The Mole People Living Underneath the Las Vegas Strip

last year 41 million people came to visit the glamorous Las Vegas crypt but beneath the surface lies a less glamorous reality we're talking about the over 400 maybe even 500 people that live in the labyrinth of rain tunnels beneath the strip wanting to learn more I met up with Matthew O'Brien author of beneath the neon and founder of shine a light foundation Matt's gonna show me around the tunnels and I might even spend the night we have so many homeless people in Las Vegas most of them above-ground so the people down here are very much overlooked and forgotten Brandon hey is it cool if we come back okay I'm with Brian thank you for welcoming us in your home so what brought you to the tunnel here I mean there's really no place else in the city to camp safely so without being messed with by the cops or scared here somebody so do you plan on staying here for long is there I hope that you know this is not a lifestyle choice for me where would you go if you could choose any place right now honestly I'd have to say Kansas back home super socks would you wear these like black signs the majority of the people I meet down here are you know this is temporary I don't like it I'm gonna get out of here soon but for the most part the people want to do better and they want to change we're gonna be moving on meeting a man named Billy yeah Billy or Tex he's a war veteran he lives in a tunnel and hopefully he'll take us down there we can see his camp what's up Jerry what are you trying to stay out of it so you know all these guys around here huh all that need to be known man where I got both hands it's uncomfortable as hell though it's tight down there it's tight here Wow it's very tight so can I come down there let's go this is Jerry spot my spot is tore up but that's not that's because of Mother Nature you can't you're not gonna shop is right here and then blocks where I sleep I keep it like this if people can't find what good stuff I have let me ask you this how long do you plan on being down here the Lord says me time to go if I were to give you a plane ticket to go anywhere you would stay here I tell you keep it because why am I gonna go somewhere else and be in the same boat nobody not know nothing at least I know my way around here I have that security yeah going somewhere else you were in the world I have no security I don't have nobody and it sucks being a lone wolf I'm gonna be spending the night here tonight not here but in one of the tunnels what's your advice to me do you not do when I sleep is that what you do what are you looking out for just just somebody coming up and sneaking up on you if they see something that you've got that they won't they'll try and take you from me up here on the right as John's camp so do you plan on staying here or are you here temporarily yeah just temporarily that's what I said just taking a day-by-day plus this whole year has taught me things that you can't read or write or I can't teach you my old world I worked all the time if I wanted a cheeseburger I just go out and get one I wanted a new car I just swiped the credit card you know in this world you know you start to see how people struggle everyday he's thinking about spending the night down here yeah show me the ropes a little bit all right guys see you in the morning so it's early in the morning it's really really cold in here I thought it would be a lot warmer it's all night I've been a little bit worried that somebody might sneak up on me waiting for the crew to come by hello hello hello hi guys come on come on in this is my bed for the night John was kind enough to lend me this mattress pad and pillow you know at first when we settled down it wasn't too bad but it got really cold really quick about you but I was shivering I'm still shivering right now but I did feel very lonely and I think a lot of it had to do with just this empty tunnel way behind me my imagination was working full speed last night would I do it again not by choice I don't know how they do it night after night these are people that are just like you and I you know at any point one of us can go through a hard situation we're down there with them for most of us things are out of sight out of mind this is a harsh reality that you can't keep out of mind

Channel: FUSION

Views: 1,587,997

Rating: 4.8043528 out of 5

Keywords: Mini-Docs, mole people, Las Vegas, Tunnels, Homeless, Sin City, Underground, homelessness, beneath the neon, matthew o'brien, bryan branly, Las Vegas Strip, minidocs, vegas underground, underneath las vegas

Id: DwoUY67CMcg

Length: 6min 14sec (374 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2016