In the United States , the term mole people (also called tunnel people or tunnel dwellers ) is sometimes used to describe homeless people living under large cities in abandoned subway , railroad , flood , sewage tunnels , and heating shafts.
25-539: Dark Days , a 2000 documentary feature film by British filmmaker Marc Singer , follows a group of people living in an abandoned section of the New York City Subway , in the area called Freedom Tunnel . Anthropologist Teun Voeten 's book Tunnel People is also about the inhabitants of the Freedom Tunnel, where Voeten lived for five months. Jennifer Toth 's 1993 book The Mole People: Life in
50-464: A bed, bookcase and even a makeshift shower. The tunnels are prone to flooding, which can be extremely dangerous for the tunnel's residents. Most lose their belongings regularly, and there have been some reported deaths. Many tunnel inhabitants have been turned away from the limited charities in Las Vegas. Matt O'Brien, a local author who spent nearly five years exploring life beneath the city to write
75-444: A documentary, even though he had never made a film before, hoping that the project would make enough money for the residents of the tunnel to move into better housing. The filming took two-and-a-half years. The film's crew consisted of the subjects themselves, who rigged up makeshift lighting and dollies and learned to use a 16mm camera with black-and-white film. During filming, Amtrak announced it would be forcibly evicting
100-494: A series of broken gates near 103rd Street and Riverside Park. Early artists who left their mark on the tunnel included the duo Sane Smith , Ghost, Twist, Dan Plasma, Cost , and Revs . Until the construction of the Trump Riverside development, the south end of the tunnel terminated in a large open area. In the 1980s and 1990s, a tent city with pirated electricity and hundreds, perhaps thousands of dwellers existed in
125-669: Is an American documentary film directed, produced, and photographed by the English documentarian Marc Singer that was completed and released in 2000. Shot during the mid-1990s, it follows a group of people who lived in the Freedom Tunnel section of the Amtrak system at the time. DJ Shadow created new music for the documentary and also let Singer use some of his preexisting songs. When Marc Singer arrived in Manhattan , he
150-473: Is wrong." Cecil Adams 's The Straight Dope contacted Toth in 2004, and noted the large amount of unverifiability in her stories, while declaring that the book's accounts seemed to be truthful. A later article, after contact with Brennan, was more skeptical of Toth's truthfulness. Other journalists have focused on the underground homeless in New York City as well. Photographer Margaret Morton made
175-592: The Freedom Tunnel in 2011 and a "where are they now" video that details what happened to the tunnel residents after the documentary was filmed. The film was re-released by Dogwoof Pictures in the U.K., with the home video release including the additional features and interviews. Freedom Tunnel The Freedom Tunnel is a railroad tunnel carrying the West Side Line under Riverside Park in Manhattan , New York City . Used by Amtrak trains to and from Pennsylvania Station , it got its name because
200-676: The Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film . Oscilloscope Laboratories re-released "Dark Days" theatrically at Cinema Village in New York City on July 1, 2011, as well as on DVD on July 19, 2011. The DVD contains several new features compiled especially for the special tenth anniversary release, including footage of Singer revisiting
225-414: The graffiti artist Chris "Freedom" Pape used the tunnel walls to create some of his most notable artwork. The name may also be a reference to the former shantytowns built within the tunnel by homeless populations seeking shelter and freedom to live rent-free and unsupervised by law enforcement. The tunnel runs approximately 2.6 miles (4.2 km), from 72nd Street to 124th Street. The tunnel
250-798: The Tunnels Beneath New York City , written while she was an intern at the Los Angeles Times , was promoted as a true account of travels in the tunnels and interviews with tunnel dwellers. The book helped canonize the image of the mole people as an ordered society living literally under people's feet. However, few claims in her book have been verified, and it includes inaccurate geographical information, numerous factual errors, and an apparent reliance on largely unprovable statements. The strongest criticism came from New York City Subway historian Joseph Brennan, who declared, "Every fact in this book that I can verify independently
275-686: The book Beneath the Neon , founded the Shine A Light Foundation to help the homeless people taking refuge in the tunnels. The charity helps tunnel residents by providing supplies, such as underwear, bottled water, and food. According to the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, the valley has about 450 miles (720 km) of flood control channels and tunnels, and about 300 miles (480 km) of those are underground. Dark Days (film) Dark Days
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#1732780866340300-464: The centerpiece mural by Freedom and Smith commemorating the former residents of the tunnel. For unknown reasons, Amtrak did not finish repainting the tunnel walls north of 91st Street. Today, all of the walls that were repainted have been covered by new layers of graffiti. Around 2010, the Third of May mural suffered major water damage due to a leak in the tunnel directly above. The Freedom Tunnel and
