London Underground Subterraneans

This may be a story that has been covered previously, but here goes anyway...

There are legends that beneath the city streets of London, in the far and quiet reaches of the London Underground's vast labyrinthine network of tunnels, a race of sub-humans lived. Stories tell of a few people opting to live down there in the dank & dark spaces (much like Gollum) from the late nineteenth century, growing in number until a little nation existed. Other stories tell of them starting to grow longer hair on their bodies (presumably for warmth) and stooping over (presumably from the small spaces they inhabit and poor nutrition). Some tales say that they died out in the twentieth century due to some kind of disease or infection that spread amongst them.

A film was made in the seventies that touched upon this story - starring Donald Pleasance - called "Raw Meat" or "Death Line". Sounds like it has a ring of "Mimic" to it, but with humans rather than bugs.

Possible? Or just a myth?

Sounds a lot like "The Borribles". Great book if you can get your hands on it.

I think it is probably based on myths around people trying to escape the Plague in the 1600's by going underground?

I'm not sure how someone is going to live in a subway system and not get noticed. It is rather cramped, if you've ever ridden the Underground.

I've never heard this before.

Ever.

And thsi is idiocy. If it wasn't obvious.

Yeah you can get the old towns underground anywhere.
Edinbrugh, chichester, bath and bristol.

I think the tunnels were not around in the 1600s.

Re the 'idiocy' comment, yes there may be aspects that are a bit fantastic, but just the premise of people living underground is in itself not entirely impossible.
Troglodytes come to mind.

People living underground is not stupid.

People living in The Underground is stupid.

Good point.

I do like the mice that live in The Underground.

Wasn't the medieval drainage system replaced in the 1850's with the extensive system still in use today? I think they are fairly regularly checked as it constantly upgraded to deal with population growth. I am pretty sure one of the original ideas rejected in the 1800's of putting a tunnel or pipeline underneath the Thames is being seriously considered. What a massive project that would be huh.
I think all the problems they have had with the system over the many centuries has kept it fairly well documented. The entire system floods often so I can't see it being likely. At least the odd body would wash out or get caught at the Abbey Mills plant?

I didn't say the tunnels were around in the 1600's, I mentioned stories or myths about people living underground to escape the plague? I don't think theye even had drainage in the 1600's, everything was descarded into the streets or the Thames.

I don't think the OP is talking about the underground subway system (although there are approximately around 30/40 abandoned stations) that are no longer used? There are rumours the Royal family even have there own underground subway system?

I think the OP is talking about subteranian tunnels/Becks/drainange/sewage tunnels that many large European cities have.

There have always been stories about what's under London; tales about the secret tunnels, disused bases and forgotten catacombs.
There's also the idea that London has been around so long that what it's built on is actually London, that there is a bewildering maze of old cellars and foundations built over, lost and locked away to all but someone who might come up from below...

This is a good link: http://www.fictionalcities.co.uk/tunnels.htm

There probably is a lot of stuff under there, there's probably a few homeless people living in abandoned tunnels maybe even the occasional person staying a bit more permanently. Subterranean races and stooped and hairy sewer dwellars however do sound a bit too imaginative to be real.

The town in which i live has subbteranean tunnels dating back to the middle ages. Only a couple of years ago one of the roads had to be closed near the main bus station due to the volume of traffic causing the road to sink into an underground chamber.

I've lived in London my entire life, know quite a lot about its history and I've never heard this before.

Nope, never heard this either.

We have a pretty good idea how London was built up, from a settlement, through Roman occupation, and occupation by Germanic tribes.

I work for an architectural planning office in London, and am surrounded by old maps, history books and plans. And I've never, not once, ever, heard of underground tunnels.

A race of hairy, sub-human creatures living underneath London? Probably not, but it is an interesting story and I can see how it was imagined. There are probably a lot of things under London, and it would be fun to go poking through some of the tunnels, but I doubt you'd find a race of hunch-backed dirty humans.

It seems odd you've never heard the stories as a Londoner. Perhaps Londoners, knowing better, dismiss them instead of passing them on.

Now, If you want a city with underground tunnels with lots of interesting things going on in them, try Paris. Apparently, the French capital is riddled with 185 miles worth of dark and spookey catacombs, tunnels and old limestone quarries.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6116318/

I've heard there are ancient French people down there who have evolved so they can smell a tourist from three miles away, have learnt the strange, terrible truth about truffles and make human Foie Gras from the livers of intruders (which they recommend you accompany with a nice, light-oaked Chardonnay).

i belive you mean the 'mole' people

check this out.......

Mole people? The name sounds familiar. I found this on wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_People

Um... there already is a tunnel under the Thames...

As far as the original post goes, it reminds me a bit too much of Neverwhere and countless other fictions to have much truth to it. Though London, like any city at least in this country, has a network of tunnels and catacombs underneath it, they're not unknown or isolated enough to support a race without detection.

Yep. I flashed on "The Borribles" too. Michael de Larrabeiti wrote some entertainingly bent books. His "The Bunce" is also recommended.

I think I have an answer rgiht there.

Sorry, I should have been more succinct.


Lengthwise.

My guess it could be a bunch of homeless people. They can live anywhere these days.

There are loads of tunnels running uner the thames - how do you think the London Underground works????



No it doesn't. It has disused tube stations, war time shelters (like the one in Stockwell built in the 1940s) and many underground rivers that are now sewers, but it certainly does not have any underground network or catacombs (at least not to the extent of Paris's - there are small underground areas in places like Camden built in the 18th C for ponies and horses used on the railways).



That doesn't make any sense. So because I live here, the opinions of a stranger who's never been here are more trustworthy? What circular faulty logic.



Try looking above ground.

Intresting,Even tho i doubt its true

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2940958.stm

Get some new maps Emma.

Dan Dare

We had the Mail Rail as one of our projects!!

When I said "underground tunnels" I obviously meant what the OP meant - miles and miles of ancient tunnels with hairy humanoids living in them.

Of course there are transport tunnels, I get the tube every day!

And West Norwood Cemetery, if I remember correctly. I think you misunderstood me... I wasn't claiming London had a vast secret network of underground places, but that it does have, like most UK cities, an array of underground facilities of various origin.

Abandoned man-made anything tends to freak me out, subway stations would be terrible seeing as they're underground. I have a few beefs with the story though.

1. Creatures that have adapted for underground life tends to be hairless or nearly so. It just wouldn't make sense for them to grow more hair.
2. Vitamin D deficiencies would weaken and kill the population quickly unless they found some way to get milk. I really don't see how the population could have sustained itself off of what lives/grows down there. Even a cultivated moss or lichen wouldn't hold all the nutrition needed.

And no, it's not plausible that they only come out at night and rob marketplaces.

This reminds me of the People Under the Stairs, for some reason.

I hear the words "London Underground" and immediately think of The Clash. I'm a child of the 80's, sue me.

People do live underground in the cities of the world....there called bums. The ones in NY where I grew up come up for food, liquor, etc. They don't hunch over they just smell bad and stumble a lot.

how do we test the belief that their r underground subterraneans?