Rumors of a Tunnel in the Underground Railroad: Using Both Reason and Evidence to Learn the Truth
This past weekend my wife and I went to hear a presentation about the Underground Railroad in Orland, Indiana. This small town has quite an interesting past with regard to aiding runaway slaves. Then we went on a walking tour of a few of the homes where these slaves found rest on their journey to Detroit and then into Canada, which was a free country. The people of this town probably helped thousands of them.Our guide mentioned that there are rumors of an underground tunnel between the leader’s house to either the library or someone else’s house. But the library wasn’t built until years later and she couldn’t find any evidence of a tunnel.
Here then lies an example of what we do in testing a claim. The first thing we do is to think. Can we account for the origin of a rumor that would lead us to think it’s not true? The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor was it a railroad (although in some cases slaves did hitch a ride on trains). Rumors after all, like folklore, spring up all of the time because we’re story-telling people. Rumors of tunnels have sprung up everywhere with no basis (although archaeologists did discover one under George Washington’s home). Then too, we must ask ourselves what would be the purpose of a tunnel? Tunnels to transport slaves would require a great deal of work, so the payoff would have to be significant. Our tour guide told about one house that had a trap door on the second story where runaway slaves would climb down into a room with no windows and no other way to get out but to climb back up. That seems to have been a good enough hiding place. Why would they need a tunnel? These runaway slaves could be easily transported at night, which they were.
While this disproves nothing, it does cause us to require evidence before we’ll accept such a claim.
See, that way easy. The analogy here at DC is obvious. If it isn't then my next post will make it so.
8 comments:
Genesis
In the beginning there was nothing. God said, “Let there be light” and lots of things appeared. How do we know there was nothing if all the lights were off?
http://www.thebeginners.net
...not FOR beginners, but BY beginners...
In the beginning there was nothing.
Then who or what created God...spontaneous generation? But again, spontaneous generation by who or what? God created himself out of nothing?
Plus, after creating the world and leading and feeding the Israelites for 400 years in Sinai, and matching with them into war to destroy the Canaanites, just where has he been for over 4,000 years?
Just why is the Bible a book of the trial and error in the evolution of the concept of God?
I just thought I'd put a note here to let you know that I actually grew up just a few miles outside of Orland. Not sure how you came into town (probably via the Toll Road or I-69) but basically if you would go straight West of Orland a few miles and a couple miles north, that's where I grew up. Right in the heart of Indiana bible land. ;) I had no idea about the underground railroad activity in Orland... interesting stuff.
John, I'm so glad that you uncovered this common fallacy. I spent many good years of my life searching in vain for an "underground railroad". Later, I discovered that the phrase was metaphorical. I know one individual who experienced similar hardship in a futile search for elbow grease.
Alan, I was only referring to how rumors like these start up, not that I was taken in by them. There is at least one tunnel though, under George Washington's house, so it's not unheard of that people might have made them. It's just that given the particular layout of this small town there just doesn't seem to be a reason for one at all.
There are similar myths about quilts being used as 'maps' or 'codes'. Some people take these seriously and literally, but others point out that in the time it would take to explain a code or teach someone how to interpret a map and memorize the information there, one could more quickly give clear detailed instructions including directions to the next 'stop' and who would be there and what to say to them. There are dating inconsistencies with patterns attributed to the 'code' actually being first used after the end of the Underground Railroad. The quilts were more likely made after the fact to tell the story, as memeory aids to remember and talk about it or simply to commemorate the idea. Some were deliberate hoaxes designed to sell product. But everyone likes the code/map idea and it gets a lot of sentimental mileage. There is a book 'documenting' it and 'debunking' websites.
I used to live in a house used as one of the last stops on the Underground railroad before it went into Canada. Even though Underground is more meant to convey secretive, we did have pipes in our yard that provided air to the tunnels that ran from under our house to other homes and the nearby Quaker church. So, sometimes it DOES mean literally under the ground. We were told by the family that lived there previously that they ran from a secret spot behind or near the fireplace but that the access was closed in the 1950s. We did find a hiding spot inside and a secret door in the floor to allow people to be smuggled from the barn to the house and vice versa. Just some info for anyone interested.
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