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Human beings love exclusivity. We crave something that not everyone can access. It’s why many people will pay good money for VIP passes and business-class seats or pride themselves on gaining entry to “restricted” areas that most won’t get to see.
Here are some stories of the latter featured in a recent Reddit thread. People shared personal experiences being backstage at concerts, having dinner with celebrity figures, and hanging out in airplane cockpits, to name a few.
This list may either trigger your FOMO or urge you to share your own stories. Whatever the case may be, enjoy reading and join in on the discussion in the comments!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The Room of Tears. It’s the room behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel where the newly elected pope goes to have a cry. There’s an adjoining room full of papal vestments from the last 900+ years. It was incredible to see threads of gold woven into gowns and hand made silk shoes. This is also the room where we saw the black/white smoke machine, papal election voting cards, the bible they swear on, the voting rules and the hammers they use to break the door seal during a jubilee year.
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#2
When I was 14 I found a staff pass to a festival. When asked how I had it I said my dad John works for them. I knew no John but it was a name I knew a lot of people had. I got to sit next to Blink-182 at lunch etc. It was great.
NotARapture:
I had a production pass to Coachella. Even with production pass I couldn’t get a good view of the Childish Gambino. So I went on stage. On my adventure to find the stage people would stop and ask me questions. I said I was, “Amanda’s runner” and they’d let me through. I made up Amanda. It worked.
#3
Large paleo storage three or so secure floors below the Field Museum in Chicago. Absolutely incredible to see all those specimens at such varying stages of being studied.
I even got to touch Sue's (the t rex) last meal.
Wild.
#4
When I was a vet student at LSU my sister was a doctor in New Orleans. One day she called me up and said One of her colleagues was going to the NO zoo to do an ultrasound on one of the new gorillas. Her colleague knew I was in vet school and asked if I wanted to come see it.
When we got to the zoo we found out that the veterinary anesthesiologists that were flying in for the procedure had been delayed and it would be a while before we started. One of the zoo vets asked if I wanted a tour of some of the backstage areas before the zoo opened.
That would have been cool enough for me, but it got better. Once the doctors began setting everything up, I tried to stay as far out of the way as possible. I figured I would just be watching from a corner. Then one of the anesthesiologists walked in the room and said he needed several larger people to help carry the gorilla into the procedure room. Im a little taller than average and he pointed at me and said "you're coming."
I went back in the cages and saw the gorilla unconscious and lying on a huge cargo net. It was an adult male, and I never appreciated the size of those guys before I was close enough to touch it. It took about 8 of us to move him. You could feel the power (and stink) radiating off of him, even while asleep.
Everything went fine with the ultrasound, and he entered the zoo population a few weeks later.
Upstaged75 1 hour ago
I'd love to be able to go behind the scenes at a zoo! I especially want to pet an Okapi. 😊
#5
The tunnels under the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. Its like a whole city that cast members use to move from the outside world or one land to another land without hurting the magic for the guests.
#7
The top of Washington's head at Mt. Rushmore. My wife's clinic did CPR training or something for the forest service, and in return they took the staff and spouses up to the top of the mountain. It was quite a view and something very few have ever seen.
#8
I've been in the collections of many of the great natural history museums, like the Smithsonian and London museum. Seeing all of the specimens that aren't on display and are just lying around in various states of preparation and study is always pretty cool.
dear_little_water:
I used to work at the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian. The storage rooms behind the exhibits are as (if not more) interesting than what's on display.
#9
Got to see a pulse test in a nuclear reactor. Lots of students at my school get to see it every year but seeing the blue glow of Cherenkov radiation in person is awesome.
#10
My dad did the lighting fixtures for the Statue of Liberty, so I got to see all sorts of back areas when he brought me along. I was a little kid, but still- I got to visit her and see all over during the renovation in, I think, 1985?
#11
I went on a few dates with a zookeeper. She took me to an unassuming building on the far side of the parking lot away from the zoo proper and inside were holding tanks for hammerhead sharks, sea turtles, and other sea creatures that were either new to the aquarium, were being treated for illness, or who needed a temporary space while their exhibits were being renovated. It was super unpolished... bright overhead lights, lots of PVC pipes running water through all types of systems, and scaffolding-type walkways over the water tanks. Standing on a metal grid looking down at a hammerhead shark was the most Bond-villain experience I think I will ever have.
