Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #554

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
That Time A Scientist Dug Secret Tunnels Under D.C. For Exercise
In 1924, a delivery truck fell victim to a crack in Earth’s foun- dation right behind Pelham Courts in Washington, D.C., submerging slightly into the ground beneath its tires. The Pelham Courts man- ager and janitor investigated and dis- covered the unlikely culprit: a maze of connected hidden tunnels.
They were built tall and wide enough for
a human to effortless- ly walk through them. An architect reported that the tunnels were constructed with pre- cision and care. Lined with white enameled brick, explorers admired the beauty and value of these tunnels.
One interesting dis- covery was a collec- tion of German news- papers lining the ceil- ings, lit by electric torches. This led to many speculating
minds and people began to wonder how these tunnels came to be and who exactly was responsible for them.
Some thought they were deserted sewage tunnels, while others theorized it was a hiding space for German spies or bootleggers.
The truth? Harrison Dyar, a former Smithsonian Institute entomologist, took full
responsibility (well, after he had his fun hearing what people had to say about these mysterious tun- nels).
His reason for the secret passageways? It was as simple as exercise. He looked at tunnel digging as not only a hobby, but a way to get his body up and moving after work. He admitted to working on these tun- nels for upwards of 10 years, from 1906 to 1916.
It started when he dug a flowerbed for his wife. He was com- pelled to keep dig- ging, once telling a reporter “When I was down perhaps 6 or 7 feet, surrounded only by the damp brown walls of old Mother Earth, I was seized by an undeniable fancy to keep on going.” He had various locations where he did his dig- ging — all around D.C. — and all with similar features such as electric lighting, stone stairways, and cement walls. Some
were even up to 24 feet deep!
Believe it or not, there may have been some truth to a few of the outlandish theories that took the commu- nity by storm before Dyar admitted to cre- ating the tunnels. Dyar had no clue where the newspa- pers on the ceilings came from. There were also empty liquor bottles thrown on the ground and other signs of life throughout. Dyar had moved to California the year prior to the publication date of the newspapers (1917 and 1918) so he noted it couldn’t have been him who hung them up.
With this information, it gave people even more of a right to believe that these tun- nels were a place for German spies during WWI after the media publicized the tunnel discovery. Some even think Dyar was a spy himself!
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine