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Secrets Hidden in National Monuments · Be Amazed

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: The iPhone Tower, Trefflegar Square, Lady Liberty, our world's full of some amazing and well-known national monuments.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: While hundreds sometimes thousands of people visit and marvel at these monuments every day, there are some smaller details built into them that remain hidden from view.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: From unknown under Christa, secret sports courts have your magnifying glasses at their ready as we uncover some mind-blowing secrets hidden in national monuments.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: With almost 5 million visitors every year, it's fair to say that a lot of eyeballs have been fixed on New York Statue of Liberty since her completion in 1886.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: But despite the number of people that flock to Liberty Island very few know about the shocking secrets this statue holds.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Before its assembly, especially chosen items put into a time capsule were placed under
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: The memorabilian included a copy of the U.S. Constitution, 20 bronze medals of U.S. presidents, and even a portrait of Frederick Augusta Buttoldi, the sculptor responsible for the statue itself.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: No one's access the time capsule since the statue was erected, and it's believed that it'll only be accessible if Lady Liberty is torn down.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you ever make a delivery island, take a look at the base of the statue.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some eagle-eyed visitors swear the race would cast a shadow that looks uncannily like a hidden door concealing that very time capsule.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Several very eager internet conspiracies seem to think so, however, that's hardly this monument's most controversial secret.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: You see, Lady Liberty may not actually be a lady at all.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's long been believed that the face of the sculpture is based on Libertus, the Roman God of Liberty.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, some historians now believe the face may be modeled on John Charles Bartolti, the sculptor's brother, who shares a similar brown nose and lips to the statue.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: A knowingly, Fred Adriek passed away in 1904, so I guess we'll have to face the fact that we'll never nose for sure.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: But just above the contentious face of the statue of Liberty, you'll find one more hidden secret.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: The statues torch is a symbol of enlightenment and freedom, but that's not all this beacon offers.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: You see back in the day the original torch which remained until 1984 acted as a balcony.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, up to 12 people at a time could climb 300 feet to soak up the view from the sky high platforms surrounding the torch.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: But any daredevil tours had their fun stopped in 1916.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: On July 30th, German agents hoping to destroy US-made munitions that were to be supplied to the LAs in World War I, stuffed burges, more to along the war with explosives.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Shortly after to a M-A massive blast obliterated, a large munitions depot, right next to Liberty Island, shaking New York and damaging the statue of Liberty, closing visitor access to the torch for good.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And with that, the light went out on the statue's viewpoint.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Bam, who knew a single monument could hold so many stories?
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Less than three miles away from the statue of Liberty, you'll find the Brooklyn Bridge.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today, this legendary landmark is crossed by around 120,000 vehicles, 4,000 cyclists and 30,000 pedestrians.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So well, it's not technically a national monument, I think several thousand New Yorkers would disagree.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yet very few of those who make the journey over the bridge are aware of what they're walking over.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: On each side of the bridge are massive stone anchorages designed to secure the structure.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Turns out that's not all they can do.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Within these foundations are 50 foot cavernous vaults, which New York City wants
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Louis T's brother's paid $5,000 for storage in one vault, while A Smith and Company coughed up $500 a year from 1901 to 1909 for another.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: What the question is, what were these companies paying big bucks for a store in the bridge?
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Guns, money, bodies?
