14 January 2024 , 22:56
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From reports of "strange noises" to alleged Satanic activities, these creepy tunnels are not somewhere you'd want your torch to lose battery.
Buried beneath the wild moors which separate Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, the four underground tunnels took 17 years to dig out - costing the lives of at least 50 workers. The real death toll, however, is likely much higher. One of the four tunnels between Marsden, West Yorkshire, and Oldham, Greater Manchester, is the UK's deepest and longest canal tunnel at more than three miles long. Standedge Tunnel was built using just shovels, picks, explosive powder and the sheer human strength of 2,500 people.
Engineers faced numerous problems, from excessive water to miscalculations that left the tunnel with an 'S' bend in the middle. The canal tunnel is the oldest of four tunnels that run parallel beneath the Pennine hills between Diggle in Oldham and Marsden, near Huddersfield.
The canal tunnel was opened in 1811. The other tunnels came later and are railway tunnels, with only one now used by trains, the other two being used by maintenance workers. The ventilation shafts are among the incredible features. Most of them rise more than 400ft above the rails, with one a staggering 512ft.
Urban explorer Daniel Sims, also known as Bearded Reality on YouTube, has been inside the railway tunnels. While venturing inside is strongly not recommended due to being dangerous and involving illegal trespassing), he told of his 'creepy' experience where he heard strange noises and big blasts of air caused by passing trains.
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Urban explorer Daniel Sims, also known as Bearded Reality on YouTube, has been inside the railway tunnels (Bearded Reality/YouTube)"We went pretty much all the way in, or at least three-quarters," he said. "We got to see the trains passing us, and saw hidden bits like old workers' sections. The place is creepy and, apart from the trains, is dead silent. And then you hear something and you are like 'what?'"
He described the sensation of passing trains within the abandoned tunnels. "The force itself sucks you in, that's why we had to hold onto the tunnel wall as it's moving at such speed and is quite powerful." He found the silence within the tunnels unsettling, Examiner Live reports.. "The silence is one thing but then you hear the winds start to come which is very strange. There was also a section that had water running all the way down which was awesome."
One thing Daniel was impressed by, however, was the size of the tunnel system. "The sheer scale of the tunnel felt like we were walking down for hours but we could still see the entrance for quite a while which was a strange feeling. There are four sections but they are connected to each other side by side. The stairs I believe led to the canal section."
Daniel has urged people not to enter the tunnels as doing so without permission would be illegally trespassing (Bearded Reality/YouTube)In the 1980s, there were rumours about occult or 'Satanic' activity in the tunnels. Local newspaper headlines in 1980 sparked fears that black magic rituals had taken place in one of the disused railway tunnels.
One story reported how workmen had discovered "two sheep's heads and strange painted symbols" around 1.5 miles from the tunnel entrance. A 24-year-old man from Huddersfield also claimed he'd been left terrified after a masked man attacked him in a tunnel.
He told the Huddersfield Examiner at the time: "We knew we were trespassing, but we decided to take the chance and we walked about a third of the way through. Then a man wearing an old man's mask ran shrieking towards us and scratched me on the mouth as he ran past and disappeared.
"We were terrified and turned straight around. We never saw the man again and presumed he had gone down one of the side tunnels. We were going to tell the police but thought better of it as we had been trespassing."
Former policeman Bill Armer recalled a time when there was a belief that people were involved in Satanic activities in Marsden. In 2016, he said: "In the mid 1980s I was policing out of Slaithwaite. In a quiet moment one Sunday a colleague and I borrowed the key from the Marsden signalman, and drove into the closed tunnels to explore. There is a point, near midway, where the two closed tunnels are linked by a large open space, which also gives access to the live tunnel. This is a rather imposing space known then to some locals as The Cathedral."
Headlines in local paper the Huddersfield Examiner back in 1980 alleged of black magic and possible Satanic rituals (Examiner)"With the help of a torch, I could see a number of symbols painted in white on the walls of The Cathedral including, in a high position, a pentagram. Certainly someone had gone to quite some trouble to leave these occult symbols, although that in itself does not prove that the space was actually used for rituals."
He added: "Because we were out of radio contact we could not remain long enough to make a closer examination. At least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. More generally, in Marsden 30 years ago there was a fairly widespread belief in the existence of people who practised Satanic or occult ritual in or near the village.
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"Certain allegations were made from time to time but, to my knowledge no actual evidence emerged. One case that I personally dealt with concerned the body of a sheep discovered "on top" alongside the A62, with its abdomen apparently cut open, allegedly as part of a sacrificial rite.
"I made enquiries about this, and I received the information that, sometimes, dead sheep were attacked by scavengers and the corpse mutilated and that sheep are prone to a condition which leads to the abdominal cavity becoming filled with gas. Apparently the shepherd will sometimes resort to cutting the abdomen in a desperate attempt to relieve the pressure. Plus, of course, it is not unknown for sheep to be struck by a passing vehicle causing lacerations. Again, no proof of occultism but perhaps a lingering suspicion."
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