325-517: The demise of the West Side Line . The giant, man-made caverns became a haven for homeless people. At its height in 1994, nearly a hundred people lived in the tunnel. On April 4, 1991, the tunnel was reopened for trains of the Amtrak Empire Connection , and a massive eviction followed. The shantytowns were bulldozed and the tunnel was chained off. To this day, however, graffiti artists and urban explorers continue to visit
350-595: The main theme of the film, which was released on the single "Dark Days". Dark Days was released in 2000. It won three awards at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival ( Audience Award Documentary , Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary, and Freedom of Expression Award), was chosen as the Senior Programmer's Pick at the 2000 SXSW Film Awards , and was nominated for awards at several other film festivals. The film also won
375-603: The people living in the tunnels in order to reroute their trains through the tunnel. This announcement, plus the police presence backing the decision, prompted Singer and photographer Margaret Morton to go to the Coalition for the Homeless for help. Eventually, Singer and Morton managed to secure housing vouchers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the film's subjects, which enabled them to move out of
400-523: The photo book The Tunnel . Filmmaker Marc Singer made the documentary Dark Days in the year 2000, and a similar documentary, Voices in the Tunnels , was released in 2008. In 2010, Teun Voeten published Tunnel People . Media accounts have reported "mole people" living underneath other cities as well. In the Las Vegas Valley , it is estimated a thousand homeless people find shelter in
425-436: The sidewalks of Riverside Park above the space. The descending shafts of light allow graffiti art to be seen in the gloom, and artists would often center their projects under the light to take advantage of the spot-lighting effect, as if in a gallery. After achieving popularity in the book Spraycan Art by James Prigoff and Henry Chalfant , graffiti artists began to flock to the Freedom Tunnel and gained access through
450-490: The south end of the tunnel. Retired trains were also permanently parked near the south end of the tunnel allowing artists to cover whole cars with paint and murals, even if the cars themselves never left the tunnels. However, the homeless population was gradually relocated from the tunnel to other places. "Freedom" dedicated one of the tunnel's murals to the former homeless population there. Works by "Freedom" remained mostly untouched and respected by taggers. A notable exception
475-418: The storm drains underneath the city for protection from extreme temperatures that exceed 115 °F (46 °C) while dropping below 30 °F (−1 °C) in winter. According to media reports, the people living in the tunnels underneath Las Vegas have managed to furnish their "rooms". In one ABC News report from 2009, a couple, who had been living in the tunnels for five years, had furnished their home with
500-500: The style of a comic book that tells an abstract story that seems to reference the relationship of the former residents of the tunnel, the city government , and the police. Other historical pieces range from Michelangelo to Norman Rockwell . Beginning in late 2009, Amtrak began to aggressively repaint the tunnels in an effort to restore their original appearance. Nearly all of the tunnel's interior walls south of 91st Street were repainted, resulting in many murals disappearing, including
525-425: The tunnel, while the homeless population has been mostly displaced. Around 2014 and 2015, graffiti artists and urban explorers were sporadically caught and escorted out by Amtrak Police . Over the tunnel's years of disuse, its isolated nature allowed graffiti artists and street artists to work without fear of arrest, leading to larger and more ambitious pieces. The tunnel has unique lighting provided by grates in
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#1732780866340550-446: The tunnels and into their own apartments. The post-production process for the film took years, with delays caused by financial difficulties and Singer's insistence on creative control to protect the tunnel residents. Melissa Neidich was the editor of the film. The film features music by DJ Shadow . Included in the score are excerpts from Endtroducing..... and his album with Unkle , as well as original music he composed for
575-473: Was built by Robert Moses in the 1930s to expand park space for Upper West Side residents – although the construction of Moses's Henry Hudson Parkway in the same area effectively blocked access to the river. After it was completed, the tunnel was used for freight trains until 1980, when regular operations ended. The railroad favored using yards in the Bronx and New Jersey, and increased use of trucking led to
600-477: Was struck by the number of people he saw living on the streets. He befriended many in New York's homeless community and, after hearing about people who lived underground in abandoned tunnel systems, he met and became close to some members of the Freedom Tunnel community, which stretched north from Penn Station past Harlem . After living in the tunnel on and off for a number of months, Singer decided to create
625-465: Was the recreation of Francisco Goya 's The Third of May , which was defaced, but subsequently restored by Freedom. In addition, there are numerous other murals on the walls in the 90- and 100-block areas of the tunnel; including a chiaroscuro style study of the Venus de Milo , and original portraits rendered with impressionistic splashes of color. The centerpiece of the tunnel is a mural painted in
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