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nope, they were storing wine there.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the vaults, the granite walls, the chambers were kept in near darkness and maintained a cool temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, making them the perfect place to store and preserve wine.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: One seller on the Manhattan side known as the Blue Grotto even had beautiful frescoes depicting vineyards from Europe.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: But after World War I and the Prohibition Act, the vaults were repurposed for a non-alcoholic storage.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: That wasn't until 1934 after the repeal of theboro emission act when the new tenets, Anthony X and Co, more wine emporters moved in.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't waste any time throwing a buddy inside the bridge's vaults where musicians played Venise waltzes and champagne quarks pup to the early morning.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: The good times wouldn't last however, as the city eventually took over the vaults during World War II, and no they weren't used to store guns or tanks, but maintenance storage, which is what the vaults are used for this day.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Man, what a let down.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Still safe to say that Brooklyn Bridge has had a pretty wind or full-passed.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Around 200 miles southwest from New York, you'll find another of the United States most loved monuments.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here lies or, should I say, sits the Lincoln Memorial, the million people that visit this landmark each year marvel at the size of the 100 foot tall, new classical temple that houses the statue of President Abraham Lincoln.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, underneath the marble floor, they walk on as something just as jaw dropping.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Construction on the Lincoln Memorial began in 1914 on a marshy stretch of
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: To compensate for the swampy structural base workers had to dig 65 feet underground and install 122 concrete columns connecting the base of the memorial to the stable earth bedrock.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: This resulted in a man-made undercroft right underneath the memorial.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today the cavernous area has dirt floors, graffitied walls from workers who constructed the
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: In case she didn't know stalactites are those long slender pale growths found in natural caves around the world.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Turns out they also formed in Lincoln's artificial cave as a result of groundwater slowly dripping through the monument over the years.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Mysterious has the Lincoln Memorial's curious cavern is it won't remain a secret for much longer, and March 2023 can safely construction began work on a museum here.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: The 69 million dollar project expected to open in 2026 will provide exhibits that highlight the structure's construction history.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: What do you think?
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Should Lincoln's secret underground world have stayed that way forever or is it better to have it finally brought into the light?
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just a short walk away from the Lincoln Memorial, you'll find yet another iconic U.S. landmark, the Washington Monument.
• 7:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Standing at an imperious 555 feet tall, this obelisk built to commemorate former U.S. President George Washington is one of the most recognized monuments in the world.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: But a closer look at this modern Marvel reveals everything's nut as it seems.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's something genuinely striking.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: The obelisk really does change color.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: About a third of the way up, there's a visible horizontal line where the older slightly darker stone meets the newer lighter tone granite above it.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: But why?
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Construction began on the pillar back in 1848 with funding from the Washington National Monuments Society.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, just six years later, this Society went bankrupt.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: With no funds, work on the 152-foot tall monument ground to a halt.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the American Civil War, it took more than 20 years before attention returned to the Stumpy Statue.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: In 1878, the project finally resumed as Congress assumed the duty of funding the Washington Monument.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: There was one teeny-danny problem, however, to continue constructing upwards they needed stone only the quarry where the original stone was taken from wasn't available anymore.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, builders turned to a corner near Baltimore that provided a similar colorstone, but it didn't match exactly giving us the curious color variation on the obelist that's still visible today.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sepia-tone stones aren't the only mystery that this landmark holds however.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Did you know there's actually a second Washington monument hiding close by the original?
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: except this one's a little more tricky to spot, that's because it's hidden beneath the manhole cover.
• 9:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: This 12-foot replica version has been tucked inside its brick well close to the Washington Monument since 1898.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: While it may seem like some ancient relic of a loss society of mole people, the pigmaepillers actually a geodetic marker.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the 19th century,
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: The data needed to be extremely accurate, so often these benchmarks would be rods of metal burrowed into the ground.
• 10:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thankfully, this particular benchmark had more of a secret edge.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who says surveyors can't be fun?
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So next time you visit the Washington Monument, keep your eyes peeled for the pillar's color change, it's mini replica, and of course, they ain't general.
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Leaving the Washington Monument behind, let's hop across the Atlantic, because the next monument holding a jaw-dropping secret is arguably the most iconic structure on the planet.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Paris is home to arguably the most famous monument in the world.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, that's right, I'm talking about Kistuz Resderat.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the Eiffel Tower.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: This soaring 1,08 feet tall superstructures visited by almost 7 million people every year.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: But while many of those millions ascend up the Eiffel Tower, they're unaware of the secret room hidden at the summit of the monument.
