Three abandoned sites of the American Dream, three monuments of a mighty nation’s pride. They help us see that there is light and shadow in the American Dream. We visit the Safeguard Base, a former hi-tech protection shield against nuclear missiles, Pennhurst, a model facility for people with disabilities, and a working class vacation paradise: Salton Sea.

Three relics of a fallen empire, three monuments of a time when half the world lived under the shadow of the Hammer and Sickle. To this day you can find traces left by the Soviet Union wherever you go. We visit a secret bunker for nuclear missile heads somewhere in the backwaters of East Germany, the nuclear power plant Chernobyl and the Beelitz hospital from the days of the German Kaiser.

Three relics of the largest imperium the world has ever seen help us to discover the still complicated history of the British Empire. We visit Haslar, once the pride of the Royal Navy and the best hospital in the world, the Island of Montserrat, also named the Caribbean Pompeii, and the Island of Merasheen, the first British colony in history.

Three abandoned and fateful places, testifying to the rise and fall of Yugoslavia help us to experience the aftermath of the bloody civil war that spelled the end of the multi-ethnic nation in the Balkans. We visit the military airfield Željava, set deep inside a mountain, the resort facility Kupar and the City of Mostar, which represents the trauma of the wars in Yugoslavia like no other city.

Forgotten places in history - sites of dictator Benito Mussolini's dream of a new Imperium Romanum. Italy should once again be as powerful as the Roman Empire once was.

A poison gas island, a deadly mine and an enchanted hotel. Three forgotten places in Japan - symbols of imperial megalomania and a racist image of humanity.

A cemetery full of rusty locomotives, a sunken vacation paradise and an island shrouded in mystery - scenes from Argentina's former dream of strength and prosperity.

In Fürstenberg/Havel, right on the banks of Lake Röblinsee, there is a huge industrial ruin. Built in 1912 as the Behrn Mill, it was once one of the largest flour producers in northern Germany. In 1957, the mill became a feed mixing plant that supplied animal feed for industrial agriculture in the GDR. The buildings have been empty since they were closed down in 1992. The perfect place for street artist Tobo and his graffiti art.

North of Eisenhüttenstadt, two chimneys, each a good 100 meters high, rise into the sky. They are the landmarks of the Vogelsang power plant - the last of its kind. The Nazis actually wanted to produce energy here for the 'total war'. But before the power plant was finished, a battle raged here for weeks, the traces of which can still be seen today. Urban explorers Corinna Urbach and Christine Volpert are fascinated by lost places like this one.

Wittstock has been a town of clothmakers for centuries. Witnesses to this era are still visible today: the dilapidated buildings of the old uniform cloth factory. Built in the early years of the 20th century by Emil Quandt and his sons. The basis of a fortune that is now one of the largest in Germany. Daniel Gardemin follows the eventful traces of his family history.

The former sanatorium for lung patients in Kolkwitz was a rehabilitation center for heart patients in the GDR. Today the buildings near Cottbus are empty, the once magnificent clinic building is falling into disrepair and has been the victim of vandalism. Urban explorer Andreas Böttger wants to preserve the spirit of the sanatorium and organizes tours.

The clinic complex was built in the middle of the Bucher city forest in the north-east of Berlin. The huge building was shrouded in mystery and only accessible to the nomenklatura of the GDR party and state leadership. The former workplace of the medical director Lothar Kant is now a landscape of ruins.

A huge area with brick buildings, old patient barracks and an impressive high-rise bunker: that is Heckeshorn. During the Second World War it served as the Luftwaffe's command center and was later used by the Allies as an emergency hospital. Channa Koglin, a former nurse, remembers this time.