#13
Surgical Theatre, does that count?
My Ex had Arthrogryposis, a fairly rare condition and the surgeons were unsure how to move her while she was unconscious without causing harm, so I had pre-agreed to scrub up and move her throughout her operation. Very strange experience, felt like I was outside of my own body, was only 20 or so.
#14
I have technically sat in the House of Lords- because I was unwell when I was visiting there, and so was granted an exception to the usually strict rules about not sitting on the seats there… I’m pretty sure that makes me a Lady now.
#15
Was talking to a guy while watching the 4th of July fireworks in DC. He accidentally insulted my wife, and to make up for it took us on a private tour of the National Archives (he was a security manager).
We went all over the place and finished with a view from the roof of the Mall and downtown DC.
10/10 would accept that apology again.
Edit: the insult was entirely banal and he was almost distraught with his apology. We’d been chatting for a while before it happened so there was some rapport.
Upstaged75 1 hour ago
Accidentally insulted your wife?? I looked on Reddit but the OP never elaborated. And FYI if you think 4th of July fireworks on the Mall in DC sounds fun, you have another think coming. I'm a DC native and it's absolutely miserable! It's SO crowded and July here is nasty hot and humid. There's nowhere to park and the Metro is absolutely jam packed with sweaty, stinky, impatient, people. 😫
#18
I was a coach at a major Special Olympics International event back in 1983 and I had some time on my hands and had taken a walk near a Helicopter that had recently landed near the Campus. I was admiring the aircraft when Muhammad Ali stepped out, walked over to me and invited me to take a tour with him around Baton Rouge in the Helicopter! He had seen my Vest identifying me as Coaching Staff, and had observed me admiring the aircraft.
We went for a 40 minute tour (he asked me how much free time I had), treated me like gold, and talked Special Olympics together as we looked around on the tour.
He gave me an autographed photo of the both of us together, and gave me Autographed photos to give to all my athletes and their parents. He also gave me an Ali jacket, and later gave me a certificate of a large donation he made to the Special Olympics in my name! A really personable, caring, wonderful human being who really genuinely cared about kids and the Special Olympics.
#19
I was first in line for a Tori Amos concert in Cleveland at Playhouse Square in 2007 (I’d missed the meet and greet if there was one). Like hours early. The old guy guarding the doors asked who I was there to see but didn’t know who Tori was. He asked where I was from. When I said I was from 🇨🇦 he said he loved Anne Murray. He pulled out his keys and took me on a tour of the concert hall. Didn’t get to see Tori backstage but was still cool.
#21
When our daughter was born, we almost never went out and finally had a date night to catch Rodrigo y Gabriela. Our agreement not knowing how loud the show would be with a baby in the Bjorn was we’d leave if she fussed. Sure enough two songs in, it was too much so we left. A gentleman in a suit followed us out and asked why we were leaving early and we told him. He asked if we’d like to watch from a more conducive location and took us to this private sound booth suite behind acoustic glass. Was amazing (and one of those awesome moments where people amaze you with kindness).
#22
When I was a pre-teen my uncle was the property manager at Henry Ford's Fairlane manor. Since he was the big boss we got a tour that included *everything.*
#23
On a field trip to the state capitol, we got to go into the conference room of the state supreme court. The room where they sit and decide cases. No one other than the justices go in there. The father of the school principal was the chief justice so that's how we got in.
Big table in the middle, comfy chairs, and bookshelves with law books lining all four walls. It's not something I'd tell my grandkids about, but it was cool knowing you've seen something 99.9999% of people will never see.
#24
When I was a teenager, my granddad was in charge of Los Angeles Police Department property division in the late fifties. He gave me a tour. He had a man’s hand in a jar on his desk. There was wreckage of a small airplane in evidence of a crime. They had every gun you can imagine in evidence. Thousands of packages of evidence for crimes going back for many decades. It was amazing.
#25
I started working at a nuclear power plant in the early 2000s. There was not much going on during night shift so I went to my boss and asked if he wanted me to do anything. He said "why don't you familiarize yourself with the layout of the plant". I asked "did you just tell me to explore around nuclear power generating station?" He smiled and I found places i bet most of the other workers didn't know about.
#26
My dad was a tank commander in the National Guard in the 1960s. One night he and a driver gave me and my brother a joy ride inside of their compound. We were like 8 and 10 and it was a blast.
#27
When I was a kid, my mom was a teacher and we'd go with her sometimes to her school during the summer when it was empty. We ran in the halls, heely'd in the halls, played with the smart board, and hung out in the teachers' lounge while she was setting up and getting ready for the school year ahead.
#28
"Whale graveyard"
The huge, hangar-like storage area where a natural history museum keeps all its whale skeletons.
Also, a penguin "love village" behind the scenes, inside the penguin enclosure at a zoo. They have all these little huts (painted white, with blue roofs and a red heart over the door) because, apparently, penguins need privacy to do the deed.
Being a biologist has its moments.
#29
I worked for the NPS and have been deep underneath and on top of the Lincoln Memorial, The top of the rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial, the torch of the Statue of Liberty, the basement and behind the clock of Independence Hall.
#32
Employees only areas of a zoo. They used a Silence of the Lambs-style sliding box to feed a panther. Multiple bars and fencing and a big yellow line to mark how far the cat could potentially reach. Also got to help feed a hippo fruit and hay, as well as tossing fruit to the gorilla family. The silverback made eye contact with me and gestured for an apple.
#33
Space x manufacturing site and lunch site. Inner workings of nasa.
Windfarms
Largest off shore rig in the world.
#34
Found a closed/abandoned fun center ) go-karts, water park, mini golf, etc.) that had cave that bats took over and was amazing. I was just looking on Google maps for weird stuff while we were on vacation. The amount of bugs, guano, bats, and other critters trespassing on that place was just super cool to see nature taking back over.
#36
When I was 15 I went to my uncles workplace. He worked at one of the largest hydroelectric powerplants here in Sweden.
At that time they where doing some upgrades and maintenance at one of the turbines so it was closed off and parts of it was removed so we could go inside of it.
So I was inside of the part where all the water goes and spins the turbines, that was pretty cool too see.
#37
Super computer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I’m old enough to remember Cray super computers, and these computers made a Cray seem like an old Pontiac car next to a Bugatti.
#40
Area 51. I was about nine years old in the early 80s. We went on a family vacation and went to area 51. My dad was retired from the military but always wore his captains hat. My dad was messing with my mom and said he was going to go in and drove up to the first gated checkpoint. The guard at the gate must’ve saw my dad‘s hat, lifted the gate and waved him in. My parents looked at each other like WTH and my dad kept driving. We got about a half a mile in past the front gate before we were stopped. My parents had to talk to them for about five minutes, but eventually let us just drive out.
#41
I got a tour of the Children's Television Workshop spaces in NY City. The corporate offices were amazing, but the puppet workshop had muppet body parts all over the place. Not unlike the droid scrap yard in Cloud City.
#43
Years ago - The SOC and NOC of Blizzard Entertainment.
Love them or hate them, that place looked like a decked out Mission Control center monitoring traffic and ddos attacks worldwide. It was the coolest, nerdiest thing I’ve seen. The fact their head SOC guy was former NSA and CIA made it all the more cool.
#44
Old abandoned subway in Rochester NY. Gained access through the city library I was working in. Just a hatch in the basement with a ships ladder down to the old system.
#46
Probably the Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, Mo. It's where they raise the Budweiser Clydesdales. They give tours but I went in as a salesman and was just kind of wandering around looking for someone. Finally found a guy and after we discussed business, I asked a question about the horses and he spent the next 30 minutes or so showing me around and giving me my own guided tour. He was really proud of the place. Got to pet a 2 day old Clydesdale.
#47
A tour of the inside of the Rock of Gibraltar by the commander at the time, 1970. I happened to be with some people who were well connected so I got to ride along. Very Interesting.
#48
A friend of mine used to work for the freemasons. She snuck me into the weird ballrooms that aren't open to the public as well as a room with a skeleton where you take oaths or sign your name in a book or whatever.
