A Virginia woman who has spent more than a year digging a tunnel under her home and documenting the project on TikTok was recently stopped by officials in her town after the popularity of her account brought their attention to her project.
Spending hours heaving dirt and rocks from the ground might seem like an unusual pastime, but it has a history: hobby tunnelists of yore include the Fifth Duke of Portland, who in the 19th century built an underground ballroom on his property, and, more recently, the so-called mole man of London, who spent 40 years making tunnels before he was discovered.
Here’s a look at their underground activities, and what happened after they were brought to light.
A TikTok Tunneler
Since 2022, the TikTok creator @engineer.everything has been documenting her attempt to build an emergency shelter under her home.
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