Barn Door Leads To Creepy Room Beneath A Grain Silo : Underground Railroad? Prohibition?
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- čas přidán 14. 05. 2022
- This is a very strange room that is located beneath an old wooden farm silo. In my previous video, I explored this old pre Civil War bank barn but wanted to make this a separate video because this room is so unique and I've never seen or heard of one like it. Why do you think they built this room beneath the silo?
Notice the stonework above the wood door at the entrance. I suspect if some things were stacked against that wall, it would appear to be a solid stone wall and no one would realize there was a door there. After all, why put stone above the lintel and not just more wood? Is this part of the "Underground Railroad" for escaping slaves prior to the Civil War? Is it a room built to operate a whisky still during prohibition? If not for clandestine use, why even build it? It would be much easier and safer to have the silo floor on the ground and not have to build the silo foundation and floor so strong to support the weight of a full silo above the room.
It's a mystery to me. Do you have any ideas? Thanks.
Original Barn Exploration video: • Exploring A Pre Civil ...
About Aquachigger:
I enjoy metal detecting for historical items like gold coins, relics, silver coins, and other buried treasures. I also metal detect for gold and silver nuggets and even meteorites. I like to make videos that promote my choice of lifestyle that includes outdoor adventure,
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What do you guys think this room was built for? It's very strange to me and I can't quite figure it out?
Thanx for the videos lately chigg..so good .you know I could watch you dig can slaw and leavarits all day and still be happy..your jst a great guy. I have known wild druggy people and doctor and religious people they all have good and bad .but guys like you are jst awesome .life is so crazy sometimes..I'm jst a student of life and I dnt judge..it is hard to make friends because is they see you saying hi to a homeless then all of a sudden I'm not good enough to say hello to
where is kenny veach ??
The Stone lined room, structurally, looks like a 'basement' to the wood silo, like they needed something deep in the ground for stability to the structure above ground. I would question if the silo wasn't much taller above ground in the early days of construction. They put the roof/floor to keep the sour mash above ground for ease of access. The 'feed trough' structure in the basement came much much later than the original construction. The state of the wood tells us that. I don't think any wood floor could be entirely water proof from that fermenting silo above, and the concentration of the 'toxic' gasses would be to dangerous for mammals. So, I don't think it could be used with silage in the silo.
That would be my best assessment: it was a basement for structural stability for a much taller silo.
OH, YES, SILAGE CAN INTOXICATE ANIMALS. My father was raised in Iowa with huge silos, and the fluid leaked out of one and formed a sizeable puddle beside it. Local birds began drinking from the puddle and got so drunk they couldn't fly and could barely flap their wings in the proper sequence. lol. The would sit there a few minutes and the tipsy would wear off , and they could fly again.
@@brutaliize4907 knobody knows... unless they found him and I missed it..I jst learned about that..it's a mystery for sure 🙏have a good day
Well if they did sell moonshine maybe that's how they could afford such a massive barn? Or maybe its where the hobbits lived?
I think that room was actually two different things. One being the original silo base, and the second being converted into a stall for veal calf.
i was thinking of a wintering room for calves too. big cows in the barn but a bunch of small cows in there would make it nice and warm.
Ha! I was thinking the same thing. I guess you are a year smarter than me.
Art from Ohio
I remember my great grandfather had a barn with the same set up. He used this room for making chocolate. The high humidity and fermenting corn off gassing above allowed for the cocoa beans to cure faster to make chocolate. It was a very common set up in Pennsylvania Dutch country where the Dutch brought this method over from Europe.
100% room for calves for veal
@@davo8802 Your are completely wrong. Veal was typically grown in separate buildings to prevent the animals from getting trampled by bigger animals. These small rooms are totally 💯 for fermenting chocolate.
@@davo8802 it's for chocolate my guy
Check the floor for charcoal. Distillation of alcohol needs fire. Lighting a fire under that fermenting silage would be suicide.
The veal calf theory would be workable except for the height of the feed station, and the nuisance of cleaning and feeding down in that hole. Strange room alright. Getting to the bottom of this would make a cool video series Beau.
Check the floor for broken glass bottles, and also metal tubing scraps.
Getting to the bottom....no pun intended.
Dude, it's a barn. Fire near a barn is a huge no no!
