University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville

I have explored the steam tunnels under the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville four times. A few of my friends and I were talking one day and someone brought the subject up. We all admitted that we had been curious about the access panels in the sidewalks. There are small holes in a few of them, sometimes when the lights were on, you could see the tunnel from up top. We decided to explore them one day. After upsetting our friend one night by carving into a drawer in his room, the carver (sKnowmaN) and I vowed to replace the drawer.First we tried to break into another dorm room which we knew was unoccupied. This didn't work. sKnowmaN looked at me and said, "I know where we can get a drawer". I asked where and he replied, "There is an RLDS(Residence Life and Dining Services) storage under Kimpel Hall. I said, "We're not going to break into Kimpel Hall". He replied that we could use the tunnels to get to the basement. It was a crazy night anyway so I said, OK! We had been paying attention to the access panels and decided to use one in the center of campus, away from occupied buildings and streets. This was an on-the-spot mission and we didn't have flashlights. Since I am very clausterphobic, I let sKnowmaN drop into the first tunnel and he walked a few yards to a junction where the perpendicular tunnel was lit. He opened a chain-binder and let me in. The tunnels in this area were about six feet tall and about two feet wide between the pipes. We tried to walk in the general direction of Kimpel Hall but heard banging noises coming from the direction of the Heating Plant. We stayed quiet for a few seconds and decided to book! The rest of the night was spent "exploring" up top. We looked at all of the access panels and assumed direction of the tunnels by the patterns of access panels. We felt a rush from exploring the tunnels. We alerted ArCh AnGeL about our excursions and planned for our next trip. Me and sKnowmaN went to the local Wal-Mart and bought a few supplies. An 18" MAG-LITE for me, a small MAG-LITE for him. And to prove that we were REALLY stupid, we bought Dicky uniforms that looked just like the ones Physical Plant workers wore! ArCh AnGeL brought a camcorder and we set out that night. We went in the same place as before. This time we went in the opposite direction of the heating plant. To make a long story short, we spent about two hours exploring that night. We learned about the layout of the tunnels, steam pipes, phone and electric cables. The sanitary and storm sewers are not located in the steam tunnels. We named the four big pipes "mains" and the places where two tunnels met "junctions". We dodged the HUGE hot valves and crawled under pipes where the tunnel took 90 degree turns. Some of the tunnels were lighted and some were not. We were afraid to touch any switches. Our main fear was, however, that a pipe or valve would break and we would be boiled alive before we could get out. We discovered basements to buildings and kept our direction straight by popping out an access panel everynow and then to check our position. We did find a basement to Kimpel but no RLDS storage. We really didn't care about the drawer anymore though. This was SO cool! Some tunnels were so small you had to walk sideways whereas the main tunnels (aside Garland and Dickson streets) were so big two people could walk side-by-side. We discovered that the banging noises were solenoid operated valves which were actuated by air pressure(info provided by Physical Plant Homepage). We didn't touch anything though for fear of blowing up the whole freakn' campus. When we reached the basement of Yocum Hall, AnGeL went through the steel cage where the pipe went through(burning himself). Since I could not fit, and sKnowmaN didn't want to leave me alone, AnGeL went to a panel just outside Yocum. He stamped his foot on it, indicating that the coast was clear. We climbed out and went to watch our tape. After watching the tape we decided to go again and went to bed. We got some headsets and the camera and went again a few weeks later. This time was weird though. I'm still not sure what it was. After being in the tunnel for only a minute, AnGeL and sKnowmaN started to casually comment on how it looked and feeled different this time. It was kind of spooky. Well, this ruined it. We took the tunnel goin towards Science Engineering and the Heating Plant once again. We were looking for ENGR hall. When we got about half-way AnGeL stopped us. He asked if we heard voices. SKnowmaN said he did. I heard nothing. We walked(ran) the other way which was the same direction we had taken before. We didn't want to take the same route since we had already explored it. This was a T-junction. We had gone left towards Garland St. earlier, this time we headed right, back towards Old Main. Before we went, ArCh AnGeL looked back. He said he saw something. He then asked sKnowmaN to look for him in case his eyes were playing tricks. sKnow said he saw something. I was really getting freaked out. I looked and I actually think I thought I saw a figure walking toward us. Now however I believe it was a combo of heat and paranoia. Now you see why sKnow and AnGeL's previous conversation ruined the whole trip. sKnowmaN went into the right tunnel and we stayed behind to keep watch. He walked down for a few minutes and then we heard the spookiest thing ever over the headset. "Oh my God! I've never seen anything like this before!". I was like "What the hell is it?" I could just picture some dead corpse with its face rotting off or something. Finally he said, "This is cool!". I relaxed then. He came back and said for us to follow. It was a brand new wide tunnel. All the materials looked new as did the concrete. It was about ten feet tall and we could all walk side-by-side. What really tripped us out was that it only ran to two buildings. After this episode we left. That trip kinda sucked since we were so spooked out. The next time we went we took another guy along. We stayed down for over three hours and explored a few basements. Nothing much really to say about that trip. It was pretty ordinary. In conclusion I would like to make a few random statements: