for urban explorers, wading through treacherouswaterways and potential alligator habitats might be the perfect saturday afternoon, butfor the rest of us, i made this video. here are x of the most bizarre things thatwere found in sewers around the world. 8. alligators in uptown
100 ft electric drain snake, if there's a job as an expert on animals thatdwell in sewers, mr. miscione, the official borough historian for manhattan would holdthe title. he's the mastermind behind february 9 as alligatorsin the sewers day, an unofficial holiday to honor discarded pets or escaped beasts thathave grown to monstrous sizes deep underground.
mr. miscione says the holiday was created7 years ago to mark the birth of one of new york city's greatest urban legends that turnedout to be true. in 1935, the new york times published an accountof a group of teenagers claiming to have caught an eight-foot alligator, weighing 125 poundsliving underneath a manhole on 123rd street in east harlem. salvatore condulucci had discovered the reptilewhen he was shoveling snow into the manhole. the boys looped a rope around the alligator'sneck, pulling it onto the street and when it snapped at them—they had to kill it. mr. miscione believes that this account isaccurate for its time since there were many
ways one could acquire an alligator: it couldhave been brought back from florida as a live souvenir or purchased through the mail. that's right, you could purchase a live babyalligator from companies in the '30s, and mr. miscione even has proof through advertisementsfrom that year that include companies offering baby alligators through the mail. kids could easily purchase a pet alligatorto impress their friends. but what did all those kids do when the alligatorgot bigger? there's actually still a united states postalservice regulation stipulating that alligators "not exceeding 20 inches in length" may beshipped through the mail.
if you think you can handle a full-grown alligator,you could still manage to purchase one today. mr. miscione has conducted years of researchon the 1935 uptown alligator and believes that the one from the legend was briefly displayedat a local store and then collected by trash removers and left in a dumping ground on barrenisland in jamaica bay. now, we're just hoping he'll be able to usehis amazing research skills to divulge the secrets of how an 11-foot, 600 pound alligatorwound up causing a sewer blockage in a fort myers, florida neighborhood. maybe, those companies should have thoughttwice before selling exotic animals to all those children in the '30s because even ifit's an urban legend or hoax; we're still
pretty sure there are a few gators lurkingin the sewers awaiting their next meal. 7. marijuana in washington sewer system marijuana hasn't always been a legal substance,which is why it's not too hard to see how it wound up growing at the bottom of a sewersystem in washington. someone obviously flushed down a few seedsto get out of jail time, but what's surprising is that those seeds ended up producing cannabisplants in an environment that works against its ability to survive. the seeds that were possibly flushed downthe toilet actually created a forest of marijuana,
which was estimated to be worth $1,100. if the forest of marijuana was left undiscoveredwho knows how large it could have grown. there is also a urban legend that tells thetale of pure white albino weed. “new york white†is a potent strain of“albino†marijuana that grows in the new york city sewer system. these plants supposedly grow underground withoutsunlight and grow to 12 feet tall. if you are interested in searching for thissewer weed, make sure to watch out for the alligators. 6.
goldfish in alberta, canada government officials are warning alberta residentsagainst flushing their beloved pet goldfish down the toilet, as the goldfish are surviving,multiplying and growing at an alarming rate. goldfish that survive getting flushed downthe toilet often end up in stormwater ponds and grow to the size of dinner plates. they are very hardy fish that can survivetheir trip through the sewer systems and can become an invasive species, destroying thehabitat of native fish. to combat the issue the government has launcheda “don’t let it loose†campaign to educate albertans about the dangers of flushing domesticfish.
just don't do it. 5. scotland sewers produce myriad of strangeobjects scotland isn't just home to bagpipes and goodscotch, oh no, scotland also has a deeper, darker secret hiding underneath its streets. in 2013, edinburgh spent $11.6 million removing40,000 objects from its plumbing and sewage system last year. you could buy a lot of top-notch scotch forthat kind of money. scottish water, has become so desperate forpeople to stop flushing their waste down the
toilet that they've launched a campaign aboutobjects that should or should not be flushed. here are just a few of the items that scottishsewer crews have found: a giant winnie-the-pooh teddy, an epic 15-tonfatberg- i’ll tell you more about that in a second- a railway sleeper, a "working" clothesiron, a fax machine and a set of false teeth. what happened there? i feel bad for the person who’s missingtheir false teeth right now. also, a former employee of scottish waterfound his credit card which had been stolen from him at a bar while he helped clean outobjects in the sewer network. what are the odds?