I think that your first observation, that the room contains a feed station is correct. I grew up in rural northeastern Illinois, and I recall that calves, that were to be sold for veal, were typically kept in the dark in oder to retard the progression of their flesh from veal to beef. So my guess is that it might be a calf (veal) feeding station.
first thing that crossed my mind.
@@robertreese2600 First thing that crossed mine too.
Never woulda thought of that, best theory I've heard, but would be cool if it was used at some point not to distill but atleast maybe a good spot for the fermentation barrels for making the alcyhol lol
Supports my first thought that only small animals would be comfortable in that space.
Had not read your comment when I posted mine but now I know I’m not the only one who had that👍🏻
that is where they kept the attack beavers.
Probably the original silo base. I think that when they built the new silo they stopped using the old one as a silo and used it for hay storage. That would need a dry wooden floor so they built the floor at ground level in the old silo cresting this odd room. Probably then used it for stabling smaller animals like goats or calves. Farmers were thrifty people so they wouldn't waste this usable space.
Most plausible idea I've read here. ✌
I agree. The other silo, and every one I've seen, all extend below the ground level. Most likely to keep the silage moist.
When the larger silo was built, the smaller may have been used for grain, where you would want it above ground level to prevent mold.
Best answer yet.
Yep.
Looks to me like it definitely was used to feed animals at one point but that may have been alot more recent. The original purpose may have been a root cellular possibility? Or just extra storage. Or possibility the silo floor was a later addition and the corn originally filled all the way to the dirt?
Hmmm, not where he kept calves to make veal was it? The way they made veal was horrendous. Hust the feeder in the middle got me thinking like that. They raised them with little light.
We raised them when I was a kid and I have no idea what light would have had to do with it. What they couldn't do was eat solid foods (there was a hay manger in there) and/or run free (made the meat tougher). All milk (I think we used Stead-A-Milk) all the time. They lived their entire lives without a solid bowel movement. Looking back, it was a disgusting practice...
To raise vealers was to keep the calf on mothers milk for as long as possible so would make no sense having a feeder for dry feed in the space.
Secondary use, new wood?
Doesn't look like there's enough airflow in there to keep the fire going to cook the mash, not to mention if the revenuer comes by and there's smoke billowing around the edges of your silo and you don't seem concerned he's probably going to take a look-see.
Wouldn't need a fire to ferment the mash!
@@diggingindiana1464 you would to heat it up to start the distillation process. Which doesn’t sound likely because it would create a serious fire hazard.
Love videos like this. So much to learn, and so much from the past that shouldn’t be forgotten.
I love old barns , and this one is awesome thanks Chigg ,
Been waiting on this one. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing another great story
Thanks for showing,great story 😊👍
Probably a moonshine still at sometime, but also used for feeder caves , don’t want them running around if you plan to sale for veal
Makes sense. My grandparents had a secret room in their basement to make beer. Apparently it was illegal to make your own beer where they lived pre-1960s and they made beer behind a wall with a secret entrance at the top. It was probably a late 1800s house and they moved in around 1935 or so and made the beer until my grandfather's death in the early 1960s. Of course that was long over by the time I came around so I didn't know about it when I was playing in the basement in the 80s. I remember the wall though with a narrow opening at the top.
Jimmy Carter made it legal to brew beer at home.
Maybe I’ve seen too many scary movies but the way you spoke in the last video, I was expecting to see like a nursery or a kids room. Like the farmers back in the day had a horribly deformed kid they made live in the barn with the animals. Whatever it was used for its incredibly interesting. Thanks for sharing Chig!
LOL, That was my 1st thought ;)
Looking forward to watching you tonight on the new series of River Hunters.
nice spot chig. really lucky to be able to view this in person you are. seems to me your theory off the bootlegers hide out sounds best to me. when you first walked in i thought the wood was gallows to hang people.
I actually thought the same thing or something slavery related or from way back with corporal punishment or something.
You are a GENIUS, Chigg!!
i love how you challenge us to look at things from different perspectives! .... I think the shine room holds water. It definitely has a bit of a nefarious or secretive feeling to it. Brilliant idea, Chig ! I love the idea of homemade shine created in such a space. Don't like the veal calf possiblity.. Somehow I never knew that about the raising of veal calves! but for some reason i never could eat veal when it was offered and did not know why. This would make a great secret hideout in our scarey world times now, great prepper room.
