Over in the vast central reaches of Russia, in a region below the South Ural Mountains, is a place

Russia wishes had never existed.

There used to be a lake there, which, at its largest, measured in at 110 acres, about the

same as 83 football fields, although it wasn't the sheer size or even depth of this lake

that made it a living nightmare,

but what was in it?

Prepare yourself for a story so dark, it'll make you wish it wasn't real.

This is the terrifying true tale of Lake Karachi.

You're listening. You're listening. You're listening. You're listening. You're listening to be amazed.

Back in 1945, the first nuclear bomb was used as a weapon during the Second World War.

It was dropped by Americans on Hiroshima, Japan, leveling five square miles

of the city, and killing up to 180,000 people. Tens of thousands perished immediately, and the

effects of deadly radiation in the days and months that followed claimed around 100,000 more.

It was the single most devastating weapon that had ever been developed,

and it caught the eyes of leaders around the world.

One of those was Stalin, the then leader of the Soviet Union.

Determined to compete with the U.S., he ordered the development of a series of top-secret

nuclear facilities in a location hidden from enemy eyes. These would be dedicated to producing

the materials needed to create nuclear weapons. He settled on this region of Central Russia,

below the South Ural Mountains, which was far enough from the borders

and other inhabited areas to keep the project hidden from the rest of the world. Between

1945 and 1948, the Maik nuclear facility was erected on the shores of Lake Kiziltesh in

...