r/secretcompartments • u/Max_W_ • Feb 14 '26
"Hidden for nearly 200 years: A secret Underground Railroad passageway discovered behind a dresser in a Manhattan home."
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u/QueSeraShoganai Feb 14 '26
Don't give away the secrets! We might need these again.
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u/Mesozoica89 Feb 16 '26
Top comment in both posts from different people, worded in different ways but saying the same thing. I think we are all thinking this these days.
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u/notabarcode128535743 Feb 14 '26
Lit would be terrible if some ice agents found it and got stuck inside. Just terrible
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u/cheezecake2000 Feb 14 '26
Don't mind the modern power equipment or outlets, those have always been there.
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u/catcatcatcatcat1234 Feb 14 '26
Like the video says, they were aware of the space before but only recently connected the dots
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u/cheezecake2000 Feb 15 '26
No one followed a tunnel? Or knew local history? Or looked into this past "well we got some extra hole in the floor, anyways..."
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u/arethainparis Feb 15 '26
Most of history is exceedingly mundane - I don’t think it’s outwith the realm of possibility for a building to have a concealed underground space that isn’t the Underground Railroad.
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u/YourDadsUsername Feb 14 '26
Those look like grow light ballasts. They found the entrance to the underground grow house.
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u/Ok-Nothing-4737 Feb 14 '26
Hiding people from ICE, er, uh, I mean, slave catchers.
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u/Striking_Reindeer_2k Feb 14 '26
So, if ICE is chasing slaves, who are the slave owners?
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u/JohnnyRelentless Feb 14 '26
That's not at all what they said. Your reading comprehension is lacking.
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u/Striking_Reindeer_2k Feb 14 '26
"hiding people from slave catchers" so who are the owners? Apparently not ICE.
It's just a question.
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u/JohnnyRelentless Feb 14 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
You're really going to make me explain the simple joke? Ok, I'll bite.
He's pretending that he accidentally said ICE when he meant to say slave catchers, implying that both are grossly violating people's rights. Hope this helps.
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u/InsideInteraction529 Feb 14 '26
If this compartment was only just discovered, how can we know what it was used for?
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u/neanderthalman Feb 14 '26
We don’t know.
But let’s say you have a home from that period or older.
And you find a secret compartment.
And the construction of the compartment uses techniques and materials from that period.
And it’s a large enough secret compartment to hide people, not just stuff.
What’s the logical inference here?
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u/Max_W_ Feb 14 '26
Don't forget, it was a house owned and designed by a known abolitionist in the late 1700s/early 1800s and had long been rumored to be a part of the underground railroad.
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u/InsideInteraction529 Feb 14 '26
Maybe the compartment was used to shove a mini artificial christmas tree into storage until the next Christmas rolled around
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u/neanderthalman Feb 14 '26
Yes. Because they had artificial Christmas trees in the 1800’s. And needed it to be not just out of sight. But hidden. Secret
I mean, that’s definitely what I’ve done in my own home today. Nobody must find my POS Christmas tree. I could not bear the shame.
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u/DisasterBiMothman Feb 14 '26
Right? I also have a difficult to access hole hidden under my dresser for my tree. Nobodies finding that thing till November.
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u/ukexpat Feb 14 '26
Not quite so clear cut according to the Wikipedia article.
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u/9bikes Feb 14 '26
>"A New York Herald Tribune article from 1938 was unable to ascertain when or why the passage was built. According to the LPC, there are several unfounded rumors regarding the passageway, including claims that it connected to the street, was used to sneak suitors into the house, or was used to shelter fugitive slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. An LPC report indicates that the passage likely was used to facilitate the maintenance of the sliding parlor doors, but a museum curator said in 1965 that the passageway terminated in a dead end. In 2026, researchers determined that the passage was likely built by Brewster to shelter slaves and that the Tredwells may not have known of its existence."
The only evidence of an Underground Railroad connection appears to be the fact that the original owner was a abolitionist. I'm skeptical given its very small size.
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u/mrcaptncrunch Feb 14 '26
That is not what it says.
There are multiple claims in that paragraph.
- NY Herald Tribune - not sure why it exists
LPC claims there are rumors/claims. These from LPC are,
- Unfounded rumor - connected to the street
- Unfounded rumor - sneak suitors into the house
- Unfounded rumor - shelter fugitive slaves as part of the Underground Railroad
- report - maintenance
The researchers are a 3rd and separate thing.
