The Underground

Everyone who visits London rides on the Tube. Not only is it the oldest metro system in the world, it’s still super convenient for getting around. Turns out though, that there’s a lot more going on under the streets of London than you’d think.

London has an entire network of abandoned tube stations. The first underground train in London left the platform in 1863- that is 145 years ago! Since then a number of stations, tunnels and platforms have been built and later shut down. Shut down–but not destroyed. There are about two dozen stations which sit ghostly and unused below the earth. This includes the now defunct British Museum Station. You can see pictures of a lot of these stations, I warn you though, it’s pretty eery.

It gets even stranger though. Deep Level Shelters built far underneath even the deepest tube lines. They were built by the government during World War Two as bomb shelters and never inhabited- they are now used mainly for storage (what is so important- or so useless, that you need to store it hundreds of feet underground? Government secrets? Old Spice Girls albums?). There is even a society, Subterranea Britannica dedicated to exploring these underground spaces