08. The World’s Richest Temple.
In the state of Kerala in Southern India there’s a real-life story of treasure, ancient secrets and deathly intrigue. The temple of Sree Padmanabhaswamy in Trivandrum is the Holy shrine to Maha Vishnu, the most powerful Hindu deity. The entirely gold-plated temple was built in the 16th Century and was renovated a few hundred years later by the Kings of Travancore, one of India’s wealthiest ancient families. According to local legends, the kings of Travancore had hidden their vast wealth within the stone walls and vault of the temple. Then in 2011, the Indian Supreme Court demanded a routine audit of the temple’s treasury. Counting the treasure was harder than it sounds. Local religious leaders warned that opening the vaults would disrespect Maha Vishnu, leading to catastrophic heavenly punishment.
The last time someone tried was in 1931 and legend has it a sudden plague of cobras sprang from the vault. But despite protests and death threats from hard line Hindus, lawyer TP Sundarajan got permission to open it up for the first time in centuries. Not long later, TP Sundarajan and his team had opened 5 of the 6 vaults and were stunned by what they found. Inside the temple was a breath-taking hoard of crowns, weapons, bags of diamonds, rubies, gold statues, vessels made of gold, golden elephants, gold coins, even golden coconuts studded with jewels. In total, the contents of the treasury were valued at 1 trillion US dollars.
07. Emperor Qin’s Secret Tomb.
As the Roman Empire was in turmoil, ancient China was enjoying an era of peace. Emperor Qin Shi Huang had united the seven warring states and became the head of the first Imperial Chinese Dynasty. This was an all-powerful leader who dreamt of living forever and though he only came to power aged 13, he immediately started work on his tomb so his eternal afterlife would be fit for a king. Well, an emperor. And Emperor Qin didn’t mess around. His sprawling tomb complex was worked on by a total of 700,000 people across the country, many of whom built the world famous Terracotta Warriors, 8,000 unique life-size clay statues, ready to defend their emperor in the afterlife. But the pictures we have of Emperor Qin’s vast army are just the tip of the iceberg. His tomb itself remains sealed and we can only speculate what’s inside. Chinese archaeologists have warned the tomb is protected by booby traps and contains toxic mercury.
06. Murder Hotel Deep
In the Canadian rockies in the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is an unopened door that conceals a terrifying secret. Legend has it that an entire family was murdered whilst asleep in room 837. Housekeeping discovered their bodies the next morning, lying in pools of blood with bloody hand prints all over the walls. Since then, the room has been boarded up and plastered over. The hotel claims the room never existed, despite the regular sightings of ghosts walking round the corridors.
05. The Taj Mahal’s Basement.
Back to India and the world famous Taj Mahal. Its familiar white dome is an Indian national icon but some believe it hides a secret just beneath the surface. Most people agree that the mausoleum complex was built by the Mughals, a Muslim Empire that ruled India for over 300 years. The story goes that Shah Jahan built it to honor his favourite wife, who died giving birth to their 14th child But some Hindus, who have a long-standing rivalry with Indian Muslims, have pointed to a series of mysterious locked rooms in the Taj Mahal. They say these rooms could mean a religious cover-up and the Taj Mahal was actually built as a Hindu temple, not a Muslim palace.
04. Treasure Under Machu Picchu.
Built by the Incas, the citadel of Machu Picchu dates from medieval times but was unknown to the rest of the world until 1911. This secretive city high in the mountains was used by Inca kings as a fortress until its population fled from Spanish invaders and the smallpox they brought. But archeologists say the Incas left behind more than ruins. Beneath Machu Picchu lie undiscovered tombs and cave systems. Radar analysis has shown the presence of metal, almost certainly gold and treasure, but the location of these chambers makes them impossible to reach. Peruvians fear than this sacred place will be damaged if archeologists disturb the city walls and have refused to grant them permission.
03. Onkalo Nuclear Waste Facility.
How do you store highly dangerous nuclear waste? How to you keep it safe and prevent people from finding it, especially when it will stay dangerous for millenia? A Finnish company thinks it has found an answer by burying the waste in a huge underground facility, deep in solid granite bedrock. The repository is at the end of a 5-mile tunnel and will one day be filled with thousands of highly radioactive fuel rods, capable of causing terrible suffering for another 100,000 years.Once the facility is operational, it’s huge steel doors will be closed forever.
02. Pablo Escobar’s safe.
Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar was notorious, gaining huge fame, wealth and power by smuggling cocaine from South America into the US. In the early 1990’s it was estimated his gang supplied 80% of the cocaine in North America and Escobar was making a personal income of 21.9 billion US dollars every year. But Escobar’s luck didn’t last forever and he was shot dead by Police in his home in 1993. Escobar’s huge estate was sold off, including a beachfront mansion in Miami. A wealthy family of entrepreneurs bought the property and were living there normally until they decided to do a bit of renovation. Halfway through the building work they stumbled across an underground vault.Inside, they found a huge metal safe. Knowing Escobar’s reputation, the new owners of this 50-pound treasure chest were a little scared of what they might find inside,it could be drugs, guns, money, anything.However, before they had a chance to open the safe,it was stolen.
01. The Preston Egg.
And now to an unlikely location for our final mystery, the town of Preston in Lancashire, England. An unassuming safe deposit box sits in a bank vault in this sleepy town. Rumor has it that inside is a priceless Faberge Egg that used to belong to the Russian Tsars. Faberge eggs are incredibly rare and valuable and were made for the Russian royal family Out of gold and gemstones. 43 are held in museums and collections, the Queen of England has 3 of them but seven are still missing with only two of those thought to have survived the Russian Revolution. So how did one end up in Preston? Well, the theory goes that a Dr Maxwell Wilcock, an eccentric explorer who traveled regularly to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, was actually a spy. He’s now dead but his family claim he spoke of owning a golden egg and was friends with the jeweler who was last known to own it. When he died, he left a trail of money and suspicious items behind. His family found thousands of pounds stuffed in his pajamas. The jeweler who last saw the famous egg didn’t realize it’s value and sold it for 1,250 pounds. In today’s money it would be worth more like $38 million US Dollars.