The Edwards Branch Tunnel Legend by Mike Bozart - HTML preview

The Edwards Branch, a tributary of Briar Creek in east Charlotte (North Carolina, USA), flows through a tunnel, comprised of twin rectangular concrete culverts between the Sheffield and Amity Gardens neighborhoods. These twin culverts run underneath the Independence Expressway (US 74). This watery passageway is about a quarter of a mile (1,320 feet) in length. Typically, the water level is less than five inches deep.

You cannot see through the tunnel from one portal to the other. In fact, when one peers into this creek passage, there is no light at the other end, only an eerie darkness. Needless to say, no one should enter without a pair of waterproof flashlights and waterproof boots. Well, actually, no one should enter, period, as it is against the law. And we never want to encourage unlawful activity in the psecret psociety.

Ok, now that we have gotten the basic description and legal disclaimer out of the way, let’s get this tale splish-splashing along.

Legend has it that back in 1976 on a Sunday afternoon in June, a man stole a box full of gold jewelry from under the display case in the K-Mart on what was then called East Independence Boulevard. (As of March 13, 2010, the building that K-Mart occupied was still in existence, but boarded up, awaiting probable demolition.)

The robber ran out of the store, heading west towards the adjacent (long ago defunct) Capri Theatre. However, before he got to the movie house, he disappeared from the view of the K-Mart security guard.

Now, where did he go? Did he have a getaway car waiting for him back there? Well, just hold onto your necklace for a minute.

First, a little geography. At the western edge of the parking lot is an average-size creek – the Edwards Branch. It curves back towards Independence (going downstream) and passes back under the highway at the Eastway Drive interchange, going through another culverted tunnel that is about 800 feet long.

Apparently our jewelry thief ran down and into the creek. Since the creek bed was about ten feet lower than the parking lot, the thief was out of the security officer’s line of sight. He was able to advance undetected.

The young loss control officer (his official title) focused on the movie theater at first, thinking that maybe he had slipped into the theater via a rear exit door that had been possibly propped open. But, he quickly discovered that all of the exit doors were firmly locked to preclude outside entry.

The security guard then walked down to the creek on the western side of the Capri movie theater. He thought that the thief must have continued downstream. He called the Charlotte police and they had officers stationed at both ends of the tunnel under the Eastway Drive interchange. After waiting a few minutes, they decided to go in with bright lights, bullhorns and dogs to flush the thief out.

The police walked back and forth through the tunnel, but never found the jewelry heister. They never made an arrest. Soon they looked elsewhere.

Unbeknownst, the thief had fled upstream – not downstream – in the little rocky creek. When he saw the outflow portal of the Edwards Branch beside the movie house with no one on his tail, he must have sighed with relief. For this is where he entered the quarter-mile-long tunnel. He probably thought that he had it made in the pre-fab concreted shade.

He flipped on the small flashlight that he had in his pocket and sloshed his way through the tunnel. He had the flashlight in one hand and the box of pilfered jewelry in the other. He was so sure that he had pulled off a grand escape of a small haul.

But, at about the halfway mark into the tunnel, he heard sirens on both ends. Then blue lights and white flashlights began to project onto the walls near the inflow portal. Suddenly, his sense of elation sank to the dire realization that he would soon be caught at either end of the tunnel. He was trapped in a concrete-encapsulated pickle. Escape now seemed highly unlikely.

Nevertheless, the thief stopped for a few seconds to consider his options. Then he heard dogs. German shepherds were already on his trail. He could hear their paws splashing towards him. His free time was quickly running out.

He knew that he would be nabbed at one end or the other. So he decided to hide the box of jewelry inside the tunnel. He hoped to retrieve it after getting out of jail.

His flashlight spied a nook in a connecting pipe. He stashed the box of gold rings, bracelets and necklaces on a concrete ledge inside this pipe, where it looked like the water never reached, even in flood situations. Then he walked dejectedly towards the inflow portal, where he knew arrest was imminent.

However, at about 200 feet from the eastern portal, he noticed some daylight above. It was a vertical shaft leading up to a storm drain. He abandoned his resignation to capture, and scurried up the shaft, which conveniently had footholds mounted in the concrete.

He managed to dislodge the heavy iron storm drain grate, and slide it aside. He stuck his head out and looked around. Just light Sunday traffic.

He quickly hopped out and began walking down the westbound Independence Boulevard sidewalk towards the Eastway Drive overpass.

He now felt like he was going to get away with his little larceny caper. The sidewalk cracks were like hash marks on an American football field, and with each one that he passed over, he felt closer to the goal line. An untouched touchdown was now in sight. He would turn right on Westchester Boulevard, and the game would be over: He won be the winner.

What he didn’t know was that a Charlotte police officer, who was parked between some buildings, had seen him as he emerged from the storm drain. The rookie officer flipped on his siren after quietly pursuing him for a hundred yards. The thief, startled, dashed off to the left without looking.

He was killed instantly by a speeding dump truck. To this day, none of the stolen jewelry has ever been recovered.

An agent (I forget which one) then came into the office, holding a large, bright orange flashlight.

“You know, 33, this waterproof, 2,500 lumens model can cast a narrow, tight beam up to 200 feet.”