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Are there really tunnels under Millersville University’s campus? Are the tunnels haunted? Have students held club meetings in the tunnels?
Not only are the tunnels that run under Millersville University’s campus real, but they also turn 100 years old this year.
Patrick Weidinger, Director of Environmental Health and Safety emeritus, gave a tour of the tunnels to a small group of students and staff during the spring semester. He says he does not believe the hidden tunnels are haunted but has heard stories about students meeting in them.
Weidinger says, “They were once used as a shooting range for
the Millersville rifle team. They were also designated as the emergency fallout shelters for Dilworth, Biemesderfer Executive Center, etc. in the early 1960s during the nuclear war preparedness efforts. The universal fallout shelter sign is still on the wall at the entrance to the tunnel in the basement at Dilworth. But the stockpiles of emergency supplies which would have been stored in the tunnels are long gone.”
The tunnels were originally used to heat the buildings on campus, and the tunnels still house those historic pipes.
And the tunnels are now hitting the century mark. According to the precursor of today’s student-run paper, The Snapper, The Tipster in 1924 reported, “After a lapse of a few months, workmen are resuming their work on the tunnel which connects the Main building with the Science building and (old) library.”
The Tipster also wrote that the tunnels were built to “protect the delicate steam pipes from any undue exposure.” The original water and sewer pipes still reside beneath Millersville’s ground. As for the original steam pipes, Weidinger reports that those were probably removed in the late 1980s when the campus converted from steam heat to electricity.
Millersville’s underground tunnels may no longer be an active fallout shelter or a meeting place for student activities, but they still have their use. “The tunnels are a great facility access pathway for all manner of utilities such as sewer, water, electricity and IT,” Weidinger concludes.
