- [Narrator] Ah, mountains. Imposingly tall, majestically mystical, and utterly unforgiving. Only the toughest people
have what it takes to explore these mysterious rock monsters, which is exactly why their craggy expanses are still loaded with strange secrets. So, grab your rucksack and make sure you've brought
along enough rations, because we're about to take a look at the biggest secrets
hidden inside mountains. (upbeat music) Tomb of the Unknown. (gentle music) First stop, Turkey, a land
known for its traditional tea, buzzing bazaars, and of
course, Turkish delight. But if you take a short drive
north from the city of Corum, you'll come across something
altogether more curious: a road out of the city leads
to an old overgrown mountain. At the base of this mountain
is a steep trail leading up, that eventually ends at a
door embedded into the rock right at the top. But why would you bother
making the treacherous ascent? Well, it's not just a
door built into some rock, it's a whole cube-shaped building, dating all the way back
to the 2nd century BC. Archeologists reckon
it's a tomb of some sort, but it's so ancient that we
can't be sure of much else. Even more baffling is that
despite looking like a door, there's no way of opening
it and seeing what's inside. Just one clue survives: an intriguing inscription
above the entrance, simply reading "IZEKIOS." Who Izekios was, we don't know. That's a secret they very
literally took to the grave. Castle on the Crag. When you think of castles, you might imagine them atop
hills or in the center of lakes. You probably don't expect them to be built halfway up the side
of a huge, sheer cliff face. But that's exactly where
you'll find the Predjama Castle in south-central Slovenia. Built in the 13th century
within the mouth of a cave, the creepy looking castle
is supposedly haunted by the ghosts of its former occupants. The most famous of these was
the knight Erasmus of Lueg, a robber baron that lived
there during the 15th century. For Erasmus, the castle was perfect. Its position in the cliff cave made it almost impenetrable to attackers. Plus, when under siege, the knight made use of a secret passage around the back of the
castle to escape unnoticed and return with stolen food for everyone. Unfortunately for old Erasmus,
his luck didn't last forever. According to legend, he was
betrayed by one of his own men and shot by a cannon
whilst using the lavatory. Man, talk about an explosive poop. If you wanna guarantee your
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my amazing content again, and your friends will love
hearing all the new crazy facts that you've got to tell them. Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, about to say a few
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boost; and one Ancient Shard, all available right here. Now, back to some more mountain secrets. (gentle music) The Lost Treasure Trove. High up in the Peruvian mountains, the 15th century citadel of Machu Picchu has been a source of wonder and mystery since it was first discovered in 1911 by American explorer Hiram Bingham. More recently however, the site's got a whole
lot more mysterious. In 2010, French engineer David Crespy was taking measurements of the Incan ruins when he noticed a door
he'd never seen before, sealed off by stones. Convinced it was significant, Crespy got in touch with
renowned archeologist, Thierry Jamin. A few months later, Jamin
arrived on the scene with a nifty electromagnetic scanner capable of detecting objects behind walls. Sure enough, after
scanning the sealed alcove, he found there was a staircase hidden behind the stones that
led down to a whole chamber. Not only this, but there were vast quantities
of metals in there too. In other words, treasure, and lots of it. Jamin and Crespy were beside
themselves with excitement. The chamber could be anything, even the tomb of Incan ruler
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the very person experts think
Machu Picchu was built for. Wasting no time, the thrilled twosome contacted the Ministry of Culture to request permission to remove
the stones blocking the way. But the unthinkable happened. Their request was denied. The ministry was worried that moving the stones would
collapse the entire structure. No matter how much Jamin
argued, it was no use. To this day, the secret
door remains firmly sealed and no one's been inside
for hundreds of years. Maybe it's for the best. I've seen "The Mummy." Mount Rushmore's Secret Room. When it comes to man-made mountains, arguably none are more
famous than Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills in South Dakota. As such, you might expect
it to be the last place to have retained any kind of secret. Well, you'd be wrong. Hidden behind the enormous
statue of Abraham Lincoln's head, there's a gaping, 70-foot-long tunnel. This isn't a mistake,
or a fault in the rock, it's actually a little-known room purposefully built into
the side of the mountain. You see, Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the
memorial on Mount Rushmore, had initially wanted
to carve an inscription beside the giant heads, one big
enough to be read from afar. When this proved impossible however, he came up with a new plan: to create a room within the mountain to hold all the documents and artifacts central to American democratic history. This room would be called
the Hall of Records and exist so that the history it contained would never be forgotten. Between July 1938 and 1939, the tunnel was blasted into
