JOSH GATES: In Belize, a mysterious Maya city
could be hiding
a religious relic of untold power.
While in the center of Barcelona,
an architect pieces together an unfinished masterpiece
in a race against time.
And a fiery festival in the Shetland Islands
honors the legacy of the Vikings.
I'm Josh Gates.
I've traveled millions of miles
and explored over 100 countries.
Lost city, here I come.
And my favorite destinations
have epic tales to tell.
These are the stories
and the secrets
of those legendary locations.
In my years investigating legends around the world,
there's one man I've always looked up to.
Yep, I'm a huge Indiana Jones nerd,
and like most everyone else, I loved the first three movies,
and while the fourth one, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
has, well, some issues, the legend it's based on
is among the most fascinating in history.
This is the Mitchell-Hedges skull,
the most famous of a number of strange crystal skulls
around the world that some people claim
are powerful ancient artifacts.
There's a New Age theory that there are 13 crystal skulls in total,
and if all are discovered, it will either usher in
an era of spiritual harmony or bring about the apocalypse.
One or the other.
The Mitchell-Hedges skull was supposedly found
in the overgrown temples of a Maya city in Belize,
and now, a researcher believes that another crystal skull
is hidden within the ruins, and he's on a mission
to find it.
[ Beeping noises ]
Welcome to southern Belize,
a land thick with jungles
and majestic Maya ruins.
One of the most spectacular is this,
the ruined city of Lubaantun.
Its name means "the place of the fallen stones."
But incredibly, after over 1,000 years,
much of it still stands.
From about 700 to 900 AD,
Lubaantun is a major Maya religious
and commercial center,
but its claim to international fame
comes in the 20th century when a British adventurer
claimed to find this crystal skull inside one of its temples.
This is Bill Homann, the current owner
of the Mitchell-Hedges skull.
Bill inherited this artifact from the late
Anna Mitchell-Hedges, who said she discovered
the skull here in 1924 while tagging along
with her father on an expedition,
and today, Bill is starting his journey by going
to the exact spot where she claimed to have found it.
This one right here, she pointed out to me
as the one where it came from.
It makes you wonder what else is in there.
GATES: Anna was the daughter of F. A. Mitchell-Hedges,
a British adventurer often cited
as the real-life Indiana Jones.
I love this guy.
His daring expeditions to find ancient artifacts
took him across Central America, fleeing from cannibals,
doing hand-to-hand combat with jaguars,
even battling an oversized, man-eating iguana
with his hunting knife.
Okay, he might've embellished a few things.
But it was his daughter
who supposedly found the crystal skull
inside a temple at Lubaantun.
HOMANN: The adventure of it, to be there and to be
finding something like this is just...unbelievable.
And there are definitely those who would call it just that,
unbelievable. [ Camera shutter clicks ]
The Smithsonian studied the skull in 2008
and concluded that it may have been made in the 20th century,
not by Maya but by craftsmen using modern,
rotary edge tools, and others have found evidence
that Mitchell-Hedges bought it at a London auction.
[ Gavel pounds ]
But the fact remains, no one knows who made the skull
or the others that have been found,
which are housed in museums in England and Paris.
Many swear the skulls have amazing powers,
from offering visions of the future
to causing death.
And perhaps most intriguingly,
some Maya still believe Anna's story.
Today, Bill's arranged to meet with one of them.
Leonardo! Really good to see you. Yeah.
Likewise, man, likewise.
GATES: Leonardo is a local Maya healer
working in a nearby village, and he, like Bill,
has a close connection to the famed skull.
Everywhere I go, there's always been
controversy about the skull, where it was found,
who found it -- your great-grandfather,
he worked with Mitchell-Hedges right in the site
when they first opened it up.
GATES: Leonardo believes that crystal skulls were
important artifacts to the ancient Maya,
used for passing down knowledge
and appealing to the gods for help.
He has heard stories that another skull
is stashed in a ceremonial structure on Lubaantun's edges
at an unexcavated site called Ushbaantun
that's accessible only by boat.
Wow, isn't this the river that F. A. came up
when he was looking for Lubaantun?
GATES: Their guide leads them upstream in a traditional dugout boat
used in this area for centuries.
They paddle against the current.
And when they arrive
at Ushbaantun an hour later,
they can already sense the power of this legendary location.
You feel that there really is something here.
I do, too -- I'm following you. Let's go. Yeah, sure.
GATES: With the jungle much thicker in this region,
machetes are a must.
They hack a path up a steep incline.
Somewhere amidst this dense foliage
should be the stone structures of Ushbaantun.
Hey, Leonardo, hold it -- that right there.
It's right there. I don't believe it.
GATES: In the heart of Belize, a legendary Maya city
called Lubaantun is said to be where the world's
most famous crystal skull was found,
and now, the skull's owner has teamed up with a local
to investigate his theory
that another one is hidden nearby.
