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A secret passage (or hidden passage or a secret tunnel) is a hidden route that is used to travel stealthily. Such passageways may be inside a building leading to a secret room, or be a way of entering (or exiting) somewhere without being seen. Hidden passages are a common feature of fiction, but have also served a variety of purposes throughout history. Hidden rooms have helped people evade capture or carry out illegal religious, political, or smuggling activities.
Appearance and construction
Secret doors are by design very difficult to spot, using a variety of camouflage techniques to blend in with their surroundings. Some such doors can appear to be part of the wall, while others disguise themselves as a fireplace, bookcase or other feature. Some entrances are elaborate and require a specific mechanism in order for the door to open, while others are much more simple; a trapdoor hidden under a rug, for example, can easily conceal a secret passage.
Within buildings, most secret areas were built into the original plans. Other secret passages have sometimes been constructed, particularly secret tunnels. Such tunnels have often been created as escape routes from prisons or prisoner-of-war camps (both having happened in real life as well as in many fictional works), where they are known as escape tunnels. Other tunnels have been made for different reasons, such as smuggling tunnels.
Famous historical uses
There have been many instances throughout history of secret passages and rooms having been used:
- Early Christians who were persecuted by Roman authorities in the second century used hidden rooms to conceal their religious ceremonies http://www.britannia.com/church/bond1.html.
- Similarly, Protestant and proto-Protestant Christians used hidden rooms to hide their ceremonies during religious persecutions by the Catholic church in Great Britain and Ireland in the 1400s. In 1401, just prior to the reign of Queen Mary I, the Catholic clergy pushed forward a law that would punish Protestant "heretics" with burning.''Book of Martyrs (1563) John Foxe
- In 1330, the young king Edward III was imprisoned by Roger Mortimer, the Earl of March, who took over the rulership of England. A small group of armed supporters of Edward III used a secret passage to attack Mortimer, who was in a castle defended by several hundred soldiers. The attackers entered through a long, winding secret passage which led directly into the building in which the queen was lodged. An accomplice inside the castle slid back the bolts to the door, which allowed the attackers to arrest Mortimer.http://www.ianmortimer.com/histbiogs/perfect/perfectintro.htm
- Guerrilla warfare fighters have used tunnels and secret passages to attack their enemies without being captured and transport arms and supplies. The Cu Chi tunnels were used particularly during the Tết Offensive in the Vietnam War, between 1968 and 1969.
- Anne Frank (12 June 1929 – ca. March 1945) was a German-born Jewish girl who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family and four friends in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. As persecutions against the Jewish population increased, the family went into hiding in July 1942 in hidden rooms in her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years in hiding, the group was betrayed and transported to the concentration camp system where Anne died. Her diary is published in English under the name The Diary of a Young Girl and has been adapted to theatre and film.
- During WWII, British RAF officers held captive in Colditz Castle built a false wall in the attic of one of the POW buildings, to hide a workshop where they were constructing a glider to help them escape.http://www.colditz-4c.com/glider.htm
- Dr. H. H. Holmes (1861 – 7 May 1896) was an American serial killer who trapped, tortured and murdered possibly hundreds of guests at his Chicago hotel, which he opened for the 1893 World's Fair. He tortured his victims in soundproof and escapeproof chambers hidden within the complicated hotel designed by Benjamin F. Pitzel.
- The Passetto is a secret passage that links the Vatican City with Castel Sant'Angelo. Pope Alexander VI crossed it in 1494, when Charles VIII invaded the city, and Pope Clement VII escaped to safety through it during the Sack of Rome in 1527.
- Many ancient Egyptian pyramids used secret passages and booby traps to help conceal and protect their treasures.
Modern secret passages
On 25 January 2006 a 720 meter (2,400 foot) smuggling tunnel which crossed under the border of the United States and Mexico was discovered. The tunnel was used to transport vast quantities of marijuana from Tijuana into Otay, California. The passage linked two industrial warehouses, and was ventilated and well-lit. As well as illegal substances, this tunnel and others that have previously been discovered have been used for illegal immigration.
Between August 2000 and May 2002 more than 1,000 ancient books went missing from the library of the monastery of Mont Saint-Odile. Stanislas Gosse stole the books after finding an old map showing a secret entrance into the library. The route was not easy, however, involving climbing up exterior walls, a steep staircase and a secret chamber. A mechanism then opened the back of one of five cupboards. The disappearance of so many books over such a length of time confused the librarian, the monks and the police, with Gosse finally being caught by closed-circuit television cameras.
Mythological uses
Greek mythology:
- According to Pausanias, Hyprieus, the King of Boeotia, hired Trophonius and Agamedes to build a treasure chamber for him. However, the pair built in a secret entrance and stole his fortune.
Fictional uses
The use of secret passages is a common plot element in fiction. They often appear in old buildings, especially castles, haunted houses, and the lairs of villains or superheroes. They are often opened by pulling a disguised lever, often as a book in a bookshelf (regarded as a cliché). Characters may accidentally activate the mechanism for a secret door by leaning on the switch.
Hidden lairs
Many fictional characters, both good and bad, have secret bases or lairs. These lairs are sometimes located on remote islands, such as that of James Bond villains Dr. Julius No in Dr. No and Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun. Another popular choice is that of a mountain or, for increased dramatic effect, a volcano. Not all lairs are located in such a remote location – in The Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom's lair is beneath the opera house which he haunts.Superheroes also frequently operate from a secret base, but most usually use it for maintaining their secret identity. Batman's batcave is made up of a series of subterranean caves beneath his residence, Wayne Manor. The base features a secret door within the mansion, often behind a grandfather clock in the main study, which leads into the lair.
In games
In role-playing games, secret passages, like traps, can be found in all sorts of buildings, especially in the dungeons. The mansion in the board game Cluedo (Clue) has two secret passages that players can use to move to an opposite corner of the board.Computer and video games often feature hidden areas, sometimes as an important part of the game and other times as an easter egg. Such areas can be a required route in order to continue or may be optional and contain rewards for the player, such as a bonus stage, a secret character, extra items or a shortcut to a later part of the game. Some secret entrances are totally invisible, such as a normal-looking wall that can be walked through, while others give a slight visual clue, often a waterfall.
See also
References
- (27 January 2006) "Drug haul in secret border tunnel" at BBC News. Accessed 28 January 2006.
- (19 June 2003) "Mystery at the monastery ends as CCTV reveals chamber of secrets' daring thief" at The Guardian. Accessed 30 January 2006.
"Secret passage"