Transcription
[Music] By calling Mall doesn't it feel like it feels weird in here. I feel more nervous now than I was before. At this point, whatever happens, happens. We've gone too far to [Music] stop. [Music]
Colin Creek Mall as a mall meant a lot to a lot of us growing up in the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s. And joining me on my adventure today through this documentary is my best friend for almost, what, like 20 years? It's been a long time. It's Neil Aguilar. Not only are we going to be talking about the mall and going through the history and sharing videos and photographs from all of you lovely people out there who shared them with me before this when I announced this documentary, but we're also going to be going down into the haunted tunnels and doing a brand new adventure where we're going to go further than I've ever been before. Overall, after exploring the mall itself and also exploring the tunnels underneath through history and what it's like today, I really want to pinpoint what makes this mall and the surrounding area and the mythos around it so damn interesting.
Before we begin, though, I would like to give a special shout out to the Facebook group Colin Creek Mall and Aragon by for supporting this project, for being awesome people who keep this mall alive. And you know what? Let's start at the beginning. [Music]
Sitting at the crossroads of Highway 75 and George Bush Turnpike, Colin Creek Mall was once the heart of indoor shopping in Plano, Texas. Open in 1981, the mall was anchored by retail giants such as JC Penney, Dillards, Sears, and even Sanger Harris, which I believe later became Foley's. By the way, someone in the Aragon by group, I read, said that this JC Penney's at this mall used to be open 24 hours. Now, I don't know if that's true, but let me know down in the comments if you do. Now, Colin Creek Mall boasted over 130 stores and quickly became one of the best shopping malls in DFW for shoppers. It offered a mix of fashion, dining, entertainment, and those unforgettable red tiles that somehow always led you to the most magnificent fountain to ever grace humanity. For two decades, it thrived. Hell, legend has it that even Dave Williams, the original singer for Drowning Pool, worked at the Colin Creek Mall Blockbuster Music there. Let me know down in the comments if anyone can confirm this. During this time, it also had an amazing Santa named John Brown, who sadly passed away earlier this year in 2023, but who always brought smiles to the faces of those who would shop at Colin Creek Mall during Christmas. I remember him myself.
But as the new millennium dawned, so did the challenges for this mall. The digital age brought a seismic shift in consumer habits. Online retail giants began to overshadow traditional malls, and it didn't help that Stonebriar out in Plano, Texas also was built, which overshadowed this mall, as well as Fire Town Center out in Garland. Colin Creek, like many others, felt the huge pinch of the indoor mall industry. Tenants began to leave, and empty storefronts became a common sight. By the way, I'm just going to pause for one minute because one of the stores that was at Colin Creek was called Sun Coast Motion Picture Company. I don't know if you guys remember it. And as they were closing, they were selling stuff from the store. Well, long story short, my friend Neil, who you met at the beginning of this video, bought a TV there and was told he'd be contacted on their last day open so he could pick it up. Well, they closed and then never called, and Neil never got it. So if you're listening, Sun Coast, you owe my boy Neil a 19-inch CRT TV. I'm just saying.
Anyways, by the 2010s, the mall was at a crossroads. Efforts to breathe new life into Colin Creek were made, from new store openings to redevelopment proposals, but the tide was really hard to turn. If you grew up in the '80s, chances are you know Colin Creek Mall very well. It officially closed its doors next week. In July 2019, Colin Creek Mall closed its doors to begin a tear down and new construction that I'll discuss a bit later in this video, but not before throwing an amazing '80s themed goodbye party. The party is just getting started here at Colin Creek Mall. You may be able to hear some '80s themed music in the background, and of course, a Back to the Future vehicle here. The legacy of Colin Creek Mall will no doubt live on in all of our hearts and memories as a piece of not only Plano's history, but as a pillar of our pasts as individuals who were lucky enough to experience [Music] it.
