Mysteries of the Abandoned

In 1972, the porn baron Bob Guccione, founder of Penthouse magazine, established the Haludovo Palace Hotel on the Croatian island Krk north of Malinska. The resort was a hedonistic paradise to avert nuclear catastrophe - attracting rich and infamous clients in the process, like Saddam Hussein.

587 half-built castles near Mudurnu, Turkey, stand as a whimsical reminder of a residential development that was supposed to feature thermal baths and panoramic views. The ambitious Burj Al Babas project ended abruptly in 2019 when the Sarot Group construction company faced financial difficulties.

Famous Beatles producer George Martin envisioned this Caribbean mecca for rock legends. AIR Studios Montserrat opened in 1979, and many legendary records were created there. The studio had to close after a series of natural disasters rocked the small island of Montserrat.

This Seoul amusement park is full of rusted-out rides and unfinished renovations. Forced to close due to financial problems, the park has found a second life after being used as the setting of K-pop album covers and music videos.

In a California desert, a once glittering Hollywood hotspot, the Byron Hot Springs Hotel, gets converted during World War II into a top-secret interrogation center for high-value German and Japanese POWs. Before being shuttered, this high-tech facility called Camp Tracy gathered reams of valuable wartime intelligence.

Formerly known as one of the toughest prisons in America, this massive complex was once home to medical experiments and a chaotic hostage situation; it's better remembered as the setting for the iconic opening scene of "The Blues Brothers."

Graffiti scratched into the walls of a military base on the British coast sheds light on a secret raid against the Nazis; the story left behind by the soldiers does not match the rosy picture that was painted by the media...

In the Turkish capital of Ankara, an ambitious new theme park (Wonderland) is plagued by budget problems, mechanical issues, and political conflicts before ultimately being shuttered. Decaying rides and old dinosaurs stand as symbols of excess on the city skyline.

Conspiracies swirl around Camp Hero, an abandoned military base on Long Island established in 1942. There, alleged covert government experiments occurred underground in the so-called Montauk Project. Experts discuss the critical role that the base played in defending America's coastline by air and sea from World War II well into the Cold War.

In modern-day Turkey, on the coast of the Aegean Sea, archaeologists discovered hilltop ruins that are believed to be the site of one of the world's most enduring stories -- the legend of Troy and the Trojan Horse...

On a picturesque island off the coast of Brazil, this penal colony was once the site of a dramatic prisoner uprising; among the ruins lies the story of the violent rebellion and the recapturing of the island by military forces...

This decaying fortress once stood between the Ancient Roman and Persian Empires; though the stronghold's location attracted great wealth, it also attracted attention from unfriendly neighbors...

In 1920, a teenage girl in Japanese-occupied Korea is martyred in prison and becomes a national hero. Seodaemun Prison, the facility in Seoul that held Yu Gwan-sun, stands in remembrance of her bravery and the Korean struggle for independence.

Notorious gunslinger John Dillinger once made a daring escape from this unassuming Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, in 1934. Today, the story of his clash with Sheriff Lillian Holley, Indiana's first female sheriff, and his dramatic getaway continues to fascinate the public.

A building in Colorado is still marked with bullet holes from a Wild West shootout between union members and state militia; the ruins of the old mining town tell the heated story of a labor dispute that ended in sabotage and murder.

In the former Soviet Union, this theater and others like it were used to influence the minds of the masses; though its grand auditorium is now empty, the building still serves as a testament to the power of cinema...