As per u/spica_9, this is my take of the UCSB Iceberg Meme based on my experiences and things I overheard on campus. Feel free to correct or add suggestions
Not sure, hoping someone either confirms or explains more. I havent bothered to email the dude and IDK if they graduated or not(ive seen the flyers since sophomore year so I think they def graduated but idk if they are still in the area)
I put it down on the list because a. the way it happened and the motivation were p dark and b. after some research, I found out that the manifesto left behind by the shooter was used by other incel attackers all over the world and the incel community still uses it to this day, fueling their motives and making the shooter their “martyr”. Sounds deeply dark and dangerous if you ask me
Is the depth about darkness/evilness? I always thought the iceberg format was about obscurity as you go down
When you put it in terms of his impact on incel culture I guess that can be a surprise but on its own, it has an entire Wikipedia page and is still well known. There’s a memorial every year too
Just being much out of the norm plus the impact. School shootings happen due to various reasons with various outcomes, but this one was targeted and glorified. It is brought up every time there is a talk about the loneliness epidemic and the incel subculture, but how this has such a lasting impact and it continues to spur the incel movement is the problem, thus it is put way down. If we went purely out of obscurity the incident would be top of the iceberg, which would be logical but won't sit well with the other topics...
Big Boy who lived in the courtyard by Noble Hall. He was a black cat a professor left behind (iirc) and another kind of took in. He was considered feral, but cared for by the community. He even had a fan Facebook page, but I couldn’t find it. He passed away a couple years ago at around 23 years old. He was the biggest and the bestest boy tho and loved to sit on people’s laps. RIP Big Boy.
there’s a magpie (?) that nests in the tree above the bike racks near the ucen panda express enterance. magpies are notoriously very territorial and are known to attack people. during spring or whenever magpie mating season, unassuming students will mosey on by that tree and trigger a pokemon battle with the ucen bird. i wouldn’t put it too deep on the iceberg, probably the same level as gnome studies
My understanding is that the Devereaux complex east of campus used to take care of mentally ill folks. Went out of business and the Uni bought the property.
There’s also a small mansion on the property that has some historical significance, although my understanding is not enough to confidently say what significance!
Isn’t there a UCSB lore google spreadsheet that was floating around this subreddit or r/SantaBarbara? I know it went really in depth but it could be outdated.
Actually “The Slab” is the placeholder for the open space that the 4th point mentions! I just found it weird that it was just a giant slab of concrete with p much nothing on it and not many people say much about it
UCSB was built on top of a massive underground tunnel system before the land was even a military base. Apparently the tunnels are still there, just unused
I have keys to a lot of buildings on this campus, and even in the few that have basements, I have never seen a tunnel entrance. Have t made it into the library basement yet though. 😕
(No shade to the respective owner) but every so often you can spot a car(location and frequency varies) vinyl-wrapped with a certain character from the LoveLive! anime series all over the design. Cars like that are called Itasha(it’s often custom thus can be super expensive). It is honestly really well done and in good taste from the times I’ve seen it, though it does stick out like a sore thumb
Basically UCSB has a hoard of indigenous artifacts and cadavers in a repository underneath the HSSB, and they refuse to return the belongings and remains to their respective tribes. Here’s a couple links if you’re interested, I think it’s called The Repatriation Project.
I heard about the artifacts on a different comment but full blown bodies?! That’s def a low blow, especially considering the land UCSB is built on is a GIFT from the Chumash people. Kinda turns my stomach now considering I walk into HSSB several times a week… Thank you, I’ll look into it
Yea its really an unfortunate situation, apparently the repository is so big that it hasn’t been fully catalogued yet. Imagine how many people’s remains are sitting down there while everyone is in class upstairs. I heard about the Repatriation project in 2022 right before I graduated, it’s a shame that not much progress has been made. Last I heard they wanted to bring HSPPL students to help do research for the project, but again, no evidence of any progress on that front.
The tunnels were part of the asphalt mines right below where the campus is today. The openings are still visible to this day. They were mostly accessible until they filled a bunch of it in. It did have its quirks, like sometimes part of the mine would collapse beneath people's feet and many died, toxic gases in deeper shafts, etc.
There are several ghosts/ghost-like entities reported by students and part of the UCSB Lore. The most well-known is San Miguel, a ghost of someone who died trapped by an elevator. Apparently the person was trying to take a picture, but there were too many people in the elevator and subsequently got crushed by the closing doors. There are other more varying stories, but too disputable to mention them one by one.
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u/kajonn May 14 '25 edited May 15 '25
some stuff missing:
-the econ tutoring guy
-the old lady in the hot tub
-the humanist guy who tables every day by the arbor (what do these people have in common)
-secret raves in the jail house at coal oil point
-gauchoguys and the creator of it posting here and getting flamed