Sewer alligator

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A model of an alligator emerging from a sewer in a mall.

Sewer alligator stories are part of an urban legend that date back to the late 1920s and early 1930s. They are based upon reports of alligator sightings in rather unorthodox locations, in particular New York City.

1 History
2 Legend
3 In popular culture
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Medieval sighting

The urban legend may have originated in the Byzantine Empire. Crocodiles were thought to have dwelled in the city sewers of Constantinople.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Modern sighting

It was not until February of 1935 that a large alligator was reported in a New York City sewer. According to the story, printed in the New York Times, several teenage boys were disposing of snow into a manhole when they spotted an alligator, allegedly 7 feet (~2.1 m) long, that had gotten stuck in icy water. The male youths then dragged the trapped reptile to the surface. After the alligator snapped at one of them, the teenagers beat it to death with their snow shovels. The report suggested that the alligator had escaped from a ship traveling from the Everglades and had then swum into the Harlem River and then 150 yards (~137 m) up a storm conduit to where it was found.^[1]^[1]

[edit] Sewer reports

That same year reports were given to the city's Superintendent of Sewers, Teddy May, that swarms of alligators were thriving beneath the city. May, convinced that the men filing the reports were drinking on the job, took the suggested sightings lightly. It was not until he found that there was no real drinking of alcoholic beverages taking place in the sewer that he followed up the claims. To his shock, he witnessed a large number of alligators, most only about 2 feet (61 cm), to be living within pipes that emptied into the trunk lines below major streets.^[2]

[edit] Sewer clean-up

All the reptiles were apparently exterminated within a few months, killed mostly using rat poison, flushing them out to sea through trunk lines or even shooting them.

[edit] Legend

Following the reports of sewer alligators in the 1930s, the story has built up over the decades and become more of an urban legend. Many have even questioned the extent of truth in the original stories, some even suggesting it to be fiction and that Teddy May's creative mind may have contributed to the tales. However, the story of the 'Sewer Gator' in New York City is well known and various versions have been told.

[edit] Florida to New York

The original story was that wealthy families would return from vacation from Florida to New York City, bringing alligators with them, as pet presents to their children. The time frame of this tradition is rather gray, but it has been suggested it originated in the late 1930s. When the alligators grew too large for comfort, the family would proceed to flush the reptiles down the toilet (although a 'gator small enough to be flushed could hardly be considered "too large for comfort"!).^[3] ^[4]

What happens next varies. The most common story is that the alligators survive and reside within the sewer and reproduce, surviving by feeding on rats and rubbish, growing to huge sizes and striking fear into sewer workers.^[5] In Robert Daley's book, 'The World Beneath the City'(1959), he comments that one night a sewer worker in New York City was shocked to find a large alligator swimming toward him. Weeks of hunting followed.

The Journal of American Folklore has this to say on the subject of May, 'The World Beneath the City' and Alligators in the Sewers^[2]:

In 1959 a book entitled The World Beneath the City was published by Lippincott. Written by Robert Daley, it is a history of the problems involved in the development of the network of utilities underneath Manhattan Island. And in the midst of the stories of engineering problems and political deals is a chapter entitled "Alligators in the Sewers" (see pp. 187-189). It is based on the author's interviews with Teddy May, who had been Commissioner of Sewers in New York for some thirty years.

According to May, sewer inspectors first reported seeing alligators in 1935, but neither May nor anyone else believed them. "Instead, he set men to watch the sewer walkers to find out how they were obtaining whisky down in the pipes." Persistent reports, however, perhaps including the newspaper item discovered by Coleman, caused May to go down to find out for himself. He found that the reports were true. "The beam of his own flashlight had spotted alligators whose length, on the average, was about two feet."

May started an extermination campaign, using poisoned bait followed by flooding of the side tunnels to flush the beasts out into the major arteries where hunters with .22 rifles were waiting. He announced in 1937 that the 'gators were gone. Reported sightings in 1948 and 1966 were not confirmed.

However, there is no mention of "blind, albino" alligators, and May suggests that the baby alligators were dumped down storm drains rather than "flushed down the toilet."

[edit] Versions including albino mutants

Some versions go further to suggest that, after the alligator was disposed of at such a young age, it would live the majority of its life in an environment not exposed to sunlight, and thus it would apparently in time lose its eyesight and the pigment in its hide and that the reptile would grow to be completely albino, pure white in color with red eyes.^[6] Another reason why an albino alligator would retreat to an underground sewer is because of its vulnerability to the sun in the wild, as there is no dark pigment in the creature's skin, it has no protection from the sun, which makes it very hard for it to survive in the wild. ^[7]

The albino alligator, which does in fact exist, has rarely ever been sighted in the wild. The albino alligator got caught up in the urban legend, predominantly because of its scarceness within the wild, because of its color, the bright white and pinkish skin makes it vulnerable to predators as an infant as well as an obvious sight for any source of food it may attempt to collect. The urban legend developed into believing that since these alligators could not survive in the wild because of their color they retreated to the sewers where their unusual skin would not disadvantage them.

The albino story is what gives the urban legend its character, as many see the story as one of 'mutant alligators beneath New York City.' There have never been any official sightings of this kind of alligator in New York City.

[edit] Skepticism

There are numerous recent media accounts of alligators occupying storm drains and sewer pipes:[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

However, most experts believe that a sewer is not a fit environment for any alligator, and they would be unlikely to be able to reproduce down there. The animals need warm temperatures all year round. Of course, the major assumption behind these assertions is that the alligators in question would never venture back to the surface again, choosing instead to occupy the sewer/storm drain environment exclusively.

