Interesting. When I was at another University in the mid 70s I had a student job where I was able to access the tunnels. I had also been intrigued by the notion but mostly they are dank wet musty places with no real excitment. Besides steam they also channel chilled water for the A/C and shuttle your electricity, telephone and internet … cable sometimes too all across the campus.

Just be careful that you don’t trip into one of those 13,000 volt panels that ominously hum as you pass them (especially since the floor in front of it is probably wet). THAT might be exciting. Just remember, they are restricted because they are not safe places to hang around in when you don’t know what you are doing.

I used to be an engineer for the school (responsible for the utility piping) and I’ve yet to be in a more hot, humid, and stanky place during the summer – just be careful down there, it’s definitely not all that safe since some of the steam pipes are ancient. There was so much dust in there that I had to get used to walking with my eyes closed. I could literally walk from the steam tunnel all the way to Nelson without opening my eyes. Luckily though, they’ve renovated the piping in recent years and redone the lighting. I think it’s neat to observe the different years through a backdrop like this. Industrial archaeology, almost.

Fall of 1989 or possibly Spring of 1990.
A group of us would go very regularly and explore.

Dates from the 60s-70s could be found.

Thanks for posting this :)

This was an important gathering place for a branch of the Masters Of Deception, made up of cyberpunks and hackers in the late 1980’s that hasn’t been documented.

does anyone know the exact locations of the entrances?

Kurt Eichenberger (now a Raleigh architect) somehow discovered some entrances to the tunnels about 1970, and he and I had some adventures down there about that time. He probably remembers where those entrances were (hope he doesn’t mind my mentioning his name, and hope we don’t get busted!). As I recall, we entered somewhere around Syme or Welch and were able to go under the railroad tracks to somewhere down around Thompson Theater.

Allen thanks! We just went and explored the tunnels and they were amazing to say the least! We went in near Syme and came up on the other side of the train tracks. Simply incredible. I never knew State had such a secret. Does anyone know of anything similar to explore?

Funny! I was just telling my friend about my journeys down there just last night. I also added that I hate that I never took any photos while down there. Thanks for the article and images. Good timing!

I left my initials CWP on the wall underneath the train tracks back in ’88

I’d also like an update on possible entrances —
pigwedgeon@gmail.com

this is awesome! i have been a state fan for life and now that i am going here i would definitely appreciate any update on ways still available to get down there an explore… somebody please hit me up
eatmor2@yahoo.com

No one else remembers the name Chris Pritchard? I highly doubt that was the real Chris Pritchard who posted that, but if it is, I want to hear more from the man who knew those tunnels best.

I had friends who lived in Turlington. There is a grate covering an entrance to the steam tunnels in one of the flower/tree planter areas on the Turlington quad. We used this entrance regularly to traverse the tunnels to the other side of campus and to Hillsborough Street. The look of bewilderment on the faces of people milling around the quad when we popped up out of the ground was priceless.

People who used the tunnels were “tunnel rats.” You had to watch out for “head busters,” mostly pipes and valves that had an uncanny knack for being at head level as you turned a corner. A couple of the more notorious head busters had been labeled by previous tunnel rats with red spray paint!

As mentioned above, it’s dank and dirty, but lots of fun.

My experience there was in the early 1980s.

I’m curious as to where any of the entrances are, I live on Hillsborough. tategilbert@gmail.com

I am interested in finding entrances
E-mail me at lancelot606@Gmail.com if you know of any possible entrences

I am interested in the entrances. Also has anyone mapped out these tunnels or have the blueprints or anything?
12dinoman12@gmail.com

I was a Tunnel Rat in the 80s and we memorably encountered the Sandworms at The Door, which was in the tunnel that went near the biology building, if I recall. It was at the time an expellable offense to get caught down there and there’d been efforts to catch us before, so we crept up to the blind spot of The Door with our little flash lights. I reached out to open it when it opened by itself, and for a moment we were all completely fucked. Then a face appeared, equally shocked for a long heartbeat. Then he said ‘Sandworms!’ and I relaxed and said ‘Tunnel Rats’. We had a little confab right there, and swapped notes about the entrances we’d found. Little known historic fact – the leader of the Sandworms at the time was the NCSU student body president, nice guy I met at The Door.