Hey, Leonardo, hold it.
That right there. It's right there!
I don't believe it.
Let's see if we can find any way to get into it.
Oh, look at this one. Yeah.
I'll get the snake out -- I'm gonna put the snake
in here and see what we can find, okay?
GATES: Bill's brought what's called a snake cam,
a tiny camera at the end of a flexible arm
that slides into tight spaces so we can get a peek inside.
It's the perfect tool given that actually excavating
this platform would be a slow and methodical process.
Okay, I have it recording, go ahead.
Let's see what we can see. LEONARDO: Okay.
LEONARDO: Do you see anything?
HOMANN: Nothing is showing up.
Let's try a different one.
GATES: Bill and Leonardo try another crack
in the temple wall.
HOMANN: Hold it -- stop right there!
Come here, look at this.
There is something -- see that? Ooh.
GATES: Leonardo maneuvers the camera for a better view.
There's little light, but it soon becomes clear
that this platform has a cavity inside,
much like the one Anna Mitchell-Hedges says she discovered
more than 90 years ago, which means there could be
something hidden within.
Oh-ho! I told you, brother.
You told me. You did. I believed you.
GATES: Bill will now have to start the permit process
to investigate the find further, which, I assure you,
is the least fun part of any expedition.
Much like the critics of the fourth Indiana Jones film,
I remain skeptical about crystal skulls,
but hey, if Bill does find evidence of one
hidden in Ushbaantun, I'll be on the next flight
to Belize with a whip and fedora in hand.
Meanwhile, I wanna tell you about another legendary location
where something sacred is materializing,
only this time, it's right out in the open.
So many of the world's most towering architectural
achievements are legendary for what they once were.
The Parthenon in Athens, once a beacon for democracy.
The Coliseum in Rome, once an arena
for epic gladiator battles, but in Barcelona, Spain,
one location is legendary not for what it once was
or even for what it is but rather what it will be.
[ Beeping noises ]
Piercing through the Barcelona skyline
is a far-from-finished structure,
one whose most unusual aesthetic has been
debated for generations.
Feast your eyes on La Sagrada Familia,
the Church of the Holy Family.
Initially modeled on Gothic and Byzantine-style cathedrals,
work on this Roman Catholic basilica began
over 135 years ago, making it the longest-running
construction project on Earth.
♪♪
That's because deadlines never concerned its designer,
Antoni Gaudi -- he believed patience is a virtue,
especially when your client is God.
[ Choir singing ]
1883, Barcelona.
Plans for a simple Catholic church are handed over
to 31-year-old architect, Antoni Gaudi.
He accepts the assignment but secretly believes
that it lacks vision, so he transforms it
into a project so unique and elaborate,
it will take nearly 150 years to complete.
Today, 3 million people a year come to lay eyes
on the results of this project in progress.
Visitors outside can take in its astonishingly
detailed facades, which depict scenes from the Bible,
as well as its eight towering spires, soon to be 18,
12 for the apostles, four for the evangelists,
and two, high above the rest, symbolizing
the Virgin Mary and Jesus.
You get a spire, and you get a spire,
and, well, let's just say the exterior of
La Sagrada Familia has something for pretty much everyone.
♪♪
But for lead architect, Jordi Fauli,
the man now responsible for fulfilling Gaudi's vision,
the best views come from inside the basilica.
He wanted to communicate the Christian faith
with this project.
Each element has meaning.
GATES: One element that inspired Fauli
is the nave's columns, which offer a glimpse
into Gaudi's incredible imagination
and his belief that the structure would grow
and take shape organically.
GATES: The idea was to make navigating the church
feel like a walk in the woods, which Gaudi saw
as the best way to feel close to God.
[ Church bell rings ]
By the 1920s, construction on La Sagrada Familia
is in full swing -- Gaudi, now in his early 70s,
remains just as obsessed,
if not more so, with his project,
but a freak accident in 1926 ends all that
when he's struck by a tram car and dies.
It was a tragic end for the visionary genius,
and believe it or not, the basilica's troubles
were only just beginning.
Ten years later, during the Spanish Civil War,
anarchists attack the church
and destroy Gaudi's plaster models,
the only blueprints to his vision,
meant to guide future generations.
And now, in a secret lab deep inside the church,
Jordi Fauli and his team are using them
in a race to solve the greatest architectural puzzle
of all time.
In the heart of Barcelona, the towering La Sagrada Familia
stands as Antoni Gaudi's unfinished opus
while the architect's original models sit in pieces
in a hidden room inside the church.
GATES: Now, we've been granted behind-the-scenes access
as the project's current architect races against the clock
to complete the puzzle and the church itself
in time for an important anniversary.
GATES: But completing this uber-elaborate work of art
before that 2026 deadline
won't exactly be a walk in the park.
