We keep hearing voices and weird noises.
The ground below us is a time capsule full of mystery. You never know what you’ll uncover when you start digging. From the casual arrowhead find, to metal detector hobbyists, to archaeology. But when it comes to digging while repairing a sewer in an urban and suburban area like St. Louis, sometimes you are more surprised by some of the odd things that are underground because you’re not looking for anything other than a sewer pipe.
The Cave Incident
We were called out to replace a sewer line on the property of a four family apartment building. The owner of the building told us that there was no basement. We begin digging in the alley behind the building to locate the sewer and begin replacement. We keep hearing voices and weird noises. While working in the sewer main we find a cave. The cave leads into the basement of the building where people were living without the owners knowledge.
Some of the Strange Things We’ve Found So Far
- Tombstones
- Human coffins
- Human bones
- Animal bones
- Historic bottles
- Opium bottles
- Soda bottles
- Beer bottles
- 1869 Heinz ketchup bottle
- An old abandoned telephone switchboard
- Rocks
- The size of cars
- A block long rock that vibrated houses down the street as we were digging that had homeowners calling the police.
- Beautiful giant granite slabs
- Underground concrete foundations from old houses
- Historic steam lines
It’s never a dull day when you’re digging into the Earth to repair a sewer, but one has to wonder: What is under my feet? What is under my house or apartment building? What is under this quiet suburb I’m living in? You never know….the underground has many stories to tell. We’ll keep you up to date on the strange things we find.
itho | digital