Probably started out as a way to get silage down to the animal level without having to go out in the dead of winter. Obviously had a feeding manger for a critter at one point, but you might be right. It might have been used for shine storage back in the day but it would have been incredibly stupid to have the still in there.
Smart thinking Chigg!!
Been waiting on this video 🥰 very interesting.
Awesome video chigg what a great find i wonder what went in in there
Great idea!!!!
I think you are on to something Chigg! Maybe the silo was added onto that room later!! Pretty cool! T4S 👍👍😘😘
So a lot of new silos have augers to stir the contents to add air and keep it from fermenting. This may be for animals to run an auger, it has a narrow chute to keep tem on path. And it circular to keep them on track. The only thing missing is the arms and harnesses of the main beam running up the middle that would be the axle of the auger blades.
^
That's what I was thinking.
The barn you show last month was SUPER cool to me i like it more
My grand parents had room like that in their barn.. they used it for cabbage brine storage, for making sauerkraut.. I got my behinder whalloped often for sneaking down there and eating a big ole leaf of brined cabbage.. had to part the brine to pull a leaf out..
Saw a couple rooms like that the guy raised veal (baby cows). He would pack them in and they could not walk…very bad conditions for an animal
That was an awesome story Chigg .
I think you ARE a genius, Beau. (I also love your humility.)
(You’re playing loons from Adirondacks at night on a quiet ultra remote lake. I would love to take you up there far away from electricity from people from civilization among the loons in my carbon fiber kevlar solo shallow V canoe. Vikings used Shallow V. My boats are the best ultra light solo canoes on the planet.)
I believe you are a very smart man! That is genius!!
very, very cool!
That is definitely an interesting space Chigg
Going to pass on the still and go with the stall. Raising veal calves is the more logical use of the space based on the layout of the feed rack and things mentioned by others. Plus when cooking shine they would have had to burn a fair amount of wood or coal. Hiding the smoke from that would have been more difficult than managing the odor of alcohol. Plus smoke would have left a fair amount of sooting on the exposed wood beam and whitewashed rock wall which wasn't obvious. Lastly, only a fool of a farmer would risk his most important building...made almost entirely out of wood...to the vagaries of a fire burning beneath his silage silo and barn. Plus, wouldn't he risk blowing up the silo or burning it all down by having open flames around the concentrated alcohol gassing off from the silage? Seems like a good way to experiment with those upper and lower explosive levels? Ethanol's LEL is only 3.3%. Ethanol vapor is heavier than air and would have pooled in the room under the silo. No doubt, hiding his still in plain sight would have been a stroke of inspired genius but I think the risk of loosing the barn versus the still made it too risky to hide it in there. Good theory and an entertaining thought. I think the farmer raised a bunch of contact drunk veal calves from breathing an atmosphere heavy on Ethanol! At least they died happy?
Still a stall😉
Very interesting I have seen this design of the structure in the center of the room and I'm trying to remember where I saw it at. I'll let you know when I remember which will probably take 50 years
Kind of reminds me also of the place you put hay in for animals to eat from Below
I've seen small spaces such as this used as a space where a mule would turn a grinding wheel,, strapped to the pole going in a circle it would turn a grinding stone to grind your corn or wheat as needed..
There are no moving parts here you dumba$$
Very strange.
Thanx Chigg for another great AQUACHIGGER ADVENTURE
So I just found this in an article titled “The Evolving History of the Agricultural Silo: Hay Storage in the New World” -
“The earliest silos were storage pits located within the barn itself. In 1875 the American Agriculturalist published what may be the first account of an American example on a large dairy farm owned by the Brady family in Katonah, in Westchester County. The article explained:
The pit in which the grains are stored, is a deep cellar, walled with stone
and cement, and covered with a roof. A door from the bottom of the pit
opens into the stable, and permits the removal of the grains as may be
needed. In this pit several thousand bushels of grains may be stored, and
being packed down closely, and kept from access of air, may be preserved
in good order for months. It is upon a similar plan to this, that French
farmers are now preserving their corn-fodder in a green state, until the
new crop comes in.”
So I think the stone lined room you were in was the old silo pit. When the farm became larger, they needed more room to store more silage. As years went by, silos went from being in ground pits to vertical silos. So I think it was the old pit that later had a floor put on top and the wood silo built over it. As for why there is now a wooden hay feeder in the center, your guess is as good as mine! Maybe it was used as temporary a birthing room for sheep? No clue.
