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  • 5/7/2025
Cursed Histories S01E04
Transcript
00:00On the morning of July 13, 1865, the doors to the Barnum American Museum swung open as usual,
00:28welcoming a wave of eager eyes to explore its unique collection of curiosities and magnificent menagerie.
00:37In a matter of hours the excitement on their faces would turn to terror.
00:41The streets were littered with contents of the museum as desperate employees attempted to save what they could.
00:47You can imagine a scene of chaos. You've got animals trapped inside their cages trying to set themselves free.
00:54You've got staff members there trying to salvage as much artefacts as they can and people running for their life.
01:01Now on display, a devastating inferno that engulfed the life's work of one P.T. Barnum, the Earth's greatest showman,
01:09while wax figures, artefacts and distressed animals appeared to rain down from above.
01:14For many business owners, the event would have been so traumatic that they would step away from the industry forever.
01:21But P.T. Barnum is not just a businessman. For him, the show must and will go on.
01:27Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American businessman and showman, better known as P.T. Barnum, to the world.
01:39Just the name P.T. Barnum conjures up all of these images of animals, exotica and even strange oddities.
01:48Every fascinating thing from every corner of the world, every type of thing which would astound a person,
01:59this is what Barnum was putting on display.
02:02When you start to take a look at his business, was it really something to be admired?
02:08He treated animals and people in such an immoral way.
02:12Barnum was a born showman. He understood the innate human desire to be entertained
02:17and didn't shy away from using deception or bent truths to charm audiences while turning a profit.
02:24P.T. Barnum found his calling when he started to exhibit people with unique features, or as he called them, curiosities.
02:33Barnum dreamt of establishing the largest collection of oddities the world had ever seen.
02:39It was this dream that inspired the creation of Barnum's American Museum.
02:45Barnum capitalized on the fascination in white culture, especially in Europe and North America,
02:54for the idea of the exotic, the other, the alien, and especially if that other, that alien was physically, visibly different.
03:10He had no problem with exploiting anything he could in order to display people in his museums and treat them as if they were things.
03:23General Tom Thumb is a good example because we see pictures even today of Tom Thumb.
03:29He was a very, very well-known little person.
03:32But at the time that Barnum brought him in, he was only four years old.
03:36His parents actually gave him up to P.T. Barnum to use as a statement oddity in this museum.
03:46Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins, they were seen as the amazing conjoined twins who could perform somersaults and tricks on stage.
04:02And punters would come both to see them perform but also to fondle the ligament that connected them just below the breastbone.
04:15Barnum's American Museum is one of the largest museums of its time.
04:19It occupies a five-storey building in the heart of Manhattan.
04:23As ostentatious as the exterior was, it was nothing compared to what awaited visitors inside.
04:30Barnum was a master at creating spectacle.
04:33So when you entered into this museum, it was intended to be dramatic.
04:38Tigers, monkeys, kangaroos, wild birds of prey.
04:44He had zebras. He had a hippopotamus.
04:48Many believe his happy family of striking creatures were actually poorly treated at best and neglected at worst.
04:56Barnum uses water pumped in from the East River to house beluga whales in the basement of the building.
05:04The tank is only 17 meters deep and seven and a half meters wide.
05:09They're never able to survive for long.
05:13But every time a beluga dies, he just ships in another one.
05:19Barnum scoured the world for curiosities, living or dead, genuine or fake.
05:26They were purchased and collected like so many of the other objects on display.
05:32They were sourced by any means necessary, which usually involved shady deals with hunters and collectors.
05:38Or hiring agents to explore different parts of the world for the next big find.
05:46These exotic animals were ripped from their native homeland.
05:50They were placed in small cages.
05:53They were chained to the floor.
05:55They weren't fed enough.
05:57There was no exercise.
05:59And they were living in a bustling metropolitan city.
06:04Despite the many things that are wrong with Barnum's museum, it's wildly successful.
06:12Although Barnum was raking in the millions, his good fortune was about to turn.
06:1623 years after opening its doors, the curtain came down in a fiery disaster.
06:21There are so many combustible things in this building.
06:25So it really is just a catalyst to create this inferno, which is what happened.
06:31I mean, this building just went up like a tinderbox and burned.
06:36Miraculously, it's reported that no visitors, employees or human performers were killed.
06:41Almost in the twinkling of an eye, the dirty, ill-shaped structure filled with specimens so full of suggestion and of merit passed from our gaze and its light cannot soon be seen again.
