The Daily Mail reported that underground tunnels under Ybor City, a suburb near Tampa, were discovered after being hidden from the general public for decades.

Now, a string of recent discoveries has the city asking questions about what they were used for.

City officials, historians, and the University of Southern Florida first collaborated to map out three tunnels in 2018 after construction crews discovered them while working near an old bottle factory.

USF researcher Dr. Lori Collins shared, “These are quite substantial. I mean, you can stand up and maybe bend over a little bit, depending on how tall you are. But you can certainly travel through them.”

Some researchers believe the tunnels were used during prohibition, but St. Petersburg history professor Dr. Gary Mormino has serious doubts about that the tunnels were used by bootleggers but offered a different theory.

Dr. Mormino shared with the Daily Mail that the tunnels could have been used for immoral purposes, such as the human trafficking of Chinese laborers and Cuban prostitutes.

Florida city uncovers mysterious network of secret tunnels – as eerie clues about their origin spark wild theories | Daily Mail Online https://t.co/QGBJVbbwMx

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Per The Daily Mail:

The discovery of a mysterious network of hidden tunnels beneath a Florida city has sparked wild theories about their origin.

The passageways under Ybor City, a suburb near downtown Tampa, remained hidden for decades before a string of discoveries revealed the subterranean network.

Historians have since speculated widely over their use, from moving moonshine, human trafficking and cash smuggling to simply ‘as a sewer’.

The latest tunnels were found in 2018 near the Old Florida Brewery, close to East 6th Avenue and Noccio Parkway, while construction was being carried out on a new office building.