When Rice Memorial High School moved into its current building in 1959, a tunnel system was in the ground below the school to make the heating and plumbing systems accessible that run through the building. This way, they could easily fix anything that might malfunction.
The tunnels run throughout exterior walls under the classrooms on the first floor, under the guidance hallway, and under the cafeteria. However, very few tunnels can be comfortably moved through. Most are just crawl spaces that can barely fit a person.
“The tunnels, as horror movie-ish as they are, are really conduits for HVAC systems and electrical,” said Vice Principal, Daniel Routhier. “So a lot of the utilities that run throughout the building are installed through there.”
The tunnels are most commonly used by Kirk Townsend, Rice’s custodian, and sometimes other workers who need to get down there in order to fix and update various parts of the building.
Though the tunnels are normally just used for maintenance, there is something eerie about hidden tunnels under a high school.
“If you’re in this building at night and you’re by yourself…you can hear everything that goes on in this building,” said Townsend. “It’s like the building moans and it groans and it makes all kinds of different noises.”
They also store old desks and baskets, however it is unknown what the baskets were used for, which only adds to the creepy feeling one gets when they are down in the underbelly of the school.
Though the tunnels are fairly unknown to the general student body, they are not hidden.
“You don’t think about it right? Unless someone has seen me go down into them,” said Townsend. “If something goes wrong in a room or near one of those areas… and I have to get underneath it. And if there is a class and kids, [I’ll go through the hatch].”
(Photo/Logan Forcier)
While many teachers are either unaware of or frightened of the tunnels, some have stories about strange happenings in and around the tunnels.
There have been instances of animals getting stuck in the tunnels and people popping up out of nowhere during construction a few years ago.
“They…were removing all the asbestos from the tunnel, so there were a bunch of men in white suits down there.” said Lisa Barron, Rice’s Administrative Manager. “I was walking down the guidance hallway with a student and one of the workers popped out the hatch. The girl I was with screamed so loud. I’ll remember that forever.”
The tunnels might be a bit spooky but they allow for Mr. Townsend to help keep Rice running smoothly, without causing any hindrance to the students and teachers.
On behalf of The Knight’s Banner, thank you Mr. Townsend for all that you do for us!