The story doesn't end there, though, because we're not only going to be talking about the mall itself, but as previously talked about at the beginning of this documentary, we're also going to be talking about what is underneath Colin Creek. [Applause] [Music]
Many large malls like Colin Creek Mall house utility tunnels for HVAC, electrical wiring, you know, things like that. However, Colin Creek Mall has something that is really unique about it, and its tunnels are a little bit more special. They're the ones that are right behind me. A series of spooky passageways, unknown still to many Plano residents, reside underneath the Colin Creek Mall property. These aren't just any tunnels, though. They're part of an intricate system that allows Spring Creek to flow right under the shopping center. See, when developers were building the mall in the early 1980s, they had to figure out how to deal with Spring Creek running through the property, so they built three culverts, which are like large concrete tunnels, each being nearly half a mile long. But the culverts themselves don't seem to be haunted in the way that the smaller tunnels that branch off of them are.
My first experience in these tunnels occurred on a chilly Plano night some years ago. My friend James and I were skating behind what is currently a Big Lots, right next to the north end of the large culvert openings. Once it got too dark to skate, my friend and I decided to head down the hill on the side of the parking lot that leads right down to where the creek runs. With flashlights and a camera in hand, we weren't actually sure if we were going to go in, but the culverts were like the entrances to a cathedral, as they kind of beckoned us to enter. We chose the far-left culvert to start. Upon entering the tunnel, the air was slightly warmer than at surface level. Even with flashlights, we could barely make out 20 feet ahead of us, and dark loomed to the sides and followed close behind. After walking through water that went slightly above the soles of our shoes, we came upon three tunnels, like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book come to life. We chose the far right. The tunnel was long and had a skinny stream of water flowing down its center. This forced us to waddle back and forth between our left and right foot while pushing forward, attempting to not get our shoes and socks more wet than they already were. Close to 100 feet in, we saw graffiti from what was clearly different artists, yet almost all of the pieces had to do with death in one way or another. Further in, I suddenly felt a cold breeze, but I didn't see an opening anywhere. Were we getting close to one? I wondered. Then I heard it: a young child's voice speaking in a [Music] whisper. And then I saw the footstep on the wall. The whispers had stopped. James didn't hear them, so we pushed forward like a couple of idiots in a horror movie, while some audience somewhere probably yelled at us to go back.
A minute later, we found the room. We were greeted, or possibly warned, with the marks of red handprints above us. We, of course, entered anyway, into this strange open space. Was this a place for a witch's coven, a portal to some sort of hell, or maybe just a place for teens to smoke weed? After leaving the room, James and I went down the tunnel about five more minutes, and we rounded a corner, and this is where we decided to leave. We both stopped in our tracks because we could hear voices about 30 feet ahead of us, but we couldn't see anything. James and I both looked at each other, and we ran in the opposite direction, straight out of the tunnel until we felt like we were safe again, and then we slowed our pace.
2 years later, I returned to these tunnels in 2017 with my friend Tanner and a video camera. This time, we explored this culvert tunnel, which we hadn't before, and it presented its own side quests. We're getting ready to get a little bit of lighting going. Oh, we got the red boom. That's really the only two we got. Let's go look. Oh, Daddy Long Legs looking good. It's like a Chucky from Rugrats. What's really creepy about places like this is when you get down into the tunnels pretty deep, you know, they open up to storm drains. And so you'll get storm drains that open up to the side of like cafes or the side of bars or whatever. And then those voices carry down to the tunnel. So it just sounds like ominous voices just coming from corners of the tunnel. It's pretty freaky. You never know if it's someone waiting to kill you or it's just the street. How are you feeling right now? Irrationally scared. Like this. So I know, man. It's like the unknown. It's incredibly dark, and I can't see far in front of me at all, and like not know that there could be someone down here. There could be someone down here. Who [Music] knows? A little wet. You're going to walk a lot like this because you're walking along the water. So, hey, hold on, bro. Look at this. We can also walk the side. Tiring, but slow. Creepy. This is about as far as you can go. This is where most of the water's coming from. And then there's this ominous ladder. I'm going to try to climb up that ladder. You can stay here if you want. Do camera. Careful. It's my only phone. All right, so these are the steps up. [Music] And you can see it goes all the way up. And then this is like a pretty creepy tunnel that I can see like a head falling out of and like a hair backwards. Pretty. How far are you up? All right, across this water right now. All right, your turn. Oh, yeah. W. Yeah. I'm [Music] soaked. Looks like we made it out alive. We made it out alive. We didn't die. That's always a plus, right? It's always a plus. It's always a plus.
