Going underground

 The mysterious world         under your feet.

   The subterranean world is a whole other secret place that few people are privy to. You never quite know what could be unearthed. People walk around everyday for years, never realising the hidden secrets in a place where time has stood still.. frozen in time. With no accrued dust or materials degrading (the result of water ingress/exposure to sunlight), it frequently appears as though the occupants of these uncanny scenes have momentarily stepped out of the room, then failed to return.

   I reckon it's a great option for those of us looking for some peace and privacy.

   Takes a little getting used to because sounds travel in a certain way. Once you get used to it, nobody can creep up on you and if someone didn't want to be found, it would be just the place. Anyone trying to find them but not used to it, would be totally lost because it's hard to know exactly where a sound is coming from or how near it is. Also, it's easy to lose a sense of direction. 

   Best to take a map and a compass if you go exploring. Many places are closed off, but there's usually an outlet somewhere and you can get in that way.

An excellent book.

   Some years ago, I lived in Bilston (near Wolverhampton) where there was a particular pub, that is widely reported as being h h H Haunted!👻 Woo!! Once upon a time, it had marked the halfway point, along that lengthy and treacherous journey heading southwards, transporting detainees betwixt the Northerly Scottish borders and Ye Olde London Town, where England's highest court of law, The Old Bailey was (and still is) situated. These individuals would have been facing severe punishment, potentially the dreaded hangman's noose.

The Old White Rose Tavern

   Prisoners being transported to the city would be locked in the cellar/ dungeon beneath this tavern/inn/hostelry overnight, alongside the horses. Meanwhile upstairs, those tasked with delivering them to the capital enjoying some famous Black Country hospitality. 

 Popular belief acknowledges that the place is haunted. The Mysterious Britain website (23/12/18) relates this story:

The Olde White Rose is a 16th century building with extensive cellars. It was in the cellar system early one morning that landlord John Denston clearly witnessed an apparition. At the end of a long disused cellar was a drop which was convenient for lifting empty barrels up to ground level.

Early one morning in 1998 John clearly saw a figure exit the drop and stand at the end of the cellar. He was wearing old fashioned and quite scruffy clothes. After standing stock still for a few moments staring at his upturned palms the swarthy and unkempt looking man disappeared into a side tunnel. By this time John realised it was an apparition he had seen as the side tunnel actually went nowhere. It was securely bricked up at the end.

 

Idid my share of haunting that bar and their excellent veggie carvery. 

There's tons of subway that's either disused or never got used. Old sewers and a mass of not-so-secret secret subterranean weapons bases. Tons of bomb shelters from various times and various shapes and sizes are all still there. When Catholicism was rejected but Catholics had their own ideas about it, wealthier people would have a priest come to perform mass at their home. "priest holes" are all over those old houses...places to shove your forbidden clergy, but some actually have escape tunnels too. 

There's loads I haven't had a chance to look at. There must be other people into exploring this hidden world with knowledge of ways in. We don't get earth quakes so they're pretty safe. 

If we could establish an alternative underground community, maybe we could evolve into "mole people". 

I don't fancy those sewers still in use though. It's not the potential of rats, ninja turtles, alligators or even monster poos. It's the dreaded fatburg!!!!

https://youtu.be/C0F8qWFL0_M

  Useful links:

🔗https://www.loveexploring.com/galleries/68772/underground-britain-things-to-do-beneath-the-surface

🔗https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201005-the-uks-rumoured-subterranean-network

🔗https://listverse.com/2023/05/27/10-truly-unsettling-underground-places-in-the-uk/

 

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