Some locals claim the tunnel is haunted by the ghost of a murdered teenager.
The tunnel is said to be haunted(Image: Getty)
Hidden at the bottom of the world is a tunnel which is shadowed in years of history. Thousands of cars travel through it daily, and as they do, they sound their horns.
The tunnel is a cacophony of beeping and tooting at all hours of the day and night – all thanks to a murder which has haunted the city since 1931. The Mount Victoria Tunnel is part of a well-used stretch of highway in Wellington, New Zealand.
According to legend, the reason drivers lean on their horns as they travel through the tunnel is in tribute to murdered teenager Phillis Symons.
Phillis was buried alive in dirt fill during the tunnel’s construction.
She was only 17 and was pregnant when her boyfriend George Coats, a worker on the construction of the tunnel, knocked her unconscious with a pipe.
George then dumped Phillis in the dirt fill. Her body was found hunched over, meaning she had tried to escape the soil.
George was sentenced to death for the murder, and was hanged in December 1931.
The tunnel was opened to the public in the same year.
Now, almost a hundred years later, the 632 metre long tunnel echoes constantly with the sound of car horns which residents believe either wards off spirits, or pays tribute to the memory of Phillis.
Some locals say the tunnel is haunted – others say the constant beeping is the only thing that haunts the road.
The tunnel is the subject of a £1.27billion (between NZD$2.9b and NZD$3.8b) infrastructure project which would see a second tunnel built alongside the first to try and alleviate the severe bottlenecks which occur in the tunnel.
The current one is only two lanes, and frequently closes due to crashes, causing traffic jams that can last hours.
According to RNZ, the project has been granted fast track approval – but as of last week there was still no expected start date.