Urban Legends Swirl Around Texas Tech’s Mysterious Tunnels

There is a network of tunnels underneath Texas Tech University. We'll explore what they are for, and some urban myths about them.

It wasn't that long ago one of the secret tunnels under Texas Tech University belched green fire. The green fire was almost secondary news to people in Lubbock saying, "Wait, there's tunnels?".

Texas Tech has a series of tunnels that allows the University to run campus utilities through them. This would allow a lot of access to heating and cooling with a minimal to no amount of digging involved.
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The tunnels were put in place with the very first building in 1929. The older tunnels are described as hot and narrow while the newer tunnels are better ventilated and supposedly big enough to drive a golf cart through.

As you can imagine, access to these tunnels is severely limited. Still, there have been stories of students breaking in to explore and, at least attempt, to throw parties.

There have been many tunnels myths as well. There is a story of a student who used the tunnels to access the campus but was trapped and died, and also stories of tunnel/mole people who actually live down there.

It also may or may not be a myth that these tunnels connect with other tunnels downtown. I have been told this is true, but it's hard to verify.

So yes, there are tunnels under Texas Tech that help the University efficiently heat and cool the campus, but tales of monsters and missing students are (almost) certainly 100% false.