• 11:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: When the engineer Gustav Eiffel designed the tower, he included a private apartment for himself at the top.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: located just below the structure spire, surrounded by an open air balcony this dwelling that boasts the best view in Paris includes a couch piano desk kitchen bathroom and living room along with a toilet cubicle, although he never slept there Gustav said to have entertained high-ranging guests like Thomas Edison.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today, anyone fit enough to reach the tower summit can even look into the apartment which sports two wags figures of Edison and I fall.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just over a thousand feet underneath Gustavs get away below the ground that the tower stands on exists another sneaky secret.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: But neat, the structure's south pillar is a secret military bunker.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Designed for the world fair in Paris in 1889, the Iphal Tower was meant to be taken down
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, Gustav knew that the emergence of modern science could save his tower from an early end.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the early 20th century, he can lens leaders of the French military to use the soaring structure for wireless transmissions.
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: By 1909, the underground radio to L'Egrefesteation was constructed right underneath the Eiffel Tower.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just four years later, telegrams on the tower could send electrical waves all the way to the USA.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then in 1914 during World War I, a transmitter in the tower gym, German radio communications helping the Allies to victory at the first Battle of Mar.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today the bunker has a slightly less dramatic purpose used predominantly to store air conditioning units.
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Still all things considered the Eiffel Tower has had some pretty cool secrets.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the Eiffel Tower isn't the only per region place with a mysterious underground dugout.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just over two miles south, they used from the city's central landmark or that Paris catacombs.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: A giant underground graveyard devised in the late 18th century to deal with Paris's ever-increasing corpse count.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Overgrounded cemeteries throughout Paris moved their human remains to the catacombs where the bundles of bones were organized into neat snacks forming the famous catacomb columns that still exist today.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Shady is at up here as the Paris catacombs are hardly much of a secret, with over 550,000 visitors per year.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, that's not to say this foolish graveyard doesn't harbor any mysteries within its skeletal structure.
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: In 2004, policemen investigating the dark twisting corridors inside the catacombs were greeted by a strange sight.
• 13:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: As they walked around a corner, they discovered a cinema.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And an illegal one at that.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: There was a makeshift movie screen, a will-stock bar, and a kitchen, but that wasn't all.
• 14:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: On the floor of the cavern officer's discovered an ominous metal container filled with wires.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: They quickly caught an obom squad and ran for their lives, but there was no bomb.
• 14:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was a pressure cooker for Kuzkuz.
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who knew that the spooky secret inside the Paris canacom wasn't some haunted skeleton, but someone eating Kuzkuz as an illegal cinema snack.
• 14:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: What about Ed?
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: On the face of it, the Bur region could be true of Notre Dame isn't nearly as grizzly as the city's catacombs, and until you hear about the dark surprises lurking under this fame-building's floors, though.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Following the devastating fire that ravaged Notre Dame in 2019, French authorities called an archaeologist to help with the conservation and restoration of the building.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: But as they dug into the cathedral's floor, they were greeted by a site that sent shivers down their spines.
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Steering back at them were two tombs containing the remains of two men from centuries gone by.
• 15:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Being buried in such a sacred place is a big deal, so clearly these two guys were important in their respective areas.
• 15:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately though we don't know much about them.
• 15:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: One coffin contained the corpse of Antoine de la Porte, the canon of Notre Dame, who died in 1710.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: The other held an unknown male who judging by the remnants of leaves and flowers from a wreath was believed to have been a 14th-century aristocrat.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't a little rosy for him though, scientists believed the man suffered from a chronic disease that had destroyed most of his teeth by the time he died.
• 15:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Geez, this monument's secret skeletal stash heard note three for the fate heard it.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: From the Gothic Secrets beneath the Parisian Cathedral, let's jump back across the ocean to Washington, DC where one of America's most powerful buildings has been hiding something nobody expected on its upper floors.
