Turning Points of History

I'm a journalist from New Zealand.

And I've always been drawn to the weirder side of life.

So I've decided to investigate dark tourism;

a global phenomenon where people avoid the ordinary.

And instead head for holidays in war zones,

disaster sites, and other off-beat destinations.

I'm interested in the mad...

macabre... and morbid.

So I'm off around the world,

in search of the ultimate dark tourist experiences.

My first trip takes me to Latin America.

- Out, demon, out! - In Mexico City,

I come face-to-face with the possessed.

It's very loud, isn't it? Very loud.

I head down to Colombia to get as close as I can to Pablo Escobar...

- Hello! - ...and grill his personal hitman.

Have you ever been to a psychologist or something?

Or have you been to therapy?

And I take a tour crossing the border back into America...

- the hard way. - Answer me, fucker.

I'm David Farrier, and this trip contains

more than 80% death.

On my first stop, I'm down in Colombia,

visiting the city of Medellin,

infamous for drug lord Pablo Escobar

and his cocaine empire.

I'm on a narco fantasy tour

being driven around with a Pablo look-alike

who's doing a shady deal on a huge '90s walkie talkie.

Listen, if he doesn’t understand me clearly,

I'll kill his mom,

then his dad,

and then his grandmother,

and if his grandmother is already dead.

I’ll dig her up and kill her again!

This is definitely one of the more bizarre cab rides I've ever taken.

And I'll kill his dog

and if he doesn’t have one I’ll buy him one

and once he’s fallen in love with it, I'll kill it too.

Narco-tourism is one of the latest dark tourism trends.

I've come here to explore the industry that's risen from Pablo's ashes,

and talk to the people who are profiting from his dark past.

Pablo's dodgy doppelganger has dropped me off

at the infamous neighborhood that's named after him.

Barrio Pablo Escobar clings to a hillside

held together by a makeshift labyrinth of staircases.

Painted shrines honoring the king of cocaine are everywhere.

It's weird that he's seen as a kind of local celebrity

when you think about all the chaos he's caused.

Pablo Escobar entered the cocaine trade in the 1970s,

and by the '80s, he had turned Colombia into the murder capital of the world,

slaughtering thousands of people who stood in his way.

Pablo himself met a violent end;

shot down on a Medellin rooftop in 1993.

Before I start my Narco-tourism adventure, I want to find out

why people in Barrio Pablo Escobar are shouting his praises.

Kill him, One Eye!

Kill him, my son!

As one of the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods,

its locals have a fierce reputation,

and there are plenty of opinions on Pablo going around.

What do people think of Pablo Escobar in this area?

He's the founder of this area. He built most of these houses.

I come from one of these houses. He gave a house to my mother and grandmother.

We used to live in a dump.

How could I not love him?

Pablo Escobar is the Robin Hood of their hood,

but what about the other people of Medellin,

the people who saw him as a villain?

During his reign,

he killed over 1,000 cops, and I'm meeting up with Carlos,

who was on the front line back then.

I want to know how the hell he survived those mean streets.

- That was me when I was a cop. - This is when you were 20.

- I was in 20s. - So these were other officers.

How many of these guys would still be alive, do you think?

Together with the commanders, probably five.

- Five of them alive from those days? - Five of them alive.

- Yes, from those days. - How are you alive?

Many cops was corrupt and was working for El Cartel de Medellin.

But you know it’s another thing when those guys say ‘Plata o plomo, ’

"Cash or a bullet."

Man...

if they can't corrupt you, they kill you.

So you were corrupted?

I was corrupted for Pablo Escobar. I made good money from that guy.

- I never met Pablo Escobar, honest. - Right.

But he paid you.

I took that money because I wanted to stay alive.

That's probably why you're still alive, because you took Pablo's money.

Carlos took bribes from Pablo, and I don't blame him.

In an ironic twist,

he's still collecting paychecks thanks to Pablo.

I've got to be honest with you. I make Pablo tours.

You do Pablo Escobar tours?

Yes, Pablo Escobar tours.

Now, everybody here make more money

now when Pablo Escobar is dead, than he was alive.

Look at you, Pablo Escobar. I win.

Now you're underground, pieces of bones.

I have to say something, Pablo.

Thank you very much, because right now,

I'm making money under your name.

Pablo would be proud of all the locals cashing in on his legacy.

He liked making money,

and he was very good at it.

Transforming his life from a petty thief in the barrios

to a billionaire up in the penthouses.

I'm heading up to the wealthy suburbs,

because I've heard about an apartment that Pablo used to live in

that's up for sale.

It's the perfect opportunity to get a glimpse inside Pablo's high life.

The apartment's owner, Claudia,

was Pablo's sister-in-law, married to his brother, Roberto.

Back in those days, she was a beauty queen.

You look amazing.

- Thank you. - You still look amazing.

- Nothing's really changed very much. - Thank you.

- Which is really weird, but cool. - Thank you.

Her looks may not have changed much,

but life in the apartment has.

Claudia is now divorced from Roberto.

These days, it's just her and her dogs.

Do we need the muzzles?

- Yes. - Okay.

Yes, because they're very jealous of me.

Right.

Vanessa, we're going to need another chain.

So they might bite a bit?

Em... Could be.

You okay in there?

- Wait. - Okay.

Okay!

Hello.

Hello.

Oh, you're big!

- No. - Oh!

They're big boys.

Hey, guys.

Oh, wow.

- They're beautiful. - Down.

Down.

Sit!

Do they mind being... A little pat on the head? Hello.

No! Stay.

Stay.

No, Aaron.

So it's just these two dogs that you have?

No, I have seven.

Nice to meet you.

I guess if you were once married to an Escobar,

you would need a lot of protection.

This is where the rocket hit.

Oh, this is where they tried to... - Yes.

- To blow this apartment up. - Yes.

They tried to kill Pablo during the narco wars.

Yeah, it's so strange to think how crazy things were here.

It was like being in a movie,

and everything changed all of a sudden.

Pablo is gone, but his legacy remains.

- David, in here. - Hello. Oh, there's more.

- Did he have any secret compartments... - Yes.

- or hiding places? - Yes.

Oh, so we lift that up.

Oh, wow, look at that.

You don't hide anything in there yourself?

- Just keep it empty? - No!

You're not going to tell me about the ones that you've got stuff in.

I want you to look at the bathroom!

And this would have been Pablo's bathroom as well.

- Yes. - The bathroom hasn't changed a bit.

It's a '90s time capsule.

Steel and marble.

The whole room was built like this, even the closet!

And the bedroom used to be like this as well.

The floor, the ceiling, the door.

The whole room was like this.

Some pretty infamous things went on in this place, you know?

I want to move to a house, I don't want to keep it.

So I am selling it!

Hopefully someone will buy it!

I want $750,000 for it.

Seems reasonable.

A bit out of my price range, but you know.

I wished Claudia luck with her narco real estate plans,

as I head to another of Pablo's residences,

the number one narco-tourist hot spot in town.

High on a Medellin hilltop, with a view to die for,

Pablo Escobar built his own five-star prison:

La Catedral.

Rather than being extradited to the US,

Pablo cut a sweet deal with the Colombian government

and moved into the jail for a five year sentence.

Just like his apartment.

It was decorated with the latest '90s mod-cons,

and he shared the luxury jail with the occasional beauty queen,

and his closest henchmen.

Popeye was Pablo Escobar's most trusted hitman,

loyally taking out over 250 people for his boss,

even his own girlfriend.