06:54Unfortunately, animals of all shapes, sizes and breeds suffered a horrific fate trapped inside.
07:00Nobody knows exactly how the fire started.
07:04Was it by accident? Maybe a gas lamp knocked over?
07:08Or was it by an arsonist? Someone who disagreed with Barnum's ways?
07:13Some wondered whether this was a more malevolent force at play.
07:20And you have to wonder, looking at the rest of P.T. Barnum's career, whether this episode was the start of his misfortune.
07:32There are individuals who feel that this is just the karmic balance.
07:35That if you do bad things, then bad things are going to happen to you.
07:38This suggests that there's some mystical balance in life.
07:42The utility of a curse that punishes someone when worldly justice isn't doing it is a really appealing idea.
07:54But Barnum wouldn't let this keep him down.
07:57P.T. Barnum's lost his huge five-storey museum.
08:00But it doesn't take him very long to build another one.
08:04In a matter of months, Barnum erects a new museum just a few blocks away from his original building on Broadway in New York.
08:11Once again, his menagerie of animals, performers and spectacles filled the museum.
08:19It was just as flamboyant as his last and just as successful.
08:23Nothing really changes here. He follows the same format.
08:27And with it comes the same misfortunes.
08:31Very shortly after its inception, it had only been in business for a year and a half.
08:36Then it catches fire as well, just like the previous one.
08:39They have to fight this fire in the dead of winter, in the cold, in the snow.
08:46It's frigid. It's freezing. The minute you pour water on something, it's turning to ice.
08:51For a moment, smoke from the fire hung low because of the cold air, shrouding the scene in a thick and deadly cloud.
08:59As it cleared, it was revealed that the scorched museum had frozen over in an eerie spectacle.
09:06It was as if Mother Nature herself was helping to ensure that the building could never be saved.
09:12Many of the misfortunes that fall upon Barnum seem to be the result of natural causes.
09:23And one can't help wonder after his exploitation of nature, his terrible treatment of animals,
09:33allowing them to die, treating them so terribly when they are alive.
09:37Is this nature getting her own back?
09:40After the fire, Barnum abandons the idea of having a permanent museum.
09:45And instead, in 1871, he teams up with businessman William C. Coop
09:50to form P.T. Barnum's great travelling museum menagerie, caravan and hippodrome.
09:56This is when Barnum moves on to even greater success, actually,
10:00because he develops a new business model, which is this travelling circus.
10:04And it becomes, you know, celebrated. It's still what we are familiar with to this day.
10:08That season is here again, the season when you can forget the cares of this complicated world
10:13and escape to the atmosphere of glamour and joy that only the circus can generate.
10:18This transition marked a significant shift in Barnum's career and his legacy.
10:24His travelling circus becomes famous for the acts itself. So daring and new.
10:31It's during this time that Barnum becomes known as the greatest showman on earth.
10:36His name became synonymous with the spectacle, wonder and excitement of the circus.
10:43In the winter of 1872, while his travelling circus is on break,
10:47he returns to the home of his previous triumphs and disasters,
10:51choosing to store his animals in an iconic New York venue.
10:55The hippothéatron in New York is a space that's been used by many circuses over the years.
11:02He's only had it for a couple of months, but that's all it takes.
11:06The circus is there during the off season, and once again, it goes up in flames.
11:12It was alleged that it was from a gas main, but the gas was turned off.
11:20And again, more animals were killed. So one time after another, every time he rebuilt,
11:25there would be a disaster that followed.
11:28Barnum faces significant financial losses after the fire, but yet again, he refuses to stay down.
11:35Instead, he seizes an opportunity to merge with his greatest competition,
11:40the Cooper and Bailey Circus.
11:43In 1881, the two groups agreed to join forces, pooling their resources, reputations and expertise
11:50to become the most prominent and successful circus of their time.
11:55But Bailey too would soon fall victim to the ill fate that follows the greatest showman.
12:01In 1889, a train transporting the Barnum and Bailey Circus
12:08from Charlotte, North Carolina to Chatham, Ontario, derails before reaching its final destination.
12:15The accident results in the Great Circus train wreck of 89.
12:20Barnum views himself as a phoenix, capable of rising again and again from the ashes of disaster.
12:27Each time he reinvents himself, his success overshadows the death and destruction he leaves in his wake.
