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There is a Chicago beneath the one we know.
Did you know about the network of tunnels under Chicago?
en.wikipedia.org - 3 weeks ago - 449 views
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There's a group of wacky thrill seekers who have gone down into the tunnels to explore them. Chicago Urban Exploration.
Here's their website - http://www.chucksphotospot.com/CUE%20Web/webpages/news.html
Thinking of joining? Not so fast.
Seems the group was dissolved in 2003, shortly after an incident in 2002 when one of the members, Joseph Konopka, was arrested and taken in by the FBI for storing cyanide and other chemicals in the tunnels.
They brought him up on terrorist charges! Here's a link to a PDF of the kid's affidavit - http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/terrorism/uskonopka031102cmp.pdf
Anybody else know ANYTHING about this? This is the first I've heard of it.
Try Manhattan's underground tunnels, natural geological formations, which provide a haunting playground for many a Harlem neighborhood child.
One of the nation's founding fathers--Alexander Hamilton's home sits above one of the caverns which stretch for miles beneath this New York City borough.
What's amazing is that in digging the Chicago tunnels, ostensibly to create a raceway for electronic communications, the excavated fill created Northerly Island & filled in much of the once swampy Chicago Lake Michigan lakefront.
The Chicago Tribune failed to cause a stir.
Did some digging and I found a hand full of fun facts about Joseph Konopka a.k.a. "Dr. Khaos" (dum dum DUM!)
*First - brace yourself - he's from Wisconsin! Terrifying, huh? But the best article on the internet about the crime and the man who committed it can be found on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's website. We even get to hear what Grandma thinks about the whole thing -- http://www3.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=27073
Marian Konopka, grandmother of Joseph Konopka, said her grandson left their De Pere home in June.
A Blue Line train passes a door sealed with a piece of evidence tape in Chicago on Tuesday. Joseph Konopka, formerly of De Pere, has been charged with storing cyanide in part of Chicago's downtown subway system.
*Also, they really called him "Dr. Chaos." No kidding. I don't suppose it matters if - according the wikipedia - the highest level of education the good doctor ever achieved was a GED. Accordingly, Cracked.com honored him with the #4 spot on 5 Real World Criminals Who Were Certified Super-Villains --
*But seriously, this had people pretty spooked back in the day (is the early/mid 2000s already "back in the day?"). Bush-era paranoia was the dominating theme. Shortly after Konopka was sentenced to 13 years in prison for "conspiracy to commit acts of terror," CBS did a national story on it called "We're Watching: How Chicago Authorities Keep An Eye On The City"
*The nimble and efficient organization that is the CTA issued a very strongly worded press release - http://www.transitchicago.com/news/default.aspx?Archive=y&pg=80&ArticleI...
*And in this caper's most bizarre twist, the FBI raided a coffee shop where a group of "hackers" and computer enthusiasts regularly meet. The group calls itself 2600.
Wired reported on the event - "Cyanide Anarchist a Hacker, Too?"
And a website claiming to speak for the Chicago chapter of 2600 posted its own version of events in response to the Wired write-up. Though it occurs to me that a group of "hackers" would have a cooler looking website - http://www.chicago2600.net/press/http://www.chicago2600.net/press/
Well, this tunnel was the cause of the flood. Don't tell me you haven't heard of the flood.
Didn't someone else post about this a while ago? There was a mention that much of Grant Park and the location of the Planetarium, etc., was fill from the digging of the tunnel.
I remember when this guy got caught with the cyanide. What the heck was he thinking?
There's a pedway, too. Don't tell me you haven't heard about the pedway.
The conspiracy theorist in me believes the tunnels are where the government will hide when 2012 comes along.
That's an interesting thought. They are being underutilized. Maybe they could be a tourist attraction. They could restore the small-gauge railroad system down there and give rides to tourists, etc. Or they could relocate those unsightly homeless people down there. Or it could be used as a catacombs for departed political independents.
I found out about them when Cities of the Underworld did a segment on it: http://www.hulu.com/watch/72072/cities-of-the-underworld-mob-underground...
Great link! thanks.
Saying that Konopka was a member of CUE is false. He was never a member, he just hung out with the group a couple times and pretended to be a friend so he could learn how to gain access to the tunnels. CUE was a peaceful and honorable exploration group that did nothing except explore abandoned and empty structures and take pictures. They didn't steal anything or even graffiti. Konopka used them for his own criminal purposes and then took advantage of some lonely high school kids he met online to commit his sick crimes. CUE had nothing to do with any of this.
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