Actual "research" nice work! 👍👍
Captured samsquanches!!🥺😳😲
yeah bubbles is the caretaker for the farm. go figure :D
Deeeeeeecent.
1 Question on the Moonshine Theory... Isn't there Fire involved in making of moonshine ?? Wouldn't there be a place for the smoke to escape & how would you explain that to the Revenuer's ?? Other than that, Your idea sounds great !!
Looks like the icehouse on the Henry Clay estate "Ashland" in Lexington, KY.
I first thought maybe a big round grinding stone powered by mules or similar to make flour or some other grain grinding but i love the moonshine theory ..
Dunno about zombies, but moonshiners may be something. Odd thing is to me that it would be easier to make this in any other form within the same parameters, including (better, i'd say) above the silo, in a hidden compartment. Nobody would climb the top of a silo to check for something like that, short of the most "diligent" of inspectors.
One thing's for sure, the center feeding structure is all re-used wood. You can see it in the different pieces.
So whatever the original purpose, it's now lost to time, short of having someone dig up the floor for any potential evidence maybe still there.
. 55 minutes in. Bring on the spooky... Live for it...
Sounds logical to me... nice video Aqua...
Veal calfs get fed on the floor and are usually chained up to not move. Maybe it was for hunting dogs? I’ve seen rooms in barns for dogs before.
Looks to me a old silo that was repurposed they probally used silage forever and you could shovel it out the door to feed but later did dry corn and couldnt have it below ground so put a wood floor in and used the underside for a extra stall
I would ask a Amish person they still have old silos like that in Pennsylvania
Hard to tell from the video but looking at the walls in that circular room there seems to be two phases of construction - or animals just eroded away the bottom portion.. anyhow looks like a cool room to explore and metal detect.
Sounds good but wouldn’t it be dark and you would need lanterns. With the fumes of fermentation, they would be flammable I think. I don’t know, just trying to figure it out.
Animals don't need light to eat..and the slide board is pulled from the barn or it's a " toe kick" to fill silage in feeder and the Animals don't care about the light
@@sailingmohican2767 he's talking about the moonshine theory
@@sailingmohican2767 they do care about light. Cruel to keep in dark
We had one just like that but there was no silo anymore. The oldest barn burned years earlier and they did not rebuild the silo. They did have that room below ground level and it had crock jugs and bottle caps all over in it. I guess it was repurposed. :)
Never grew up on a farm or been around farm animals. But if they had a setup for feeding is it possible it was to isolate a sick animal from the herd while treating. Like hoof and mouth disease etc?
Who'd a thunk it, but it does make sense. Disguise the still with the smell of the silage. Odd though that it looks like a feed rack down there. Love to find some historic records of that farm.
You are absolutely correct moon shine at its finest 👍👍
I think you are totally right Chigg. As soon as you showed the bottom room where you were sitting I thought it might be a still. Probably spelled wrong. But if you watched the Waltons show there is these two old ladies that make “the recipe”. Which is moonshine. But the still they show is just about the same size as where the still might be for that room.
The raised circular area looks like a speakers platform. Coven.
I believe that may be a bagging room since you're under the silo, used to bag grains usely by burlap sacks
Good afternoon from Southeast South Dakota
We found a still in a hidden room in my step cousins cellar in a house he got from his grandfather. Still had the still in it. Walls were smoke stained though.
I entered a hide-out spot for the underground railroad. It was underneath a church located in Baltimore City. It had a long ladder that went quite a ways down.
My great grandfather would ferment chopped sorghum for cattle feed in dug out pits it looks like that cellar would work well for that
Stupid, who's going to build a fire in their hay barn? It was more than likely built before prohibition. Maybe a milking parlor? A calving pen? No doubt to feed silage to cattle. The remnants of what looks like plaster or parging make me lean toward a milking parlor.
Best regards from Indiana.
If you strip the video title to bare minimum, it just says door leads to room. But i love you Beau, keep the videos coming !
Where would have been the fire for the distillery?
No trace of a smoke stack. So, distillery seems to be unlikely to me.
I do think, this room comes in handy, if you need a heated stable in the winter. The fermenting corn above would have kept this room cozy warm all the time
i think your the winner out of all these comments! makes perfect sense really.