the mountain using dynamite, but with the start of World War II and then Borglum's
unexpected death in 1941, unfortunately, never finished. Finally, over 40 years later in 1998, it was decided that a
locked box of records be placed in the floor of the tunnel. It contains the story of how Mount Rushmore came to be carved, as well as a short history of the US and four presidents
depicted on the mountain. But if you're hoping
you can go and see it, don't get ahead of yourself. The secret repository isn't
accessible to visitors. Thrill of the Hunt. Young or old, there's not much
that excites the imagination more than a good treasure hunt. Forrest Fenn, an ex-pilot
in the US Air Force, knew this all too well. So, when he was sadly
diagnosed with terminal cancer back in 1988, he decided to rouse public
imagination one last time. It just so happened Fenn was rich, and he had a whopping great
stash of gold nuggets, rare coins, jewelry, and gemstones that he'd
acquired throughout his life. Like, $2 million worth of the stuff. The ex-pilot gathered his
treasures into a chest and set off to hide the stash somewhere far away from
his home of Santa Fe. Then, amazingly, after he'd
hidden the chest, he recovered. Determined to pursue the idea anyway, Fenn wrote and released a memoir in 2010. Only, this wasn't an ordinary memoir. The text held cryptic rules
to the treasure's whereabouts. Later, Fenn released another book, this time with a map included alongside an enigmatic 24-line poem. People went wild. Before long, anyone who'd bought the book was whipped up into a frenzy, trying to decipher the clues
and find the golden goodies. Would-be adventurers braved
the treacherous mountains in search of the
treasure, and, tragically, five people lost their
lives while hunting it down. It wasn't until almost
a decade later, in 2019, that Jack Stuef, a 32-year-old
student from Michigan, finally came across
the sought-after stash. And no, he isn't telling
anyone where it was, instead saying he wants the
special spot to remain a secret, just so it stays in pristine condition. All we know is it was
somewhere in Wyoming. As for the treasure itself? Well, in possibly the most menial end to a treasure hunt story ever, Stuef sold it all at auction
to pay off his student loans. Treasure Island, this is not. Camouflaged Colossus. In the ancient city of
Cholula in Puebla, Mexico, a huge mountain has dominated the landscape
around it for centuries. Or, at least, people
thought it was a mountain. It's actually much, much more. When Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico back in 1519, he and his men pillaged Cholula and built a Catholic
church atop the mountain, which still stands today. Little did they know they'd
actually built the church atop of the biggest monument
on the whole planet. That's right, the so-called mountain is actually a colossal pyramid
with a base four times bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza. In fact, it's more like a
huge Russian doll of pyramids: six, all built on top of one another. With the stupendous structure dating all the way back to
300BC, archeologists reckon that it was gradually added
to and expanded over time by successive Aztec civilizations. It took so long for anybody
to realize what it truly was because the whole thing
was built from mud. Yep, mud. In dry climates like Mexico's, mud structures actually
prove extremely durable and can last for thousands of years. But they also make a fertile platform for tropical jungle to grow, which is exactly what happened in Cholula. The towering temple was abandoned
around the 7th century AD and got so overgrown that it became indistinguishable
from a natural mountain. Because of this, it was
spared Cortes' wrath and still stands strong today, albeit mostly covered in grass and trees. What a monumental achievement. Gate of the Gods. Sometimes, the real world is almost as fantastical as fiction. Aramu Muru, or The Gate of the Gods, is such a place where this
rings undeniably true. Discovered in the 1990s near
Lake Titicaca, don't laugh, in Peru, this strange rock carving is thought to be an abandoned
Incan construction project, though nobody knows for sure. Legend says that long ago a
golden disk fell from the sky. An Incan priest caught the disk and placed it into the
depression in the rock, causing it to open like a door. There are plenty of modern legends surrounding Aramu Muru as well. Locals tell of abnormally tall men accompanied by glowing orbs
walking through the doorway. Paranormal writer Jerry Willis claims that these legends are true, and that he himself once
traveled through the rock as if it's some kind of portal. Because of all this, the carving
has made a name for itself as one of the most
mysterious places in Peru and become a popular destination for tourists interested in the paranormal. What do you think? Abandoned Incan building or supernatural portal
into another dimension? Let me know down in the comments. Men in the Mountains. If you went for a stroll near
Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain, you'd probably take
note of the lush forest and abundant wildlife. You might not realize you were walking right next to a top-secret
government facility hidden within the heart of the mountain. No, unbelievably, this isn't
a Bond villain's evil lair, but it is very real. Built in the 1960s during the
height of Cold War paranoia, miners dug a whopping
693,000 tons of granite out from the mountain in order
to construct the base inside. Described as a super-bunker, the facility is protected by a
staggering 2,000 feet of rock and can withstand electromagnetic
