BREAKING: Mystery Cave & Cavern system discovered under Street.

Fox News (TV) - Boston, MA Channel 25 | Thursday, November 8th, 2001 | Editorial Staff

[PRND21]

In a related note, Judicial Watch has threatened legal action, citing a lack of wheelchair access.
Numerous memos and pledge letters pending.

[PoorMuttly]

Yes. Worcester has such a tunnel system. I was thrown out of there, too.

[PoorMuttly]

...well...Worcester, anyway. But I was working on getting a tour of the tunnels with the local historians.

[vannrox]

Millbury discovery

Thursday, November 8, 2001

By Donna Daley
Telegram & Gazette Staff


MILLBURY-- A minor construction mishap has unearthed an archaeological mystery under the Town Common.


Highway Department workers were removing strips of earth Tuesday to make way for a new sidewalk along the Main Street edge of the Town Common when the ground gave way, catching the wheel of a front-end loader.


When the loader was moved, workers discovered an opening to some sort of structure beneath the Common.


Workers lowered a ladder and went into the 3-by-4-foot hole, wading through water. After the water was drained, they realized how big the area was.


There are two brick archways at the base of the hole, and beyond that a series of steel and fieldstone and mortar structures. What appears to be a cast-iron plate covers an opening that could have been a chimney, said Highway Surveyor Joseph Chase.


The structure extends underground to the curbing along Farnsworth Court and about 25 feet underground across the Common. Farnsworth Court was once the main street through downtown, before Main Street was built.


Town Manager Raymond W. Houle Jr. ordered all work on the project to cease, and the hole has been covered with a steel plate.


Mr. Houle said he cannot find records of any such structure within the town, and neither can the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Cynthia Burr, Millbury Historical Commission chairman, said the earliest information shows that area to be what it is today: a town common.


“We need the help of the professionals,” said Ms. Burr, who was flabbergasted upon hearing of the discovery. Officials associated with the state historical commission are trained in construction techniques and are able to date materials.


The state commission is sending an archaeologist to examine the structure next week. While what lies beneath the Common remains a mystery, there are presumptions.


“I thought it might have something to do with the Blackstone Canal,” Mr. Houle said. Canal locks were built within a two-mile stretch of the canal, but none is known to exist today.


“Rumors in town have it that this (Millbury) was a stop along the Underground Railroad. It does seem like a good hiding place,” he added.


That section of the Common is also next to the Millbury Baptist Church. Legend has it that the foundation of the church was dug by women while the men were off fighting in the Civil War. Though the brick archways and fieldstone of the underground structure resemble parts of the church, Mr. Houle said there appears to be no connection between the two.


Mr. Chase happened across a postcard of the Common dated 1906. It showed no building on the site. Both Mr. Chase and Mr. Houle, who are amateur historians, said the structure predates 1906, but could not have been built before 1813, when the town split from Sutton. Their reasoning: The structure is brick and concrete, and most buildings built before the early 1800s were made of wood.

[operation clinton cleanup]

This was not supposed to be found by hairless apes until 2001, oh wait....

[jamaksin]

Corner of Elm and Main ... discovered after removal of trees from the Town Common ... more news at ... whenever.

[jamaksin]

Worcester T&G - frontpage - Nov, 8, 2001. Check their Website.

[blam]

Thanks for the up date.

[NilesJo]

Corner of Elm and Main ... discovered after removal of trees from the Town Common ..."

For starters, they could try dating the tree, it probably grew after the room was constructed.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Somebody call John Agar - the Mole Men are back!!!

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Cheese, CHEESE, CHEESE, Cheese, CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE, cheese, cheeeesssse!

[Ditter]

Didn't Stephen King write about this in one of his novels?

[jamaksin]

Excellent point ... but Millbury is Millbury; the discussion at the Central Diner might shed some light on the "mystery" though.

[oldironsides]

Jack Kennedy is not really dead. He has been wandering the caverns beneath Boston for years with Paul Revere and Whitey Bolger.

[TRY ONE]

The ghost of Tipp O'Neil must be down there!

[monkeywrench]

It's the original Kennedy "compound".

[Stand Watch Listen]

Has ANYONE notified Geraldo ! ! ! !

[Marysecretary]

Could it have something to do with the Underground Railroad? Chandra Levy's disappearance? All kinds of options here.

[Doc On The Bay]

The original "set" from "Beauty & the Beast"--Ron Perlman, Linda Hamilton! A GREAT Fantasy series, which will one day be considered a "TV Classic!"

Doc

[PoorMuttly]

If we notify Geraldo, he may reconsider Halfgonestan.