Let me be perfectly clear: stay out of the damn tunnels. The vast majority of these “underground tunnels” at major universities are utility tunnels. Some merely carry electricity, water, and sewage lines to and from buildings on campus. These are relatively safe because they are large enough for maintenance crews to work in and there is usually adequate ventilation. Others, however, are not safe.
I am a campus security officer at a very large state university in the south. I know this sounds like a thrilling job, but it’s all I could find. I spent eleven years in the military, seven of which were in special forces. My ODA hit an IED and took extensive direct small arms fire, killing my best friend, my team leader, and my senior medical sergeant. We were unable to secure a landing zone for medevac before my best friend bled out in my arms. I was lucky enough to escape with busted ear drums, a collapsed lung, and shrapnel wounds to my lower left extremity. I’ve been struggling with another aspect of the explosion and firefight though, but I’ve progressed to a point where I can say it comfortably: I have PTSD. It is my PTSD that took the military from me and left me without any civilian job opportunities, which is why I’m the 6’2” 215-pound campus pig with a full beard and more tattoos than a Portland hipster. If you’re on my campus, you’ve undoubtedly heard of me. Anyway, back to the tunnels.
There are certain tunnel systems that are not safe. On my campus, if you are caught in these tunnels, you are immediately expelled and arrested for criminal trespass. These are the steam tunnels. Steam tunnels are tight, cramped, packed with old steam pipes, and incredibly dangerous. Every year, we have freshmen who go on “expedition parties” in the steam tunnels. I guess they want to impress the girls and show the other guys how “cool” they are. I don’t know.
Last year, we had a young English major die in a steam tunnel that fed steam to his dorm building. From evidence gathered at the scene, the individual ventured into the tunnel alone via a metal grate on the sidewalk between the hours of 2 and 4 AM. The individual made his way northbound through the tunnel about 100 yards, crawling next to +150*F steam pipes and other utility installations in complete darkness. It is the investigative team’s assessment that the individual bumped into and dislodged a very minor steam pipe feeding a nearby church. When the steam pipe dislodged from its coupling, the individual immediately suffered severe burns to his face, eyes, neck, and throat. He suffocated, alone and in the dark, due to the swelling. The only reason he was found was because a maintenance crew had crawled down there after receiving reports of pressure losses in the church’s steam equipment.
A year before that, we had another death in another branch of the steam tunnel system. As I’m sure most of you know, when it gets cold out, you can see steam billowing up from sidewalk grates and manholes. Those tunnels can get hot, sometimes reaching 120*F. This makes these tunnels very attractive for homeless individuals looking to get out of the cold.
I was the officer on duty called to investigate a smell coming from a sidewalk grate near the environmental sciences building. I arrived on scene to meet three individuals from the university’s maintenance staff who told me it was likely another stray cat or dog that had died in the tunnel and was cooking in the heat. They removed a sidewalk grate and I climbed down the ladder into the cramped tunnel. I shined my flashlight toward a junction (aka intersection) about 50 feet from me and saw a man in his late 40’s slumped over with his head on his chest. I attempted to make contact, but there was no response. I radioed dispatch and then crawled my way over to him, but when I got closer, the smell became more intense and I knew he had passed. I said a quick prayer and shined my flashlight on his face. It was covered in red and purple blotches, some of which were dripping a brown liquid. I don’t mean to be crass, but the gentleman was slowly cooking down there. It took three hours to extract the man’s body and transport him to the local hospital’s morgue. I was told he had a BAC of about .21, so I hope he went peacefully. He had passed out in the tunnel and died from overheating.
Now that the PSA is over, I actually have a story about another set of tunnels that a few history professors found under our campus. These tunnels were created during the civil war and ran from the state house to the river to provide confederate troops and elected officials a means of escape when the union army came knocking. I’ve been in these tunnels once and they are beautiful. They’re large enough to get horses through and have thick cedar floors and impressive brick walls and ceilings. The entrances are impossible to find, but I found an entrance on the bank of the nearby river covered in thick overgrowth.
I explored this tunnel with my partner last summer (off duty) while scoping out some prime fishing spots, and I don’t mean to be cheesy, but we will never go back. I don’t believe in ghosts or anything of the sort, but there was something dark in that tunnel. I’ll update once I’m off work if anyone is interested.
Submitted February 01, 2017 at 10:51AM by Red_Lobby http://ift.tt/2kqZc9P
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