# Hidden passageways behind bookshelves triggered by moving a book....fact or fic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621 "2004-06-04T14:19:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/1 "2004-06-04T14:19:29Z")
Is there any documented evidence of an old sprawling mansion with hidden passageways behind bookcases with a release mechanism triggered by moving the one book in a row of tomes? This has been a burning question for years for me. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/2 "2004-06-04T15:09:15Z")
I don’t know if there’s ever been a place that matches what you describe, but I know that there WILL be one…if I ever win the lottery. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/3 "2004-06-04T15:19:39Z")
Well, the only one I could fine was [this one](http://www.who2c.com/jorstadtcastle/history.htm). I remember when it was up for sale, they mentioned the secret passages. [Here](http://www.who2c.com/jorstadtcastle/inside.htm) are some links to pictures that show some of them…not a lot, but the only thing I could find. Although the door from the library isn’t moved by a book…bummer. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/4 "2004-06-04T15:42:08Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > I don’t know if there’s ever been a place that matches what you describe, but I know that there WILL be one…if I ever win the lottery. I’m hip. Mine will have a moat and drawbridge, too. I know of some places that have secret passages, but I don’t know of any which use a book as the triggering mechanism. It doesn’t seem like the best idea anyway. Then there’s the question of what book you would use as the trigger. My choices: **The Secret Ways** by Alistair MacLean **Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 24 (Way to Where)** **Fodor’s Guide to Mansions with Secret Passages** **An Analysis of Matthew 7:7** by Froaderick Fronkenstein assisted by Inga RR ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/5 "2004-06-04T15:44:06Z")
Ok, I know this isn’t what you had in mind…but I thought it was cute, and after an hour of searching, it’s the only thing I found. [Ta-Da!](http://www.ballanceart.com/Castles_Dreams.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/6 "2004-06-04T15:45:47Z")
Here in Saint Paul we have the Hill Mansion, which has a secret door from the banquet hall to the kitchen, to make it easier for the servants to clean up after the guests have all retired to the drawing room. The same room has a hidden safe behind a panel which was used to hold the silver service. Don’t know about bookcases, though. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/7 "2004-06-04T16:04:42Z")
And of course the very next link I click is a real one…_sigh_…[Carelton House](http://www.wiscasset.k12.me.us/wms/grade7/Project/Maine/Wiscasset/carelton_house.htm) was built around the turn of the century, and it has a secret passage behind a bookcase. Don’t know if it’s triggered by a book. But that’s all I can find. You’d think as prevelant as the cliche is, that there’d be **something** on the net about places that really have it…but I haven’t been able to find anything. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/8 "2004-06-04T16:51:16Z")
If I ever become rich enough to build my own mansion, you can bet your last nickel that it’ll have a secret passageway. And yes, it’ll open with a bookshelf switch 🆒 The secret passageway will lead to a tower, which rises at least a full story above any other point on the house. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/9 "2004-06-04T16:52:18Z")
> [@Atrael](#): > > And of course the very next link I click is a real one…_sigh_…[Carelton House](http://www.wiscasset.k12.me.us/wms/grade7/Project/Maine/Wiscasset/carelton_house.htm) was built around the turn of the century, and it has a secret passage behind a bookcase. Don’t know if it’s triggered by a book. But that’s all I can find. You’d think as prevelant as the cliche is, that there’d be **something** on the net about places that really have it…but I haven’t been able to find anything. Anything’s possible, but it seems unlikely there’d be many, if any, opened by moving a book . Consider – you go to all the trouble of constructing a secret passageway (leave aside how secret it would be given all of the workmen it would take to construct it) – then you set it up so it can be discovered by any mope looking for porn? Even in the movies, those entrances are usually done for laughs, in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/10 "2004-06-04T17:09:35Z")
> [@Rube E. Tewesday](#): > > Even in the movies, those entrances are usually done for laughs, in my experience. Put . . . ze candle . . . beck! 😛 RR ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/11 "2004-06-04T17:20:07Z")
