This week we are chasing espionage history, from the haunting expanses of New Mexico’s Trinity Test site to the shadowy streets of Vienna and Prague. We also explore the lush surroundings of Maryland’s OSS spy school, Canada’s Camp X, and England’s Orford Ness. All six sites reveal espionage secrets and offer a unique chance to walk through the corridors of intelligence history on your very own Spy World Tour. Don't forget to explore our Archive and Share & Subscribe with your friends!
Trinity Test Site
The world’s first atomic bomb detonated in New Mexico in 1945 and the ground still holds the vibrations of J. Robert Oppenheimer's experiments. Trinity bore witness to the birth of the atomic age and on just two days a year - including October 21, 2023 - the US Army will open the site to visitors, allowing a rare few to traverse the stark landscapes and confront the immense power humanity unleashed.
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In a quiet corner of Maryland, the secrets of OSS spies still echo and a gravel path snakes through a forest to reveal Camp B-2, one of America’s first spy schools where operatives trained in sabotage, escape and evade gadgets, and dirty tricks. The former training ground is now let out to large groups and a hike through the woods is a stroll through a pivotal chapter in US history.
An extraordinary peninsula known in England as Orford Ness exposes military secrets from the invention of radar technology to top-secret weapons testing. Writer W.G. Sebald describes it as ‘Britain’s Bikini Atoll’. This lonely reserve, once teaming with Ministry of Defense officials, now shares its secrets with visitors who trek across its tightly-controlled 2,000 acres on specified days.
Vienna's waltz with espionage echoes through the ages from spy swaps to Am Hof square where The Third Man’s Harry Lime seems to vanish into thin air. Both NSA spy Ronald Pelton and CIA traitor Edward Lee Howard met their KGB contacts here, while British operative Kim Philby smuggled left-wing activists through the city sewers. We’ve uncovered even more of Vienna’s spy highlights for your eyes only.
St. Nicholas Church has stealthily reopened its Prague bell tower, once a lookout for communist secret police spying on the US Embassy. In addition to the Czech StB binoculars and photos of targets, visitors can survey a city entwined with espionage and paranoia, with each cobblestone concealing a clandestine tale or capturing a Hollywood moment from Casino Royale to Bourne Identity and Mission: Impossible.
Located on Lake Ontario’s shore, North America’s first intelligence training center Camp X comes alive each November 11 as veterans descend on Intrepid Park for Remembrance Day. The camp was also a top-secret communications relay stationand hosted many famous figures including 007 creator Ian Fleming who faced his first real challenge of close combat in Camp X’s ‘House of Horrors’.
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