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There is an extensive network of caves under my city that were used by beer breweries in the 1800's to store beer. They are all but inaccessible, and, at the ti
by tricky 4y ago
There is an extensive network of caves under my city that were used by beer breweries in the 1800's to store beer. They are all but inaccessible, and, at the time, kind of a myth. Most people didn't believe they still existed. I was fascinated by this and I compiled as much information as I could find on my personal website in the early 2000's. One day I received an email, "do you want to go into the caves? I know someone who can get us in. Meet us at 1am at XXXXXX - bring flashlights, old boots, and $50 to pay the tour guide."
Me, being young and always up for an adventure, showed up and it was awesome. These were legit spelunker urban explorers who knew how to pick locks. We got into the caves and it was crazy. Best part is I didn't get murdered.
- mrleinad 4y ago> Best part is I didn't get murdered. Pretty important if you ask me
- pvaldes 4y agoGreat opportunity of a viral video and digital glory and fame missed by not becoming murdered just a little, you, lazy alive being. Fake it at least with some homemade ketchup. The algorithm says: booring, you need to commit more with the channel. ;-) My old blog was all for laughs, vanity and stupid terminal tricks. Not much lost.
- ambicapter 4y agoDid you document any part of it on your blog? Or was it just a personal memory for you alone? Either way, fucking dope.
- tricky 4y agoi did. It is really old so the writing is very cringe... search cherokee cave tour and my username to find it.
- pncnmnp 4y agoI found it! It's not cringy - I thoroughly enjoyed it! Out of curiosity, were you able to verify the firefighter story? Edit: I've removed the link.
- tricky 4y agoGlad you enjoyed it! And, no, i never did verify the firefighter story.
- pncnmnp 4y agoSo, I looked into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's archive (1874 to present) in the hope of solving this mystery, but could not find anything. However, I did find a rather fascinating article titled "A Morning in the Cave" that was published on 28 July 1996. If anyone is affiliated with an academic institution, they can read it on ProQuest. There is a free OCR version available here: Page 7: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/142619929/?terms=%22cherokee%20cave%22%20%22fire%22&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/142619929/?terms=%22cher... Unfortunately, I could not find the page 8 clipping on newspapers.com. Edit: I found the page 8 clipping - https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25694845/the-world-beneath-1996-pt5/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25694845/the-world-beneath-1... It looks like this was part of a larger Sunday piece titled "The World Beneath". You can find all six clippings on r22tycoon's newspapers.com account at https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/?user=4850847%3Ar22tycoon https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/?user=4850847%3Ar22tyco...
- tricky 4y agowhat? this is amazing, I haven't seen that article. I was just able to pull the article's text up for free via the St. Louis County Library. Thank you! if I figure out how to find individual pages, i will let you know.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- EvanAnderson 4y agoOver-the-Rhine?
- turrican 4y agoIs this also a thing in Cinci?
- EvanAnderson 4y agoYep. Lots of underground brewery-related stuff. And an abandoned never-finished subway (now hosting a massive water main and a ton of fiber cables).
- koolba 4y agoHa! Only thing missing from this is: “Bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed.”
- kridsdale1 4y agoI have only done this once before.
- SquibblesRedux 4y agoAlas, I have done this many times. I'm still alive, so I suppose fortune has smiled on me.
- simonmales 4y agoFrom my local cave clan: When it rains, no drains.
- DeathArrow 4y agoThere is a system of subterranean galleries under my city also. It's closed to the public and I planned some time ago with some guys to explore a part of it. We were too lazy to do it and now I regret it a bit.
- tomwheeler 4y agoAs soon as I read this, I knew it was St. Louis. A former co-worker used to have a shop on Cherokee Street about 15 years ago. He told me that a neighboring building had access to the caves through the basement, though its owner was too afraid to explore it.
- tricky 4y agoCould that have been across from what is now Earthbound Beer? If so, they hand-dug all the debris out of the cave and you can pretty easily get a tour. The owner said the cave under the cave is off limits b/c they almost ran out of air while exploring it.
- tomwheeler 4y agoIt probably was. It was definitely on the north side of the street and west of Jefferson, so that would be about right.
- stl_fan 4y agoCheck out the book "Lost Caves of St. Louis" - it even contains a map of the caves.
- washywashy 4y agoCincinnati?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tricky 4y agoare there caves there? seems like a road trip is in order
- abhaynayar 4y agoIt's amazing how I'd never heard the word "spelunk" before today, and now in the span of the last few hours, I've heard it multiple times in three different contexts.
- throwwwaway69 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion#Working_Memory_and_Frequency_Illusions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion#Working_Mem...
- wnolens 4y agoIt's the word I use for exploring unfamiliar (and potentially scary) parts of a codebase
- reactordev 4y agoI take it you don’t play video games either. Spelunky was a pretty popular Indy game back in the day. Named after, you guessed it, spelunking. I first learned the word from “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” back in the 90s. I had to ask my parents what it meant.
- luizs 4y agoThere's also an old NES game called Spelunker.
- gabereiser 4y agoYes but my experience with WITWICS predates the NES for me.
- phamilton 4y agoThis comic is my first memory of the word https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/08/07 https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/08/07
- airstrike 4y agoFirst time I heard it in English! Your comment made me want to dig deeper... It looks like it comes from the Latin "spelunca", meaning "cave" Curiously, in Portuguese we have "espelunca" which is more commonly used as a synonym for a seedy, shady place -- and now I know why!
- Aperocky 4y ago> Best part is I didn't get murdered. I was almost going to say this sounds crazy dangerous and more like a trap, but 15 years ago I would have done the same and probably came out safe. I don't know what changed, it feels like things are getting more dangerous, but unsure if it's perception, or the truth.
- pc86 4y ago"Things" are objectively not more dangerous, in fact quite the opposite.
- dataqat 4y agoOverall things are much safer, but contact by scammers online (online scams in general) is much more a thing now than it was then. There was a turning point in the mid-late aughts for me where the level of trustworthiness of random anonymous online contacts took a dive.
- _9hey 4y agoSounds like a sad story. I’m sorry to hear that
- Aperocky 4y agoThis is my feeling as well. For some reason online community feels more "trustable" in the early 2000s. That is definitely NOT true today.
- uncletaco 4y agoWhat's funny about this is at the time I most trusted my online friends people who weren't terminally online felt much more vocal about online predators and scammers. Now that everyone is terminally online they don't seem to be as worried.
- rconti 4y agoPerception (maybe you just have more information!), and having more to lose, personally, as you get older.
- ilyt 4y ago>Me, being young and always up for an adventure, showed up and it was awesome. These were legit spelunker urban explorers who knew how to pick locks. We got into the caves and it was crazy. Best part is I didn't get murdered. Sure Cave Murder Tour Guide, sure
- calme_toi 4y agoThis reminds me the movie Barbarian.