# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/21 "2004-06-04T19:57:28Z")
I imagine the quickest way to set one up is with a garage door opener and remote, albeit a little noisy. No wires! You could even put together a weighted switch that’s triggered whenever you tilt the book. It wouldn’t matter where on the shelf it was. Keeping the battery fresh after 100 years is problematic though. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/22 "2004-06-04T20:58:48Z")
Yes, the house in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis, the entrance to the secret annexe is hidden behind a bookcase. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/23 "2004-06-05T00:10:09Z")
> [@RiverRunner](#): > > 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 Beat me to it, but I will add that the second floor of the library (it’s two-stories tall, with a balcony running around at least two of its sides) does have a hidden door that leads to the bedrooms. It’s behind the fireplace chimney. Like the other rooms (I"m thinking of the game room), it’s not totally concealed, but very well built. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/24 "2004-06-05T01:13:35Z")
We can always ask whacko Jacko if his house has any more hidden passeges. I wonder if my Kitchen leads to my Study… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/25 "2004-06-05T01:23:05Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > The secret passageway will lead to a tower, which rises at least a full story above any other point on the house. Ha! My Secret Passage will lead to the helipad or the submarine dock. Maybe both. What the hell. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/26 "2004-06-05T01:46:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Ha! My Secret Passage will lead to the helipad or the submarine dock. > Maybe both. What the hell. No. Missile silo. And unless the United Nations pays me ONE…MILLION…DOLLARS… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Logitech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@Logitech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Logitech)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/27 "2004-06-05T01:52:59Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > No. > > Missile silo. > > And unless the United Nations pays me ONE…MILLION…DOLLARS… > 😉 I was thinking that it would be really cool to live in an actual missle complex. I would have a golf cart down at the bottom, so that I could go from missle silo to missle silo, and the top of one of my missle silo’s would have a pool, and when I wanted to swin, I would just open up the top, and have an instant window. Just another Idea of what to do when I’m rich. I also think living in an old jumbo jet fuselage stuck in the gound would be cool ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/28 "2004-06-05T02:32:32Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > No. > > Missile silo. And when I show up at the top of the silo with a cement truck, a cell phone and trouble you for your Swiss bank account numbers? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/29 "2004-06-05T03:12:02Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > And when I show up at the top of the silo with a cement truck, a cell phone and trouble you for your Swiss bank account numbers? > 🙂 That’s why you have the remote-controlled cannons 😃 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/30 "2004-06-05T03:26:33Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > 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 🆒 I dunno about the bookshelf switch. If someone’s looking for my secret passage, won’t that be the first thing they try? Instead, my secret passage will be controlled by an oddly out-of-place antique sconce. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/31 "2004-06-05T04:37:28Z")
Hidden passages for servants aren’t all that unusual in houses of a certain age. Even dinky old Longview, Texas has a turn-of-the-20th-century house with hidden servants’ passages, and it wasn’t exactly the Seat of the Rich Elite. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/32 "2004-06-05T05:18:51Z")
Nobody has mentioned the [Winchester Mystery House](http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/) in San Jose, California, the 160-room mansion built by the inventor of the Winchester Rifle. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/33 "2004-06-05T06:00:32Z")
A friend of mine has a bookshelf door to the upstairs rooms. The latch is concealed by books, not book activated. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/34 "2004-06-05T10:25:45Z")
[hijack]My grandparents used to own 1/4 of an old mansion. (separated about 50 years ago) and all through my childhood whilst staying there I used to go around tapping walls and measuring them. But no luck ☹ However, one cupboard in the hall had no back, and led into another cupboard in the master bedroom. When the cupboard had clothes hanging in it couldn’t be seen. But that’s about as secret as it gets. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/35 "2004-06-05T10:38:05Z")
When I was a kid, my great aunt used to live [here](http://freespace.virgin.net/chorleywood.parishcouncil/house.htm) (in an apartment - she didn’t own the place unfortunately). The first time I visited the ‘library’, a room off the main hall, I shut the door behind me and wandered around. When I came to leave, I couldn’t initially find where I’d first come in. The reason was that back of the door to the hall was a section of the bookshelves, with fake but realistic books on it. Unfortunately, there was a doorhandle rather than a book trigger. [aside] When I was three, I was knocking around the wood panelling on one of the hallways, and one panel swung open: I had discovered a previously unknown secret passage to the cellar. 🆒 [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/36 "2004-06-05T11:32:27Z")
Susan Sand… is that you? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/37 "2004-06-05T11:55:15Z")
There used to be a bar here in town called The Barber’s Closet that was accessed by a hidden door located behind a display case. IIRC the space started out as a speakeasy located behind an actual barbershop. Unfortunately the building in which it was housed burned down several years ago. It was a great loss. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/38 "2004-06-05T13:36:43Z")
I win! I have a secret room behind a built-in bookshelf in MY house! Yay me! Unfortunately, it’s not automated. Meaning that to get to it, I have to remove all the books to remove the false wall behind the shelf. Thus, it never gets used. But it’s THERE dammit! It exists! ---
**Author:** ![fezpp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fezpp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fezpp)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/39 "2004-06-05T13:45:20Z")
The Thatched House pub in Ravencourt Park, London has a doorway made to look like a bookcase that runs to the Gents toilets. It’s not signposted at all so always good for the regulars when it gets busy! ---
**Author:** ![cogitator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@cogitator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cogitator)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621/40 "2004-06-05T19:42:36Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > A friend of mine has a bookshelf door to the upstairs rooms. The latch is concealed by books, not book activated. Several years ago my sister and her b/f lived in a plain-old ho-hum second story apartment. Wasn’t until they started poking around that they discovered that the tall built-in bookcase (approx. 3’ up from the floor, 3’ wide) was actually a secret passage into a very narrow hall which ran between their apartment and another, and also had steps leading down to a restaurant establishment located on the ground floor in the front of the bldg. Didn’t appear to be used for malicious intent … didn’t appear to be used at all! The secret place came in handy for a number of situations, including at Thanksgiving, when they were serving the meal for family(ies) and didn’t have enough space to cook both a turkey and a duck in their own oven. We popped open the bookcase, hopped up and across into the other (unlocked)(vacant) apartment and borrowed the oven and counterspace for food prep. Extra liquid sustenance went into the other apt’s fridge during the festivities. I’ve been told stories about how some fun/questionable items have also been hurriedly stuffed into that little passageway when the parents were on their way over for a visit, and that they may also have borrowed assorted items from the restaurant downstairs on occasion. I miss their apartment. I gotta gets me one’a them hidden thinigies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidden-passageways-behind-bookshelves-triggered-by-moving-a-book-fact-or-fic/248621.md?page=3)