12:35The Barnum and Bailey Circus continues to flourish in the wake of the accident,
12:40putting on shows across North America until Barnum falls gravely ill at 80 years of age.
12:46He takes his final bow on April 7, 1891.
12:51The Times of London echoed the World Press in its final tribute.
12:56His name is a proverb already, and a proverb it will continue.
13:02But even after his parting, the stench of death and destruction that seemed to curse him and his name in life would continue.
13:10In 1919, the Barnum and Bailey Circus is purchased by another circus company, the Ringling Brothers, who take on the former owner's name and his legacy.
13:23The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus was the largest in the country and known around the world.
13:31But in 1944, the site became one of the worst fire disasters known in history.
13:37One that would leave a painful mark on the town of Hartford, Connecticut.
13:41Shortly after a lion performance, there's this small fire that breaks out in the tent.
13:48Now, at this time, the waterproofing technique was a mixture of paraffin wax and gasoline, if you can imagine.
13:58Perhaps unsurprisingly, the tent is ablaze very soon and the destruction is immense.
14:056,800 people were in attendance that day. Over 160 did not make it out alive. Roughly two-thirds of those who died were children. More than 700 were injured.
14:18It is really interesting when you sort of look after he dies and see how these continued almost legacy of disasters follow.
14:27About an hour south of where the Hartford fire took place stands Barnum's final contribution to the entertainment industry.
14:34Towards the end of his life, P.T. Barnum builds his third and final museum, and this one is going to be indestructible.
14:43It's going to be impervious to fire, and so he builds it out of brick, steel, terracotta, and so on.
14:51He wants this to be his eternal memorial, and he wants that accursed fire to be a thing of the past.
14:59Then it's hit by a tornado, and this was a tornado that was unexpected, undetected. In fact, it was in an area where the tornadoes don't normally happen, and yet here is another natural disaster that destroys his legacy once again.
15:18On June the 24th, 2010, colossal winds slammed into the historic structure, compromising the structural integrity of the buildings, shattering windows and exposing collections to a volley of glass and debris.
15:35While there were no injuries, the entire museum was forced to shut down due to the severity of the damage.
15:44The mysterious disasters that seemed to infiltrate Barnum's buildings and business continue to raise questions to this day.
15:52A lot of people ran these sorts of businesses and these sorts of exhibitions and shows and did not remotely suffer the same kind of damage and destruction and death that Barnum and his exhibitions did.
16:08So, was it a curse? I'm not sure.
16:12Will the history of disasters continue? It's possible.
16:19Curse or not, it certainly lends an intriguing and dramatic twist to the rich tapestry of Barnum's extraordinary life as the most renowned showman and entertainer on planet Earth.
16:31Curse or not, it's possible.
16:37Throughout history, an insatiable quest for wealth has driven people to lie, steal and even murder to possess what they believe is theirs for the taking.
16:47In one area of Canada's deep wilderness, dozens of prospectors in search of gold met mysterious and gruesome ends, their bodies mutilated and decapitated.
17:01Cradled by the mist of the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada's Northwest Territories lies a stretch of ancient, untouched country.
17:10Here, the river is rumoured to flow over a treasure that lies just beneath the surface.
17:18But legends describe dark spirits and creatures that will maim and kill anyone that dares venture into the land, trying to steal what rightfully belongs in the valley.
17:28In the early 1900s, a search party was sent out to look for two brothers that had not been seen for years and almost certainly were lost to the elements.
17:41As the party searches near the riverbed, their fears are realised when they discover the two men laid out on the ground dead.
17:49But it's the state of their corpses that was so shocking as both men were found decapitated.
17:59This would lead to the area becoming known as the Dead Men Valley.
18:04The Nahanni Valley is situated in the heart of the Canadian North.
18:08It's in the southernmost part of the Mackenzie Mountains and it is an impenetrable forest.
18:14It's surrounded by deadly mountains on all sides, so it's very hard for humans to access.
18:21Canada's Northwest Territories contain some of the last wild and untouched places on earth.
18:28A combination of history, local lore and tales of the macabre add to its menacing landscape.
18:35It's a landscape that is forbidding, that is rather scary in some ways.
18:42It is said to be inhabited by mysterious beasts.
18:47It's somewhere where people inexplicably disappear.
18:52This is somewhere you really don't want to visit.