After the adventure that you just saw, I put out an article on my website that became the catalyst for something I didn't even expect. In July of 2019, I was contacted by a fantastic author in the Plano, Texas area named Mary Jacobs, as well as her awesome friend Tammy Pendleton, who she co-hosted the Plano podcast with at the time. Mary was working on a book called "The Hidden History of Plano," which I now have right here. But back then, she was still working on it, and she had asked if she could use my story and some of my photographs from the tunnels to use in the book. Now, since I personally thought that my photos were kind of terrible in the article that she saw, I decided to go and take new ones. And so the next day, my wife, being the awesome person that she is, waited in the car as we drove over. We were there, and I walked down into the tunnels for my first adventure alone down there. The whole adventure only lasted about 45 minutes, and I was moving fast. By the way, this was my first time down in the tunnels all alone. However, it wouldn't be my last, but I'll get to that in just a moment.
Seeing as how I was on a mission, I got in and out as quickly as possible, but I think these photos turned out a lot better than my original ones in the [Music] article. In that same timeframe, Mary and Tammy asked if I could be on their podcast to discuss the tunnels in person, and of course, I jumped at the chance to do that. There's this giant white circle on the ceiling that has always like kept its like vibrant white color, which is it's it just looks so creepy. The whole room is just it's just weird. In. Did you notice the popping in that audio? We didn't touch a thing. Maybe something was trying to interfere with this information being shared. I think the creepiest thing was definitely the bloody handprints coming in, you know, there it's like the hands of some ghost children or something like that, you know, that are that you know died in that room long [Music] ago.
So after the article, the podcast, the book, and of course, my previous adventures down into these tunnels, I was again afforded an opportunity to talk about my tunnel adventures. See, Mary emailed me in August of 2020 and connected me to the city of Plano, who were creating a haunted Plano history documentary for Halloween. It was called "The Apparition Expedition." Historically, this was a physical ghost tour, but as you may remember, 2020 was a strange time for a bunch of people to meet up in one place due to COVID. So the city decided to make a documentary instead, and they asked me to tell my story inside the tunnels. My name is Eric Coons. I grew up in Garland, right near Plano, right near Colin Creek Mall. My friends and I used to skate all the time right behind the Hobby Lobby area, which back then used to be Hemisphere Furniture. As you enter, it's kind of eerie, just with your light shining off because it's a lot of aluminum or or metal uh siding that goes all the way around you. We walked and walked and walked for maybe 25 minutes until we saw some sort of red painting on the walls. A little further up, and as we approached it, we realized that they were painted red hands that looked like uh bloody handprints. Now, if you'd like to see that documentary in its entirety, which I highly recommend, the city of Plano did a fantastic job on the documentary. You can check it out every Halloween because they show it.
Okay, hold on, because what you're about to see is actually really crazy, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the last time that I was in these tunnels, and not only did I explore these tunnels, I explored them [Music] alone. See, back in September 2021, I decided to do a full exploration of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" tunnels located in the far-left culvert, and I wanted to do it solo. I don't know if that was stupid. About 15 minutes into my adventure, right before reaching the witch's room, though, something really weird happened. [Music] Now, I'm not sure if what I heard was an actual ghost or if it was an auditory illusion, but since I didn't hear it during the adventure itself, I pushed on further than I had ever gone. I even found a second room beyond the first one. Beyond that, I hit a dead end in what could only be described as a third room that was born right out of a horror movie. So this is where my adventure stopped, though, because the water got really deep, and I had already been in the tunnels for a couple of hours. If you'd like to see that full adventure, I will leave a link to it down in the description below. But this all leads me to my last adventure in these tunnels with my friend Neil that did not go to plan for this documentary, because, well, you'll see. If you'd like to follow us on one last adventure, let's [Music] go.
