After putting this off for a long time I decide to try and
find a way into the MUN utility tunnels. We arrived on campus
at 8:00am. The first thing we
decided to do was to walk every inch of the public tunnels
that connect you to almost all the buildings on campus. Along the
main sections of the tunnels there are many locked doors which
don't lead to above ground buildings but none of these were unlocked.
Some of smaller public tunnels that go between buildings and to the residences
have large amounts pipes running along one side of the tunnel.
You can also gain access to the back kitchen area of the dinning hall through
the tunnels that go to the residences.
At a corner
in the tunnel between the Science building and the Arts and Admin building
there is a metal caged area which a set of iron stairs that go up over the steam
pipes and likely lead to the main steam tunnels. This door is always locked.
Pretending to be a lost student (it was Sept after all) I was able to simply
walk right into off limits areas in some buildings to look around for entrances
to the tunnels. We didn't have much luck finding a way into the tunnels from
inside the buildings we decided to scout a few grates that seem to lead to tunnels.
There are 3 of these grates around the perimeter of the Science and Engineering
building. While 2 grates are in high traffic areas there is one on the side of the
building that is easily accessible at night (watch out for campus police who
patrol this area every 20 minutes in their Ford Explorers). These grates
all have a rusty hatch door (which makes alot of noise) with a chain attached
to lock it (i haven't seen one locked yet). Inside the hatch there are ladder
rungs going down the wall. Inside there look like there is about a 5ft crawl space.
Having not been in there yet i'm not sure what this leads to, hopefully the steam tunnels.
In the one pictured you can see a milk crate, probably used for getting back up
to the ladder rungs, and electrical outlets. It's quite likely that there are
lights throughout the crawl space.
There are a few other manholes that can be used to enter the tunnels but are
less conspicuous to use. There are two manholes in front of the Library that
seem to lead to the tunnel (or somewhere warm at least). Between the Science
building and the Music building there is fenced off area which a
manhole with the
holes in it filled with silicone to stop water from getting in, chances are it leads
to electrical equipment. If possible, stay away from the Powerplant, the
workers there always seem pretty suspicious of anyone who's around there.
Another thing you have to watch out for are the 45 security cameras (could
be more now) around campus, outside and inside.
Disclaimer: We do not accept responsibility or think it's a good idea
for anyone to enter any of these buildings or do anything we talk about on this
page.