18:55It's believed that long before white settlers set foot in Canada,
19:00no indigenous tribe wanted to settle in the valley until the Dene.
19:06The Dene people, or the Dene nation, have inhabited the north of America for thousands and thousands of years.
19:15Predominantly based in North Canada and Alaska.
19:19And they have a rich oral tradition of stories that have passed down through the generations.
19:26Within this is a story of darkness associated with the Nahanni Valley.
19:33An area where bad things happen.
19:38According to their own stories, their own understanding of the place,
19:43that this is a dangerous place to go.
19:45They don't even go there.
19:47And their stories talk about mysterious creatures,
19:51but also just a place that itself vibrates with perhaps a dark energy.
19:56The Dene believed the valley was pervaded by bad medicine
20:01and a malevolent supernatural presence which hung over the area like a perpetual fog.
20:08Stories claim the valley was home to an evil spirit who could make men disappear into the smoke.
20:16Others said it was home to a haunting creature that would make its presence known through otherworldly shrieks
20:22and tortured sounds that carried through the valley on windy nights.
20:27A creature known as the Nahanni.
20:31We may think of it as a Bigfoot perhaps.
20:34It's a large humanoid type creature covered in hair.
20:39And the stories say that it is known to break bones and to have incredible strength,
20:48but also be able to perhaps consume humans.
20:54So maybe a cannibal of sorts.
21:01It's said that hunters foolish enough to wander from the safety of the camp
21:05were snatched up by these creatures and carried away into the darkness, never to be seen again.
21:11If these tales were true, could this mean that the valley holds some ancient curse,
21:17one that has plagued the land for thousands of years?
21:21Even those who have lived there for centuries do not seem to know.
21:27The figure of the Nahanni perhaps served a function.
21:32It was a way of warning lone hunters, women or children,
21:37not to wander too far into the valley, to stay close to the group.
21:43Now what the core of that story is that led to the creation of the Nahanni,
21:49or the description of the Nahanni, we don't know.
21:53But the fact that we will use a story like the Nahanni as a sign to stay away,
22:01is something that's repeated through history and across the globe.
22:05We do this all the time in areas where we don't want people to venture.
22:09If we don't know what's happening there but bad things happen, then there must be a cause.
22:15Such stories are often deeply woven into the cultures of our past.
22:20Stories that help to teach lessons and deliver warnings.
22:24However, in the Nahanni Valley, such tales are given more credence when hundreds of years after their origin,
22:32terrifying true events seem to match the descriptions laid out in these legendary tales.
22:38This is the late 1700s, early 1800s.
22:43We have Europeans venturing into this area.
22:47As these fur traders arrive, these areas start to open up.
22:53They become areas that are considered to have commercial value.
22:56And so whether it's wood or fur or mining, it starts to attract the attention of people who are coming from other countries.
23:04Some who returned from their trips would fill trading posts in saloons with tales of a tropical valley hidden in the Mackenzie Mountains.
23:14Men claimed this valley was snow-free year-round with a rich, fertile soil, hot springs and a variety of lush and exotic greenery,
23:23unlike anything they had ever seen.
23:26Hand in hand with tales of a tropical valley where stories of mastodon and other prehistoric monsters were said to roam,
23:35European and local trappers claim to have seen the fresh tracks of prehistoric mammals,
23:41even bringing back huge ivory tusks with flesh and hair still visible.
23:46The Nahanni Valley has a kind of a lost world kind of myth associated with it.
23:52An area where prehistoric creatures still wander and hidden away from the eyes of the world, as it were.
24:00And early fur traders brought back stories about strange creatures and strange happenings in this area,
24:08as well as bringing back fossils of woolly mammoths and so forth.
24:13In spite of terrifying accounts of prehistoric monsters, man-eating giants and evil spirits,
24:20by the late 1800s, a handful of intrepid prospectors were determined to try their luck in the Nahanni Valley,
24:28presuming this untouched area of the Northwest Territories could hold the same gold as neighboring areas.
24:35A lot of prospectors are heading to the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon.
24:41It's perhaps better known and more traversed.
24:46Whereas the Nahanni Valley is far more remote, rugged terrain and sometimes impassable in certain weather conditions.
24:56There's only one thing that's bringing them to this inhospitable place, gold.
25:02They're looking to get rich quick.
25:05And so they head deep into the Nahanni Valley hoping to make their fortune.
25:11In the summer of 1905, two brothers, Willie and Frank McLeod, planned out a route to the Nahanni Valley.