• 16:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: This Supreme Court found in Washington, D.C. is the highest judicial body in the U.S. Not surprisingly, it's witness some fierce matchups in its time.
• 16:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Bush v. Gore, Roe v. Wade, Nix v. Lakers.
• 16:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well the New York Nix and Los Angeles Lakers may have never settled a legal case here.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's still a chance they could face off at the Supreme Court.
• 16:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: How exactly?
• 16:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, if you trek up the stairs climbing above the main courtroom and the court limer you'll eventually reach the fifth floor of this historic building.
• 16:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's here where you'll find a court, a basketball court.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, just a few floors above where some of the United States' most important legal battles have been carried out, employees of the Supreme Court have been settling their own differences by shooting hoops.
• 17:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, try to at least.
• 17:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: This former storage room was converted into a workout area for courthouse workers in the 1940s.
• 17:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, wooden backboards and baskets were installed as the basketball court, which still exists today took shape.
• 17:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Looks like we've just found ourselves the true highest court in the land.
• 17:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: From the highest court in America to one of the most famous squares in Britain, then at tiny structure tucked within it, that most of the millions of visitors there walk straight past.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Travel Gar Square's known for its famous fountains, land-seared lines, and of course, Nelson's Colombe.
• 17:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: But this London landmarks also home to a much more secluded structure that reveals a dark secret of that square's past.
• 17:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tucked away in the southeast corner is an overlooked world record holder, Britain's smallest police station.
• 17:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Around the size of a telephone booth this place has just enough space to cram in, a police officer, and if necessary, a prisoner too.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: But why would a tourist trap meet a police station?
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, travel guard square hasn't always been a place of selfie sticks and souvenirs.
• 18:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: First opening in 1844, this space being the center of London became a place where people would gravitate to protest.
• 18:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: After fierce general strike riots on the square in 1926, it was deemed necessary to put some permanent police presence on the site.
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: This way the officers could keep an eye on any demonstrations and come for backup if needed.
• 18:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, in 1927, the decision was made to hollow the base of one of the square's lamppost plants to accommodate the petite police box.
• 18:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: what a bright idea.
• 18:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Over time, with ever improving radio communications, the police box literally became redundant.
• 18:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today, it's not even home to a policeman.
• 18:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, it's a broom cupboard for the cleaners of Westminster Council.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I guess the history of the Trevigar Square police box was short and sweep.
• 19:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just a short walk away from Traveller Square's puzzling police box is another attraction with a hidden tail.
• 19:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: In 1666, the Great Fire of London ravaged through much of the city, and while in only killed six people, it left almost 85% of the population homeless.
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: 11 years later, the monument at 222 foot top pillar was built to commemorate the fire and to celebrate the rebuilding of London.
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it may look like any old pillar from the outside, visitors are able to enter this soaring structure, and all over 230,000 site-seers climb the monuments 311 spiral steps every year before taking in the panoramic sites of London skyline.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But mesmerizing as the views at the top are, there's something even more breathtaking hidden at the bottom of the structure.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Through a hatch, the base of the pillar is an underground layer.
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: From here, a narrow set of steps leads down to what was once a laboratory.
• 20:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Turns out they'd rubbed hook one of the designers of the monument was a scientist who used the site as his own discovery den.
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hook even used the pillar as a zenith telescope.
• 20:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then, this would be inserted at the top and bottom of the monument, 200 feet apart with a special eyepiece to look through.
• 20:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: ingenious and high-dears itself, Hook's telescope would last, vibrations from nearby traffic destabilize the structure in the telescope, leading to hook abandoning his ambitious experiment.
• 20:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I guess you could say that Hook's secret science lab was a monumental failure.
• 20:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: From London's hidden science lab, we're making one of the biggest geographical leaps of this episode, all the way to a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, home to some of the most mysterious figures ever created by human hands.
• 21:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, who wouldn't think that the remote island of Rapa Nui has a famous monument on its shores.
