"Mysteries Of The Abandoned" is currently viewable on the Discovery channel. There are 12 seasons total. The final season was renamed "Mysteries Of The Abandoned: Hidden America". See my previous reviews here
Each episode visits three (or more) abandoned structures. The number of episodes per season varies from 7 to 22 (so it's sometimes hard to keep track of). For instance season 8 is listed on the Discovery website as having 9 episodes, on Wikipedia as having 11 episodes and it's lists 10 episodes when streaming.
Season 5: I've included some of favorite segments below:
- Jungle of the Damned- The 1965 movie "The Heroes of Telemark" (starring Kirk Douglas) tell the fascinating true story of Operation Gunnerside. This was top secret mission conducted by Norwegian commandos on a extremely fortified heavy water plant (the Norsk Hydro facility) seized by the Nazis in WWII. They needed the plant in order to complete a nuclear weapon. If they had succeeded, the outcome of WWII might have been very different.
- American Atlantis- In Oranienburg Germany stands the decaying remnants of the SS's Brotfabrik Bakery. It supplied bread to Nazi solders and nearby concentration camps (including the Sachsenhausen). If prisoners did not keep up the breakneck pace of producing bread (at it's height 40,000 loaves were produced per day) they were killed. The bakery also served as the protype for the Nazi concentration camp. It had a triangular design that was controlled by a central guard tower which had a line of sight to the entire facility. Scary stuff to think about.
- Haunting of Heartbreak Castle- Gwrych Castle in North Wales has a storied history. It was built between 1812 and 1822 by Lloyd Hesketh Banford-Hesketh as a memorial to his mother and her family (who had lived in the area for hundreds of years). The castle is built in the Gothic Revival style and once had 128 rooms and 19 towers. It was also part of the Kindertransport where during WWII some 10,000 children were sent from other European countries to Britain. In many cases they became the only surviving members of their families. Approximately 20 children with sent to Gwrych. The castle fell into disrepair in later years but a trust has been set up to restore it to it's former glory.
- Kingdom of the Vanished- The highly secretive Podborsko Bunker was built in Poland during the Cold War on orders from the USSR. They purported to be a communications center but it was actually built to house atomic weapons.
- Journey To Outcast Island- Spinalonga is an island off the coast of Crete. It was originally a Venetian fortress but used as a leper colony from 1903 to 1953. People with leprosy were deported there. At it's peak there were 400 residents. The conditions were very harsh and the residents had no rights. The doctor who ran the facility, Dr Ehlers, did not allow any outside communication There were no treatments or medications for the patients. The residents were kept there some 16 years after a cure for leprosy was discovered (thus making it the last active leper colony in Europe). It was only closed because a British investigator visited and made a damning report about the conditions. There was a big government coverup about the island. Spinalonga is now a major tourist attraction.
- Secrets of the Doomsday Caves- The Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado covers some 700 years of history (600 to 1300 CE) of the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly known as the Anasazi). The Hopi and Zuni tribes descend from them. The area is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Cliff Palace features around 600 cliff dwellings. Nothing much is known of these people since they had no written alphabet. Why were these rooms built (since they're definitely not easy to get to) and why were they abandoned after around 100 years of use? One of the biggest factors may have been a drought that lasted for decades and thus made the area uninhabitable.
- The Devil's Prison- The West Virginia Penitentiary located in Moundsville was built in 1866 and operated till 1995. It looks like a Gothic castle but is far from a fairytale. The West Virginia Supreme Court ordered it closed due to deplorable conditions. It now operates as a tourist attraction and is considered one of the most haunted areas in the country.
- Curse of Stan's Catacombs- The Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, WV was built in 1864 and operated until 1994. Like many mental asylums in the day, it was built with a plan to treat patients more humanely. However due to overcrowding (it was built for 250 but expanded to some 2400 patients) and other factors, the opposite occurred. Thousands of ice pick lobotomies were also conducted there. Although it seems barbaric now, it was considered a cutting edge medical practice back in the day. There are also three graveyards on the grounds. They hold 2100+ patients who were never claimed by families. It is estimated tens of thousands of deaths occurred at the asylum during it's 130 years of operation. It now operates as a tourist attraction.
Grade: No grade assigned since this is not a scripted series
Photo Credit: https://www.roadunraveled.com/blog/trans-allegheny-lunatic-asylum/
GMonsterTV
TV: Heavy On Sci Fi, Horror & Adventure; Light On Reality
December 14, 2025
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