Exploring Montreal’s Secret “Alien” Park | Hidden Montreal - video Dailymotion

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Embark on an adventure through five of Montreal’s most interesting, mysterious and unusual secret places. From giants hanging high above the city to a 15,000-year-old cave beneath busy streets, join your host Alex Melki and discover Montreal’s best-hidden spots.    New episodes every Wednesday on Narcity.com, YouTube, Facebook, IGTV.    In this episode, Alex Melki steps into the strangest park in Montreal. From massive head sculptures to a field of white pods that change before your eyes, walking through this park is like exploring an alien world.    Subscribe to Narcity: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFpZ...    For more information, visit:  Alex Melki's Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/alexmelki/  Ville de Montréal  https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/parcfredericback/    More episodes from Hidden Montreal:  Montreal’s Mysterious Pink House | Hidden Montreal  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1r_M...  Finding 3 Of Montreal’s Massive ‘’Sleeping Giants’' | Hidden Montreal  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXlpTBbv0Dk&t=9s  Montreal’s Massive 15,000-Year-Old Cave Hidden Under A Borough | Hidden Montreal  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3EmylpMy_M&t=71s    About Narcity:  Narcity is the spark that powers your relationship with the awesome city where you live. Every single day, it gives you all you need to know about what's new, what's now, and what's next, as well as the tools you need to connect with the people, places, and passions in your city.    Narcity.com is owned and operated by Narcity Media, the leading digital media publisher for Gen Z and millennials, covering breaking local news and trends across North America. Narcity Media’s extensive network of journalists and creators spans from coast to coast to coast with the sole purpose of creating local content that engages communities. The brand’s news and travel websites attract 23M readers each month and its social channels reach 5M people daily.    For more information, please visit https://www.narcitymedia.com/.    Subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit us on:  Our App: https://www.narcity.com/download-app  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarcityCanada/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/narcitycana...  Twitter: https://twitter.com/NarcityCanada  Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/NarcityMedia/    Exploring Montreal’s Secret “Alien” Park | Hidden Montreal    #montreal #hiddenplaces #alienpark

Transcript

00:00 There's a park in Montreal that feels like stepping onto an alien planet and it changes

00:06 before your very eyes.

00:08 When it comes to parks, Montreal is up there with New York City as having the most amount

00:24 of green spaces in any city in North America.

00:28 And while a lot of them are really nice for a picnic or a stroll, there's one park in

00:32 Montreal that stands out in a very strange way.

00:36 It's not exactly the first thing you'd expect to see.

00:39 If anything, it feels like stepping on another planet.

00:43 And it's got some secrets to discover.

00:45 To find this otherworldly place, we'll have to head out of the downtown core and head

00:50 towards the north.

00:51 Here it is, Park Frederic Bach.

00:54 Looks pretty normal, right?

00:56 Guess again.

00:58 These massive heads with hollowed out brains staring up at the heavens are definitely a

01:03 strange sight.

01:04 Now get this, the empty space within each head is big enough that you could actually

01:08 fit an entire human being in there.

01:11 And the way they're facing up at the heavens is very alien-like, for sure.

01:16 Though they look like they belong on a different world, they're the creation of sculptor Simon

01:20 Guijon.

01:21 Guijon says the idea for the statue came to him as he stood on a 240 million year old

01:27 mountain in Africa and watched the 4.6 billion year old sun descend below the horizon.

01:34 But these sculptures are just the beginning of what this park has to offer.

01:40 This whole place is one big science lab.

01:44 White pods spread out as far as the eye can see.

01:49 What are these things?

01:51 They're unlike any other structure in the area.

01:55 Weird machine-looking things, like something out of Interstellar or Star Wars.

02:01 These things are called biogas wells, and just like a regular well, they're hollow on

02:07 the inside.

02:08 The only difference is, instead of water, over time this fills up with gases from inside

02:12 of the earth.

02:14 You can actually hear the gases being collected, listen.

02:21 Montreal-based architecture firms LeMay and Morelli built 250 of these spheres here, all

02:28 part of the park's own renewable energy system.

02:32 But why build all of these pods here, in this park specifically?

02:37 This is where things get really interesting.

02:39 Millions of years ago, this whole place was underwater, and it's got the fossils to

02:43 prove it.

02:45 And as the oceans disappeared, all the leftover dino carcasses ended up in the ground.

02:52 Then in the 1950s, it was a city dump, filled to the brim with garbage for over 30 years.

03:00 So the ground here has all the decomposing goodness needed for a biogas buffet.

03:06 The pods swallow up all the organic matter left behind from the trash in the 1950s, and

03:12 the dinosaurs that swam in the oceans hundreds of millions of years ago.

03:16 From a landfill to sustainable energy, this is one of the most ambitious environmental

03:22 rehabilitation projects in North America.

03:26 And just as we think we have this place figured out, it starts to change.

03:31 As the sun sets, something starts happening.

03:34 The pods begin to light up.

03:37 There is almost no light pollution coming in from the city, so it's really hard to

03:41 see them on video.

03:43 Now a picture on the other hand, captures just how it looks to the naked eye.

03:48 That glowing green light you're seeing inside of each pod is the biogas collected

03:53 from the ground.

03:54 And suddenly, an already strange park just went supernova.

04:00 There are tons of green spaces spread out across Montreal, but none anywhere near as

04:05 strange or interesting as Frederic Bach Park.

04:09 That's it for this episode, but I'll see you next week with another hidden place in

04:13 Montreal that you're going to want to know about.

04:16 [music]

04:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Exploring Montreal’s Secret “Alien” Park | Hidden Montreal

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