Did Jack Nicholson have a secret tunnel from his home to the Playboy Mansion?

Tunnels were apparently closed in 1989

(Playboy)

A truly remarkable claim was put forward by Playboy this morning: During the 1970s, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Kirk Douglas, James Caan and possibly other celebrities had secret underground tunnels to the Playboy Mansion.

It's 30 March, so maybe they jumped the gun a little? It would be ironic if so, as if this is an April Fools they went to great lengths on it.

The magazine claims one of its editors was sifting through archive photos for a feature to run on Hugh Hefner's birthday, when he discovered some Polaroids pertaining to a large scale excavation under the mansion.

"That's probably when they built the tunnels in the 70s," the mansion's general manager elucidated.

(Picture: Playboy.com)

Digging deeper, Playboy staff were apparently led to a basement area containing a "treasure trove of old photos, plans and blueprints".

One of these, which they have hosts of photos of, names the tunnels as being built to the homes of "Mr. J. Nicholson, Mr. W. Beatty, Mr. K. Douglas and Mr. J. Caan."

Asking to see the tunnels, staff were told they were closed sometime in 1989 and the trail went dead, with Hefner not wishing to comment.

The Playboy Mansion is the only private residence in LA with a fireworks license, has a zookeeping license and a rumoured secret room looking into the Grotto pool, but an underground tunnel providing celebrities with a clandestine route to parties?

Playboy are asking for anyone who was at the mansion in the 70s and 80s with any info to get in touch, and we've reached out to Jack Nicholson's people for comment.