People going in and out of manholes, changing in nearby cars and then vanishing into thin air. After several reports and videos that began circulating on social media, the US police decided to investigate to provide an explanation for these unusual behaviors. In recent weeks the reports have become numerous, so much so that the New York City Police Department has decided to send the Emergency Services Unit into the sewer system to ensure the absence of illegal activities. Experts found nothing unusual, but investigators fear that there may be criminal intent behind these gestures.
The Mystery in New York
The first episode occurred on May 5 in Queens, around two in the morning, in the Astoria neighborhood. Three people with flashlights and thigh-high fishing boots descended into a cockpit. A witness told NBC News: “Three strangers were walking in strange clothes. They opened the manhole and came down, like in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons. We looked at each other, I understood that they were up to something. They went in and closed the lid, as if nothing had happened.”
The documented episodes
On Thursday 28 May, shortly after 11pm, a second report arrived from Brooklyn. A witness saw eight people remove the cover of a manhole and lower themselves inside. The group resurfaced about three hours later, around two in the morning; they changed clothes near the cars and walked away. The entire scene was captured on video released by the police. That same night a third case occurred in Williamsburg. Seven people entered another sump, re-emerging after more than two and a half hours. The last of the group closed the lid behind him, then they fled in the car. Some of them had head torches, shovels and other digging tools.
The investigations
What were they doing? Is there a community that travels using sewers? Is there a criminal intent behind these shenanigans? There are many questions and further investigations will be needed to clarify. At the moment it is not clear whether the three episodes are connected to each other. According to investigators, it is possible that these people are scouring the sewers looking for valuable objects. As a police official explained to NBC, this is only a hypothesis, but beyond the illicit activities, entering the sewer system without authorization is a crime.