Descend Into The Depths.

Underground Tunnels of New York City

The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel in Brooklyn, built in 1844, is the world's oldest subway tunnel. It was sealed in 1861 and forgotten for over a century until urban explorer Bob Diamond rediscovered it in 1981 by lowering himself through a manhole. The half-mile tunnel, originally built for the Long Island Rail Road, sits beneath Atlantic Avenue in pristine condition — its brick walls and iron rail beds untouched since the Civil War era. The Freedom Tunnel, a former Amtrak rail tunnel beneath Riverside Park on the Upper West Side, earned its name from the graffiti artist Chris "Freedom" Pape, who painted murals on the tunnel walls in the 1980s while the space was occupied by a community of homeless residents.

New York's underground extends far beyond its subway system. Prohibition-era tunnels connected speakeasies to escape routes in neighborhoods across Lower Manhattan. Steam pipes — part of the world's largest commercial steam system — run beneath the streets of Midtown, occasionally venting through the iconic orange-and-white street stacks that appear in every New York movie. Beneath the Waldorf Astoria, a private rail siding allowed President Franklin Roosevelt to arrive by armored train without being seen. The city's underground is a parallel world, built over more than 150 years and largely invisible to the millions who walk above it every day.

StoryHunt's underground tunnel experiences bring you as close to these hidden worlds as legally possible. Your phone delivers clues connected to tunnel histories, sealed entrances, and the infrastructure that runs beneath your feet. You'll decode the surface signs that reveal what's below — grates, vents, unmarked doors — and piece together the hidden map of underground New York. Each walk is an investigation into the city beneath the city.