The majority of the New York sightings indicate that the alligators were only small in size (they would have to be if they had been flushed down a toilet!). It is possible that they were caimans, a South American member of the crocodile family which were once heavily imported for the pet trade and do not possess much of a tolerance for low temperatures. ^[14]

[edit] In popular culture

The famous urban legend has reached many other media since its first development in the early 1930s;

The most prominent reference was the 1980 film Alligator, starring Robert Forster, Robin Riker and Michael V. Gazzo. The film plays off the New York stories and exaggerated stories of the reptile's size. It takes place in a large midwestern metropolis, and most likely by the rules of mise en scène in Kansas City, and features a 36-foot (11-m) alligator. It was followed by Alligator 2: The Mutation. ^[15]

Radiohead's song "Fog," initially titled "Alligators in New York Sewers," references the legend.

In a The Fairly Odd Parents episode,Timmy wanted to see a real life sewer alligator on TV,but his parents didn't let him because they cared about him.

In Capcom's survival horror game Resident Evil 2, one of the "bosses" is a large alligator that the player must fight while traveling through a sewer pipe. The game Apocalypse also has a giant sewer alligator as a sub-boss.

Also in Squaresoft's survival horror game Parasite Eve, one of the "bosses" is a large mutant alligator that the player must fight while traveling through a sewer pipe.

Neil Gaiman's novel Neverwhere mentions a number of cities having giant animals living under them. For New York City, this is a giant albino alligator.

Killer Croc, an enemy of the popular comic book character Batman, can evidently be seen residing in the sewers of Gotham City.

In Thomas Pynchon's 1961 novel V., the anti-hero Benny Profane takes a job as an alligator exterminator in the NYC sewers.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles originated as four pet turtles who were dropped into a New York City sewer and mutated into humanoid reptiles. The character Leatherhead, depending on which version is either a friend or foe of the Turtles, is an alligator who was flushed into the NYC sewers and also mutated into a humanoid reptile.

In The Simpsons episode A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love, the following happens:
(A Chinese dragon patrols the streets of Chinatown)
Marge: "It must be the Chinese New Year!"
(Animal control comes and shoots tranquiliser darts at it)
Animal control: "People buy them when they're cute, then they flush them down the toilet."

One of the many villains of the comic character Spider-Man, is The Lizard. Battles with the villain often occur in the sewers of New York, and one of the episodes of the animated series reveals a group of The Lizard's offspring living down there.

World of Warcraft features a rare spawn known as the Sewer Beast, a large albino Crocolisk that appears in the Stormwind canals every so often.

In the Wild Cards series of shared-world novels, "Sewer Jack" Robicheaux is a New York City subway worker who has the power to transform into a giant alligator.

In an episode of The Tick, "The Tick vs. Filth", Tick, Arthur, and Sewer Urchin and are attacked by sewer lobsters. After Urchin wards them off, Tick and Urchin discuss the alligator stories:
Tick: "I thought there were alligators in the sewer! I mean, I was ready for alligators!"
Sewer Urchin: "Ah, no. That's definitely a myth. We got lobsters."

An episode of Sam and Max: Freelance Police has Max adopting an alligator that he had inadvertently sucked out of a toilet using a vacuum cleaner. Max names the reptile John, because "that's where we found him."

Although not directly mentioned, a similar kind of creature can be found in the fictional universe of Oddworld., under the name of "fleeches". The guide states: "starting off as innocent pets of young glukkons, these soon grow to an enormous size when they are promptly flushed down the toilet. they reside in the sewers of Oddworld".

In the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood Weevils are aliens which live in the sewers of Cardiff. According to the tie-in website "Torchwood Institute System Interface" these Weevils have at one point in the 1930s infested the sewers of New York and the "sewer reptile" rumours are actually a cover-up for this. It also speculates they may have been in the sewer pipes of 4th century Byzantium, where they were described as "crocodile-like creatures".
True Crime: New York City features a fight in a sewer with an alligator.
A public sculpture in the central commons of MetroTech Center, near Tech Place in Brooklyn, New York, depicts an alligator dragging a hapless victim into a manhole. Two similar statues by Tom Otterness, part of his "Life Underground" sculptures, can be found on the platforms of the 14th Street–Eighth Avenue station of the 8th Avenue subway line in Manhattan.
In the Disney movie The Wild, Samson and his companion met two friendly sewer alligators, Stan and Carmine, abandoned pets who live in the sewer system. The alligators decided to direct the group to the harbor rather than eating them.

[edit] References

^ For-pay NY Times link
^ "More on Alligators in the Sewers" (1980). The Journal of American Folklore 93(368): 182.

^ NY Times article reproduced Gatorhole.com. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
^ Description of book 'The World Beneath the City' by Robert Daley Gatorhole.com. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
^ Comments regarding the theory of alligators being brought up from Florida About.com. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
^ Revenge of the Sewer Gators About.com. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
^ Revenge of the Sewer Gators About.com. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
^ Suggestions that the alligators may have been albino About.com. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
^ Evidence suggesting that albino alligators are very sensitive to the sun Omahazoo.com. Retrieved December 15, 2005.
^ The film 'Alligator' released in 1980 IMDb.com. Retrieved December 6, 2005.

[edit] External links

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