CRYPTIC VIRGINIA TECH
Virginia Tech is a large university in southwest Virginia with many buildings dating back to the early 1900's and even before that.
Exploration has been going on at the school for years, and some websites have sprung up to document the exploration. The exploration is usually done in buildings and in steam tunnels. This site concerns the former, as steam tunnels have too many hazards for me to bother venturing into again.
Below you will find a building by building list of intere sting rooms, passages, etcetera, as well as directions on how to access these places.
WARNING!!!!!!! Even though I did not explore steam tunnels, plenty of the buildings I did explore are loaded with : asbestos(some of which is free-floating), chemical fume hoods (fumes that can kill you) and many other hazards. And remember, just because you see a warning sign about asbestos, or dangerous fumes , or some other danger, posted above one room or rooftop hatch or other spot, and the warning is not posted at another room, rooftop hatch, or other such spot, does not mean the unposted spot is safe!! It could be as dangerous as, or even more dangerous as the spot with the warning. Warnings aren't always required..Tech's position just might be "Well, you shouldn't have been snooping around there anyway, so you shouldn't be surprised if you encounter dangers that had no warning signs!"
HUTCHESON
Hutcheson sits at the outer edge of The Ag Quad. There is a cool way to go in Hutcheson, walk all the way around the Ag Quad, and come out in Agnew.
Enter the front door of Hutcheson. Go up 2 flights of stairs to the 3rd floor. Hang a left, you will enter Smyth. Hang a right at room 341, and go down the hall and down the steps. Open the door on your immediate right. Hang a right and a quick left.Walk down the corridor. You're now in Seitz. Go through Room 313, then hang a left and a right. You will be at some empty offices. You're now in Agnew. You can see West Campus Drive from the window.
SEITZ
There is rooftop access at Seitz. On the fourth floor directly across from Room 305 in Seitz are some wood stairs. Climb up them. Climb up another thin metal ladder and open the ventilation hatch. It is usually left open. You are now on the roof of Seitz. Warning: some of the vents on the roof may be spewing out toxic and/or lethal gases from laboratories downstairs. This is a very real hazard and is true at all of these rooftop access areas. Many rooftop access hatches are locked and/or have a warning posted, but some have no warning and/or lock. Nevertheless, there is a toxic /lethal fume inhalation hazard possible on ALL roofs. You've been warned.
CHEATHAM
There is an interesting basement in Cheatham, though it may have a possible asbestos and/or steam explosion hazard. Approach Cheatham from the side facing the direction of the Drillfield. When facing the building, enter the door on your right. Take an immediate right and go DOWN the stairs. This is a boiler room of some sort. It is usually left open.Go down some more stairs. There are many interesting things in here. Off to the right, behind a big piece of machinery, is a ladder that goes up to a crawlspace leading to an area beneath some steel grates. If you climb back down the ladder and walk over to the side of the room facing the drillfield, you can look up at some other steel grates.There is also a ladder leading up so you can pop out of them. There is another ladder so you can climb on top of the machinery in the main room.
FRALIN
There is rooftop access possible via some easily opened windows on the third floor.
BURRUSS
Thee auditorium in Burruss is a great exploration area. Go in the front door of Burruss. Go up the stairs on the right hand side. Enter the auditorium through one of the doors dead ahead. Below the stage is a little dugout area. There's a door in the center, accessing it requires removal of a part of the floor. It was removed while I was there, but the door was locked. Inside the front wall of the dugout area are some vents, one has the cover removed. They don't go very deep though.
The hallway behind the left side of the stage is interesting. You'll see a stairway at the beginning of that hallway. Go up one flight of stairs and hang a left. Peer through the curtains. You're now looking down on the auditorium through faux-medieval windows.Near that is a small room w/a lot of interesting junk in it. Theres a small door at the end of the room, and the words 'Do Not Block" are printed on it. That door was locked. Go up one more flight of stairs and hang a left You're now on a higher level of the aforementioned junk room. Across the gap to the left is a ledge. Go back into the hallway. Near the end of it is a locked door w/a window. Looking through the window you can see a flight of stairs going up. There's another doorway straight ahead that is openable and leads out into the public area of Burruss. Office number 322 is straight across the hall.