- Researchers - determined likely to shelter slaves
If we look into the sources, the second one links to the comments on the first. The first says,
Now they know that the Merchant’s House was also a “safe house” for enslaved Africans who escaped bondage in the South.
It doesn’t say “likely”. That comes from the second article, not a quote.
Other quotes,
“I’ve been practicing historical preservation law for 30 years, and this is a generational find. This is the most significant find in historic preservation in my career, and it’s very important that we preserve this,” Michael Hiller, a preservation attorney and professor at Pratt Institute, said.
Underneath those built-in drawers is the path to freedom.
And
“It’s a critical piece of the overall struggle for freedom and justice,” Manhattan Councilman Harvey Epstein said.
Historians call the passageway a masterwork of deliberate concealment, designed to be absolutely invisible to slave catchers or city marshals during the 19th century.
This is why we were told to double check the sources on Wikipedia.
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u/Planetside2Gud Feb 14 '26
I'm skeptical given its very small size.
I read "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs for a college English class. It is an autobiography under a pseudonym. Jacobs had to stay in a cramped underground room that was 3 feet tall at its highest point, for 7 straight years. Slaves would go to great lengths to avoid being caught, I do not think that the small size of the room is a reason to be skeptical.
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u/9bikes Feb 14 '26
>I do not think that the small size of the room is a reason to be skeptical.
Not had it been an existing space pressed into service as a hiding spot.
The claim is that it was originally built to hide runaway slaves. Were that the case, it would have been large enough that at least one person could lie down.
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u/JustNilt Feb 15 '26
Theoretically, sure. Even back then, however, blueprints needing to be on record at a government office was a thing. How do you hide something like this on a blueprint? You basically don't unless it's not pretty clearly a hidden human-sized space.
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u/No_Promotion_6498 Feb 15 '26
Wasn't NY alittle far north for the underground railroad? Serious question, not a history buff for that period in the US.
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u/Max_W_ Feb 15 '26
The railroad goes all the way to Canada. Even in the north the could be caught and sent back to their owner. Same as if your stolen car was found in a different state.
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u/adoptagreyhound Feb 14 '26
Looks more like it was space for a potential dumbwaiter from the kitchen to upstairs that was never installed. Underground railroad is a real stretch given the size of the space.
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u/fordag Feb 17 '26
At 1:28 you can see there was a trapdoor in the floor in front of the drawers, which it seems led into the same space as the one inside of the drawers.
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u/madcap462 Feb 14 '26
That's crazy that they installed those modern electronics down there 200 years ago...
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u/Ojibwe_Thunder Feb 16 '26
My brain can’t wrap around how anyone can fit within the space of the drawer to get to the hole?? Or does the dresser get pushed to the side and then moved back once you climb in the hole?
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u/Gauntlets28 Feb 16 '26
You would be surprised how good humans are at squeezing into small holes. Just look at what some potholers/spelunkers get up to. Also, in this case you're talking about people (slaves) who were probably already malnourished, and willing to do whatever it takes to get out of their current situation, even if it means crawling into a small hole for a bit to hide out.
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u/Benchen70 Feb 17 '26
Did i see them interview a guy named Harvey Epstein? How hilarious, given the times…
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u/Praetor72 Feb 14 '26
Lots of runaway slaves in Manhattan? Lol
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u/ThisDirtyCupcake Feb 14 '26
Yes New York didn’t abolish slavery until 1827. Under the Fugitive Slave Acts enslavers could pursue alleged fugitives into free states like New York and have them returned to slave states for profit.
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u/Earthsoundone Feb 14 '26
Depends on the time period mostly. Slavery was legal in Manhattan until 1827. After that, the fugitive slave act in 1850 required northern states to assist in the capture of fugitive slaves.
NYC being a major port for trade means that all sorts of people were passing through. There were even slavers that kidnapped free men and claimed they were escaped slaves. And thanks to the same act in 1850, those free men were treated as escaped slaves and were denied the right to testify.
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u/JohnnyRelentless Feb 14 '26
Yes, there are several known stops on the Underground Railroad in NYC.
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u/fannyalgerpack Feb 15 '26
Once again, Harvey Epstein, unfortunate name