Monday, January 17, 2011

Major Discovery in Brooklyn's Lost Tunnel?


You may recall a post I wrote two years ago about Brooklyn's Lost Tunnel. No? Well here's a quick debrief. Beneath Atlantic Avenue, one of the busiest streets in Brooklyn, lies an enormous, abandoned railroad tunnel that was forgotten for over sixty years. It was rediscovered in 1981 by a nineteen-year-old kid named Bob Diamond.

Before 1981, few New Yorkers would have believed there was a tunnel to be found. Bob proved there was. Few believed Diamond when he insisted that there might be a perfectly preserved steam engine in an unexplored section of the tunnel. Now the New York blog Gothamist is reporting the following:

We heard from a reliable source that during a recent late night excursion to the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel area, a 19th century LIRR [Long Island Rail Road] steam locomotive was discovered. . . The roughly 175 year old machine is said to be in its original state, and the "only one of its kind in the world."

Wow. Not only is that amazing, it almost makes you reconsider one of Diamond's more bizarre claims: That hidden somewhere inside the train might be the lost diary of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. (There have long been conspiracy theories that claim Booth didn't act alone. A diary might shed new light on the assassination--or put the theories to bed forever.) It still sounds a bit nuts, but hey, Bob was right about the train!

7 comments:

Ari the Awesome said...

That's so cool. It would be really interesting to be able to read the diary of Abraham Lincoln's assassin. I believe that the diary is down there.

Anonymous said...

Nineteen year old KID??? 19 years is not a kid to me, but i guess that doesn't say much, i'm Iris's age and i look like half of it.

Rachel said...

That's awesome! I would love to discover and read that diary! Did they recently discover this?

Kirsten Miller said...

Rachel: yeah! Last night!

Sarah said...

It seems everything exciting happens to cities. I know I qualify as a hick...but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like a little adventure.
Sob story over.
Yeah, it would be amazing to read the diary. A little creepy, but interesting. Kirsten, if they do happen to find some sort of "diary" would you post the story here?
Not saying they would, but, our friend Bob seems to be one to discovering things.

Serena loi said...

serious ?!

are they gonna publish the diary or something if they find it ?
and how did the diary end up there ?

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, John Wilkes Booth/Abraham Lincoln conspiracy theories.

The story of Lafayette Baker may explain why some think John Wilkes Booth's diary might be stashed in a tunnel in NYC.

Robert "it can get WAY weirder than this" in San Diego