As you can see, reinforce this entire wall all the way. Oh, it used to be metal, so it looks like they reinforced it with cement instead of the metal that it used to have going all the way around this entire culvert. So that's [Music] weird. Yeah, I guess they did like a spray-on cement or something, cuz these, these are both clearly. But yeah, you can see they've been cemented in. Interesting. Um, uh-oh. The three tunnels where it was the "Choose Your Own Adventure" from the ones that I showed you earlier and that I've talked about on the podcast and the book and everywhere else, no longer exist. It appears that the city has redone the walls, and now there's only one tunnel at the end that seems like it's a new tunnel, cuz I don't remember ever seeing it. So this truly is going to be a brand new adventure, because I don't know what's down that new tunnel. But as you can see, the tunnels that were right here are no longer here. So let's go on a new adventure. You ready, Neil? Let's do it. I'd also like to mention that this is the first time that Neil has ever been inside tunnels, because he's a bit claustrophobic, as I've heard in a couple of different comments from other people that saw my old video. How are you feeling about to go into the tunnels? A little nervous, but I trust that, uh, since you've been down here, that we're not going to die. If we do die, um, no one touch my stuff, man. That makes me feel good that you trust that I'm going to keep you alive. Also, I've never actually been down in the tunnel we're about to go in, so, uh, okay. I'm going to go home. All right, so the tunnel that we're looking for is all the way down here at the end. It's actually on the Plano Parkway side of the culvert. Wish us luck, especially Neil. I'm going to die [Music] here. Is the what looks like the new tunnel. Let's go check it out. It looks pretty [Music] big. Wait. All right, we're coming upon our first turn. Yeah, this looks like a brand new tunnel. Yeah, it does. Already some spider webs though. Um, so it looks like it's connecting maybe to an existing tunnel, or maybe this is a brand new tunnel, but it gets weirdly flat, and there's a lot of roaches. That's a big roach. Hopefully. Oh, yeah, it gets big again. It's just weird. It just gets flat here for a second. Good news is that I picked the right shoes for the patient, right? Cuz my socks are bone [Music] dry. How tall are you? 6'4". Yeah, so this is probably not good for your back. Good for my calves. Wait, got to jump so I don't get wet. Look at you do it right. Yeah, dude. Look at those long legs. Well, hopefully this new construction will hold for us. Looks like the water finally thins out. So these tunnels are actually a little bit bigger than the old tunnels that they used to have down here, which is pretty cool. Other than that part where the ceiling just dropped down. Hopefully that doesn't happen again, especially for Neil's sake. Whoa. Okay, so now we have a brand new room, I guess, cuz if you remember, there used to be a witch's room. Oh my god, this room always gets me. But now there's this one, and this one is free of bloody handprints. W. The water gets significantly deeper right here. You got this big pipe going through that we're going to have to go under. Oh. Oh, there's a cricket. Oh, there's a lot of crickets and roaches. Woo. Not a great tunnel for people that are 6'4". I don't want to put my hand all over the ground. It's just roach stuff. Oh, one touched my hand. Gross. One touched your hand? Yeah. Ooh, complimentary spider web. After you leave this room, we'll be heading on down this way. Looks like there's water leaking in some of these tunnels. City might want to get on that. That might might be the original Spring Creek spring that's coming through the wall on the other side. Still super nervous. I just want to throw that out there. Well, this is a new tunnel, so I might have a little bit of nerve. [Applause] Tip. Okay, so it appears that we have come to a dead end. However, it does go left, but I think the tunnel might get a little smaller. Let me see. Oh, no, this is truly the end of this tunnel, and this is roach city. Look at all those roaches. Oh my god. This is my wife's worst nightmare. This is my worst nightmare. What are you talking about? They're just little boys. Look at them all. All right, well, I think what we're going to do now that we've officially hit a dead end is we're going to continue you back, and I want to check out the tunnels on the way other side of the culvert to see if those are still there, because now I'm curious what new tunnels have been built. The fear. Hey. [Music] Yo. Oh, [ __ ] can't even go over here 'cause I want to walk back this [Music] way. Well, that's what happens. [Music] Finally back to the entrance. I'm so wet. Oh, I'm glad we came out now. It looks like it's going to rain. That would have been terrifying. FYI to anybody who goes herxing in any kind of tunnels, you never want to go in tunnels when it rains. And rain was not in the forecast. And look now, now it looks like it's about to rain. So bummer. We're going to check out this last tunnel really fast, which we're going to go all the way to the other side of the culvert, and hopefully it hasn't been covered over. I think I just got you really wet. I'm so sorry. My bad. Looks like the tunnel is still here, but they're in the process of closing it off maybe, or maybe reinforcing it. And now we're about to head. This time, a little wet. That looks safe. The opening is kind of small. I don't know if this is too small for you. You coming in? We're going to do this. We're going to do it together. That's just best friend stuff. Who knew in our mid-30s that we were going to be exploring tunnels together? Kind of. Yeah, I kind of did too. This is squishy. Looks like they closed this up. So if memory serves me correctly, down this tunnel is an opening to a room that is kind of like a waterfall, and there's also a ladder. We're going to see if they covered it up or changed it in some way. This is definitely our last tunnel that we're going to be able to explore down here because they covered up all the other [Music] tunnels. Dude, can you video how far apart my legs are right [Music] now? This is why stretching is important, kids. Woah. Woah. Okay, that is a leg workout. Dude, that's better than P90s. This part I'm unsure of. Well, you can get through it. I mean, you can just walk through the middle. You got waterproof shoes? Uh, kind of. Oh, okay. Almost di. God. Oh, it's so muddy. Oh my god. I'm so tired. What is this? Probably unsafe wiring going down into the water. That makes me feel safe. Safe. All right, okay. This room is filled with water now. It didn't used to be, and it looks like they redid it. Oh my god. Look. [Music] Ladder. It goes up into a bigger tunnel now. Are we doing this? I mean, we across the water. I mean, it's not that deep. We can just walk it. I'm like, now's when I need to put my boots on, though, because these shoes are going to be bad. At least yours are waterproof to a limit. All right, I've switched shoes. Now we're walking in. I don't know how deep this is. This feels like something I probably need two hands for. Yeah. Here, at this point, whatever happens, happens. We've gone too far to stop. Yeah. Whoa. Okay. Oh my god. Okay, be very careful when you're coming up. Actually, before you come up, let me look around the corner to make sure there's even somewhere to go. So you're just going to leave me here? Yeah. All alone? Yeah. Okay, this looks like it goes on for a while. Let's do [Music] it. No. Getting back is definitely going to be interesting. Well, let's not worry about that right now. Did you get hit with a bunch of water? Isn't it crazy? It's like walking through a waterfall. Yeah, my my socks are soaked. Down this adventure just took a whole turn because now I'm super pumped. There's a lot more to explore. Hopefully. Oh, man. So unlike the other tunnel, this one is a little bit wider and also way more wet. It's water all the way across, like there's no way to not get wet, as Neil can testify to. Yep. [Music] All right, so it's muddy and watery. It's like quicksand. How are you fairing? Uh, as good as I can be, I guess. Some spots are deeper than others. Yeah, it's I think it's just a really thick layer of mud. We should be underneath Colin Creek right now, the new Colin Creek build, so that's kind of cool. These boots are not comfy. The mud is like grabbing my boots. It's like so hard to watch. Oh, these are you experiencing that? Yeah. Oh, it almost pulled my boot off. It looks like we're finally getting out of the mud and into a circular tunnel as opposed to the square one that we're in right now. Oh, so now we have a "Choose Your Own Adventure" on this side. Wait, no, this one just ends. Oh, that's a big roach. God, at all the entrances, there's always giant roaches. There's a ton right here. Okay, so there's not really any way for us to climb up there, but that goes into a bigger circular tunnel, but there's no ladder here. But I guess that continues. Um, all right, well, we have no choice but to travel back this way and then go left. At least it's easy to look at. We won't get lost, 'cause I mean, it's literally just come back this way