Secret Tunnel

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Lore & Background

Entrances to some secret passages appear as architectural features, such as fireplaces or built-in sliding bookcases. Some entrances are more elaborately concealed and can be opened only by engaging a hidden mechanism or locking device. Others are much simpler; for example, a trapdoor hidden under a rug. Some buildings have secret areas built into their original plans, such as secret passages in medieval castles, designed to allow inhabitants to escape from enemy sieges. Other castles' secret passages led to an underground water source, providing water during prolonged sieges. Traditional Arabic houses sometimes have a 'Bab al-Sirr': a secret door used as an emergency exit built into the walls and hidden with a window sill or a bookcase. The name comes from one of the six gates cut through an ancient wall in Aden (in modern-day Yemen), which was opened only in the event of a state security emergency. In modern-day Spain, the Arab fortress of Benquerencia has a Bab al-Sirr known as the 'Door of Treason.' Other secret passages have sometimes been added after initial building. Secret tunnels have often been created as escape routes from prisons or prisoner-of-war camps, where they are known as escape tunnels. They typically require a hidden opening or door, and may involve other deceptive construction techniques, such as the creation of a false wall. Other tunnels have been made for different reasons, such as those used for smuggling firearms, illegal drugs and other contraband.

In Their Own Story

In 1330, a small group of armed supporters of Edward II used a secret passage to attack Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, who was in Nottingham Castle, defended by several hundred soldiers. The attackers entered through a long, winding secret passage which led directly into the building in which the queen was lodged. An accomplice inside the castle slid back the bolts to the door, which allowed the attackers to arrest Mortimer. The Passetto is a passage that links the Vatican City with Castel Sant'Angelo. Pope Alexander VI crossed it in 1494, when Charles VIII invaded the city, and Pope Clement VII escaped to safety through it during the Sack of Rome, in 1527. In 1789, at the outset of what would become the French Revolution, a mob of 7,000 demonstrators marched to the Royal Palace at Versailles. Although the mob managed to overcome the palace's defences and kill Marie Antoinette's bodyguards, Marie Antoinette escaped from the palace through a secret passageway. The Mikhailovsky Castle was built to protect the Russian Tsar Paul I from assassins. Completed in 1800, the Tsar had a secret passageway built into the hallway outside his bedroom to enable him to escape if assailants managed to get past the castle's defences. However, he was never able to use the secret passageway. Forty days after he took up residence in the castle, a group of co-conspirators killed him in his bedroom. During Japan's Boshin War (1868–1869), a band of 15- and 16-year-olds loyal to the Shogun, who called themselves the White Tiger Brigade, escaped from Imperial troops using a secret passageway. When the young warriors emerged from the passageway, they saw a burning samurai residence, which they mistook for the castle. Believing that the castle had fallen to the Imperial troops, the young warriors committed mass-suicide by seppuku (disembowelment), rather than face the dishonor of defeat. During the U.S. Prohibition era, the Regal Knickerbocker, in Chicago, Illinois, a grand 350-room hotel built in the 1920s, had a secret door in one of the penthouse ballrooms leading to a stairway down to ground level, possibly used to help people engaging in illegal gambling or drinking to escape in the event of a police raid. In Decatur, Illinois, the third floor of Bell's Jewelry Store housed a speakeasy, a gambling den and a brothel during the 1920s and 1930s. Customers entered a sporting goods shop that acted as a 'front'; after passing through rows of shelves lined with dusty sporting merchandise, a secret panel in the wall was slid open revealing the entrance. In 1928 New York City, Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns purchased a former bordello and converted it into a bar and restaurant called the '21 Club.' In 1930, they hired architect Frank Buchanan to design a secret door to hide the liquor supply in the cellar. The door, which weighed two and a half tons, was supported by massive precision hinges and faced with a concrete slab. The secret door could be opened only by inserting an 18" length of wire through one of several cracks in the concrete. During World War II, British Royal Air Force officers held captive in Colditz Castle built a false wall in the attic of one of the POW buildings, to hide a workshop where they were constructing a glider to help them escape. The Củ Chi tunnels were used particularly during the Tết Offensive in the Vietnam War between 1968 and 1969 by Communist Vietcong guerillas, who made these inhospitable but sturdy tunnels their home, and transported supplies for the Offensive that were assembled through them. The tunnels contained sleeping chambers, kitchens, classrooms, wells, and medical facilities. In order to maintain the flow of oxygen from the surface, the Vietcong would cleverly disguise air vents as seemingly natural objects like termite mounds. However, the tunnels were far from comfortable; the Vietcong suffered from many of the elements, such as disease and venomous insects and animals. Particularly nerve-wracking to the Vietcong were the massive aerial bombardment from B-52 bombers, which could usually cave in portions of the tunnels depending on their depths. Nonetheless, the tunnels stood up to almost everything the American military threw at them.

Reader's Guide

Secret passages are hidden routes used for stealthy travel, escape, or movement of people and goods. They are sometimes found inside buildings, leading to secret rooms. Others allow people to enter or exit buildings without being seen. Entrances to some secret passages appear as architectural features, such as fireplaces or built-in sliding bookcases. Some entrances are more elaborately concealed and can be opened only by engaging a hidden mechanism or locking device. Others are much simpler; for example, a trapdoor hidden under a rug. Some buildings have secret areas built into their original plans, such as secret passages in medieval castles, designed to allow inhabitants to escape from enemy sieges. Other castles' secret passages led to an underground water source, providing water during prolonged sieges. Traditional Arabic houses sometimes have a 'Bab al-Sirr': a secret door used as an emergency exit built into the walls and hidden with a window sill or a bookcase. Other secret passages have sometimes been added after initial building. Secret tunnels have often been created as escape routes from prisons or prisoner-of-war camps, where they are known as escape tunnels. They typically require a hidden opening or door, and may involve other deceptive construction techniques, such as the creation of a false wall. Other tunnels have been made for different reasons, such as those used for smuggling firearms, illegal drugs and other contraband. Throughout history, secret passages have helped besieged rulers escape attackers, including Pope Alexander VI in 1494, Pope Clement VII in 1527 and Marie Antoinette in 1789. Passages and tunnels have been used by criminals, armies (notably the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War) and political organizations to smuggle goods and people or conceal their activities.

Did You Know?

• The Passetto is a passage that links the Vatican City with Castel Sant'Angelo; Pope Alexander VI crossed it in 1494, and Pope Clement VII escaped through it during the Sack of Rome in 1527.
• In 1330, a small group of armed supporters of Edward II used a long, winding secret passage to attack Roger Mortimer in Nottingham Castle, which was defended by several hundred soldiers.
• The Mikhailovsky Castle, completed in 1800, had a secret passageway built into the hallway outside Tsar Paul I's bedroom, but he was killed in his bedroom forty days after moving in, never using it.
• During the U.S. Prohibition era, the '21 Club' in New York City had a secret door weighing two and a half tons that could only be opened by inserting an 18-inch length of wire through cracks in the concrete.
• The Củ Chi tunnels, used by Vietcong guerillas during the Tết Offensive (1968–1969), contained sleeping chambers, kitchens, classrooms, wells, and medical facilities, and air vents were disguised as termite mounds.