pulses, bioweapons, and even nuclear bombs. This makes it a perfect base of operations for the North American
Aerospace Defense Command, a government organization
charged with protecting the US and Canada from airborne attacks. Staff can spend long
stints inside the mountain without coming out at all, so it's less like a bunker
and more like a small town. 15 buildings stand on 1,300 giant springs so they won't collapse in case of a blast, and as well as accommodation
and government buildings, there's a clinic, gym,
store, and even a Subway. Because nothing says "Eat Fresh" like being stuck deep underground with a load of sweaty military dudes. If a threat is detected
from the outside world, huge 25-ton blast doors are set to close, locking all occupants firmly inside. But with six million gallons of water and a whole load of food
supplies, anybody behind the doors would be able to survive for
months without having to leave. Hmm, I like Subway as
much as the next guy, but spicy Italian for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner would get old, fast. Rock 'n' Hole. Tucked away in the highlands
of Western Ethiopia, near the town of Lalibela,
lies a very strange sight. Dug deep into the rock above
the town are 11 huge pits. Look down into these pits, and you'll see something even stranger. Each one has an intricate
structure built into it, all uniquely different from one another and yet with the same recognizable style. So, what are they? A message from the ancient aliens? A relic of some long-distant civilization? The second guess is more
accurate than the first, I'm afraid. The structures are actually
big stone churches, commissioned by the late 12th and early 13th century Ethiopian
King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela. The king wanted to create
the holy city of Jerusalem in his own kingdom, and so
ordered the churches to be built, with each to be hewn from
the rock using chisels. For 24 years, builders chipped
away from the top down, creating the pits as they carved out the
shapes of the churches. This unconventional way of building led to each church being
entirely monolithic, that is, made from just one piece of rock. Not only this, but the
structures stand 50 feet high, about as tall as five African elephants stacked on top of each other. You might think that
doesn't sound that tall, but remember they were
dug using hand chisels. Phew. Today the site is still used by the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church and remains an important visiting place for pilgrims following the religion. So, at least all that back
breaking labor was worth it. Those workers must've been
a hell of a lot harder than the rock they were chipping at. Skulls 'n' Superstitions. You know those dreams that you have that seem so real you could
mistake them for memories? Well, supposedly one Bulgarian man had just such a dream back in 2001. The man dreamt that a
host of humanoid figures dressed in metallic-yellow led him to a spot in the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria. So far, so normal. I've had much stranger dreams. But, when he woke up, the man felt compelled to
go back to that same spot, and when he got there, he
found something extraordinary. A small skull lay there, no
bigger than a human baby's, but with wildly different features. The man took it to both an archeologist and a paleontologist, but
things just got weirder. Neither of them had ever
seen anything like it. Soon, word got around, and people's theories started
coming in thick and fast. One theory was that the skull belonged to a genetically engineered creature created by the Atlanteans. Yes, the same Atlanteans that inhabited the
legendary underwater city. Interesting, but I can't
say I'm sold on that one. Another theory claimed
it belonged to an alien that got on the wrong end of a weapon during the Second World War. Okay, as much as I'd like to believe that, it's most likely that the
skull belonged to an animal, and got damaged over time,
distorting its features. However, we may never know. Inexplicably, the skull
vanished without a trace. And you wanna know the
really freaky thing? The Rhodope Mountains, where it was found, are home to a mythical sanctuary speculated to have a
library of ancient knowledge hidden within its rock. So maybe, just maybe, the skull and the sanctuary are linked. What do you think? Let me know down in the comments. All That Glitters. When I was a kid, I used
to have a metal detector I'd go hunting for treasure with. The most I ever found
though was an old nickel. Villagers in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo's town of Luhihi however,
found a hell of a lot more when they started digging
into a nearby mountain back in 2019. Specifically, gold. Lots and lots of gold. So much so, that people from
all around began flooding in to grab their share of
the shiny substance. It was pandemonium. People were digging
gold out by the handful. Literally. It turns out, the level of gold
in the mountain was so high that between a whopping 60% and 90% of it was made from the precious metal. Man, there'd be nothing left of it if I lived anywhere nearby. But if you do, you're
not in much luck either. With the tiny village
facing immense pressure from the sudden influx of people, local authorities were forced
to ban mining entirely. Damn. There goes another golden opportunity. The Veiled Temples. I've always wanted to visit the Alps. You can go skiing, take
a dip in the clear lakes, or just relax. But in the foothills of