and go left. Yeah. Lots of roaches running around us. Oh my god, dude, look, my boot completely disappears in the mud. Jesus. Here's an opening. Oh, you can see some. Oh, no. What happened? My shoe came. Oh, no. Oh, it's dripping. Oh, I'd go to that side over there. At least you'll never forget about this adventure. Dang it, dude. We're doing this for you guys. Makes me nervous. It's an interesting guy. If anyone down in the comments knows what kind of spider this is, let us know. Step. But like to everyone watching, this is almost becoming impossible because the mud is so deep. It's like the ultimate leg workout to get through this mud. It looks like up ahead we're coming to a dead end, unless this turns in some weird way. We've been walking in here for probably 40 to 45 minutes down this thing. So. Oh my god, it turns. Oh my god. Well, when in Rome, or win in Colin Creek's underground. That echo. The New York M want singing in here. Way better than the shower. Let's record a whole album. The echoes are getting really loud as we walk through here, and this is definitely new pipes. Why does it echo more here? Is this a different material? I don't know, but it is like a really long delay. Hello. Listen to this. I'm going to be quiet. Just [Music] [Music] walk. That is nutty, dude. I've never heard an echo like like this in any tunnel I've ever explored. It's so loud. I don't even know if like it's showing up on audio. It's so loud. Oh, what the heck is that? Condensation. I would assume so. Maybe we're like close to the top, or maybe this means we're lower. I honestly have no idea. I feel like a little bit more, uh, unsafe in these tunnels for some reason. Yeah, I was about to say the same thing. Doesn't it feel like it feels weird in here? I feel more nervous now, though, than before. Now, is that paranormal, or is that just us being babies in the tunnel? I think we're going to walk a little bit more, and then we might turn back because I'm not sure about the integrity of the tunnels. I don't know what the extra echo means, and I definitely don't want to die down here. I want to finish this documentary. So let's just see a couple more minutes, and then we're going to turn back. I can see your breath. At least when you were talking, I could see it like coming over your shoulder. Dude, there's literally no more. Did we just have a ghost pass through? I have no idea. That was really weird. Um, okay, well, I randomly had a breath of like something cold coming by, and now we can't see breath at all. So it's not like something in here. It's like almost something that like passed. I don't know. That's pretty creepy. Look at the droplets. Okay, so I think I'm going to call it because we don't know like what we're breathing in. So we're going to turn back. But I don't know if we experienced something paranormal or what in this area, but it definitely like feels darker and creepier. Something changed when we came into these tunnels that like it just doesn't feel. All right, that's so creepy. That was really creepy. Did you hear that? Instantly getting out of those tunnels, I feel a lot better. I don't know why it feels safer in here, but like something in those tunnels does not feel right, and I think that that's going right under where Colin Creek is being built. I don't know. That's creepy. And then we heard like it could have been echoes. We had stopped for a second, and then you could hear it in the audio, I'm sure, just a second ago. It was like something was like bouncing back there, and it might just be that these echoes just carry forever, but it's weird. I've never heard echoes carry this far in any [Music] tunnel. Oh my god, the ending just like popped up on us. Imagine just walking and not realizing, and you just fall off. All right, well, now now we got to get down. Yeah, so I'm nervous about this part. Yeah, me too. We're going down. Oh my god, I can't see anything. I'm so wet. Just be very careful. He did it. We survived for now. Ah, woo. And I forgot that there were rain clouds out there. I'm glad it didn't end up raining in there. Now we got to walk all the way down. [Applause] [Music]
There now, after that exploration and discovering brand new tunnels, which we did not expect to find, it kind of left me with more questions rather than answers. Now, as I've said a million times in this documentary, I've talked about these tunnels in a hundred different places. However, there are certain things that I've never discussed publicly that I'd like to discuss in this section, and to me, they really boil down to three main categories, or rather questions, mysteries, if you will.
