April 5, 2011

Fort Hell

As a kid, I drew these huge, unlikely, sprawling, underground tunnel maps. Entire warrens of bedrooms, kitchens, storage space, booby traps, whatever I could think up and fit in. To me, this looks like the entrance to just such a world.

Petersburg, Virgina
1865, photographer Alexander Gardner

5 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

I just saw a thing on TV about this guy who had built this whole, crazy underground world when he was fourteen. He's probably in his sixties now and he's still building it.

That Hank said...

That would be me, except we live in Florida.

Ms. Moon said...

This was in Tennessee. It really was effing amazing. And the guy was totally batshit crazy. But very artistic. He wore a purple hoodie with the hood part pulled up and he looked like some strange purple teletubby elf as he led the way swiftly through his strange creation. He scurried. In one room he said, "This is built of 6,000 two-by-fours." The TV guy said, "You sure it's not 5,999?"
And the guy said, "Nope. 6,000." I'd bet he was right, too.
The show was called American Pickers. And no, it's not about bluegrass.

Lo said...

Hi, Hank.....your Momma sent me over here and I am glad she did.......never saw a blog like this one.
I will be back.

That Hank said...

Mama: I saw part of that! I was fascinated.

Lo: Thanks for coming!