On the right hand side of the stage is another set of hallways and stairs, though not as rewarding to the intrepid explorer.
Then we have the Quasimodo Tower. Yes, I've found the way to access the highest point of Burrusss...the tower. If only that tiny door with the sunlight coming through the crack weren't always locked!
To see what I'm referring to, go in the front entrance of Burruss. Go up the stairs on the left, all of the way up to the fourth floor. Open the door and you'll be in a hallway of offices. On your DIRECT left is a new, different stairway. Follow it up and up, your footsteps will creak and you'll see some locked doors on the way up, as well as signs that say "No more than 50 pounds per square foot" Uh-oh, not sure what that means. Be careful, though I havent fallen through, and I'm 200 pounds. On the way up these stairs, one vent has been removed. You can look into the hole that remains and see a janitors (?) office. Keep going up this strange stairway and you will find yourself in a tiny room with a low ceiling and a musty smell. There is a small door on the left. It has always been locked when I go, but you can see sunlight coming through teh crack on the bottom of the door. I think this is the way to access the tip-top of Burruss.
Cassell Coliseum
Go in front door, walk into gymnasium. Far up and to the right are some black staircases. Go up them they lead to a neat little balcony with chairs next to a long facing the gym. Is this the press box when the big games are played??
There's electrical equipment, computers (one hooked up) and even a bathroom up here. Pretty neat.
In the Men's Room on the Second Floor is a metal panel at the far end of the urinals. This panel can be partially slid aside to expose a dark area behind the bathroom wall. It goes up pretty high, but how high I can't tell you, I didnt have my flashlight with me.
NEWMAN LIBRARY
The library has a basement. Go in at the front door and go down the left hand side hallway. This is the hallway with computers on your left and a glassed-in exhibit area on your right. At the end of the hall make a right into the hallway with the lockers, then make a left. Take the elevator to the basement. The basement is cool. There were a bunch of old records, an old busted movie projector, a locked mecahnical room at the end of the hall,and a giant opaque projector from the Naval Supply Center in a box. If, when first exiting the elevator into the basement, you hang a left and then another left, you'll see a locked door with an ADT sign on it. Peering through the crack in the door and looking up, you can see daylight and metal grates.
Holden
There's a stairway in the back of Holden Leading down to 2 doors, one metal and another one glass. I did not check them to see if they were open.
Room 127 was locked (it had a card-scanner lock) but inside could be seen a ladder bolted to the wall going straight up.
Nearby are stairs going down, they lead to a small hallway and some rooms. The Student Lounge was open. Across from the lounge was a locked "sample storeroom."
NORRIS
Enter front door of Norris. Go down the stairs on the left. This is the Laser Room. The door was open when I was there. I saw what looked like the laser or was it a wind tunnel? It's a big room. I saw some students in there so I left. This building had signs posted for Fallout Shelter.
RANDOLPH
On the roof of Randolph can be seen a small stairway leading to a small brick extension of the building. One can see a warning sign on the door and there's an antenna type apparatus next to the brick extension. This can all be seen from the ground. About midway through the first floor hallway, if you're walking toward McBryde, hang a left. Keep going. You'll come to an elevator that has a door on both ends. But the elevator only allows you to exit from the far side you that entered at. The elevator can go to Ground Level. Looking out a window from Ground Level I saw a backlot and a gas tank storage area. After going back to the first floor, exiting elevator, walking up hallway back to main hallway, hang left so you're again going toward McBryde. Stairs on left,take these stairs to basement. Now you're on the other side of the elevator, the side that the elevator wouldn't open to. Hang a right, go down the hall(lots of cool stuff in basement..weird model airplanes,and much more) now make another right. Come to other side of elevator. You can't go back out the way you came in. The elevator functions like a weird one way gate to welding area. You'd need maintenance keys to make both doors work.
The basement area is used by students. As previously stated, it is very interesting. There are Aerospace and Engineering Labs. The basement exits onto the back lot. There's old equipment and circuit boards in the basement.
If one goes back up those basement stairs to the third floor, one will find a locked door that opens right out onto the roof of the second floor. Notice warnings about chemical fumes!!