• 21:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yet this place is home to the famous Maui statues, otherwise known as the Eastern Island heads.
• 21:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: The famous figures card by the Rapa Nui people between the 12th and 16th century.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you've seen them at a museum or pictures of them on the internet pretty much everyone's familiar with these monuments, the thing is there's more to these phenomenal figures than their names suggest.
• 21:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: These massive megaliths aren't just disembodied heads, but for bodies.
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me explain.
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Around 150 of the most famous and photograph statues exist
• 21:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, over time these statues were gradually covered up by a deposit buildup rolling down from the slopes they were set into.
• 21:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hiding the bodies of the eastern island monuments.
• 22:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: That wasn't till 2012 when the easter island statue project excavated two of the statues.
• 22:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sadly the Maui weren't carved with huge biceps and begs, although the excavation of the full bodies of these statues revealed, they towered 23 feet in the air.
• 22:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Geez, I didn't know it was possible for these guys to get any more intimidating.
• 22:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Staying in that sense of ancient wonder, Lenshead North West from the Pacific to one of the most ambitious construction projects in all of human history and the chilling secrets that may have been built right into its walls.
• 22:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: The series of fortifications that make up the Great Wall of China are visited by more than 10 million people every year.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's no surprise considering that this wonder of the modern world is a major feat of engineering with parts of this 13,000 mile long wall dating back all the way to the 7th century BC.
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Incredible as the size history and architecture of the Great Wall of China is far fewer tourists are aware of the attraction's sinister secrets.
• 23:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: While no concrete evidences ever been found, rumors have persisted for centuries about the fate of millions of workers that constructed the wall over the years.
• 23:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: The labor required to build the wall was back-breaking sometimes, literally.
• 23:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sadly, many workers' parents during construction with the total toll believed to be somewhere between 400,000 and 1 million earned it at the title of the longest cemetery on Earth.
• 23:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: So where were they all buried?
• 23:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well speculation spread that workers who passed away were actually buried inside the wall itself.
• 23:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, before you weepers of this leap, it's unlikely to be true.
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anybody is that we're placed to support the assembly of the wall would have decomposed over time creating structural gaps weakening the wall.
• 23:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't rule out another shady secret, however.
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's possible that the bodies of deceased workers could have been ground up into a mortar helping to hold the wall together.
• 24:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yikes!
• 24:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: If that's true, then those guys really cemented their place in history.
• 24:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Talking of wonders of the modern world, say hello to Christ the Redeemer.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: This breathtaking 125 foot tall statue of Jesus Christ found in Rio de Janeiro attracts 2 million visitors per year.
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's hardly surprising considering the incredible size and beauty of this structure.
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: But mesmerizing as this monument looks from the outside, Christ the Redeemer's also holding a pretty neat little secret inside its structure.
• 24:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's right, within the chest of this statue, you'll find a hidden feature.
• 24:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: A heart.
• 24:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: But before your mind starts racing, don't worry.
• 24:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's no giant, fleshy heart beating inside this thing.
• 24:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, the fourth-foot wide organ is made from the same stone that covers the outside of the monument.
• 24:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It may seem like a strange inclusion, but the Stoneheart is meant to represent the sacred heart of Jesus Christ, a symbol of God's boundless and passionate love for mankind.
• 25:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's even said that inside the heart, there's a small glass jar containing the family tree of Heiter Levy, one of the engineers responsible for the construction of the statue.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, what a heartfelt little secret.
• 25:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ask most kids around the world where heaven is and though probably answered,
• 25:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: This huge resort in Orlando attracts a mega 58 million visitors every year, so well, it's not technically a national monument, it certainly ranks up the numbers to contend with them.
• 25:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: The crown and Disney world's jewel is undoubtedly Cinderella's castle, the phenomenon fortress found in the Magic Kingdom.
• 25:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Completed in 1971, the picture perfect Gothic style castle stretches to an impressive 189 feet.
