5 iconic places that became famous thanks to the tragic events

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Some places are famous for their extraordinary architecture or stunning scenery. But there are also places that have become known due to very scandalous events. Modern PR managers have learned not to hide the past, but to make it the basis for attracting as many guests as possible. Now dark stories have ceased to be a mystery, and in the parks, houses and restaurants from our today's review, you can feel the breath of the past.

Foxstone Park, Vienne, Virginia

For 22 years in Foxstone Park Bridge, FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen transferred classified information to the residents of the intelligence of the USSR, and then the Russian Federation in exchange for cash and diamonds. From 1979 until his arrest in 2001, Robert Philip Hanssen received in exchange for his services in cash equivalent of $ 1.4 million. On February 18, 2001, he was arrested while hiding a bag with documents under the bridge in Foxtone Park, which was not far from his house.

The FBI occasionally raised suspicions about Hanssen, but many of the agent's colleagues and acquaintances saw him as a devout Catholic and a caring father of the family who avoided any contact with "godless Russians." In court, the former FBI agent pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences with no right to release.

The US Department of Justice subsequently labeled Hanssen's espionage and long career as "Possibly the greatest intelligence disaster in US history" at the time.

Wichbury Obelisk, Worcestershire, England

The obelisk, sometimes referred to as the Hagley Monument, was erected in 1747 by order of Lord Lyttelton, owner of the nearby Hagley Hall. However, this obelisk became famous already in the second half of the twentieth century, when a frightening inscription began to appear on it: "Who put Bella in the witch's elm?" The question referred to an unsolved murder that had taken place in the 1940s. In 1943, the skull was first discovered inside the cavity of the tree, and then the entire female skeleton.

At the time of discovery, according to experts, the woman had been dead for at least 18 months. The perpetrator was never found, and the identity of the victim was never identified. For the first time, graffiti with the question of Bella was discovered in 1944 on an abandoned building, and in the 1970s it began to periodically appear on the obelisk. Despite the fact that the inscription is washed off and painted over, it appears on the obelisk with frightening frequency.

Wamego Missile Bunker, Weigo, Kansas

This bunker was originally built in 1961 by the US Air Force as part of a missile defense system. But for its intended purpose, this facility was used for only four years, and then the bunker was decommissioned and finally abandoned.

30 years later, Gordon Todd Skinner became the owner of the building, who turned the bunker into a luxurious palace decorated with marble. The owner of the underground palace kept in touch with William Leonard Picard, a California-based LSD producer. The collaboration between Picard and Skinner led to the transfer of production to the bunker, and later it was revealed that it was here that 90% of the LSD circulating in the United States in the second half of the 1990s was produced.

In 2000, Skinner, out of fear of being caught manufacturing illegal substances, became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. With his help, William Leonard Picard and his "colleague" in illegal business, Clyde Apperson, were exposed, and a serious shortage of LSD arose in the United States, which lasted for many years. Skinner himself was later convicted of numerous violent crimes.

Today, the bunker is owned by Charles and Kelly Everson, who offer group tours of the underground palace. Among other things, the owner invites tourists to view his own collection of military paraphernalia displayed in the bunker.

Pub "The Ten Bells", London, UK

This pub has been on the corner of Commercial Street and Fournier since the mid-18th century. He might not have survived to this day if his direct connection with the famous Jack the Ripper had not been traced. In this drinking establishment, women of easy virtue and a variety of asocial elements often gathered. This is where Annie Chapman and Mary Kelly, two victims of a serial killer, loved to be. Mary Kelly was last seen alive in The Ten Bells.

In the late 1970s. the pub owners decided to take advantage of their dark past and renamed it Jack the Ripper. However, very soon the pub had to return its old name, because the public recognized it as immoral to glorify the serial criminal who took the lives of women.

Glinik Bridge, Germany

In many Cold War spy films, one could see the exchange of prisoners between the United States and the USSR taking place on the bridge. It turns out that there is a "Bridge of Spies", which actually saw several exchanges of prisoners, which were of particular value. The Glienicksky Bridge was built across the Havel River in 1600, and in its current version, connecting the Wannsee in Berlin with Potsdam, appeared in 1907.

In the 1960s, the Glinik Bridge was a limited crossing between East and West Berlin and became the most convenient location for the exchange of captured spies between the United States and the Soviet Union. For the first time, these countries exchanged on February 10, 1962, when the USSR received Rudolf Abel, and the USA - Francis Gary Powers. By the time of the last exchange in 1986, almost 40 people had been transferred by the two countries in total on the Spy Bridge.

Today, the bridge serves as the most common river crossing, but its espionage past is not forgotten: it serves as an ideal filming location for documentaries and political thrillers.

Scattered around the world are amazing places where once it was noisy and crowded, and now only by a miracle preserved parts of the buildings remind of the past fun. Old cinemas and ghostly theme parks, abandoned houses overgrown with greenery, and even entire empty cities. These places forgotten by man today fascinate with their meaningfulness and seem to invite you to look into the past, having made a kind of journey through time.