25:19They said goodbye to their family and ventured out in search of a fortune that could change their lives forever.
25:25But their expedition had stretched on longer than expected.
25:29Weeks turns into months, months turns into years, until finally it is decided that someone's going to have to go and find them.
25:40Their younger brother, Charlie, is determined to try and locate his brothers.
25:46Venturing into the Nahanni Valley was no easy task.
25:51After days of trekking and paddling, Charlie found the remains of his brothers.
26:03When the brothers' bodies are found, they are both missing their heads.
26:10You don't generally become decapitated by accident.
26:14And without other serious injuries to the body, it's really unlikely that this would be an animal attack.
26:23What had happened in those three years while the brothers were mining for gold?
26:27The stories that started to circulate really started to help build this idea of a cursed place.
26:32What they call Dead Men's Valley.
26:34And that's the idea that if you come here, you will die.
26:37Had they been killed by one of the cave-dwelling Nahanni of Diné Law?
26:43Had they crossed swords with other prospectors?
26:46Could uncontrollable greed and jealousy drive some of these gold miners to murder?
26:52No question, prospecting was a tough game.
26:56And it's possible that a feuding prospector would have wanted to send a message, of course, to anyone following in the McLeod's steps.
27:07It's also possible that the McLeod's got really lucky and found a whole ton of gold and were robbed of that gold by someone.
27:17They believe that the gold is there, right? So they're going to be drawn to the gold.
27:21It's a very powerful motivator, perhaps the most powerful motivator for so many people.
27:26When this valley becomes known as a space that has the potential for gold, the people who come are people who are willing to take risks for the kinds of rewards that are available.
27:42And so the potential here for these deaths and these stories to be attributable to other prospectors rival competitive miners in these spaces is not at all unlikely.
27:57We're seeing a value of greed and in the value of greed goes violence an awful lot of the time.
28:07European settlers and prospectors began to draw a connection between the mysterious events in the valley and a story in the Diné oral tradition of an ancient tribe that is believed to have vanished in the valley many years ago.
28:22The Naha were believed to be fierce defenders of their land, who seldom left the misty confines of the Mackenzie Mountains.
28:30As these stories are retold, they become distorted, leading to the creation of twisted myths and misrepresentation.
28:39Now we don't have any archaeological evidence of this. We do not have any traces of them today. This doesn't mean of course that the people were not there at some point.
28:48Such tales appeal to the human fears and emotions but can have damning consequences.
28:55There's something quite perverse about associating indigenous life with brutality or in this case associating some indigenous hidden tribe with mass murder.
29:08It brutalizes and demonizes the other. The question which comes to mind is that how has this tribe remained hidden?
29:17Maybe not at the time of the gold rush but till the present. It's a little far-fetched and I think it appeals to some of the most prejudiced aspects of our thinking.
29:27This place where everything is full of treasures but guarded by a fierce tribe. All of these are more or less a product of our fantasy. The most likely explanation is of competition among gold seekers.
29:44If a tribe called the Naha ever did live in the area, their true histories have been lost to the sands of time.
29:51Indigenous people have storytellers and they have oral traditions and they pass these stories along generation to generation.
30:02But in Western society we have the ability to embellish especially if we have a situation where something is to be gained by not giving correct information.
30:19So if we have a prospector who's found a claim and he doesn't want other people in that area, then he's going to tell some sort of story that's going to keep them away.
30:32Theories floated about until another corpse was discovered in 1917.
30:37With the news of what happened to the McLeod brothers, you would have thought that would deter other prospectors but gold proved to be a far greater lure.
30:49Somebody called Martin Jorgensen went into the valley to look for this gold and he wrote a letter saying that indeed he had discovered some of the precious metal.
31:00Soon after the letter was sent, Jorgensen's cabin was mysteriously burned to the ground.
31:06The remains of his body were found among the ashes.
31:09Just like the McLeod brothers, Jorgensen's body was found without a head.
31:15Why do we still find decapitated individuals?
31:18Is this a copycat killer?
31:21Someone who's following the stories that they've heard in the region?
31:25Along with stories of the valley's dangers were rumours that hidden somewhere in this mysterious region was a sub-arctic El Dorado filled with golden nuggets.
31:36There were whispers that in the three years that the McLeod brothers were missing, they had stumbled on a cavern with veins of gold.