• 25:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if you think that looks impressive, wait until you discover this castle's secret hidden feature.
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Within the walls of this fortress is the Cinderella Castle Suite.
• 26:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Originally it was intended as an apartment for Walt Disney when he and his family visited Orlando.
• 26:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, tragically Walt died in 1966, five years before Disney World opened.
• 26:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: For 35 years, the castle only served as a storage space in workplace for Disney World phone operators.
• 26:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not very magical is it.
• 26:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: That all changed in 2006, however, when the space was transformed into the Cinderella Castle Suite.
• 26:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Inside you'll find two or an eight queen beds fit for royalty, a hot tub with shimmering underwater lights, hand painted bureaus on every wall, elaborate mosaic tallying on the floor, and stained glass windows casting colored light across the whole suite.
• 26:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And my personal favorite a TV that doubles as a mirror when it's turned off.
• 26:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the launch of the year of Million Dreams for Motion in 2006, Lucky Visitors to Disney World could be given a prize of a stay at the suite.
• 27:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But after the promotion ended in 2008, this place became a whole lot more exclusive.
• 27:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: In recent years, only celebrity guests like Tom Cruise and Mariah Carey have been invited this day there.
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Disney have even apparently declined bribes of $40,000 from people looking for her stay at this week.
• 27:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Safe to say that Disney World's concealed chamber of secrets is Cinder, Ella, hard to get into.
• 27:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: From the glittering fantasy of a Florida fairy tale castle, let's head to the rugged granite cliffs of South Dakota, where one of America's most iconic monuments has a secret literally blasted into the mountain behind it.
• 27:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: While visiting South Dakota won't give you the chance to come face-to-face with your favorite Disney characters, it will present you with this jaw-dropping image.
• 27:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, each year over 2 million tourists hike to the Black Hills to get at glimpse of Mount Rushmore, one of the United States's greatest monuments.
• 28:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: But well known as the 60-foot tall bust of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln are.
• 28:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Did you know Mount Rushmore could have featured a fifth face?
• 28:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, sort of.
• 28:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Back in 2020 during his presidential bid Kanye West Photoshopped his own face under the monument squeezing it right in next to Lincoln.
• 28:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Presumably, he was predicting himself actually a becoming president considering that the other four figures on Mount Rushmore are previous presidents of the US, but safe to say that didn't happen.
• 28:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the 2020 election he received just 0.4% of the overall votes, so it looks like Kanye's Mount Rushmore Dreams are Benito.
• 28:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's one little note addition to this monument that does actually exist, however, hidden discreetly behind the head of Lincoln as an intriguing doorway leading into the mountain.
• 28:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Work began on this curious quirk in 1938 with workers blasting a cavern into the cliff-face
• 29:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Boots and Borglum, the sculptor responsible for Mount Rushmore envisioned an 80-foot tall and 100-foot-long grand hall of records which would be accessible by had 800-foot granite staircase.
• 29:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Man, and I thought Kanye was ambitious.
• 29:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the government insisted that Borglum finished the president's heads before he continued working on the Hall of Records.
• 29:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sadly Borglum died in 1941, and that was son put the finishing touches on the sculptural portraits.
• 29:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Hall of Records project was abandoned.
• 29:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: The unfinished hall set empty and untouched until decades later, when Borglum finally got his wish.
• 29:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: kind of.
• 29:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: In 1998, a repository was constructed inside the cavern containing a copy of the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.
• 29:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: The items were sealed within a titanium vault and protected by a 1200-pound slab of granite.
• 29:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it almost sounds like there's something in there they don't want us to see.
• 30:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Curious, as you may be, the Hall of Records is off-limits to the public.
• 30:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if I were you, I wouldn't be in much of a rush to try and sneak a peek at Zatakona's secret stash.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Which of these national monuments holds the most incredible secret in your opinion?
• 30:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoyed this episode, drop us a review, and really help!
• 30:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And thanks for listening!