What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: Secret Tunnels Under Gene Hackman's House

A recent YouTube video from channel The Ultimate Discovery makes some claims that might surprise fans of actor Gene Hackman. According to the video, FBI agents searching Hackman's home following his death discovered a "hidden passageway concealed behind the library wall" that led to a "vast, eerie underground warehouse" containing documents, antiques, old photographs, and parts of unidentifiable machines. The walls were covered in runes and symbols that seem to be of ancient origin and could not be translated. Not only that, the bunker connects to larger network of tunnels, "similar to the catacombs of Paris."

It's a pretty good story (if you can swallow the premise that actor Gene Hackman is a character in a Lovecraft novel) but It's not true. (I liked Gene Hackman in The Quick and the Dead, but he wasn't that cool.) At least, there's no reason to think it's true. The FBI has not issued a statement about the tunnels, nor have local authorities, and the Ultimate Discovery YouTube channel makes it clear it isn't telling the truth in its channel description, which reads:

"Content on The Ultimate Discovery is for entertainment only... our information may not always be correct, up-to-date or complete. Always consult experts and do your own research."

But almost a million people have viewed the video, despite the disclaimer and how farfetched the story is on its face. Claims about Hackman's secret tunnels are being repeated on TikTok videos, in X posts, and basically everywhere else. Judging by the comments, people believe it, too. The b-roll footage (that's either generated by AI or from unrelated incidents) helps, but any conspiracy theory that involves secret tunnels is bound to get people worked up.

What is it about tunnels?

Cave paintings from over 40,000 years ago suggest our ancestors used caverns as religious sites. During the Roman Empire, followers of Mithra dug tunnels specifically for elaborate rites, then swore oaths to not reveal what went on underground. There are around 170 miles of corpse-filled tunnels under Paris and a large portion of it has not been explored. So people have always thought something strange was going on under their feet. And they often aren't wrong. Modern cities are built atop elaborate, mysterious networks of utility tunnels, transportation tunnels, and more, and you generally can't visit them. While you could go down to the city hall and request civic planning documents that describe the sub-basements and sewers under your town, it's easier to just fill in the blanks with whatever you'd like. Hence the prominence of tunnels in modern conspiracy theories.

D.U.M.B's: Deep Underground Military Bases

Underground spaces are a key aspect of "Pizzagate" conspiracies, lizard people conspiracies, Fourth Reich conspiracies, and more, whether it's non-existent basements below Italian restaurants in D.C., the claim that children were freed from Mammoth Cave in Kentucky by the National Park Service, or, now, the supposed tunnels beneath Gene Hackman's house.

It's not stated outright in the video, but if you're of a conspiratorial mindset, you probably see the Gene Hackman tunnels as connected to our nation's D.U.M.Bs—Deep Underground Military Bases. The existence of a large, interconnected network of military bases under the United States is a common belief among conspiracy theorists. There are various ideas as to their purpose, but among the most widely accepted is that the Deep State uses DUMBs to transport and traffic children, and Hollywood people like Gene Hackman help in some way. Everyone wants that adrenochrome.

But the most lasting conspiracy theories often have a germ of truth to them, and there really are underground military complexes in the U.S. Take, for example, The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, which was built under 2,000 feet of granite in Colorado in 1957. It was once the home of NORAD, as seen in War Games, but now it's a United States Space Force installation. Cheyenne Mountain isn't exactly secret, though: Before 9/11, they gave public tours, and if you know someone who works there, you can supposedly still visit.

A very D.U.M.B. idea

Reality and conspiracy theories differ as to the purpose and extent of underground military installations. Reality says there's a few of them, and they were built mainly so that the government could continue to function after a nuclear war (and probably as a Cold War show of strength.) Conspiracy theorists imagine a huge, interconnected network of underground bases that allow coast-to-coast hidden transportation of stolen children and/or lizard people. But the point of Cheyenne Mountain's design is that it's not connected to anything else. Cheyenne Mountain is built to be self-sufficient.

Like most conspiracy theories, asking a few basic questions dispels the myth. Like: Why would the United States spend the time, money, and effort to build secret bases underground when we already have secret military bases that are above ground? It's way easier and cheaper to put up some fences and post some guards in the desert—which is what we actually do. Wouldn't a military jet, a train, or some trucks be a better way of transporting alien bodies or whatever? Again, this is how we already transport secrets.

Gene Hackman—seriously?

As for why conspiracy theorists would focus on Gene Hackman of all people, your guess is as good as mine. Usually the entertainment industry figures featured in conspiracy theories are particularly outspoken politically and highly visible, like George Clooney or Tom Hanks. Hackman was a lukewarm Hollywood liberal at best (He hated Nixon but supported Reagan) and he hadn't starred in a movie since 2004, so he's a strange target. Maybe the initial uncertainty about how he died was enough to suggest a mysterious hidden world. But as always, reality is way more boring than the imaginations of conspiracy theorists: Hackman was 95 years old when he died of a heart attack, and there was nothing under his house more mysterious than a basement rec room.