They discovered a secret tunnel from 200 years ago under their house

A couple from Illinois, in United States, he discovered that his house was built on a tunnel 19th century. Beth Yes Gary Machens They moved to the town of Alton last December and, almost by accident, ended up finding this secret construction, which dates back to 1840 and is now the subject of an investigation by historians.

“My husband stepped on the bottom step and collapsedBeth told the news channel. Fox about how the discovery was. The man noticed that part of the sidewalk of the house, located at 322 Langdonestaba Street, was dug and decided to repair it.

While digging, Gary Machens came across a stone wall. When he managed to bring it down, discovered the entrance to the tunnel. “He called me at work and said, ‘You better go home; you won’t believe what i just found“” Beth told the US broadcaster.

It is estimated that the construction has approximately 2.7 meters high for at least, 18 deep. It has a limestone entrance arch and a brick passage. Meanwhile, the ground is mostly earth and stone, with pieces of wood.

At one end he found a group of lands compacted that, it is presumed, could have another part of the tunnel behind.

The Machens family contacted several historians in the area, such as John lindsay Yes Don Huber. And he assured that they were “perplexed” as to the origin of this tunnel.

In the Landmark Historic Society they told the couple it could have been used for store ice or food, since they were underground, they were stored at lower temperatures. It could also have been used to save a horse-drawn carriage.

The latter theory might be correct, as Beth revealed that the dwelling had a stable for a car in the early 1900s.

“What was it for? I do not know. We have maps from 1863 and this house was not there and there was no other home there, ”Gary explained.

In turn, there is another theory: “Could have been used for the metro. There’s no evidence of that, but there was a train here in the Alton area on the Missouri side, and it may have been used for that purpose, ”Gary said.

The initial idea is to search part of the mound of earth to see if they can find out more above the tunnel. If they can’t do it, they were told they would shut it down and keep it as a historical piece.

However, the couple don’t want to be left alone. “Someone went to great lengths to build this, so we just block it out,” Beth lamented.

According to the family, this house It was built in the 1890s, the stone wall for the sidewalk was built around the same time. For this reason, they try to investigate if the tunnel was there or not when the work started.

The property was designed by the architect Lucas pfeiffenberger, who was the 25th mayor of Alton. Its first owner was the captain Henry brueggeman, who also ruled the city, two terms later.

In the 1920s, the house belonged to William H. Neerman, a businessman who sold rugs. And later it also housed the 49th Mayor of Alton, Paul Lenz.

THE NATION