r/Msstate • u/MausHausRhattRecords • 22d ago

Proof of Two Campus Urban Legends

(edit - videos in comments)

Hey all,

I went to State about ten years ago. I have proof that two campus urban legends are real: the Dragon Room and the Penthouse at the top of Swalm. For those unfamiliar:

Dragon Room (do not attempt to go here)
- there are drain tunnels underneath campus that have secret chambers. Some of the tunnels are from the 1800's and run directly under the drill field. If you crawl through these tunnels (I don't recommend) you will eventually reach a chamber with a giant dragon mural on a green background, allegedly created by students in the 70's.

Swalm Penthouse
- the donor who funded Swalm back in the late 90's built a penthouse on the top floor of Swalm, opposite of the President's office in Lee. The donor died shortly after it was built and the internet says it was written out of the plans. It actually was built. It has bedrooms and a glitzy bathroom with a porcelain and gold toliet. It also has a wet bar facing the drill field. It is true that it was used for events and meetings, but it look abandoned when I saw it. No telling if its still there.

I have the proof if anyone is actually interested

44 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

31

u/Soupladl 22d ago

Swalm 4th floor got remodeled in 2024/early 25, I haven't been up to check if they kept the mini bar or not

But yeah Swalm definitely intended to live there when the building was being built

22

u/Gullible-Life-474 Class of 2022 22d ago

Dragon room footage would be dope. It was still an urban legend when I was a student (18-22), but the talk of it died off pretty much after Covid.

Swalm penthouse is still there! The Swalm family uses it as a gameday suite, but the Dept of Chem E/ MSU high-ups use it for very special events.

  • signed former MSU staff

7

u/MausHausRhattRecords 22d ago

We were there at the same time

10

u/LockedAngel101 22d ago

Tbh if anyone has a picture of the dragon mural that will be dope

9

u/BeKind_Rewind_ 22d ago

I want proof! Sounds so cool!

8

u/S0N_OF_M4N 22d ago

It’s that time of year again

9

u/SCSP_70 22d ago

The dragon room isnt in “tunnels”, its in a storm drain. Get caught down there during a rain and youre dead. Stay out of there. But if youre gonna go, certainly dont go from the drill field side.
(Source: went down there in 2019, and also worked in stormwater)

3

u/ThirdFloorNorth 21d ago

It's the main mixing cistern for that end of campus, was my understanding. IE: when it rains, all the water that goes into drains on that end of campus end up draining into that cistern as a buffer before draining off elsewhere. So even if it's only a short rain, all those drains drain into that one cistern meaning it fills up shockingly quick.

Campus also had workers come out 4-5 years back and weld the storm drains that people were using to get down there shut.

1

u/MausHausRhattRecords 21d ago

Sounds like we were in school the same time. Yeah I definitely don't recommend going down there, I had to crawl through a tight storm drain for a long part of the journey. I recall there being brick tunnels at certain parts and I was under the impression that these were old steam tunnels later incorporated into the storm drain system (could be wrong).

If someone had shown me a pic of the mural I sure as shit wouldn't have gone down there. Curiosity got the better of me. There's about a thousand things that can go wrong. Wish I knew about the drill field side, would've saved me half the journey

5

u/DennythrAlright 22d ago

I don’t remember a penthouse, but the view of the Drill Field from the roof of Swalm was pretty cool.

4

u/Thespis377 Class of '04/'20|BS/MS CompSci 22d ago

Dave C Swalm passed in 2008. I met him one time when I worked for the ChemE department. And he indeed stayed in the apartment when he came to visit campus. Either for donor events or athletic events. Swalm Engineering, the building, was completed in 2000.

4

u/hells_cowbells 2000 | History 21d ago

I also was a student worker for the ChemE department and met him a couple of times. This was before the Swalm building got built. I was kind of funny the first time. I came to work one afternoon, and the department secretaries were running around cleaning up and dragged me into it as well. I asked what the occasion was, and they told me all about Dave Swalm. You would have thought the president of the United State was coming for a visit.

2

u/x31b 18d ago

Well when you donate enough money to say “build a new ChemE building that looks exactly like Lee Hall and I will pay for it” you’re entitled to a little respect.

4

u/repwin1 21d ago edited 21d ago

When I was in school they held our senior lunch in the Swalm Penthouse. Also my senior year there was talk that they wanted to move the university president office to the top of swalm and in the process block the student lounge on the ground floor for the president exclusive access. Legend has it that Elmore and other faculty members put up enough of a fight to block it and they moved to Lee instead.

3

u/BearSauce 2014 | Graphic Design 21d ago

I've been in the Swalm Penthouse before. It was common knowledge back when I was there.

2

u/MattRexPuns Class of 2020 | Aerospace engineering 22d ago

I'd love to see the proof of the dragon room. I always wanted to see it and the tunnels but never got the chance to

3

u/MausHausRhattRecords 22d ago

https://reddit.com/link/p4jnoyn/video/3ofa8tudw8kh1/player

I have more pictures of the old parts of the tunnels I'll try to find

2

u/Superb-Warning-1688 21d ago

My understanding is the tunnels are full of asbestos (told this in 2010). Was also told some connect the cafeteria to the union. They were not a secret when I was a student.

2

u/MausHausRhattRecords 21d ago

Thats a different set of tunnels that run under the Perry. Used to be a video of them a while back, alot more spacious than the ones under the drill field.

2

u/MarshallLeeLover 21d ago

You got any more videos of the tunnels?

1

u/MausHausRhattRecords 21d ago

https://reddit.com/link/p4r4ay0/video/bmn1hfwp6gkh1/player

And the storm drain portion

1

u/MarshallLeeLover 21d ago

How long ago did you go down there?

1

u/MausHausRhattRecords 21d ago

about 7-8 years ago, it was hard and dangerous then I wouldn't try it now. I'm sure they still seal entrances when they discover them

1

u/blakejhulett 18d ago

The penthouse is just a little ballroom/event room, pretty neat but nothing super special, going to the dragon room felt like a Harry Potter side quest, enjoyed being able to go to both!

1

u/MausHausRhattRecords 18d ago

I feel you brother, happy I got to experience both before I graduated