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Find a mysterious 19th-century tunnel just below the living room of his house
The past has returned to haunt a man from Illinois who just happened to find an ancient underground tunnel under his house - and fire fails to decipher what its purpose was
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tunnel
tunnels
the 19th century
Illinois
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Wednesday, 05 May 2021, 00:01 Updated: 07:35
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The secret tunnel that no one knows what it was used for (Photo: screenshot, Fox 2 St. Louis / Youtube)
How would you react if you found an ancient secret tunnel just below your living room? Gary Machens, a resident of Elton, Illinois, made no secret of his excitement at the mysterious tunnel he found under his home and nearly burst into tears when he discovered the tunnel was built in 1840, long before his home - or any other property - was built on the site.
History-loving Manches discovered quite by chance about the presence of the tunnel under his house when a stone on the side of the path leading to the entrance gate to his house fell. Accompanying the Fox 2 news crew in St. Louis as they entered the mysterious tunnel, he said: "Whatever it is, building this tunnel took a lot of men and a lot of hours. It's not a one - man job."
Historians who visited the tunnel believed that the preserved area dates back to at least 1840. Machens revealed that his home was also ancient and was probably built in 1890.
"Yes, three former Elton mayors have lived in this house over the years," he told Fox 2 News, "I do not know if any of them knew about it. The house was built in 1890, it is believed that the tunnel is from 1840, so it has been here for 50 years. "A year. What was it used for? I do not know. We have maps from 1863 and this house was not here and there was no other house in this property."
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Manches tried to assess what the purpose of the tunnel was, and raised a number of options such as part of a subway, an ice storage area or a basement.
"Maybe it's part of a subway. There's no proof of that, but there was a ferry here in the Elton area next to Missouri and the tunnel could have been used for that," he added. ".
He says he believes local residents covered the tunnel opening around 1895, when they filled the street with bricks designed to raise the sidewalk height.
Machens hopes to open the tunnel for tours - if he can convince the municipality to help him with logistics and costs.
By now he needs to pave the path and seal the entrance to the tunnel to avoid the danger of falling.
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