Number one on our list: the fake wooden wall. Now, sadly, this mystery may remain a mystery for a lot longer because this mystery takes place in the witch's room, which is now covered up because the three tunnels into the "Choose Your Own Adventure" tunnels are all covered up. But something I discovered on my exploration down there alone back in 2021 was that if you go down those tunnels, you enter the witch's room, and you look to the left right when you enter, you'll see a wall that looks like the other walls. It looks like it's a cement wall, it's got spray paint all over it. However, I noticed in this last adventure that this wall wasn't cement, it was wooden, and it seemed as if there was something behind it. Now, obviously, I didn't have the tools to rip the wooden wall down, nor do I have the permission to just rip a wooden wall down, but there was something behind it, and I don't know what it was. Strangely, I had never noticed that this was a wooden wall because it looks like cement. Someone has put some sort of gloss over it to look like it's cement, but it is in fact wood. Now, of course, in that adventure, I wanted to go further than I had ever been before, but I wanted to come back one day to look at this wall and maybe see if I could somehow carve it open a little bit, just to look behind it. But sadly, this may remain a mystery for a lot longer since I don't have access to that tunnel [Music] anymore.
Now, moving on to mystery number two: what lies beyond? Now, this is the mystery in two senses, because one, I don't know what lies beyond where I left off in that 2021 video, where it got about a foot and a half deep, full of water, and the room itself just seemed really eerie and felt weird. But I know that if I had my boots, I could have gone further in, but I don't know where that tunnel went to. It's just strange that it got way bigger and it seemingly went on forever. I'm sure it would have led to more rooms and more insane places to take pictures of and explore. But sadly, again, those tunnels have all been closed up, and I'm not sure that anyone has access to them. This one may remain a mystery for a while. Now, the second tunnel mystery may be able to be explored here in the future, maybe by myself, or maybe by someone else. But of course, I'm speaking of the circular tunnel that we just left off in the last chapter on, and we didn't go any further because it felt like the tunnel was not very secure. It felt like maybe it was hollow on the outside of it, and that was the reason why there was so much condensation and so much of an echo. So what lies beyond in that tunnel? I have no idea, but at least this is a mystery that maybe in the future, I or someone else can figure [Music] out.
Okay, so we've covered the first two mysteries, but what is the third? So this one may be kind of obvious, because it's something that I've talked about in this video already, but the voices and strange sounds. Now, this one is highly speculative, and no one really knows if ghosts exist or not, but I've had enough strange experiences to know that something weird is going on, whether it's my own mind just playing tricks on me, or if it is something paranormal. Now, I heard strange sounds in the new tunnel. I didn't hear any voices, though, and I checked all the audio when I edited, and I didn't hear any strange voices in there either. But in the tunnels that are now covered up and you can no longer get into, that you saw a video of from my 2021 adventure and back, those I did hear strange voices, and not only did I hear strange voices, I always heard them in the exact same spot. It was right near where it talked about children on the wall, and it was right before you entered the witch's room, which already had an eerie presence about it. So with all three of these mysteries in mind, will they ever be solved? I have no idea, but I really hope that we can solve at least one of them in the [Music] future.
