A forbidden world of adventure, legend, art, and mysterious passages lies beneath the buildings, walkways, and streets of this campus.
While almost everyone has heard of the underground tunnels, a few have uncovered the secrets and treasures of these tunnels. With the recent rediscovery of a forgotten vault in the basement of 285 Court St., discussions of what else may be hidden underground have become more prevalent. And there is no place more intriguing to explore underground than the tunnels.
There are four main systems of tunnels under the campus: Butterfield, Foss, Center for the Arts (CFA), and maintenance tunnels.
“It’s interesting how the tunnels reflect the buildings they’re in,” said E ’07, a tunnel explorer who keeps a notebook complete with pictures and maps of his adventures. “The WestCo tunnels are an acid trip, the Butt tunnels are very angular and severe. The maintenance tunnels are old and decrepit.”
It appears that the tunnels under the CFA and the “Butt tunnels” under Butterfield A, B, and C are separate from each other and the Foss and maintenance tunnels. The connected system of tunnels referred to as the maintenance tunnels can be found under Exley, Olin, Clark, PAC, Judd, ’92 Theatre, the Chapel, Zelnick, and Andrus Field. The Foss tunnels are found under the WestCo and Nicolson dormitories.
There is a rumor that before Clark was renovated, the Foss tunnels were connected with the maintenance tunnels, but this has not been confirmed, nor has an existing connection been ruled out. E says that he thinks it is highly unlikely that all the tunnels on campus are connected, but it is not impossible.
“The Holy Grail of tunnel explorers is the thought that they’re all connected,” E said. “There are rumors of them all being connected, and it’s certainly a possibility.”
A ’08 has explored many of the tunnels on campus, but the recent construction has changed the makeup of some of what she says were the most interesting places.
“When I was a pre-frosh, the first thing [my hosts] did was bring me down to the WestCo tunnels,” said A ’08. “I’ve been going down in the tunnels ever since.”
According to E, the presence of Zelnick Pavilion has cut off a main tunnel that used to lead to South College, but A said there is still a way to get all the way to North College from under ’92 Theater. Beyond North College, the tunnels that existed at the construction site of Usdan University Center and the University museum are gone forever.
“There was an electrical generator under there that doesn’t exist anymore,” A said.
Another legendary tunnel, which may or may not exist, is one that begins under the President’s house, goes under Russell house, and ends at the Connecticut River.
“The Russells were involved in the Underground Railroad and/or opium smuggling,” E said. “And there is a large multi-locked door in the basement of Russell House.”
Many explorers believe the tunnel is at least partially collapsed, and while finding this tunnel is a goal for many, there are plenty of other passages to explore in the meantime.
“When the snow falls, you watch where it melts first, and that’s where the tunnels are,” E said. “In the winter, it’s like 90 degrees down there.”
In addition to the heat, caused by heating pipes and steam, there are other dangers of exploring the tunnels. Some of the tunnels are full of asbestos or other unsafe odors.
“To any enterprising explorers, definitely purchase a dust mask or respirator of some sort,” E said.
Because students are not supposed to be in the tunnels, and the penalties are now the equivalent of penalties for defacement of University property, it is easy to accidentally get stuck underground.
“[One of my friends] stumbled upon a maintenance entrance, and it closed behind him,” A said. “He called me and said, ‘I don’t know where in the maintenance tunnels I am, but I’m stuck.’ He called like five times and he was having trouble getting reception… eventually I went down there and we exited in Clark.”
Many tunnel explorers have had close encounters with Public Safety, though they generally escape serious trouble. But when an occasional loud party is held underground, it is hard to hide. H ’08, a tunnel explorer whose father explored the tunnels in the 70s, has attended three tunnel parties, including one under the Butts last year.
“We threw a rave down there, complete with lights, futons, a DJ, turn tables, and a really loud stereo system,” H said. “PSafe caught us at 3 a.m.”
“[The rave] was awesome, and it was broken up rather peacefully,” A said.
The reason Public Safety found the party was because the noise could be heard above ground from anywhere in the area of the Butts.
“[During the rave] I was in one of my friends rooms and I could hear the entire room shaking,” said C ’07, an avid explorer of the Butt tunnels. “We realized the noise was coming from underneath College Of Letters.”
According to C, when the Butterfield dormitories are renovated, the laundry room may be moved into the Butt B lounge, causing the Butt B tunnel that contains the current laundry room to close. But there are plans to have a student space in the Butt tunnels much like WestCo Café in the Foss tunnels. Technically, Kosher Kitchen is in the Butt tunnels, as are several offices and storage facilities. But due to the lack of ventilation and other perils in most of the tunnels, ResLife and Physical Plant are intent on keeping the tunnels closed as much as possible.
“They don’t want students to get hurt because of the legalities,” C said. “Based on conversations with ResLife, when [Director of Residential Life Fran] Koerting was hired in July, going into the tunnels was part of her orientation.”
Still, the tunnels remain a selling point for the school, as they have been included in several publications and movies, such as “PCU.”
“The University wants to maintain the legacy of going down there, but they can’t support it,” A said. “The administration is aware that the tunnels are ‘closed.’”
Tunnel explorers are able to see graffiti on nearly every wall, including poems, prose, quotations, pictures, and stenciling. This graffiti ranges from political speech to crude drawings to serious artwork. Explorers have also found abandoned kitchens and dark rooms, as well as rooms full of plaques from old buildings, telephones, mini fridges, papier mache masks, mattresses, bed frames, loose doors, and other odds and ends.
“It’s a treasure chest down there,” H said.
Some of the most legendary objects believed to be in the tunnels are museum artifacts from when Judd Hall was a museum. These artifacts, some of which may be stored in the heavily alarmed Olin tunnels and a safe under North College, will likely resurface when the new museum opens. The Douglas Cannon, a well-known Wesleyan artifact that has traveled the world since the 1800s, may be hidden somewhere in the tunnels as well. The whereabouts of the Douglas Cannon are generally unknown, but it is expected to resurface soon, whether at the 175th Commencement or the following year at the final Commencement with Douglas J. Bennet as president.
Other legendary stories of the tunnels involve drug labs.
“Acid made in the tunnels was used in part to pay the Grateful Dead when they played here,” H said.
A has made some discoveries of her own in other parts of Wesleyan’s underground, including a melted piano in the Mystical Seven building and evidence to suggest large rooms under the apparently small Skull and Serpent building.
“If you look at the records, the Skull and Serpent building uses the most water on campus,” A said. “There must be something under the building that’s using up all of the campus’s water.”
C has come across a possible resident of the tunnels.
“At one point, I went down to see the laundry room in the Butts, and I pushed open the door [marked] ‘Pottery Room,’” he said. “There was this dude who was lying on the mattress. He said he had to go to class. It was like 9:15 a.m.”
Most students who enter the tunnels intend to explore, rather than sleep.
“What I think is fun about tunneling is how we make teams,” A said, describing how everyone brings something different, such as lock picking abilities or knowledge of alarms, to the tunnels.
“New tunnels open all the time,” E said.
But fellow explorers need to find out for themselves where these tunnels are and how to gain entry into this mysterious underground world.
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