When people mention Las Vegas the first thing that comes to mind is its bright, shining lights, the millions of casinos and its ridiculously lavish hotels. But what probably no one knows about the city that never sleeps is that underneath all those shiny streets and glamourous hotels there’s a whole civilization of mole people that lives in the tunnels of Las Vegas.
The community that lives in these tunnels is the complete opposite of the people that live above them. While you may think the sun never sets in this bright city, in the tunnels it’s always dark. The city of Las Vegas is one of the most popular tourist destination with millions of people going in and out of the city every day, but its tunnels are a different story – they hold dangers that no one knows.
The mole people and the tunnels of Vegas
In 1975 there was a big flood in Vegas, a summer monsoon ravaged the city and caused massive material damage. In order to prevent a disaster like this happening again, the city decided to build a massive network of tunnels underneath its street. So if there ever was a flood again, the tunnels would redirect the water and prevent the city from flooding. This vast network of tunnels runs for more than 200 miles and over the years it has become the home of tens of thousands of homeless people who’ve started calling themselves the mole people.
What’s so special about these people and these tunnels? Well, they rose to fame when a guy called Timmy Webber went into hiding in these tunnels after killing his girlfriend and that’s when most of us heard about them for the first time. But not everyone living in these tunnels is a criminal. Most of them are just regular people who for some reason have lost their home and were forced to living on the street. The tunnels were a safe place for them to stay, protected from the outside influences. Still, there are a lot of people who live here who struggle with substance abuse, mental problems and addictions and it must not be too easy to be forced to live underground. According to estimates, more than 300 people currently live in the tunnels under Vegas.
As we said, it’s not a simple life down there. It’s always dark and you never know what lurks underneath the darkness. Plus, the tunnels are always at risk of a flood, after all, that’s what they were built for. Heavy rainfall can cause massive amounts of water to start flowing through the tunnels at a huge speed and these people living here are at a risk of drowning.
Numerous organizations have tried to convince the mole people that it’s dangerous to live in these tunnels or at least relocate during the monsoon season, from June to September, but to no success.
For many of these people, despite the dangers, living in the tunnels is better than living on the street. Many of them don’t see this as a permanent solution, but something that was supposed to last a couple of weeks, grows into a couple of months and then years and they still live there. It seems that living in dark, unpatrolled and dangerous underground world is still better than whatever waits them above ground.