Several of the 8,000 fragments belong to the most important
section of the basilica that has yet to be built,
the Glory Façade.
Fauli and his team
are designing it based on the fragments
and on a photo recovered of the original model.
Fulfilling the architect's original vision is paramount,
but it turns out that Gaudi wasn't as much of
a control freak as one might think.
Given the sheer length of the project,
Gaudi knew full well that his masterpiece would
eventually take on a life and a look of its own.
GATES: And so it appears that the seemingly organic
development behind this oddly stunning structure
was there by design all along.
Thirteen-hundred miles to the north,
just below the Arctic Circle is another place
that embraces its past by looking to the future.
The Shetland Islands sit off the coast of Scotland
on the northern fringes of the United Kingdom.
This was once Viking country, and I've got a backstage pass
to a legendary location that holds a celebration
worthy of the Norse gods.
[ Beeping noises ]
It's no secret that I'm kind of obsessed with Vikings.
I've traveled across the Atlantic, from Denmark
to Iceland to Greenland and beyond
trying to solve their many mysteries and find out
why their legacy is so enduring, but there's one place
that many people tend to forget has a historic connection
to Viking lore.
For centuries, the Shetland Islands
were a Viking stronghold.
[ Shouting ]
And every year, on a cold January day,
the Shetland capital of Lerwick pays homage
to that heritage with Up Helly Aa,
old Norse for And Holy Day All.
And believe me when I tell you, these Vikings know
how to put on one hot party.
[ Shouting ]
For the local community, it's just -- it brings everybody together.
GATES: And every good party needs a good host.
I would welcome next year's Guizer Jarl, Stewart Jamieson.
[ Cheers and applause ]
GATES: Stewart here is this year's Jarl,
the term for a high-ranking Norse nobleman.
ALL: Hey! As the master of ceremonies,
he'll lead the costumed crowd known as guizers.
[ Shouts ]
GATES: It's a coveted position steeped in local tradition,
and for Stewart, the job of Jarl carries
an even deeper meaning.
GATES: Sitting 200 miles west of Norway,
Shetland was colonized by invading Vikings
in the early 9th century.
The region became an important launching point
for the raids on mainland Europe,
and even though the islands were annexed to Scotland
in 1471, Norse history
and DNA still run deep.
[ Children singing ]
They can been seen in the local customs,
places, and faces,
and especially in the way Shetlanders eagerly
celebrate the Vikings' rich mythology.
[ Singing ]
On Up Helly Aa, that means the ceremonial burning of a boat,
a ritual carried out in ancient times
when a chief Viking, or Jarl, died.
He would be laid on the deck of his longboat,
which was then set alight and cast off to sea
so that his eternal soul would be transported
to the legendary Viking afterlife of Valhalla.
Every year,
the Jarl squad spends countless hours
on the construction of a replica longboat.
It might not look like much in its early stages,
but at the end of Up Helly Aa, this will be the centerpiece
for the main event, when the Viking hoard
sets it ablaze,
and just like his father did more than three decades ago,
on the day of Up Helly Aa, mild-mannered Stewart
transforms into his Norse alter ego.
GATES: And leaves the comforts of his modern home
to embrace his Viking past.
The day begins not with pillaging,
but with Stewart and his squad posing for pictures
to commemorate the festival's events.
ALL: Hey! Hey!
Hey!
GATES: But once the sun sets,
this seemingly sedate festival turns...
into the Norse equivalent of Burning Man .
To honor their ancestry,
the fiery costumed procession
makes its way across town, behind the boat
that's about to burn, baby burn.
Word of warning, if you don't want to have
your eyebrows singed, you might want to back away from your screen.
The big moment is at hand.
It's time for this Jarl to step into his father's shoes
and lead the grand procession to the longboat.
Here in the Shetland Islands,
the torch has been passed from Jarl to Jarl,
and now it's time for Stewart
to fulfill his Viking destiny and start
the mother of all infernos.
[ Crowd shouting ]
[ Dramatic music ]
[ Singing ]
GATES: In the U.K.'s northernmost island chain
in the Shetland town of Lerwick, a rowdy hoard of Vikings
is ready to party like it's 999,
and it's all led up to this moment.
[ Shouting ]
[ Singing ]
[ Shouts ] [ Crowd shouts in response ]
GATES: The torches fly, and the galley is set alight.
A hush falls over the crowd
as the winter season is vanquished
in a spectacular blaze of glory.
♪♪
[ Shouting ]
GATES: Up Helly Aa is a tradition that bridges centuries,
connects generations, and turns ordinary folk
into the stuff of legend.
Around the globe, people devise fascinating ways to honor
what they hold sacred, whether it's through
legends of powerful idols,
erecting towering monuments to their faith,
or reliving dramatic events
that pay tribute to a mighty past.
I'm Josh Gates.
Travel adventurously, and I'll see you next time
on "Legendary Locations."