31:45Could the valley have been cursed to protect the gold-rich river from being ravaged by greedy men?
31:52Perhaps Jorgensen met the same fate because he had found it too.
31:59I want to believe that these stories are what really fuelled the influx of people into this valley.
32:09The idea that this was indeed a El Dorado or a Shangri-La or a place where they could get rich.
32:20Miners struck by gold fever, many frustrated by a lack of success, saw this remote region as a potential jackpot.
32:28But many of those who entered the valley would not return.
32:32It happens again in 1931. The charred remains of Phil Powers are found.
32:38There are others such as Joe Mulholland and Bill Epier who in 1936 go off to the valley and are never heard from again.
32:49Some saw these bizarre deaths and disappearances as affirmations that the Nahanni Valley is indeed cursed and that those who dare to search the woods are doomed to suffer a terrible fate.
33:01The headless deaths have largely been attributed to the greed of the gold rush era.
33:07Nevertheless, Nahanni remains veiled in enigma. Today, certain areas within the valley are closed to visitors to protect the integrity of the park.
33:20But some believe the restrictions are as much about keeping the valley's supernatural forces in as they are about keeping people out.
33:29These haunting accounts really follow that archetype, this idea of nature as something to be feared.
33:36Is this a story of the paranormal, of otherworldly forces at play?
33:45Perhaps the Nahanni Valley has a presence there that doesn't like to have all these visitors coming in and desecrating its space.
33:55It has to make you wonder what exactly was in that valley.
34:02Stories of an ancient relic known as the Holy Grail, a cup that is believed to have contained the blood of Christ, has fuelled research and expeditions for centuries.
34:21According to legend, the Grail is protected by a curse that decrees only those who are worthy can possess it.
34:30All others who try will be plagued by misfortune and tragedy.
34:34Did protecting the Holy Grail cost the lives of those who refused to give up its location?
34:44On the morning of March 16th, 1244, a group of men and women, led by their bishop, walked out of their place of sanctuary towards a massive bonfire.
34:55These are the Cathars, a medieval religious sect that have been persecuted by the Catholic Church for their divergent beliefs.
35:04They walked without hesitation into the raging fire and never looked back.
35:09Stories of their sacrifice are often tied to tales of a treasure that was believed to have been hidden in the castle where they once lived.
35:18No one knows what this treasure was, but many believe that it was tied to a curse, the curse of the Holy Grail.
35:30In laying down their lives to protect it, did the Cathars curse this sacred spot?
35:35It's here, at a place the Crusaders dubbed Satan's Synagogue, a citadel that stood in opposition of the Roman Catholic Church, where the Cathars made their final stand.
35:46Today, visitors of France's Chateau de Montségur report an unsettling feeling as they walk through the medieval ruins, haunted by the blood that was once spilled in its shadow.
35:59The former castle where they hid has long been destroyed, but the stories of what it stood for are forever etched in history.
36:08The main threat that the Cathars posed to the Catholic Church was they completely rejected the authority of the Pope.
36:17And you have to remember, the Pope was the most powerful person in Europe at that time.
36:22They were saying the Pope was a fraud.
36:24The Cathars are big. They're a popular group, and they were gaining in popularity, and that makes them a really noticeable threat.
36:33Cathars were so devoted to their beliefs about God and the afterlife that they would rather die ritually than follow the practices of what they considered a sinful church.
36:43In the Middle Ages, heresy was the worst crime, disbelief in the power of the church.
36:53And the weapon that the church used to bring people back into line was the Inquisition.
36:59And the Inquisition was allowed to use torture, terror, and of course the ultimate sanction of burning at the stake in order to destroy heretics.
37:12In 1208, Pope Innocent III launched an all-out holy war against the Cathars.
37:25The violence used was nothing less than horrific.
37:29The Pope himself has sent out soldiers to burn the Cathars alive.
37:34The Cathars don't just need a place to live. They need a shelter that can hold off the full force of the church's might.
37:40They look to the fortified hilltop castles that have long towered over them. One such castle is Chateau de Montségur.
37:48This was under the patronage and ownership of a powerful local nobleman who had dedicated it as a place of protection for local Cathars.
37:59At its prime, 500 Cathars lived safely within its walls.
38:03This becomes both the political and the religious center of this faith.
38:09But their peace would be short-lived.
38:11On the 28th of May, 1242, a group of crusaders carried out a brutal massacre of Cathars, who lived in the town of Avignon.
