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Recently a group traveled underground to the oldest subway tunnel in the world, rediscovered by Bob Diamond in 1980. It's dark, dirty and allegedly filled with ghosts! Located on Atlantic Avenue, it sounds like the perfect place for a haunted Halloween. Here's some more info on the mysterious underground space, that long went hidden.
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel was built in seven months in 1844 by the Long Island Rail Road to relieve congestion in downtown Brooklyn. It was part of a rail network that eventually took passengers to Boston. For mainly political reasons, it was closed not too many years after it opened; the last train ran through it in 1859. In 1861, the tunnel was sealed up. In time, it became sort of an urban legend, and many stories were born about it and what uses some people may be putting it to.Some of the rumors surrounding the tunnel included the FBI suspecting German terrorists were making bombs there, which was followed by murmurs of mushroom growing and bootleg whiskey stills being housed there. These stories, as well those of spies and dead bodies, both warranted the unsealing and resealing of the tunnel.
Forgotten-NY points out that even Walt Whitman acknowledged the tunnel, writing: "The old tunnel, that used to lie there under ground, a passage of Acheron-like solemnity and darkness, now all closed and filled up, and soon to be utterly forgotten, with all its reminiscences." More photos of the tunnel (around 2000 feet) here, and the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association has more visuals regarding its history.
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A tarot card reader needs to set up shop in this tunnel.
so is this open to the public?
How does one get involved with these urban spelunkers? This would have been loads of fun!
Go to the intersection of Atlantic Ave and Court Street (next to Trader Joes). The tours are often open to the public on the weekends.
You can get the info for the tours here:
http://www.brooklynrail.net/brooklynrail_whats_new.html
It's one of the coolest historic NY things I've ever done, and Bob Diamond is a great storyteller. It's a really tight squeeze to get down there which makes sort of creepy.
If the LIRR ever goes Lower Manhattan, I wonder if they use this tunnel or excavate something else.
#6: That would probably make sense, which means LIRR will do the opposite of that and build a $Eleventy Billion tunnel.
ha. i was riding down court street and saw a ton of yuppies climbing out of that manhole. i was dumbfounded, then i realized that it was probably some tour and it would probably be covered on gothamist. sure enough!
There should be a Godwin's Law corollary regarding hipsters making anti-Yuppie statements in Gothamist comment threads . . .
I was on the tour yesterday. The article above ("Recently a group traveled underground . . .") makes it sound like yesterday's tour was a unique occurrence. In fact, tours are given every 2-3 weeks (usually on Sundays, IIRC), and tour leader Bob Diamond says he's been giving the tours since about 1982.
If you do go there, a suggestion: don't leave your camera on a bench in the Borough Hall subway station when you board a train to get back to Manhattan.