Mat,

The door in the free expression tunnel was pretty much painted shut in my day too (late 80s) but could be forced open after turning a little latch on the inside. We had to pile out of it one day when public safety tried to trap us in.

We were never sure if someone had betrayed us but that night we were VERY nearly caught, and they sure seemed to be waiting for us. We popped up out of the manhole behind the library (which used to be somewhat concealed in bushes) only to find the place RINGED with PS. Back down we went (while they tried to figure out how to get the manhole back off) and we made a beeline for the closest exit, at The Phone Booth near the zoology building. We crept up on that sloooowly and heard them outside, waiting for us. Back we went and had to decide between the Big Grate (near Alexander and likely monitored), the Back Door (opposite parking structure near Reynolds), or force the door in the freedom tunnel. We weren’t even sure it’d open but it seemed like the best bet. Took a bit of forcing but we made it out, and we walked right on past the Big Grate, and waved innocently at the mass of campus cops waiting for us to pop out there. Close call, that.

The tunnels were, as you see, ostensibly ‘on lockdown’ even back then although the lock on the grate near the old bookstore (which has now been totally remodeled – it was right off the end of Alexander Dorm) seemed to disappear regularly. We made it a point to never clip the lock on the same night we were to go exploring, one of the many ‘security procedures’ we’d set up. If they have motion detectors now – sounds like you’re screwed. Too bad – had many a fun night creeping slowly, heart beating hard, under the open spot beneath the physical plant. Fun times.

There may have been other groups that called themselves ‘Tunnel Rats’ but we were just a loose group of bored undergrads. Can’t say I remember where the name came from – maybe we read it on the wall, maybe not.

There were other groups active but we rarely met them – going into the steam tunnels was supposed to be instant expulsion so we didn’t advertise. I’d hear rumors of other groups but until we met the Sandworms at The Door, I’d never met any. It was a fortuitous meeting. Jim Something-or-other, the student class president at the time, knew a lot about tunnels we’d barely ever seen, and we tried to prospect every grate and door we found. We swapped info and he and I got to be familiar acquaintances.

I recall that we once conducted a joint operation (we took this all so seriously, given the possible consequences) and I was surprised at how similar our methods were. Both groups had pre-arranged bug-out procedures concerning where we’d exit if someone came, and where we’d meet up again. In practice, this meant abandoning stealth and just pounding out as quickly as possible to the nearest exit. I seem to recall that their equipment was a bit fancier than ours. We favored dim pen lights that only stayed on while you held down a button, and we each carried two. They had nice lights, which to my eye were a bit bright and hard to conceal quickly.

We brushed up against other groups but I can’t say I remember much about them.

i wall in the deep web kann you help me?

We explored the tunnels in the late 70s. You could enter by the door in the Free Expression Tunnel and travel all over campus. Memorable pop-up spots included in front of the old Student Union (Library) hidden in the bushes, also through an above-ground metal box with door near Nelson Hall, and a street level entrance near the smokestack. They were just like the tunnel entrances on Hogan’s Heroes. None of these were locked, and while we wanted to be discreet and unseen, I never heard it was prohibited either. Lots of people did it all the time. But today, there is no way I would do it.

At the time of our unnamed expedition, a previous group had just visited and left their trademark artistically stenciled in several locations; they were called “The Farrah Fawcett Expedition of 1977”. Some of you younger ones can look up who she was…

so now that there’s motion sensors, am i just gonna get expelled right away the second i get down there? bullshit. why’d yall get to have all this fun and i can’t. should i wait until after graduation or what

Regarding the name “Tunnel Rats” Probably from term used in Vietnam war (1960s-1970s) to describe generally smaller soldiers who were assigned to go singularly into Viet Cong underground tunnels, while fully armed to shoot and kill said Viet Cong hideouts. These were purely earthen hand dug tunnels (by the Viet Cong) used as hideouts to ambush American soldiers above ground. These “tunnel rat” soldiers were were revered for their unbelievable bravery.