Wiccan Shrine — Or What?
Over the past several months I have been exploring and photographing old streetcar tracks and pavements that have been exposed in the course of the many repaving projects now underway in downtown Raleigh. One of those forays took me deep beneath the city streets — and this is what I discovered.
Cautiously, I descended into an unknown netherworld.
Ultimately I found myself in a dank, dark and cold subterranean chamber. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light filtering down from above, I spotted what appeared to be a small devotional shrine someone had erected on the opposite side of the room. Wiccans! — I thought.
A box of matches lay atop the makeshift altar, so I lit the pair of candles which had been placed there; they emitted an eerie glow in the darkness.
Suddenly, I heard a distinct ‘kerplunk’ behind me, and I spun around to investigate.
Relieved that no one else had entered the chamber, I looked closer, and realized some small object must have fallen from a cloaca maxima above me into the shallow brackish water at my feet.
I continued my exploration and could see through the culvert beneath the altar that another room appeared in the distance about 50 feet away. However, as the water was considerably deeper in there, I decided to save that particular venture for another day.
As I turned to leave, I snapped a photo of myself reflected in the shiny, hieroglyph-enscribed black tiles of the shrine.
Hmm, I thought, as I extinguished the candles and made my ascent out of this mysterious and hidden, subterranean chamber — Wiccans? I dunno. But with all that concrete and brickwork down there — maybe this secret shrine has some kind of association with the Masons?
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07/30/2010
Looks like it hasn’t been there long; the walls are too clean, and the steel hand/foot bars have no corrosion.
07/30/2010
Interesting! But doesn’t look all that Wiccany to me.
07/30/2010
Wow! I can’t believe that! I would have been terrified and fascinated at the same time. I actually am both right now, and I’m just looking at the pictures. I shared this on my Facebook!
07/30/2010
hail satan – it’s the gates of hell
07/30/2010
Urban Subterranean Spelunking again are we ;)
07/31/2010
Never seen this… downtown??
08/01/2010
Where exactly is this place?
08/01/2010
I found some similar stuff in a tunnel in downtown Durham. I’m pretty sure it’s more likely some guerrilla (sub)street art than anything related to religion or a secret society. Some pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avius/sets/72157622218581212/
08/02/2010
I love stuff like this. And Avius, your photo set is great, too. The idea of people creating little underground sewer shrines (and hopefully not sacrificing too many small children) all over the Triangle makes me smile.
08/02/2010
It would be my luck to visit during one of the recent flash storms.
08/03/2010
so the candles were lit when you entered?
08/03/2010
No, I lit the ones I found. According to the article, so did Raleigh Boy. Finding a LIT candle would be the creepiest of all, because you’d know there was someone else down there with you!
08/03/2010
Or they burn for all eternity
08/12/2010
What possessed you, or do you crawl around in the sewers on a regular basis?
08/12/2010
Curiosity possessed me. I find fascinating the hidden and forgotten places that are sometimes right beneath our feet. Truthfully, I do most of my exploring above ground, but if I find a tunnel big enough to fit into, there’s usually something interesting at the end of it.
08/12/2010
I’ve had the notion to get into urban exploration and this right here inspires me even more. Good job, dude.
08/16/2010
This ‘shrine’ and the Zodiac, as Avius calls the other location, are actually pieces to two large subterranean geocache puzzles.
08/25/2010
Creeeeeepy.
11/17/2010
This looks like fun. I haven’t run across a tile shrine on the wall yet.
11/19/2010
Wow, I didn’t know about the underground world of Raleigh! That would make a great location for an edgy photo shoot. How did you find that place/how can I find it or somewhere similar? Did you need permission to go down there?
11/19/2010
@ Rachel — Permissions not necessary; if you take only pictures and leave only footprints. The world of underground Raleigh is simply beneath your feet — explore.
12/13/2010
“I find fascinating the hidden and forgotten places that are sometimes right beneath our feet.”
This is so true. I enjoy photographing graffiti and people have no idea just how much they drive over every day on the beltline alone. This was a great article, thankls for sharing it with us!
*puts this on his to find and shoot list* ; )
12/13/2010
Tunnels for days and days… get chur’ boots on and bring some extra batteries for the headlamp. There are even some outstanding arches out there… but you all will NEVER FIND THEM! Ha ha ha. Tee hee Tee hee
04/10/2011
this might sound wierd….but ive seen one 2…me and my friend walked in a sewer after a creek on cowper at fivepoints in raleigh…we were wondering about what type of altar it was two…ive beeen in there recently to look in all of thos tubes and the shrine was falling apart. seriously that scared me but it was very interesting…
04/10/2011
very interseting
01/28/2012
MAN– I so want to find this but haven’t been successful!
08/11/2012
@Locke I live in Five Points and walk around Cowper all the time. Are you talking about the big gullies with the rocks around them? I’d be very interested to find this shrine in my neighborhood.
08/13/2012
yes. at the very end across the street from the animal hospital
08/13/2012
How far in would I have to crawl to find it?
08/13/2012
is straight about 50 feet at the intersection of all of the tubes. the last time i went was about june of 2011.