Mysterious tunnels discovered in Florida

[GaRedClay]

For the FL crowd:

Would love to have access to these!

https://www.foxnews.com/science/mysteri ... in-florida

More evidence has emerged of a mysterious network of tunnels beneath the historic neighborhood of Ybor City in Tampa, Fla.

Earlier this week, architect Gerry Curts was on site showing pictures and offering descriptions of one of the tunnels, Fox 13 reported. He said that a new opening to the tunnels was revealed during demolition work by developers planning an office building.

Daryl Shaw, one of the developers involved in the project, confirmed the tunnels’ existence to Fox 13 and explained that attempts will be made to preserve them, possibly by installing a glass floor in the office building.

Fox 13 also visited the basement of a century-old building, where bricks patterns in the wall showed that tunnels had been closed off.

A National Historic Landmark District, Ybor City is located northeast of downtown Tampa. One theory suggests that the tunnels were used by Prohibition-era smugglers and bootleggers.

However, Curts and Dr. Gary Mormino, professor emeritus of history at the University of South Florida, told Fox 13 that public corruption in early 20th-century Tampa meant that organized crime likely didn’t need the tunnel system.

Mormino speculated that the tunnels may have been part of a network that transported Chinese prostitutes from Cuba to the Port of Tampa to Ybor City in the early 1900s, but added that we may never discover their real use. "The tunnels of Ybor City represent one of the great riddles and mysteries," he said.

Founded in 1886, Ybor City is renowned for its rich architecture, which includes former cigar factories and social clubs.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

[keithker]

@GaRedClay That happens to be 10 mins down the road from me......Guess they never might have thought that they could have been used to store beer and other products.....yeah Florida has plenty of heat and tunnels to store beer would have been one of the few places you could keep them even with ice....hell it is 75 degrees right now....how is everybody else out there doing....

I was hoping you were going to tell me that a ton of stuff from the old brewery was found....now that would be a find...

[Longhorn Mike]

It's 73 in Dallas right now. We had a gorgeous day today.

- Mike

[Pbama]

Freezin our butts off up here in New England, a balmy 14 degrees yesterday in Boston. Was 25 below zero on top of Mt Washington in NH yesterday which set a record for November.

[Beercanpete]

Same in Connecticut … I believe yesterday was the coldest November day in the 113 years that records have been kept in Hartford. But we'll be back to about 50 degrees on Sunday according to the forecast. Will be April or so before we see 75 again!

[Leon]

Talk about HiJack.

[keithker]

Talk about HiJack.

@Leon Sorry....My inclusion of the temperature was to point out that Florida is hot almost year round and tunnels would have been the best place to keep beer and items cooler even when the weather is warm in winter.....

[GaRedClay]

Ha! Hijack welcome when you ‘ghost post’... @keithker - I’ll be in Tampa in 2019 and will treat for a beer in Ybor City

[Brent Gesland]

About 20 yrs ago there was an old speak easy found underground when I lived in Sioux City,IA. I was able to see this as I knew the constitution workers who discovered it.

It was the size of about a 3 car garage. Nothing was found like old bottles or even a chair. It was located below a Jewelry store....I guess all you had to do was go into the basement and knock on the door and maybe you got in...And this was located right under the sidewalk where people walked every day.....pretty impressive by the way despite nothing was found...

Brent G.