It is just off the side of US Rte 33, behind the guardrail.
No sign explains how it came to be there or what its former use was.
The tunnel is tall--at least 15 feet tall, and wide, probably 20-30 feet. It divides just inside the entrance into at least two different tunnels. Water lays still on its floor. Ferns and other plants surround the entrance and a few hardier ones live within the cave.
When I took these pictures, there was no fog or mist visible. It was a clear, hot, sunny day. Yet each photo shows distinct mist rising from within the tunnels.
Like in the picture below...
...and in this one, a large orb is centered in the tunnel entrance, with others nearby.
I would love to know more about this tunnel. Was it a railroad tunnel, a mine, a quarry?
If anyone knows, please share!
Ghostes, definitely ghostes!
ReplyDeletetm
Susanna,
ReplyDeleteWhen we were kids, Mom used to scare us every time we'd drive by here. She called them "Monster Holes". Jason and I would literally lay down on the floor boards to hide!!
I was told by my grandad that these holes were cut out of the hill when they made the 4-lane back in the mid-1970's. Before the 4-lane went in, you had to travel along the river in to Elkins, adding a considerable amount of time to the trip. They used the rock for fill and housed the convict labor in the caves left behind. If you stop and look in them, they don't go back very far into the mountain, but most of the year there is standing water in them.
Further, the stretch of 4-lane appears to be in the middle of nowhere, this is because back in the early formation of the Corridor H plans, the route was supposedly going to go this way and through Pendleton County into Harrisonburg, VA. Locals threw and ungodly fit about destroying the natural beauty in Pendleton, so the road was given a different route through Parsons and into Winchester, VA. That is why there is a 12 miles stretch of 4-lane highway that begins nowhere and ends nowhere!!
Matthew
Susanna,
ReplyDeleteMountain water is *cold*. The cold water meeting the warm air would probably explain the mist (I think). However, it doesn't explain the orbs. I've never personally seen orbs but I have seen...other things.
It would be neat to spend the night here, maybe a few nights, with a good camera and recording equipment in hand.
There is a place near my home that I'm planning to spend a nights. It was a civil war battlefield, New Hope Church, aka Hell Hole. Both Union and Confederate soldiers reported that it was a strange place and the feeling was total confusion and disorientation. The story goes that when the mist covers the battle site one can hear rifle shots and see union soldiers running through the woods.
We shall see.
I don't want to go alone though, unless I have to..maybe I can someone to go with me. So far everyone has turned me down...bunch of cowards...lol
I'm with you, Theresa! Matthew, thank you for the explanation. I knew there had to be one, but what an odd thing for the contractors to do. Certainly is an interesting place. I love your mother already! Good mother to make up stories like that--my Dad was the one who used to scare the bejabbers out of us with his stories.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see that battlefield too, Deborah, but like you I think I'd want company!
I think Mom said that the caves were also used to house the convicts while they built the freeway. Perhaps the orbs are the spirits of long-gone convicts?
ReplyDeleteJason Burns
Now that's something I hadn't considered, Jason.
ReplyDeleteHey!
ReplyDeleteI ran across this post and I know it's old but I have always wondered about this place also. We see it on our way to Canaan Valley for our Summer vacation there. It looks so natural looking to me that I didn't even think that it was man made!