Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Edward C.

Teufelsberg: The American Spy Dome on Top of 75 Million Cubic Yards of Buried Berlin

Eighty meters of broken Berlin cover a Nazi building the Allies couldn't destroy. The Americans put a listening station on top.

Read the Article

Teufelsberg: The American Spy Dome on Top of 75 Million Cubic Yards of Buried Berlin

Europe

The epicenter of global conflict and history. Explore the trenches of the World Wars, the Cold War's Iron Curtain, and the medieval dungeons hidden beneath Europe's historic cities.

The Churchill War Rooms: The Underground Bunker That Ran Britain's War

The Churchill War Rooms: The Underground Bunker That Ran Britain's War

Ten feet beneath Whitehall, Churchill ran six years of war from a basement his own engineers admitted was not bombproof.

Lago di Resia: The 14th-Century Bell Tower Rising From the Italian Lake That Drowned Two Villages

In 1950 the Italian state flooded two South Tyrolean villages to build a dam. Only the 14th-century bell tower of Graun still rises from Lago di Resia.

Portrait of a female author smiling in warm evening light on a city street.

Houska Castle: The Medieval Bohemian Fortress Built to Seal the Gateway to Hell

Built by a Bohemian king in a forest with no town, no road, no water — Houska Castle's defences face inward. Some say it was meant to keep hell sealed.

Menwith Hill: The Largest American Spy Base on British Soil

The British government has refused to publicly discuss what happens at Menwith Hill for seventy years. Edward Snowden forced part of the answer into the open.

Les Invalides: The Sun King's Veterans' Hospital That Became France's National Mausoleum

A king built it for his broken soldiers. A revolution armed itself in its cellars. An emperor's body lies beneath the dome.

Portrait of a female author standing against a brick wall, wearing a green jacket and grey shirt.

Sophia R.

Tragedies & Disasters

MS Estonia: Europe's Deadliest Peacetime Shipwreck Since the Titanic

The MS Estonia capsized in 30 minutes, killing 852 in Europe's worst peacetime ferry disaster. The wreck was sealed. The questions never were.

Avignon: The Fortress Where Seven Popes Hid from Rome and Tore the Church in Half

For 67 years, seven French popes ruled Christendom from the largest Gothic palace in Europe. Then the Church split in half. The bridge collapsed. Both stayed broken.

Clara M.

Babi Yar: The Largest Single Massacre of the Holocaust and the 80-Year Fight to Remember It

Tragedies & Disasters

Babi Yar: The Largest Single Massacre of the Holocaust and the 80-Year Fight to Remember It

In 36 hours, 33,771 Jews were shot at the edge of Kyiv. The Soviet state spent decades burying the evidence — until the ravine struck back.

Sophia R.

Terezín: The Nazi "Model Ghetto" That Fooled the Red Cross and Fed Auschwitz

Tragedies & Disasters

Terezín: The Nazi "Model Ghetto" That Fooled the Red Cross and Fed Auschwitz

The Nazis staged a fake utopia at Terezín to deceive the Red Cross — then sent 88,000 prisoners to Auschwitz. The story of the Holocaust's most elaborate lie.

Beelitz-Heilstätten: Germany's Largest Abandoned Sanatorium That Treated Hitler and the Soviet Army

The German sanatorium that healed Hitler in 1916, hid Honecker in 1991, and held a closed Soviet city in the pines for 50 years — still standing in the forest.

Željava Air Base: Tito's $6 Billion Underground Fortress That Its Own Army Destroyed

The $6 billion underground airbase built to survive a nuclear strike — destroyed in three days by the army that spent 35 years defending it.

Maunsell Sea Forts: The Abandoned WWII Towers Still Standing in the Thames Estuary

Britain built armed forts in the Thames in 1942 and never took them down. They became pirate radio stations, a micronation, and the strangest ruins at sea.

Edward C.

Teufelsberg: The American Spy Dome on Top of 75 Million Cubic Yards of Buried Berlin

Europe

The Churchill War Rooms: The Underground Bunker That Ran Britain's War

Lago di Resia: The 14th-Century Bell Tower Rising From the Italian Lake That Drowned Two Villages

Houska Castle: The Medieval Bohemian Fortress Built to Seal the Gateway to Hell

Menwith Hill: The Largest American Spy Base on British Soil

Les Invalides: The Sun King's Veterans' Hospital That Became France's National Mausoleum

MS Estonia: Europe's Deadliest Peacetime Shipwreck Since the Titanic

Avignon: The Fortress Where Seven Popes Hid from Rome and Tore the Church in Half

Babi Yar: The Largest Single Massacre of the Holocaust and the 80-Year Fight to Remember It

Terezín: The Nazi "Model Ghetto" That Fooled the Red Cross and Fed Auschwitz

Beelitz-Heilstätten: Germany's Largest Abandoned Sanatorium That Treated Hitler and the Soviet Army

Željava Air Base: Tito's $6 Billion Underground Fortress That Its Own Army Destroyed

Maunsell Sea Forts: The Abandoned WWII Towers Still Standing in the Thames Estuary

Beyond This Region

Antarctica

Africa

Asia

Australia & Oceania

Europe

North America