The Steam Tunnel Incident!

[pyat]

Part one of my visit to Michigan State University, covering the James Dallas Egbert III steam tunnel incident! Mostly just me yakking, though there is some footage from the campus.

And a clip from next episode, featuring the lovely dhstein!

Comments

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

Great and very factual edition of Pyat's Fortress.

::B::

[relee.livejournal.com]

Steam tunnels are so cool and mysterious. Too bad about the kid. :/

[athelind.livejournal.com]

I'll watch this in the morning.

But remember: if you weren't already playing D&D when this happened, you can't call yourself "Old Skool"!

[mbehemoth.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! I wonder what the steam tunnels look like...

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

Hey, I like steam tunnels. They're nice and warm during the winter. n_n

[dhstein.livejournal.com]

squeee!
So far, very cool. So many facts that I had forgotten. And, the books. You have the books.

[paka.livejournal.com]

Oh cool!

I'd always assumed that the guy's disappearance had nothing at all to do with D&D - and that impression was made worse while at U Michigan. UM's campus has miles and miles of tunnels, including the tunnel between the President's House and the Administration building (not making this up), and they were off limits, while other really LARP-worthy areas of East Quad or the Grad Library were open to everyone. So I assumed the whole steam tunnel story was BS...

But I'd never found out what actually happened.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Brian! Part two will have interviews.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

They are! I love exploring those sorts of places.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I was... er... playing "Star Wars" with neighbour kids. Does that count?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Dusty, cramped hallways with pipes, mostly. :) The Internet is full of pages about navigating them. You might have some access to wicked-cool ones as a TTC guy.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

We'll see lots more of you and Dave in the 2nd one!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

MSU had 8.5 miles of steam tunnel in the 70s, according to William Dear's book. One point I missed in the video was that people HAD been playing D&D LARPs down there, of a sort. And Dallas HAD gone down there to hide while he tried to commit suicide with an overdose. He woke up hours later, and then fled the campus.

[relee.livejournal.com]

People aren't typically allowed in there though. How do you get in?

[paka.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Again, I'm biased by UM, where the tunnels under campus were part of the Administration's attempts to keep us hoi-polloi in line during the 1960s; I wouldn't have thought MSU would actually have their tunnels accessible, especially not during the 1970s. How did people get in, and do we know much about the proto-LARPs?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

William Dear's book notes that there were several access points at MSU that were either completely open (but out of sight) or sort of secured in a minimal fashion. So, you once walked into the janitor's break room, or something, you could just stroll on in.

The main use of the tunnels, judging from the book, seemed to be for drug deals or short cuts across campus. There are two or three photos of the tunnels in the book, including tiny room with a table and chairs, and a mannequin head, and a little sign saying "The Show Will Start in..."

dhstein and her husband say there was steam tunnel LARPing in the late 70s. They actually took part in one, but she says it was really lame. :)