Kirk Douglas and Jack Nicholson did not, as it turns out, almost have underground tunnels built to connect their homes to the Playboy Mansion — it was all an April Fools' joke.
On March 30, two days before the joke holiday,
the editors of Playboy.com reported that they were rummaging through the "office archives" to do a feature on Hugh Hefner's birthday when they stumbled upon some intriguing construction blueprints from the 1970s.
The blueprints, which were accompanied by a few old Polaroid pictures, showed that construction had begun on a series of secret tunnels.
According to the blueprints, "tunnels were built to the homes of 'Mr. J. Nicholson,' 'Mr. W. Beatty,' 'Mr. K. Douglas,' and 'Mr. J. Caan' . . . all of whom lived near the Playboy Mansion during the late 1970s and early 1980s," the editors wrote.
"There are no dates on the architectural schematics, but the dates on the Polaroids were from 1977."
The article soon gained steam on social media, and several news outlets picked up the story.
On April Fools' Day,
Playboy.com released an update about the tunnels. The headline read, "Confirmed: We Found the Celebrity Tunnels to the Playboy Mansion."
"As you may have heard, we recently unearthed blueprints that revealed the existence of tunnels from celebrity homes to the Playboy Mansion. Our PR reps and editors were inundated with calls and emails on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday Hugh Hefner granted us access to the Mansion," wrote the editors. What followed was a long series of photographs that appeared to show the caverns under the mansion.
The last picture, however, showed Hugh Hefner himself sitting on a couch in the mansion, holding a sign that said "April Fools!"
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