#49
Worked in Cheyenne mountain for years, basement of the pentagon, Raven Rock, Mt. Weather, STRATCOM, JHU-APL, submarines, ICBMs, and more I can’t talk about.
#50
The Smithsonian warehouse complex outside DC. I was there to assist with preserving and cataloging a biological specimen that was new to their collection and I got to see the good stuff on a guided tour of the facility from one of the curators. I saw some Antlers from a deer that were donated after a hunt by Teddy Roosevelt and where he signed the card for their catalog. It really felt like that scene from one of the Indiana Jones movies where the warehouse was full of crates with incredible artifacts.
#51
Went to see Cirque du Soliel with a friend who was friends with one of the performers. We met him and then went back stage and hung out with a bunch of the other performers in the cafeteria. Many of them were still in makeup and smoking heavily.
#53
So this is a story.
Back in 2010-12 I was a resident at a state psychiatric hospital. I happen to like old architecture, so when I wasnt preoccupied with being very mentally ill, Id walk the grounds and look at the buildings.
Some of the buildings on the property were long abandoned, and one was in the process of demolition.
One day I noticed a window open, ground level, that led to the underground tunnels. I had time before I had to return to my ward, so I went through it. These were the tunnels that connected all of the buildings, and I found an entrance to one of the abandoned buildings while snooping around.
It was so cool in there. I found an old gymnasium with a large stage, and there was a folding table with old patient art on it. (I took one, which I kept to this day)
I made sure to keep this window accessible, and I returned to explore almost daily for months before I was finally caught by security. All they did was lower my priviledge level for a few weeks because I was at the end of my stay anyway.
Its nice to have that memory in an otherwise very dark period of my life.
#54
I’ve played hockey on the Flyers and Devils ice. it’s crazy looking up at all those seats and being under those lights. can’t even imagine it filled with fans.
i’ve also been on the field at Citizens Bank Park. also with the stadium empty. still a wild experience.
back in the day, as a rather dopey teen, we used putz around this abandoned dry ink factory. it was vast and cavernous. so much to explore. i realize how fortunate we were to have never been caught and just how not smart it was. however, i still have fond memories of it.
#55
Decades ago I got to work with a mapping crew in some rarely explored parts of Mammoth Caves. Got to see places very few others have ever been.
#56
A freshly built sports centre a few towns over at night. We jumped the fence, found an unlocked door, walked in and even got to swim in the pool in complete darkness. Funnily enough it's been 3 years since this happened and they still haven't opened it to the public.
#57
Abbey road , studio 2/3 (am an audio guy was hired to work on project there so flew over). Big dream. Studio 2 had the pianos used on the Beatles records, specifically the Mrs mills, studio 3 had the dark side of the moon Pink Floyd Hammond 😎 among all the other incredible gear. Seen pictures of the rooms and gear my whole career, they don’t do tours so really special to be inside making a record.
#58
BGE facilities. Years ago I installed computers and related equipment for a contractor servicing Baltimore Gas and Electric. I have been in Calvert Cliff Nuclear Power Plant (including the generator building), an underground gas storage facility, Emergency Operations and grid connections (both similar to that big control room at NORAD in the movie Wargames). Those locations were the most notable but there were many others. In the 1980's a few friends and I jumped the fence at BWI and ran all the way to the blue lights on the runways and got out without getting caught.
#59
I have two to choose from:
1. Inside the ceiling of the local theatre. The theatre was under renovation at the time, and my uncle was doing a lot of the work himself so when I had time I'd go over and help however was needed. One particular day, we needed to grab something (I don't remember what) that had been stowed in the ceiling for storage, so I got to climb up and up and up until I was inside part of the ceiling. I could look out and see all the ornate details of the theatre ceiling that couldn't be made out from the floor.
2. Inside a pipe organ. My sister and I were very curious and the organist was a family friend, so he showed us how to get inside the organ. There's a little platform behind the pipes that's perfect for standing on. I'm still curious what it would sound like to be inside the organ when it's played.
#60
2 apartment rooftops in Pripyat, Ukraine (with views of Reactor 4 - Chernobyl). I did the entire Chernobyl tour with a group of my Ukrainian friends I was visiting. They booked the tour basically just for me since they’ve all been. The tour guide took us to some places generally very off limits to normal tourists since all my friends were locals…including these rooftops and certain buildings in really bad condition. Super eerie, creepy, sad, interesting, weird day.
