#also want a respirator in case of y’know ASBESTOS

[techmomma]

For those not in my server, a fun adventure update!

So I work in an office south of Seattle, like within a few blocks of the bay (excuse me, “The Sound”).

Outside our office, down the hall, we have a supply room for the building’s cleaning crew and where we put things like recycling. We like to call it our “secret room.” Well the other day I went to our Secret Room to get some glass cleaner and lo and behold, there’s another door in the room! I think I saw it before but I just never consciously registered it so it wasn’t one of those suddenly-appearing mystery doors, but I was surprised nonetheless. A secret room in a secret room!

Even more surprised to see, I was assuming, original building materials that DEFINITELY looked dated, like 1940s I guessed, despite the rest of the building looking fairly recent, like 1990s renovations is my guess. This part of the city’s got a lot of old buildings, it’s where at least a couple museums are. Intrigued, I do a little digging into property records to confirm my suspicions.

I was wrong. These building materials were not from the 40s.

They were potentially from the 1890s. This building had two records, one from 1916 that I suspect is the office next door that was joined to this building at a later date, and this one, from 1892. Either way, that makes this building, and thus those original materials I saw, at least over a hundred and ten years old, potentially 130 years old.

OH HELL YES

Unfortunately, it stinks like a log that’s been sitting in the rain for a century, so y’know. Not about to fully explore this back room which is uh. VERY DARK WITH VERY LITTLE LIGHTING. V. spooky. Exactly up Steph’s alley.

Rough drawing of what I think is the layout. To the left, with my iphone light and ambient light of the supply room, so like a max of twenty feet, I could see the left wall. To the right though, through uh... the remains of a wooden doorway frame, the light didn’t reach all the way back. Based on the direction and minimum distance I estimated, that hallway on the right that basically disappeared into darkness likely connects this building and the other building, just next to us, via an internal tunnel.

But here’s the thing: it’s an original tunnel. That passageway was part of the original building. Which means that passageway could go ANYWHERE. And best of all, there are legends of underground tunnels in this city sealed off a decade or two ago (used first by immigrant railroad workers, then maintenance crews, and sporadically by the Mob). A couple of the old buildings around here have sealed off entrances to said tunnels. Akin to the Seattle Underground, if you know what that is.

So there is a more than nonzero chance that passageway that leads off into the darkness could open into one of those tunnels.

So yes! I am going to crawl around in the passageway that looks absolutely haunted as soon as I can!

For those worried, fear not: yes I tend to run off and disappear when it comes to trips to museums and historical places, but I take urban exploration VERY seriously. I went no farther than the doorway, and though it’s clear maintenance staff uses the room as a stock and supply room and thus (probably) haven’t had any incidents, if there’s a chance it goes farther back than I think, then I’m not crawling around in there until I can get at least a respirator and good quality flashlight, preferably one I can clip on. That wood rot/old wet wood stank is bad in there, so there’s almost certainly zero ventilation, which means probably mold because Building Almost Next To A Large Body Of Water In The Already Wet PNW, but also potential pooling of dangerous gases like carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide. So ideally, I will also get a CO/HF/gas/radon detector, and investigate with that first so as to not take any chances of y’know. Entering a pocket of CO and passing out.

But I am STUPID excited to check this back room out and will lose my SHIT if it connects to anything else. At the very least, the idea of exploring 130-year-old building passageways is cool as hell.

Will keep you guys updated on my investigation and exploration of our Secret-Secret Room!