the northern Italian Alps, there's something far more
clandestine you can go and see. An unsuspecting mineshaft in the rock opens out and leads to this. A vast underground network of beautiful, intricately-made temples. You might think they'd been
there for thousands of years, but no, these remarkable
pieces of architecture have only been around since 1978. The really incredible thing though is that they were built without the help of any engineers or architects,
over the course of 15 years and completely in secret
from the Italian government. When the police did eventually
find the temples in 1992, they were so in awe that they
scrapped their original plans to destroy the unpermitted buildings. But who built them and why? A group called the Federation of Damanhur are responsible for the
extravagant mountain temples. Their leader, Oberto Airaudi, claimed to have had
visions of ancient temples since the age of 10. Believing them to be instructions, in 1978 he set about bringing
these visions to life, and in doing so, amassed a
group of like-minded followers that helped him achieve his dream. Today, the group numbers
about 1,000 people who all live in and around the
sprawling mountain complex, following a blend of
new-age and pagan rituals. They insist that their ethos celebrates science, art, and spirituality, but critics say they're
nothing more than a cult. Regardless, there's no denying the impressiveness of their work. Mystifying Maijishan. Far to the east of Italy,
in China's Gansu Province, a very odd mountain stands tall against the surrounding landscape. Its name? Mount Maiji. And no, it isn't famous for wielding a cloak and a magic staff, but rather for the series of 194 caves carved meticulously into its side. They're not just caves though. In total, over 7,000 sculptures and almost 11,000 square feet of murals lie within their craggy depths. That's because this mystical place is actually the site of the
Maijishan Buddhist grottoes. It's believed that about 1,600 years ago, a group of Buddhist priests came to the mountain to meditate, before starting a community there. Most if not all of the caves are man-made, a feat only made possible
with years of work. Even more impressive are the giant Buddhas that adorn the walls outside, made from great wooden
skeletons covered in clay. They're impressive, yes,
but feasibly possible. Less understandable are the
numerous sandstone statues dotted around the complex. Sandstone isn't indigenous to the region, so not only was it sourced from far away, but it would also have
had to have been lugged all the way up the mountainside somehow. To this day, the mystery remains. Maybe achieving enlightenment grants you the power to
literally make things lighter? Um, I don't know. Cryptic Kropfenstein. What's your dream home? A cozy cottage in the south of France? A studio apartment in L.A.? How about a cold, dank castle built terrifyingly high up a cliffside in southeast Switzerland? Well, everyone's different I suppose. Castle Kropfenstein is just such a place, but its former residents,
the counts of Kropfenstein, probably didn't pick it
as their first choice. Very little is known
about the strange abode, but it was probably built
around the 13th century to keep its inhabitants safe
from potential attackers. Safe, but certainly not snug. A nerve-rackingly narrow path across the east side of the
cliff face leads to the castle, and originally didn't even have a fence. That drop is a whole load of nope. But if you did get to the castle without falling to your doom,
it'd be very easy to defend. Though, apparently this
didn't save the Kropfensteins. Nowadays, the castle lies in ruin after the counts of Kropfenstein vanished from records in the 15th century. Nobody knows their fate and the eerie remains
of their old residence refuses to reveal its dark secrets. I'm not gonna be braving
that path anytime soon to try and solve the mystery, are you? Left Hanging. If you're ever enjoying
a nice mountain walk and come across a long
rectangular wooden box tucked away somewhere,
whatever you do, don't open it. Why? Because it's probably
got a dead body inside. Okay, this doesn't apply
to any old mountains, but if you're in China, the
Philippines, or Indonesia, it's more than likely. This isn't because those countries have a disproportionate number of killers on their hiking trails, no. It's actually because the ancient peoples that lived there thousands of years ago used to hang their dead in
coffins from the mountainside. China has some of the most
famous hanging coffins in the world, and hundreds of them still hang ominously across
the country's mountains today, put there by the ancient Bo
people some 3,000 years ago. Literature from the time
of the Tang Dynasty, some 1,400 years ago, suggests that the higher
the coffins were placed, the more respect the living
had for the coffins' occupants. However, some argue that the
bizarre funerary practice simply served to keep
land free for farming while ensuring the bodies
were safe from wild animals. Perplexingly though, the oldest coffins are packed with sand,
making them enormously heavy and begging the question of how they were hauled up
so high in the first place. However, with the peoples
responsible for them long extinct and the records they made lost, it's a question that we don't
have a solid answer for. Just don't get too get hung up about it. (upbeat music) Okay, I think that's just about
all the mysterious secrets I've got time to tell. Which did you find the most interesting? Let me know down in the comments below, and thanks for watching.
