It's human nature to want to know things.
It's why we automatically want to push the big, red, mysterious button.
"I am groot."
"Mmhmm."
"I am grooot."
"Uh huh."
"I am groot."
"Nooooooo!"
When something's well-guarded, we just know there has to be something good inside.
So what are the real stories behind the most heavily guarded places on Earth?
The Pionen data center
Wikileaks is one of the most infamous sources of top-secret information in the world, so
it's not surprising that they've made a lot of enemies.
In order for them to keep doing what they do, they moved their servers to a super-secure,
heavily guarded facility 100 feet beneath Stockholm: the Pionen data center in the White
Mountains.
The bunker dates back to 1943, but during the Cold War, updates made sure that the bunker
is, quite literally, bombproof.
It's been further updated so it looks like exactly what you might hope to see in a weird
supervillain lair: bare rock walls, elevated glass rooms, and glowing banks of machines
that do stuff you couldn't possibly understand without a degree in evil.
Or, y'know, computer science.
It also features a large fish tank, because that's not at all supervillain-y.
In addition to the foot-and-a-half-thick steel door that keeps people from entering the building,
and back-up generators powered by German submarine engines, they also... make some pretty insane
music videos.
True supervillainy indeed.
Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana
You probably don't want to pick up the nickname "Guantanamo North", but the Federal Correctional
Complex, in Terre Haute seems to have earned it.
In addition to a maximum and medium security facilities, the complex also hosts a Communications
Management Unit, one of only two in the US prison system, used for holding those imprisoned
on terrorism charges.
The government spends $14 million dollars a year just to keep the facility and its inmates
under constant surveillance, which is done from an outside location in West Virginia.
As you'd expect, communication with the outside world is next to non-existent.
Some prisoners compare the conditions to the actual Guantanamo facility in Cuba.
Even more eerie, the names of the people held in Terre Haute are never made public, but
NPR identified 86 of them during a 2011 investigation.
Civilians never see inside the prison, with the rare exception of attorneys, and any visits
are strictly monitored, behind glass.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue wasn't always as secure as it is today, and the stories behind
why the place is on lockdown — well, they're pretty weird.
President Teddy Roosevelt used to meet with visitors that came knocking, but security
nixed that when a visitor was acting strangely and had to be escorted out.
It was only then that security found he was packing a revolver.
In 1912, a man armed with a knife shouldered past the doorman and ran in to see President
Taft.
When he was kicked out, he did it again.
Even FDR was surprised by a mysterious autograph-seeker who snuck into the White House theater and
surprised the President once the lights came up.
Still, security didn't prevent an unwanted visitor when, in 1985, someone snuck into
the White House while Ronald Reagan was taking his Oath of Office.
He had around 15 minutes of alone time exploring the Presidential mansion before anyone caught
on.
That's about 15 minutes too long for any old weirdo to just wander around the President's
house.
Still, the man in charge occasionally opens the doors for a high-five from Superman.
The Forbidden City
There's not too much that's actually forbidden about China's tourist-friendly Forbidden City
today, but visitors really only see what's open to the public — there are still plenty
of sealed rooms that are strictly off-limits.
Security is also tight, and that's not surprising given the treasures that are housed there.
Today, its vast museums house everything from ceramics and silver crafts from China's history,
to personal artifacts of the 24 emperors who called the city home.
For a long time, the only people allowed in were the emperor, his harem and family, government
officials, and the eunuchs that made up his army of servants.
It's laid out in a careful pattern that reflects the position of the emperor in both the terrestrial
world and the celestial one, and is protected by a massive wall and four heavily guarded
gates, flanked by massive lions that represent the power of the emperor.
Today, the lions have good company: hundreds of stray cats have moved in, and are in charge
of keeping the city free of mice and rats.
They seem to be very well fed.
The Vatican Secret Archives
According to those who have visited the Vatican Secret Archives, the insides look pretty much
like an out-of-date library.
Most of the technology is appropriately archaic for a storehouse of some of the most important
documents in religious history, but it's not without some modern amenities.
Priceless manuscripts are housed in centuries-old cabinets and 52 miles of shelves, and there's
no way of telling exactly what's in there, even though the Vatican Secret Archives aren't
as secret as they once were.
Still, there's an absolutely one-hundred percent restricted area that not everyone is allowed
into, which includes the private documents of cardinals dating from 1922 to the present
day, and the personal documents of every Pope since 1939.
Academics, scholars, and Tom Hanks can apply to be allowed into the main archives…
"I need access to the Vatican Archives."
...and for its four-hundredth anniversary, a handful of documents and relics were put
on public display, offering a tantalizing taste of what's piled on the Vatican's shelves.
So, if you're into the excommunication of historical potatohead Martin Luther, the trials
of the Knights Templar, or letters to various popes from people like Hitler and Michelangelo,
you're in luck.
If you want to see fancy stuff from the last hundred years or so, you'll just have to become
a pope.
Why?
"Because it's God's secret."
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