The wind tunnel has ladders on it's outside, though the bottom of them are blocked. Dangerous.
Next to Room 317 is another rooftop access ladder, again the hatch is locked and has a chemical fume warning.
HANCOCK
Across from Room 215-222 (Engineering Academic Center) is an unmarked door. Enter this door and hang a left. Note the solvent storage room and the weird matallic thing in the wall. The door straight ahead was marked Do Not Enter. I did. The area was under construction. Lots of walls had been taken out. Exiting through the other side puts you near Room 213.
DURHAM
Across from Room 446 is a door to a stairway that leads up to a locked door. This door no doubt leads onto the roof. But you can still look through the window to see a nice view of Price's Fork Road.
DONALDSON BROWN HOTEL
Alumni Hall
The fourth floor stairwell at the end of the hall near Room 446 has a small trap door in the ceiling.
Next to Room 431 theres a strange door-this one is two feet off the ground and about 4 feet tall. Theres another ceiling door in the fourth floor stairwell near Room 435. This is the pointed arch part of the building. Do the trap doors lead to an attic?
Steam pipes go up through the ceiling in both stairwells. What may be old laundry chute doors can be found on Floor 3 near the elevator. There are some strange unmarked doors, one is near a 3rd floor stairwell.
At the bottom of a stairwell leading down from the second floor , I found a door that opened and led to another short stairway down. This in turn led to the bake shop, as well as this long crazy corridor with overhead pipes. Along this corridor I saw employee stuff,like punchcards and a time clock. All sorts of rooms along this corridor. It comes out at a big garage door. To your left is Squires, and straight ahead is the Squires/DBH parking lot.
The easiest way to access this corridor area is to enter DBH from the Squires/DBH parking lot side, hang a right down the carpeted hallway, hang a right in front of the tall staircase with the arrow pointing to "Alumni Hall" , hang a left after the elevator, then you'll see a glass and wood door that opens into the bake shop area as well as the corridor. Although the bake shop is connected to the corridor, it takes a little searching to find the corridor, one has to round a corner. There may be other corridors in that area as well.
PERFORMING ARTS BUILDING (OLD YMCA)
This cool building was constructed around the turn of the last century, and originally was a YMCA. There's cool old wooden floors, and one wooden hallway even slants to the side.
There's an underground area here that is cool. Go in the front entrance, take a right, go past the staircase going up. Go through a door, it may be open. Go down the weird little staircase into an underground area. You'll see some vending machines. Open the door either straight ahead or to your right. These open into a cool room with mannequins and screen printing struff and sewing machines.
On the third floor, right near where the indoor stairway ends, is an attic entrance in the ceiling. I took a ladder from the first floor, and used it to take a peek into the attic. The attic had lots of spray-on fiberglass, what looked like cedar beams supporting the roof, and a small door could be seen in the ceiling...it probably opens onto the roof.
ROBESON
Basement has weird labs. One room was open (people were in there) and there was a bunch of weird stuff in the room including an inflated helium Mickey Mouse. This is some sort of big-time laboratory.
On the second floor, there's some windows across from Room 201. If you crawl through them, you would drop down a few feet and be standing behind this cool, ornate stone facade, about 15 feet above the ground.I haven't tried it.
WAR MEMORIAL GYM
Rooftop access can be had at the War Memorial Gym quite easily. Go in the front door, hang a right beneath the chandelier, go through the door to the stairs on the right. Go all of the way up the stairs. You'll come to a small lounge area, Room 400(a classroom) is on your left...careful, this classroom is sometimes in use. In the lounge area, two windows open right out onto the roof.
SHANKS HALL - NEW SECTION
While trying to retrace the steps of a guided tour being given by the owner of another Tech Exploration website, I stumbled upon something strange.
Take the elevator to the basement. In the basement find stair exit door near room A32. Room A32 is a storage closet. Go through the stair exit door and then go underneath the stairs. Around the corner and straight ahead is a panel that has been screwed into the wall. "K 69" written on concrete wall.
V.T. Underground
Cryptic William and Mary
Infiltration Zine
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