Tunnels, the darling of modern intrigue

The scene takes place on January 8, 2024 in Brooklyn, at the “770” Synagogue (nicknamed because of its address, 770 Eastern Parkway), one of the most influential in the United States. Clashes broke out between some believers and the police. The unusual image went around the world: Orthodox Jews were locked in a false partition behind mattresses and taken out by the military.

It was reported by many media including Jewish Chronicle or else New York Times, the story is nothing extraordinary though. The faithful who considered the synagogue too small wanted to enlarge it by drilling a tunnel into the adjacent annex. The work is carried out without the approval of the rabbinical authorities, to whom these walls are sacred. Enraged, the religious leaders then tried to seal the wall. This famous January 8, the rebels took refuge inside to obstruct the work, were forcibly removed under the gaze of the targets. The next day, the synagogue’s rabbi, Yehuda Krinsky, denounced “The Sabotage of Young Agitators” And thanks to the New York Police.

Plot “Bingo”

The matter could have ended there. But images of the fight quickly made the rounds on conspiracy networks. One of the old worn mattresses used by the students to sleep on has a stain. Could it be blood? A child’s blood? Pedophile acts, perhaps? “Jews, tunnels and children, these are the three elements that greatly stimulate the imagination of the complosphere. Put together, it’s kind of bingo”

Tristan Mendes, co-host of the “Complorama” podcast on Franceinfo notes France.

The rumor machine is running. Internet users report that a tunnel of about ten meters will lead “Straight Facing” to the Children’s Museum (which is actually 600 meters away). A manipulative video montage mixes images of synagogues and child trafficking in Latin America. Texan host Alex Jones, the Pope of the Western conspiracy, Draw parallels With the Jeffrey Epstein affair, the billionaire is accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls. Within days, the disagreement over the layout of the place of worship turned into a protean pedophile legend.

If these stories go viral, it’s because they seem familiar to their authors. Since the Trump era, the complosphere has seen pedophile tunnels everywhere — and, for the first time, finally believes it has proof. Already, in April 2020, in full confinement, a rumor reported that thousands of children were being held captive in a New York basement. Then followed variants connected to other urban undergrounds, such as in Melbourne or Sydney. In 2022, a conspiracy theory claimed that by bombing Ukraine, Putin would have freed 35,000 children trapped underground.

Masonic Lodges on the Moon’s Crust

In itself, the fascination with basements is not new. It has appeared in conspiracy literature since the late 18th century^E century, when Abbot Augustin Beruel, who was looking for someone to blame for the French Revolution, denounced “The Enlightened Jacobin-Masons (WHO) Leave their underground lodge.

In its very religious framework, it then engages the conspirators of hate in depth. “Conspiracy is the other side of the ordinary world, and the other side of the ordinary world is the underground”, explains Véronique Campion-Vincent, an anthropologist specializing in urban legends. Underground corridors also have a literary function: they convey an imagination that is at once slippery, shadowy, and animalistic, and are already an index of moral judgment. “It’s the imaginary logic of rats hiding in the cellar”

Tristan Mendes supports France.

Since the beginning of the 20th century^E In the century, underground installations are used to justify the existence of extraterrestrials. On the Moon, they would be hidden in a passage beneath its surface. Modern ufologists suspect underground bunkers on Mars, from where the Martians observe us. “It’s a good way to explain that they’re there without us seeing them.”, smiles Véronique Campion-Vincent. Abyssal corridors thus have an essential function in the conspiracy argument: because the tunnel is hidden from everyone’s view by nature, it is impossible to deny it.

Also Read | The moon, its craters, its aliens and its secret Nazi bases

The pedosatanist turn

In the 1960s, an urban legend studied by Edgar Morin, Orléans Rumor, planted the seeds of human trafficking: young women were kidnapped using traps hidden under fitting rooms, before being delivered to trafficking networks.

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In the plot, the basement should be made of a corridor, not a simple basement. “In tunnels, there is an operational dimension”Mr. Mendes notes France, a sign of activity, of networks, of organized violence.

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But it was from the 1980s that the concept of the underground became openly associated with pedo-sanism. In terms of moral panic, parents become convinced that McMartin Preschool in Los Angeles hosts rituals where children are sexually abused. The incident fascinated Americans, and the allegations were taken very seriously. “There were police officers searching this tunnel, it was a lot of stuff”, underlines Véronique Campion-Vincent. No underground will ever be found. The image will remain, fueled by some crude news items linked to cults.

A central concept in QAnon

With QAnon, the conspiracy myth built around Trumpism, the pedophile tunnel is becoming central. Since 2016, “Pizzagate”, its founding rumor, imagines a pedophile network linked to the Democratic elite in the basement of a (non-existent) Washington pizzeria. Then, in April 2018, “Q”, an account believed to be transmitting intelligence to conspiracy theorists on the internet, mentioned “The Tunnel Under the Epstein Island Temple”

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Since then, the QAnon rumor machine has seen pedophile tunnels everywhere from New York to Ukraine, under volcanoes and under synagogues. “There is a synthesis of notions of secret conspiracies and moral panic around juvenile delinquency”.Tristan Mendes sums up France.

The concept of tunnels has become so structured that the QAnon movement has forged this strange concept. Mole children, or “mole child”, employing victims kept underground to satisfy the pedo-satanist elite. No less delusional, the “dumbs”, underground military bases, elite units under Trump’s command, are responsible for delivering them. Their military operations will be responsible for the earthquake. This is the miracle of the tunnels: like any good myth, they explain absolutely everything.

William Audrew