MYSTERIES OF THE ABANDONED Returns March 20 on Science Channel

A Cold War anti-ballistic missile complex in the desolate plains of North Dakota. A Utopian city in Brazil built by Henry Ford. A prison complex in Cuba that once held Fidel Castro. These and other strange, yet fascinating engineering marvels that are merely shells of what they once were, are brought back to life with advanced CGI modeling in season two of the popular Science Channel series, MYSTERIES OF THE ABANDONED, premiering Tuesday, March 20th at 9PM ET/PT.

MYSTERIES OF THE ABANDONED features stories behind some of the world's most amazing engineering wonders, why they were built, and why they were eventually left to crumble. These structures stood at the cutting-edge of technology when they were built, but today they are deserted, relegated to the annals of history. Each story highlights the people who designed the structures, their significance, and why they were ultimately deemed to be no longer of any use.

The second season premiere travels to the Nekoma Safeguard Complex in North Dakota, a bizarre looking pyramid that stands as a monument to the Cold War. Once officially called the 'Stanley R. Mickelson Safeguard Program,' it was a 1960's initiative to shoot down incoming Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. Built at a cost of six billion dollars the site consisted of the giant pyramid to house a radar system, and dozens of launching silos for surface-to-air missiles tipped with thermonuclear warheads.

Among the other structures explored in season two are: Fordlandia, a city built by Henry Ford in the late 1920's in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, where he had hoped to produce his own source of rubber needed for making tires and other auto parts; the Miles Glacier Bridge in Alaska, a multi-span Pennsylvania truss bridge built in the early 1900's that completed a 196 mile railroad line, financed by J.P. Morgan and Solomon Guggenheim, to haul copper; and the Presidio Model Prison built in the 1920's by Cuban dictator Gerardo Machado. Joliet Prison in Illinois inspired its design which was based on the radical 'panopticon' theory. The cells in each circular building were constructed around a central tower which allowed them all to be under constant observation.

MYSTERIES OF THE ABANDONED is produced for Science Channel by Like A Shot. Henry Scott is Executive Producer for Like A Shot. Neil Laird and Kyle McCabe are Executive Producers for Science Channel.

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