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CRYPTIC WILLIAM AND MARY
GREETINGS!!
This is the second Cryptic website. The first one dealt with hidden places at Virginia Tech. This one deals with hidden places at another old Virginia institution, the College of William and Mary. They've got it all there...a burial crypt beneath a chapel, steam tunnels, a staircase that spirals up into the darkness at Phi Beta Kappa Hall, and lots more. So let's get started, and remember:
1.) Asbestos and other chemicals kills
2.) Hot steam kills
3.) Falls from high places kill
Phi Beta Kappa Hall
The oh so prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society began right here at good ole W & M. It wasn't always so prestigious, what with the anti - secret society backlash in the early 1800's. It's fashionable to poo-poo such anti-secret society sentiment as overly suspicious hogwash, but remember , it was once fashionable to poo-poo secret societies as elitist nonsense.
Anyway, PBK Hall as it's called has some interesting things to explore. Enter PBK Hall. Go into the auditorium. Go up on stage. In back right is a spiral steel staircase. Follow it up to the final catwalk, where there is supposed to be a straight ladder up to rooftop access. This was described in an old W&M exploration sight that has long since vanished. A friend and I made it pretty far up the spiral staircase. WE didn't make it onto the roof but managed to hear some strange animal scurrying around up somewhere in the darkness. We couldn't see what was at the far end of the final catwalk.
The Crypt
Wren Chapel is connected to the Wren building. Beneath the Chapel is a crypt, full of old graves. Web sources say that steam tunnel access is no longer possible, but I believe I may have found a way into the Crypt.
Go to the North side of the building. You will see a small staircase. Go down it and open the door. You are now in the basement. On your right is a classroom, and it is usually left open. Enter the classroom. On the left hand wall (when your back is to the door) down near the floor you will see a small rectangular door. It is usually locked, but one time I found it had been left open. I did not enetr, but merely peeked inside. I smelled musty air, it was dark, and there were some electrical wires(dangerous) criss-crossing the entrance. It appears that this door is an entrance to a crawl space beneath the building. I think there would be a good possibility of accessing the Crypt via this door, if one were so inclined(and not worried about snakes, asbestos, electrical live wires like I saw, etc.).
PHI BETA KAPPA PART TWO
Finally got into the fabled pit beneath the stage. I'd read about this long ago on a now-defunct William and Mary exploration page. The best time to try and access this under stage area is when people are rehearsing for a play, as thats when the door to the "pit" is likely to be open. So, here goes:
Go in the front entrance of Phi Beta Kappa. Hang a right, and go down the hallway on the right hand side. Go thru the doorway. Go down the stairs on the left. Go in the door on the left. (There is another door straight ahead-it's a "Valve Room" and has a warning sign about asbestos on it.) You will now be in the under stage room. Look on the wall staright ahead and you will see a map of the under stage area.There is lots of stage stuff stored back here, and a walkway. There are two doors on the wall beneath the stage. Each goes to one end of the "Orchestra Pit." If you go to the far door to the orchestra lift/pit area, look on the wall just before that far orchestra pit door. Theres a small (2' x 2' ?) metal door in the wall. It was open, I peeked in but it was dark. If you keep moving past this FAR orchestra door you will find an exit door. Go through this door. You'll see stairs going up, but hang a right before these stairs. An Electrical Equipment Room (Room 003) is straight ahead. On the left are some stairs going down to a bunch of boards and stuff. I could see a double door down there on the left, but did not get the chance to go down those stairs and check it out. I was startled by the appearnce of a bearded man walking my way, so I left.
WASHINGTON HALL
Take the stairs all opf the way up to the attic. You will come to a door to the attic. Often this door is left open. Inside is a very big attic with giant wooden beams, and file cabinets full of old pottery and bones. I think they're animal bones. There is cabinet after cabinet of old pottery. Washington Hall houses the anthropology department, so this explains the relics. The notes on the relics indicate a lot of them (if not all ) are from archaeological sites in Virginia.
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION (Hugh Jones Hall)
Go inside. Take elevator on the right to the 3rd floor. Go through the doorway on your immediate left and UP the stairs. You will see the locked doors to a mechanical equipment room straight ahead. There is a starnge locked door on the right as well. This was during the daytime, and there looked to be sunlight coming thru a crack in this doorway. Down in the basement, there's a room full of giant computers.
MORTON HALL
Go in the front door. Go down the hallway on the right side.Take the stairs all of the way to the bottom.There is a locked door to a mechanical equipment room. It has an asbestos warning. Inside one can see (theres a window in the door) a metal stairwell and what looks like an old, unused dynamo (?). Also seen were some ceiling tiles (asbestos type?) and one of these tiles was on the outside of the door, in amongst all the chairs strewn just outside the doorway.
MILLINGTON HALL
There's an interesting greenhouse on the roof. It is marked by a PH (plant house?) on the elevator button. Theres plenty to explore around this hall. If you take an elevator to the basement, you will find plenty to check out. Wjhen I was down there, the double doors to Room 21 were open and maintenance personnel were working in there. I saw lots of pipes and gauges. Millington houses Biology, psychology, and yes, biopsychology. Room 25 in the basement is quite odd. It appears to be a classroom. But there are a series of doors running along the wall, lettered alphabetically from " A " to " O ." I tried opening one, but it was locked. I made an interesting find on a bulletin board in the basement. It was a flyer from the Seven Society. Now UVA has a famous secret society called the Seven Society. But I think this flyer was for William and Mary's own version, as the logo was different. Either of those societies could merit a whole web page dedicated to figuring out what exactly their purpose is. At the opposite end of the basement, a Mechanical Equipment Room (Room 0) was left open. I quickly turned on the light and had a peek. Lots of pipes and meters could be seen.
Behind Millington is a strange cylindrical brick structure. It warrants further investigation. There are parking spots encircling the structure, but one is not allowed to park RIGHT NEXT to the structure. The sign for some of these spots said they were " Reserved For Children's Research Laboratory Participants." Nearby is a loading dock and unofficial back entranec into Millington.
SMALL
The cool physics building with the metal atom symbol on the brick wall beside the front entrance. There is a giant old timey electrical generator housed at the entrance, for show only. There is also a planetarium on the roof, though it is only open during a narrow time frame.
The basement is interesting. Go through the front door and hang a right. Go through some doors and all the way down the stairs ubtil they end at the basement level. You will now be in a strange hallway full of laboratories and asians. There is a metal rail running along the center of the ceiling, from one end if the basement to the other. At the far end is a machine shop. There's an elevator door in the machine shop, but it's blocked by a bunch of surplus. Just around the corber in the hallway is an elevator door, but it is perpindicular to the door in the machine shop. A peek into the hallway elevator revealed no side door that would've opened into the machine shop. Strange.
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