There are usually always a few people who know the secrets of a big city. People pass on the information because if they didn't, they might be lost forever. If you are a writer, sometimes you put them in your book; that's when things get awesome.

In the 2007 novel 'Foucalt's Pendulum' by Umberto Eco, there is section of dialog that, for whatever reason, ignited a lot of people's imaginations about what was under their feet while standing in front of a certain house in Paris, and then another in Brooklyn:

"...and they don't know the truth. That the house is a fake. It's a facade, an enclosure with no room, no interior. It is really a chimney, a ventilation flue that serves to release the vapors of the regional Métro. And once you know this you feel you are standing at the mouth of the underworld..."

Word got out that there was some truth behind this fictional story, and since then several vent houses in large cities have been located and documented. Since it's probably closest to you, we're going to focus on the one in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Vent House
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So, this is not a real house. 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, NY has blacked out windows, which should be some sort of clue that no one is living in there, but it is New York. In fact, no one has lived in this house for over 100 years, and it's no longer even a house -- just a facade hiding a "vent house," a secret subway exit and huge ventilation point for the New York Subway system's 4 and 5 lines.

Apparently there's a small front room with a cement floor and a thick, locked metal door. Behind that I'm assuming there is a vast, pitch-black nightmare village full of snakes swimming in sewer water, mutant mole people who have alligators as pets and mice nesting in their beards. Thanks, 80s movies.

People who live in the neighborhood have reported occasionally see workers in "special suits" on the stoop, in the middle of the night. Presumably, they are taking a break from the alien experiments that they spend all night doing, as this is clearly also a portal to space. Thanks, 90s movies.

Want to find it? Check out more info right here, and read more about the London vent house.

 

 

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