It has come to my attention today that Sacramento has TUNNELS. 140 year old abandoned tunnels! Tunnels which are described by city historians as "labyrinthine" & "catacomb-like!!" ...according to several sources, even haunted tunnels!
I was checking sources on the Daviswiki Spooky Places page, which led me to a list of supposedly haunted places in california. This made casual reference to the tunnels as being haunted. A google search resulted in another reference to the tunnels being haunted (allegedly nine downtown business reported a "sinister being" was "trapped in the maze of tunnels"). Finally two SacBee articles turned up to give the tunnels authoritative existence status.
It seems after experiencing several devastating floods1, the city of Sacramento decided to raise up the entire city. Walls were built on either side of all the roads and the middle filled in with dirt, to form a new road one floor higher. On either side the sidewalks became tunnels & new sidewalks were built on top of them. Former groundfloors became basements and 2nd floors became 1st. These tunnels were then used to avoid the rain or heat of summer and continued to be used for almost a hundred years until they were sealed off in the 1960s.
Needless to say, exploring these tunnels is now on the very top of my to-do list before I leave here!!
1At the moment I think a large portion of land between Davis & Sacramento is flooded -- driving across the causeway into Sacto feels like you're approaching the city across a sea, as its buildings rise up from this massive expanse of water.
Today: I worked at the Courthouse, helped out at the Heystek campaign, went to the ΦAΔ law student panel, returned to the Heystek campaign.
Quote of the Day: "Excuse me, we all have to go sing now" -one of the civil process clerks to someone who was at the window to either file something or get copies of some file -- because everyone was about to take a moment to sing happy birthday to our boss, Gail.
Picture of the Day

On the subject of tunnels, this is the MU basement, which houses a barbershop, bowling alley, radio station & newspaper.
(Another Picture)
Previously on Emosnail
Three Years Last Saturday: Underground Tunnels on Campus - I manage to infiltrate some of the secret underground tunnels on campus and proceed from Olson Hall to Sproul underground!
Three Years Ago Last Sunday: Something Concrete - Two stories due for ENL5F; I write one about the gulag & one about punks. One must read the gulag one before reading the other though. I cringe at the thought of rereading them d=
Three Years Ago Today: Racial Discrimination at IHOP? - All three white cooks, including Donovan Kelly get fired from IHOP, at the same time as three white hostesses & a white server. Don alleges racism, & makes a list of 17 major health code violations continually perpetuated at IHOP. Unfortunately that list is no longer available.