that was one win that came out of this stinkymess full of strange and bizarre objects. 4. manchester sewer’s 100-ton fatberg fat by itself is pretty gross, but it's abilityto block our sewage systems have given it a new name—fatberg. one particularly dastardly fatberg, weighingapproximately 100 tons was discovered in a manchester sewer. the fat deposit was about the same weightas 10 double decker buses and took over a week to dislodge.
how do you dislodge a fatberg? by using high-powered jets and a massive vacuumcleaner to suck up the waste—which gives off an awful odor. this particular fat ball is considered britain'slargest ever. they originally believed that a 15-ton lumpof food fat and waste was the largest but this one definitely takes fatberg to an entirelynew level. there is some good that could potentiallycome from this. as disgusting as a giant ball of fatty foodwaste may seem, fatbergs could be a source of energy that can power well over 40,000london homes.
don't ask me how. 3. cow discovered in chinese manhole probably one of the most bizarre things toget stuck in a manhole was a 900-pound cow. you're probably wondering how the animal evenwound up down there in the first place. a farmer spent four days searching for hismissing cow but was unable to find her. apparently the hungry cow was grazing witha group of cows in the danzhai county of china when she stepped on a rusty manhole coverand fell inside the hole. locals were confused by the sound of mooingcoming from underground.
she finally was able to poke her head throughan open manhole and people fed her grass until her owner was finally alerted. luckily, the cow was able to be hoisted witha makeshift crane to safety. the cow suffered no injuries and happily returnedto grazing. 2. human placentas discovered in illinois sewers i can guarantee that this one is truly disgustingso be prepared. sanitation workers in the illinois town ofurbana-champaign uncovered human placentas clogging up the drainage system.
not once but a total of three times in justover a month. the urbana sanitary district issued an urgentpress release that warned people to not flush human placentas down the toilet. according to the environmental protectionagency rules and regulations, human placentas are considered potentially infectious medicalwaste that should not be disposed of in the municipal sewage system. it was a very unusual case and the press releasewarned people assisting in home births, that placentas should be treated as any other solidwaste and disposed of in a proper manner. now you know, don't go flushing placentas,human or animal, down the drain.
1. two boys found in seattle's sewers seattle is known for many things—like it’sbeautiful scenery and starbucks, but what one pair of meter readers discovered livingin nearby federal way, washington's sewer system was shocking to say the least. the day started off like any other when themeter readers responded to a call for a sewer cover left ajar. the men put the sewer cover back on top ofthe manhole for safety reasons, but found that when they returned later that day, the80-pound slab had been removed once again.
by the third time the meter readers had returnedto the spot and found the sewer cover removed again they had had enough, and called thelakehaven sewer crew to investigate further. the crew discovered as they climbed down the14-foot descent what appeared to be items from a boy's treehouse or bedroom, including:a pair of binoculars, snacks and toys, a toy pistol for shooting foam darts, clothes anda makeshift bed made out of plywood. the two boys, ages 12 and 13 years old watchedfrom the corner as the crew dug through their belongings. the men spotted them and immediately startedasking questions. one of the boys said that he had been livingin the manhole.
the men lectured the boys on the dangers ofplaying in sewers because of the potential for methane gas build-up, which might havesuffocated them if the lid had been left covering the hole for too long of a period. the boys ended up evading the workers by runningaway, but they were later found by police after the utility workers gave photographsof the two children to the police. it was confirmed that the boys were not homelessbut referred to the sewer as their "fort". i'm curious to know how that conversationwith the parents and these boys went. luckily the secret club was quickly uncoveredand no one was hurt.
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