(New York City is a hotbed for weirdos...)

From: https://shorturl.at/VD83P (modernity.news)

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MOLE MEN Return: Weird Manhattan Manhole Crew Spotted At 4AM

Steve Watson
23rd August 2026

The manhole people are back.

Early Saturday morning, just after 4 a.m., a group was filmed exiting a
manhole in Manhattan.

The footage, captured and shared by independent New York photographer
Viral News NYC, shows the individuals climbing out of the street in the
dead of night once again.

The manhole people are back .

They were spotted at 4 am in Manhattan exiting another man hole .
pic.twitter.com/F2VUD7DwAE

- Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) August 22, 2026

A clearer image of one of the men soon followed. Commenters immediately
noted the resemblance: "Dude really looks like the Mexican Mario."

At least now we have a face.

Dude really looks like the Mexican Mario pic.twitter.com/w2tUoL0Ubx

- Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) August 23, 2026

This is the latest odd chapter in a pattern that first gripped the city in
late spring.

Groups of men in waders, boots, headlamps, and carrying tools have been
repeatedly documented prying open manhole covers, disappearing into New
York's vast sewer network for hours, then resurfacing to change clothes on
the sidewalk before vanishing in waiting vehicles.

In June, there were a wave of sightings across Brooklyn and Queens.

MOLE People? What Are These Individuals Doing In New York Sewers?

Those incidents included a group of roughly seven men emerging around 2
a.m. from a manhole on McDonald Avenue in Gravesend after spending hours
underground. Another crew entered near Heyward Street and Bedford Avenue
in Williamsburg around 1 a.m. and exited more than two hours later. An
earlier episode in Astoria, Queens, on May 5 showed three men in hip
waders lifting a cover and descending while a vehicle idled nearby.

Surveillance from a local auto shop owner in Astoria captured one of those
moments. Aki Jakupovic, who was working late, said the men "acted like I
wasn't even there." One witness described the Queens group as looking
"like the Ninja Turtles."

Police and the Department of Environmental Protection investigated the
spring cases. Emergency Services Unit teams went underground. Officials
reported finding no explosives, no damage to infrastructure, and "no known
threat to public safety."

The leading explanation offered by sources was scavenging: men hunting for
coins, wallets, jewelry, scrap metal, or other valuables that wash into
the city's 7,400 miles of sewer pipes.

That theory has history. In 2015, a part-time city worker and two
companions were arrested after spending four hours in Brooklyn sewers
looking for "gold, jewelry and guns." Then-Police Commissioner Bill
Bratton remarked at the time: "God knows what they were looking for. I
know damn sure I wouldn't be crawling through the sewers of New York, but
these three evidently were up to something down there."

A similar arrest in April 2025 produced a more straightforward confession
from one of the men, Willer Green: "The reason we went down there is that
people lose their gold down there. We got to sell it to make money."

Urban explorers consulted by WIRED in June largely rejected the idea that
the recent crews were part of their scene. One creator put it bluntly:
"There's nothing of value down there besides `doo-doo water and a few
needles.' And sewers are pretty risky because there is basically zero cell
service down there."

Another observed that the groups appeared "way too sophisticated" and that
multiple crews hitting different locations across the city "seems fishy to
me. This might be more than just exploration."

The Department of Environmental Protection has been consistent on one
point: unauthorized entry is "both illegal and extremely dangerous." Toxic
gases, sudden flooding, structural collapse, and the complete lack of cell
service make the system a death trap for the unprepared.

Yet the pattern continues. The latest Manhattan sighting comes months
after the spring wave, with no public arrests, no named suspects, and no
visible escalation.

A NewsNation discussion later examined the broader implications, including
whether unauthorized access to critical underground infrastructure raises
national security questions beyond simple scavenging.

New York's sewer system runs beneath banks, businesses, transit hubs, and
sensitive sites. In a city that has absorbed large numbers of unvetted
migrants under sanctuary policies, the repeated appearance of organized
teams equipped for prolonged underground work is not a curiosity. It is a
vulnerability.

Officials prefer the scavenger narrative. Residents watching the videos
see something else: purposeful crews operating with near impunity in the
middle of the night. The absence of swift consequences only deepens the
skepticism.

When unidentified groups can repeatedly breach a major city's subterranean
network and walk away, the "no threat" assurance starts to sound like
institutional preference for quiet rather than clarity.
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-- Sean

... In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.

--- MultiMail/Win
* Origin: Outpost BBS * Johnson City, TN (618:618/1)