You may have been shocked, or maybe just confused, to see “The Tunnels” nominated and then win Best Kept Campus Secret. But when barely anyone can explain what they actually are, it only feels right that The Tunnels take home the crown.
Beneath Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus sits a hidden system that has fueled rumors for years, partly because of where this campus came from and partly because bored students just love a mystery. FAU opened in September 1964, just two decades after World War II, on land that once served as the Boca Raton Army Air Field base. That history is real, and it has helped keep the tunnel legend alive ever since.
Over the years, it has been reported that the mysterious, hidden tunnels were created on the Army Air Field base during World War II. It is an easy story to buy. It sounds like something you would hear at 1 a.m. after a long night, delivered with total confidence by someone who “knows a guy” who “totally went down there once.” And honestly, it would be cool to think there is a secret wartime relic running under campus, a leftover piece of history hiding in plain sight.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The truth is less cinematic, but it is still fascinating in its own way. The Tunnels were built to connect services when the university first opened in 1964 because buildings were far apart, according to FAU’s University Press. In other words, they exist because the campus needed to work. They were made for the unglamorous basics that keep everything running, the behind-the-scenes infrastructure most people never think about until something stops working.
Still, the tunnels do not stay “just infrastructure” for long. With several entry points existing on campus, it is only natural that rumors emerge as students come and go. Add a little time, a lot of curiosity, and the fact that many have illegally trespassed over the years, and suddenly, The Tunnels become more than a route for services. They become a campus rite of passage people whisper about, argue over, and swear they have seen.
That is the real reason The Tunnels won Best Kept Campus Secret. Not because they are a war story, but because they are an FAU story: hidden, hyped, and still underground.
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