Sadly, the stores we loved, the red tiles we made new friends upon, and most of the rest of the mall we remember has been demolished to make way for a multi-use shopping and dining and living development. Though it does appear a small portion near the food court will be incorporated into the new design, though that's yet to be seen. Now, this is not going to be the same Colin Creek Mall that we all remember, which is a shame, but maybe the new one will be cool. That's yet to be seen. I'll leave some links to the new proposal plan down in the description below.
Now, a lot of this video has been planned out and has been outlined, mind, and scripted, but for this part, I kind of want to just speak from the heart and tell you what Colin Creek really meant to me. Colin Creek Mall was an extremely special place to me. I mean, that's why I spent months and countless hours planning out this documentary and creating it for myself and all of you. I also included as much media as I possibly could from all of you out there, because this documentary wasn't just mine, it's all all of ours. As was the mall. We may never get to walk on Colin Creek Mall's tiles ever again, not the original ones anyway, and we might not also get to ever experience the magnificent fountains that it had in its different variations throughout the years. I can still smell the chlorine in the food court. Personally, I'll never get to experience my first job again, which was at Fast Forward Skate Shop, that used to be in Colin Creek right near those fountains. I'll never get to experience buying my first CD from a CD store, which was FYE in Colin Creek Mall. I'll also never get to teach skate lessons again, which is another thing that I did at Colin Creek Mall in another little skate shop that was there right near PacSun called Vertigo. I'll never get to breakdance in the food court and get in trouble by the old security guard there either. Good times. I'm definitely not going to get back the school trips that I took in middle school there, or just hanging out with my friends there, being a mall rat, trying to emulate my favorite Kevin Smith movie. Hell, I'll probably never get to skate there [Music] again. Well, actually, that wall is still there in front of Colin Creek, even though it may get torn down soon, so maybe I can go back and skate that. The point is, I may never get to experience this mall in all of its original greatness ever again, or experience the original haunted tunnels, which are sadly now gone as well. Kind of seems poetic, honestly, that it would disappear alongside the original Colin Creek Mall. It's weird because creating this doc, I realized that not only am I losing Colin Creek Mall, but through that adventure, like I said, I'm losing the haunted tunnels that I love a lot now that they've been covered up. But the thing is, we'll always have our old videos and our old pictures of this place, and we will certainly always have our memories. I know I will. I'm just thankful I got to experience such a wonderful place filled with amazing experiences and also incredible people like those of you out there watching. You know what? I'd like to just once again thank everyone out there who made this documentary possible by sending in your photos and videos. I'd also like to thank the, of course, the Aragon by Facebook group. You guys are amazing as a group, and I will continue to post there and follow and see what becomes of Colin Creek Mall. I'd also like to thank Neil, who has joined me on too many adventures to count, and of course, my wife, who put up with me spending hours, days, weeks, and just all this time on this documentary, shut away in my office editing, or out filming, or flying to Dallas just to go on this tunnel adventure. So huge shout out to her for being so understanding. I hope I did Colin Creek Mall justice with this documentary, and I would love to hear from you down in the comments if this was a mall you grew up with, or if it's a mall that you're reminded of when you think of your childhood mall. Treat that comment section like it's a memorial for Colin Creek Mall, or just malls in general, since most of them are going away now. If you found value in this documentary and you enjoyed it, and you'd like to support this project because it took a lot of time and money to kind of create this, if you could, you could do that in two different ways. One, hit that subscribe button and subscribe to me, and two, please share it with your friends. Oh yeah, and then there's a third one. If you'd like to buy some merch, I recreated the Colin Creek logo and recreated the big mural that was on the side where Sanger Harris used to be, put that on the back, and created shirts and mugs and all sorts of stuff for everyone. So if you want to go and check that out, I've got a link to that down below. And if you're itching for some more old Dallas mall nostalgia, check out the video I'm going to put up right here. It's when I went and explored the abandoned Valley View Mall before it was torn down. That has led to a lot of crazy things, but go check that video out and check the article that's in the description of that video, 'cause that thing blew up. I'm Eric J. Coons, and that is a wrap on the Colin Creek Mall. I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace out.