Any signs of a turning post? Almost looks like indoor cane processing to me or something along those lines where a mule or donkey walked in a circle to turn something?
Nah, no sugarcane up here.
I grew up on a farm with cattle & Hogs. My guess would definitely be the bottom of a silo. Any farm with cattle is typically feeding corn silage. The manger probably came after when the silo came down and they were feeding small livestock to utilize the space. It would be interesting to see if there were any type of boards lying around,,that were used to sealing the opening and any kind of locks in the stone work. I don't believe for one minute they were making moonshine in that enclosure.
It’s a winter, extreme cold pen!!!! Just used for the young, short periods of time, grandfather had similar on hog farm for his large sow with piglets
Hello Chig, maybe a veal chamber
Keep the videos coming
Thanks
Carl Zatsick
Farmington Michigan
My first thought, given the feeding apparatus, was an area for calves. Not sure why they'd build it under the silo and match the circular shape though. Could've just made it a square room. Someone suggested it might be the original bottom of that silo. That's possible.
I don't believe it was built to house a still site. It's too complex of a structure for that. If they wanted to build a still house under the silo, they couldn't just made it square or rectangular. And Chigg, you were saying "illegal bootlegging operation." Bootlegging is the act of transporting the shine, not making it.
Any new caving videos coming soon, Chigg?
Chiggs, this is the coolest place ever. Is it cold down in the circular cellar?
Interesting, what were all the cans on the ground?
I agree with the shine room Theory, the feeder trouph might have been added after,
A still under an open still, very flammable.
Strange room
Interesting... is this possibly in or around Mercer county Pennsylvania? I have seen some... shall we say, different or odd to the regular person like us wouldnt normally see. Such incredible think in the shadows of this country.
Any old glass or charcoal/burnt wood? Smoke line near the ceiling? That would support the still theory...
That building what I can see and tell from it used to be a windmill! And at the bottom you can tell used to be where the milling stones used to be at!
The moonshine theory down there is pretty genius. A “controlled” fire would be the hardest part of having a distillery down there🤷🏻♂️
Cool
Naisss Vidio friend
I would hope it would be for keeping clippings from trees, they took these in late fall new growth to feed cows and horses when the hay was running slim. This was also done in years that the hay did not grow well and was sparse. Just my thoughs. The feeder would just keep it off the ground.
Old windmill before it was a grain silo for grinding flour?
That was a Go-Go Dancer cage, lol.
I think the wood floor was added later, after they quit using for silage. If there was silage on that wood floor it would be pretty rotten. And think of the mess from the silage juice seeping threw the wood floor
I think it was to keep cattle warm in the winter. Maybe to hide cattle from soldiers or bandits.
Nice spot for a evp session do you think it could have been a rail road hide out
I really hate to disagree with Chigg but you have to have a source of fresh water and a way to cook the mash.
Where’s the water and smokstack/chimney?
My grandparents barn didn't that in it...more junk cars and old tires. But this is pretty cool! 😏
It's possible of it being a still since it's all the firmaments happen automatically. I can remember as a kid all the town drunks would place a opening in the bottom of a silo mix sugar in the grain they said they got drunk off of it but idk
Ice Storage, later feeder tray ..we had a lot of silo ice storage here on the Ohio river side of WV
I think below ground it could be an ice house in winter blocks of ice would be cut from river or pond stored in there underground and the feed station would be where they would have stored meats and food so they had ice for cold drinks and a refrigerator sort of
Well, it appears to me that the original silo went from top to bottom and the ceiling of that room was added after they quit using it as a silo (after the other silo was built) and I can almost assure you the room was then set up as a birthing room for goats/lambs/sheep and as a place to keep goats/lambs/sheep during winter storms as they wouldn’t be in there for long periods.
It was not used as a still room as the process is to volatile to be done safely and there would be a chimney or at least soot staining from the fire and I doubt they would put it where a spark could ignite a barn burner.
I figured it out.....it's where Karl worked on his lawnmowers. Did you see signs of mustard biscuits? ;)
The moonshine theory seems plausible if they would be doing small batches of the stuff. But, that could put the entire barn at risk, including the makers of the hooch. Hmm, real interesting video. Thank you.
What Richie and Martyn said👍
Makes sense...