The owners of a recently opened bookstore in Indiana just found out the store sits right on top of a major discovery and a piece of history.
WFIE reports that the owners of Your Brother’s Bookstore, which opened in Evansville, were snooping around while replacing the floor and found a trap door — which they opened up and began investigating. Ignoring everything horror movies taught them about going down dark and unfamiliar hidey-holes, co-owner Sam Morris declared, “We, of course, went down immediately!”
They dropped down into an old, dusty room that had a hole in the wall, but decided not to investigate further because they thought the hole led to the business next door.
“The first day that it happened, our sign outside said, ‘Ask us about our secret tunnel,’ because I just wanted to tell every single person that it was down there,” said Morris.
Reps from the Evansville African American Museum came knocking, but didn’t share the belief that the hole led to another business. After another investigation, they found it actually led to a secret path under Main Street.
The museum reps first believed the find was part of the Underground Railroad, but they didn’t find any evidence of that. Instead, they found various objects from the Prohibition era and traces of what appeared to be a gambling den.
Vanderburgh County historian Stan Schmitt thinks the tunnel is definitely part of the state’s Prohibition history.
As for the bookstore owners, they are debating what to do with their new attraction. “I think we’re going to throw down some porcelain dolls and seal it back up, let that be a surprise for the next people,” said Morris. The owners will also make a mini exhibit of the items they found in the secret tunnel.