38:21During the fight, a mere two crusaders are killed.
38:25As far as the Catholic Church was concerned, this was an act of all-out war.
38:31They decided it was time to cut off the head of the dragon.
38:34They turned their attention to the Cathar headquarters, just a few towns south of Avignon.
38:39A force of 10,000 royal troops attack Montségur. They besiege it.
38:47But the Cathars at Montségur proved they would not go easily.
38:51The citadel was positioned on a steep limestone rock, making it hard for the crusaders to reach.
38:57The weapons and tactics that had worked for them in the past were not enough, and they were growing impatient.
39:04Over nine months passed by, before they began to figure out other strategies to use.
39:10And in this case, they managed to scale one side of the wall and build what they call a trebuchet.
39:16And it was only then that they were able to finally destroy the castle enough to go in.
39:21Those who remained in Montségur were left with no other choice but to offer the signal of surrender.
39:27But those who fled the castle before surrender didn't do so empty-handed.
39:32Stories circulated that the Cathars had incredible treasure within Montségur,
39:39but that treasure was sacred treasure.
39:42It was something incredibly holy that they believed was protecting them against the awesome power of the Catholic Church.
39:52Apparently, as the story goes, during the siege, four Cathar perfects were able to scale down the mountain with the treasure hidden and escape and flee with it.
40:07Adding to the mystique, there are those who speculate that this concealed treasure
40:11might in fact be the legendary Holy Grail.
40:15Those who have studied the history of this fabled item believe it may have been entrusted to the Cathars for their perceived purity
40:22and their resistance to the influence of the Catholic Church that would seek to use the relic to gain even more control over Europe and the world.
40:30Stories about the Grail speak of eternal youth, of offering never-ending abundance, and even that it has healing properties.
40:43In the face of persecution and the imminent threat to their lives, the Cathars would have considered it their solemn duty to ensure the relic's protection,
40:51fearing its potential misuse in the hands of adversaries.
40:58The Grail curse is one that posits that only the purest and most worthy will be able to find and possess it,
41:05while the unworthy will be cursed with tragedy.
41:10Did protecting the Holy Grail cost them their lives?
41:15With hopes of sparing at least some of the residents at Chateau de Montségur,
41:20the Cathar defenders of the castle negotiated their surrender.
41:24The arrangement was made.
41:26The Crusaders would allow all those inside the castle to go free, except for those unwilling to renounce their faith.
41:33Those who did not would be burned alive.
41:36The residents of Montségur were given 15 days to choose their fate.
41:41During these two weeks, many of the Cathars spent their time giving away their personal possessions, fasting and praying.
41:49When the time was up for those at Chateau de Montségur, as promised, those who embraced the Catholic Church were set free.
41:57Roughly 200 men and women refused.
42:01One by one, the Cathars marched defiantly to their deaths.
42:06Today, a stone marks the spot where they burned alive.
42:10The Cathars, martyrs of pure Christian love.
42:1316th of March, 1244.
42:20In the years that follow, the Cathars virtually disappear after falling victim to the Catholic Crusades.
42:26We have to think that if the Cathars did indeed have the Holy Grail on Mountségur with them, where would it be today?
42:36Have the whereabouts of the Holy Grail been erased from history, along with those who were sworn to protect it?
42:43Was it destroyed?
42:44Passed on to a worthy protector?
42:46Could it be buried somewhere in the rubble of the fortress that once kept it safe?
42:51If you visit the Chateau today, you can almost feel this negative, dark energy.
43:00Such violent acts in history often leave a mark.
43:09Is the Chateau tainted with the past trauma?
43:12Hundreds of people died on this site.
43:15Some people see the Chateau steeped in a cloud of death.
43:19Now in complete ruin, Chateau de Montségur is considered one of the most cursed locations on the planet, believed to have been damned by the Cathars before their horrifying deaths.
43:32To this day, visitors of the site report a heaviness in the area.
43:36Some even say they can see apparitions or hear echoes of their screams.
43:42To this day, visitors who won't have an torch, may not only Comic-Con who calved rest from the planet to the planet, and the round was mooingie comerciilles.
44:01Many protectors who want a touch of town have caused signs, and the day one could 줄 ever be before the city.
44:04Taxes or!
44:05Taxes!
44:07Goodness!
44:08Coming up to you!
44:09Check out.
44:10Amen.