Sewer alligator

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

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

Legend

Following the reports of sewer alligators in the 1930s, the story has built up over the decades and become more of a contemporary legend. Many have even questioned how accurate the original stories are, and some have even suggested they are fictions created by Teddy May, who was the Commissioner of Sewers at the time. Interviews with him were the basis of the first published accounts of sewer alligators. However, the story of the 'Sewer Gator' in New York City is well known and various versions have been told.

Louisiana or Florida to New York City

As late as the middle of the 20th century, souvenir shops in Florida sold live baby alligators (in small fish tanks) as novelty souvenirs. Tourists from New York City would buy a baby alligator and try to raise it as a pet. When the alligator grew too large for comfort, the family would proceed to flush the reptile down the toilet.^[1][2]

What happens next varies. The most common story is that the alligators survive and reside within the sewer and reproduce, feeding on rats and rubbish, growing to huge sizes and striking fear into sewer workers. 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 albino alligator swimming toward him. Weeks of hunting followed.

The Journal of American Folklore has this to say on the subject, The World Beneath the City and "Alligators in the Sewers":^[3]

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 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 spotlighted 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".

An additional reference to the sewer alligator exists in Thomas Pynchon's first novel, V..^[4] It fictionalizes the account, stating Macy's was selling them for a time for 50 cents. Eventually the children became bored with the pets, setting them loose in the streets as well as flushing them into the sewers. Rather than poison, shotguns were used as the remedy. Benny Profane, one of the main characters in the book, continues to hunt them as a full-time job until the population is reduced.

Versions including albinos and 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 or pink eyes. 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.^[5]

Some people even spoke of mutant alligators living in the sewers which have been exposed to many different types of toxic, chemical waste which altered them, making them deformed and sometimes even larger and with strange colouring.

Contemporary accounts

One 1927 account describes an experience of a Pittsburgh Bureau of Highways and Sewers employee who was assigned the task of clearing out a section of sewer pipe on Royal Street in the Northside Section of the city. The account reads, "[He] removed the manhole cover and began to clear an obstruction when he realized that a set of 'evil looking eyes' was staring at him." He then removed a three foot alligator and took it home with him.^[6] There are other numerous recent media accounts of alligators occupying storm drains and sewer pipes, all from states in the south of the US.^{[7][8][9][10]}

References

Notes

Sources

• Tales From the Urban Crypt: Legendary whoppers about Gotham run the ghastly and ghostly gamut Urbanlegends.com. Retrieved April 26, 2010

External links

• Gatorhole.com
• Urbanlegends.About.com
• SewerGator.com
• tvtropes - Sewer Gator
• IMDB page for 'Alligator'
• News. Alligator found in sewer in Florida. Oct. 2005
• Man Falls in with Alligator - St. Petersburg Times, June 16, 2000
• Gator Aid - Houston Press, May 25, 2006
• Alligator Stomp - Houston Press, January 27, 2005
• See Ya Later, Alligator - Bluffton Today, May 8, 2006
• No. 3: Reggie - DailyBreeze.com, December 28, 2005