#61
I got to shoot a few hoops in the basketball court above the Supreme Court!
It’s right over the chamber and they call it the highest court in the land.
#62
When I was working a high school job as an actor at a season haunted house, they had invited Blu Cantrell in to visit with us before we opened.
Just below that, I got to see the holding area at a Walmart where the take shoplifters (it wasn’t me, but they momentarily dragged me back there before looking at the video). It was a lot cleaner than I thought it would be.
#64
Swimming in the outdoor Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle. No real shallow end.
#65
Roof of the Pontiac Silverdome where the Detroit Lions used to play. Friend was a maintenance worker there.
#66
TeleHouse. It's a building in London. In the late 1990s pretty much the entirety of the UK internet was housed there (a substantial chunk still is).
#67
What an interesting question! For me it's probably the Vikings' US Bank stadium. Went to a corporate event there in the summer. I'd never seen behind the scenes at an NFL stadium and it was incredible. Got to hang out on the field as long as we wanted and toured the locker room and many other places. It really was wild.
#68
MIT fusion reactor Alcator C Mod. It was a maintenance week and I got to stick my head inside.
#69
The old basement of the Merle Hay Mall here in Des Moines. There are old store rooms down there that are empty, the old McDonald's spot is still there, and there are mannequins and dolls of little girls sitting around.
#70
Tunnels under US Bank Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, whatever the stadium in St Louis is called, and the fields (marching band competitions).
#72
We got to tour the Pentagon on my 8th grade trip to DC
Last year, I was given the key to my workplace to reinstall some computers while the building was closed for renovations and I was the only person there that day.
#74
Entire tour of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. It was closed for renovation at the time, and one of the artisans showed us every nook and cranny. Fascinating.
#75
Sony Pictures Studios - not super restricted, but pretty cool. I just straight up walked on to a few sets (Spider-Man - Tobey Maguire era, a show called What About Brian, JJ Abraham’s office, and the prop dept).
Also found the Ghostbusters station wagon and was able to open the door and sit in it — it was parked on the Singing in the Rain street.
#76
Ooh, forgot about another. My grandfather was a retired 40 year electrician on the NY Central Railroad. Took each of us grandkids (individually) for a ride in a locomotive in the switching yard. I was 3 or 4 when he took me. I got to make it go forward and reverse and toot the horn. I was embarrassed and didn’t want to toot the horn so we reached up and pulled it together. Somewhere there’s a Polaroid of us standing together in front of the locomotive. Gramps was a humble, self-educated man of few words. He’s been gone about 30 years now. I miss him a lot.
#78
Ministry of Defense in my country. Was working for a contractor, doing some work in this adjecent gym hall on the complex. They did background checks on all of us before we were allowed to work there. Didn't come across anything unusual, one place had some gear like helmets and vests, nothing special. When we were done we all got a military compass as a gift.
What do you think ?
StrangeOne 1 hour ago
My ex was a tow truck driver. He used to take me along his all night shifts, sometimes. This was back before the company enforced strict companion rules. I got to see inside the compound lots where the damaged/totalled cars would go after a bad accidents. Some were from fatals, and still had old blood and plastic tarps. It was pretty grim but interesting. Eventually, rules started getting enforced and I had to stay in a booth outside the compounds, and eventually he wasn't allowed to take anyone with him. It was pretty cool at times. There was a time he went to a stolen recovery. The officer advised the doors in the truck to be locked while he hooked up the car cos the cops were still looking for the suspect.
StrangeOne 1 hour ago
My ex was a tow truck driver. He used to take me along his all night shifts, sometimes. This was back before the company enforced strict companion rules. I got to see inside the compound lots where the damaged/totalled cars would go after a bad accidents. Some were from fatals, and still had old blood and plastic tarps. It was pretty grim but interesting. Eventually, rules started getting enforced and I had to stay in a booth outside the compounds, and eventually he wasn't allowed to take anyone with him. It was pretty cool at times. There was a time he went to a stolen recovery. The officer advised the doors in the truck to be locked while he hooked up the car cos the cops were still looking for the suspect.
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