possible these spaces
39:45were meant for life to continue underground after everything above it ended the early 19th century was
39:51steeped in apocalyptic belief movements like millerism took hold convincing tens of thousands of followers
39:58across the u.s canada and britain that christ would return by 1844 to cleanse the world in that kind
40:07of
40:07climate digging a refuge underground wouldn't have seemed irrational at all it might have felt urgent
40:13roughly 2 000 miles from liverpool in the village of nikolska in western russia another underground
40:20structure was built to outlast what its creators believed was coming above in 2007 a russian doomsday
40:28sect vanished only to be found living in a bunker excavated more than 30 feet deep into the snow covered
40:36clay and rock of nikolska the group had threatened to blow themselves up with gas canisters if forced
40:42above ground but when the roof eventually gave way some took it as a sign from god and climbed out
40:48the scene inside was haunting sleeping spaces padded with cardboard a kitchen carved into the rock
40:53and walls etched with drawings of flowers and trees even a chess set and children's books were left behind
41:01while liverpool's tunnels and nikolska contain interesting artifacts and do share certain
41:07architectural traits the underlying context is entirely different nikolska's underground network
41:13was built with a clear apocalyptic religious mindset but there's no evidence of that kind of belief system
41:19in liverpool the motive here seems rooted in a different kind of long-term goal in the heart of
41:25liverpool's 19th century industrial boom a strange pattern of construction points back to a single figure
41:32in the early 1800s joseph williamson a wealthy eccentric tobacco merchant began developing land in the area
41:42he modified houses with bricked up windows but the work didn't stop there his crews kept digging deeper
41:49and farther creating a vast tunnel network with no clear purpose williamson's name soon became inseparable
41:58from the tunnels but what compelled him to keep going by 1815 the napoleonic wars had ended and
42:06liverpool was flooded with all these soldiers coming back with limited job options now by then williamson had
42:14sold his tobacco business so he started hiring all these soldiers to dig and for a lot of them that
42:20digging was the only steady source of income in a time when there was just no other work as time
42:27went on
42:27the tunnels grew deeper more complex and more aimless some twist stack or lead nowhere at all men
42:34worked by candlelight with picks shovels and barrows while carpenters use axes and saws it's possible that the
42:41project was less about utility and architecture than it was hands-on training in trades like masonry and
42:45bricklaying if so the tunnel's true value wasn't in their purpose but in the livelihoods they built
42:51there are all kinds of theories about williamson's tunnels but he left no blueprints or explanation
42:57after his wife died in 1822 he added domestic style chambers even a grand banquet hall for a man with
43:05no
43:05financial need and no defined purpose the tunnels may have become both his obsession and his escape
43:15some argue the so-called passages likely began as open sandstone quarries then covered and built over so
43:24in that view williamson wasn't digging aimlessly he was reclaiming scarred land and turning it into
43:32something profitable but that still doesn't explain the scale the chambers and the banquet hall if it
43:40started as a quarry restoration it became something else and something much harder to define hidden beneath
43:48liverpool williamson's tunnels remain a puzzle of purpose and persistence a testament to relentless effort
43:55effort and to the blurred line between visionary intent and personal obsession
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