(image via: Ravelinks)
In 2006, a sophisticated tunnel was discovered running from Tijuana, Mexico to Otay Mesa, California. The tunnel was used primarily for transporting marijuana into the US. Although it wasn’t the first (or the last) tunnel of its kind to be discovered, this secret passage was amazingly elaborate and had obviously taken a long time and a lot of creativity to construct without raising suspicions.
(image via: Times Online)
In early 2008, a horrifying story hit the media from Jersey, an island off the coast of Normandy. A former children’s home was found to contain several secret below-ground chambers that had been used to discreetly torture resident children from the 1960s to the late 80s. Excavation of the partially buried chambers uncovered evidence of torture implements and juvenile human remains.
(image via: Jessamyn)
Not all stories of hidden rooms and secret passages involve death and danger. Some are just plain odd. In 2002, an engineering student name Stanislas Gosse was arrested for stealing priceless books from the 8th-century Mont Sainte-Odile convent library. His crimes were facilitated by the use of a centuries-old secret passage which was previously known only to a handful of people. Gosse would enter the convent during the day with tourists, slip into an unused corridor, and enter the library through a door concealed behind a shelf of books. He was only caught when police discovered the secret passage by chance and installed a security camera in the library.
