A long time ago, our own Underdog stumbled onto a secret under one of MSU’s many classroom buildings. While he didn’t find the fabled lost swimming pool, he was able to verify that the building had once been used as a gymnasium, and found something even better – an entire phantom floor, existing beneath the current basement/classroom level, consisting of stairways, tunnels, bleachers, a concession area (which read “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry”), and a full basketball court, complete with hardwood floors. When I heard about it I had to see it with my own eyes, and I spent a good part of my last semester trying to find a way in. Finally I did, by way of an often-locked janitor’s closet. I had to check back several times before I finally found the door open, and was forced to sneak past a particularly burly-looking custodian. Luckily he seemed more interested in air conditioning filters than overly curious students.

After slipping down a stairway inside the supply room, I made my way down a dank corridor into what had been the stadium area. I was surprised by the scope of the place, which I spent about an hour exploring in almost total silence. It was like a dead world. Many areas were large enough to stand up and walk in, while others required one to crawl through narrow passages. A kind of gutter system connected the various rooms, traveling under stairways and classroom floors, eventually leading to the “Red Room.” The Red Room was little more than a dead-end under a staircase full of discarded chairs and desks. However, it was interesting for two reasons: One, an odd “shrine” that had been built up around a large red piece of tile, and two, the walls, which tell the story of the Red Room and its cruel inhabitants, the Trolls.

Transcribed for your pleasure, the graffiti read:

“The Red Room – Where the legend of the Trolls is passed down!”

“Beware of the Trolls – They live under the campus in the dark tunnels. Trolls feed on the flesh of the living. Do not enter the tunnels in the dark or alone. Heed this warning, the Trolls do live! I have seen them and felt the sting of razor sharp claws & teeth. For I am the teller of their tale!”

“Beware also – Do not disturb anything in the Red Room. To do so is sure despair & death. Trolls love their story, if black hearts can love. IF you dare this doom will be yours!”

While I wasn’t particularly worried about the trolls, I was a little uneasy down there. The fear of being caught was ever-present, but possibly more unnerving was the almost total silence, which was so permeating that I feared to break it. There were no classes going on at the time, but I almost wish they had been, as the shuffling of footsteps overhead would have helped mask my own. The gutter may have kept going, but the Red Room was clogged with debris and I was hesitant to rearrange it. I took a break on the bleachers and perused a several-years-old copy of the Southwest Standard before deciding it was time to return to the surface.

Satisfied that I had seen all there was to see, I began to tiptoe back toward the entrance. Unfortunately, when I reached the stairwell leading up to the janitor’s area I could hear the sounds of newspaper folding and food being eaten – someone was between me and the door, and they were on their lunch break. I crouched in a darkened corner for almost half an hour, waiting for them to finish. Finally, I grew impatient and bolted for the door. It was locked - from the inside - something which cost me several valuable seconds. Luckily the custodian turned out to be in the next room, and I’m unsure if he even saw me, though I’m certain he heard me slam the door on the way out.