# The Mystery Tunnels Of Bavaria Newslink **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mystery-tunnels-of-bavaria-newslink/590316 "2011-07-25T22:06:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 25, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mystery-tunnels-of-bavaria-newslink/590316/1 "2011-07-25T22:06:30Z")
Craeated by the Illuminati? Probably not. But still— > **[Hideouts or Sacred Spaces?: Experts Baffled by Mysterious Underground Chambers](https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/hideouts-or-sacred-spaces-experts-baffled-by-mysterious-underground-chambers-a-775348.html)** > > There are more than 700 curious tunnel networks in Bavaria, but their purpose remains a mystery. Were they built as graves for the souls of the dead, as ritual spaces or as hideaways from marauding bandits? Archeologists are now exploring the... > [@](#): > > There are more than 700 curious tunnel networks in Bavaria, but their purpose remains a mystery. Were they built as graves for the souls of the dead, as ritual spaces or as hideaways from marauding bandits? Archeologists are now exploring the subterranean vaults to unravel their secrets. > > At least 700 of these chambers have been found in Bavaria alone, along with about 500 in Austria. In the local vernacular, they have fanciful names such as “Schrazelloch” (“goblin hole”) or “Alraunenhöhle” (“mandrake cave”). They were supposedly built by elves, and legend has it that gnomes lived inside. According to some sagas, they were parts of long escape tunnels from castles. > > In reality, the tunnels are often only 20 to 50 meters long. The larger passageways are big enough so that people can walk through them in a hunched position, but some tunnels are so small that explorers have to get down on all fours. The tiniest passageways, known as “Schlupfe” (“slips”), are barely 40 centimeters (16 inches) in diameter. > > The ground beneath the southern German state of Bavaria is literally perforated with these underground mazes – and no one knows why. > > The vaults could not have served a practical purpose, as dwellings or to store food, for example, if only because the tunnels are so inconveniently narrow in places. Besides, some fill up with water in the winter. Also, the lack of evidence of feces indicates that they were not used to house livestock. > > There is not a single written record of the construction of an Erdstall dating from the medieval period. “The tunnels were completely hushed up,” says Ahlborn. > > Archeologists have also been surprised to find that the tunnels are almost completely empty and appear to be swept clean, as if they were abodes for the spirits. One gallery contained an iron plowshare, while heavy millstones were found in three others. Virtually nothing else has turned up in the vaults. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mystery-tunnels-of-bavaria-newslink/590316/2 "2011-07-26T00:08:00Z")
I found it interesting. Although I have a bit of a quibble with something towards the end … the author mentions that they doubt it was used for hiding, or storage or something because the tunnels were totally empty [generally] Sorry dude, poor peasants tend to salvage everything they can, so I am not surprised at all to find them totally empty. I could see some of them meant for use as food storage, underground is cooler than above ground. I don’t see them used for animals, the tunnels tend to be tiny. I could even see hiding in them, but it is hard to crawl into a hole and close it behind you in a manner that is hard to make it to find the tunnels [in those cases, probably the man of the family shut the family in and went off to repel invaders?] I think until/unless we find some sort of written documentation on them we will pretty much have to wonder the whys of them. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2011, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mystery-tunnels-of-bavaria-newslink/590316/3 "2011-07-26T11:58:53Z")
Fascinating! I’ll wait for Fortean Times to write about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mystery-tunnels-of-bavaria-newslink/590316/4 "2011-07-26T12:25:06Z")
Salt exploration? Its Bavaria. In the Middle Ages a salt mine would make you very wealthy. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mystery-tunnels-of-bavaria-newslink/590316/5 "2011-07-26T13:17:04Z")
The tunnels are all over Europe, not just in Bavaria. It is very interesting that there are no remains of anything inside of them. However, the article points out that there has been absolutely no scholarship devoted to the passageways; there could be an explanation if they’d just capture the interest of researchers. I think it’s interesting that we’re so ignorant of our own history. We have the written word going back thousands of years in some instances, like Greek literature or Egyptian hieroglyphics. And just a few hundred years ago, in places continually inhabited like Europe, we know nothing of some remnants of history. Yes, they do call it the Dark Ages for a reason.