Games magazine had an article on this many years ago (If you really want, I’ll search my apartment and try to find it). IIRC even going back a few centuries, secret passages were installed purely as whimsical touches. I don’t recall any passages opened by pulling a book, though such a mechanism looks good in the movies it would be needlessy complicated, require maintenance, and be noisy. Teller, of Penn and Teller, had a secret passage installed in his library. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/12 "2004-06-04T17:25:00Z")
Bill Gates has one doesn’t he, beating **Kizarvexius** too 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/13 "2004-06-04T17:28:24Z")
The house up the street from my Grandfather’s house (in Newton, MA) had a secret room in the basement. It was accessed by sliding a false wall. According to my neighbor, the house was builtin the early 1920’s by a bootlegger-he would store whiskey in the room, which he had smuggled in from Canada. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/14 "2004-06-04T17:28:32Z")
IIRC, _Relic Hunter_ had an episode featuring just the same thing. “Look for a book that’s more worn than the others!” (I just watch it for the pictures. Mmmm, Tia!) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/15 "2004-06-04T17:38:39Z")
I once considered buying a house in Wyoming Township (a part of Cincinnati) that included a secret room which was hidden by a built in bookshelf. It’s been a few years, but as I recall you just pushed or pulled on the shelf as needed. It was a pretty cool house but just out of our price range. Looking back we should have probably stretched our budget to fit. Live and learn. Anyway, the house was otherwise just a regular old house. Not even that old, really. So it’s not that uncommon a feature. I didn’t know and the realtor couldn’t tell me why that room was there. The room inside was just a normal room and even had a window facing the street, so it wasn’t that “secret”. And no passageways, either. Now a secret passageway would be way cool. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/16 "2004-06-04T17:49:26Z")
Pikers. My lottery house will have a red button hidden inside a sculpture, which will expose sliding poles down into my cave, complete with jet car and crime computer and hidden entrance. It will have a way to change clothes on the fly somehow, too. Hawthorne’s House of the Seven Gables has a secret stairway too, but its door is just made to blend into the wall paneling. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/17 "2004-06-04T18:12:13Z")
Richard Garriot (Lord British of the Ultima series of games, founder of Origin) is famous for having too much money. His previous house… uh, castle… had a secret door that you opened by moving a small statuette on a nearby shelf. The statuette had a magnet in the base that operated the remote door release. I tried it once- it was kinda hinky, but it did the job. Not quite the same thing, I know, but there you go… ---
**Author:** ![PecanSandy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@PecanSandy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PecanSandy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/18 "2004-06-04T18:26:07Z")
Being as I possibly have more money than brains… I am in the midst of constructing a new home and one of the features I’m putting in is a revolving “secret” book case that will adjoin my twin daughters rooms. It’s not going to trigger by pulling a book but will actually be so well balanced that it will revolve with just a touch. I got the idea from some home makeover show last year where they did it fairly easily. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/19 "2004-06-04T18:52:55Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Games magazine had an article on this many years ago (If you really want, I’ll search my apartment and try to find it). IIRC even going back a few centuries, secret passages were installed purely as whimsical touches. I don’t recall any passages opened by pulling a book, though such a mechanism looks good in the movies it would be needlessy complicated, require maintenance, and be noisy. Biltmore House in Asheville, NC has several hidden passages. I don’t know if they qualify as “secret,” since they were for use by the servants. Their doors were fashioned to blend into dining room walls, etc. RR ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/20 "2004-06-04T18:57:11Z")
The [Jekyll and Hyde pub](http://www.jekyllpub.com) in Manhattan has one to go to the restroom. Again, unfortunately not triggered by a book. You just push on the false bookshelf. It’s kind of funny, because there’s a sign for the restrooms, then a short hallway lined with bookshelves that ends in a either a dead end or the kitchen door, I forget. The dead end says something like “looking for the restroom? turn around!” If you turn around, the door you came in says the same thing on the reverse side. You have to push the bookshelf on the wall to get to the restroom. Very Funny. I suppose not so funny if you really need the restroom badly and don’t know about it. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621.md?page=2)