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

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

===
          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.
===

-- Sean

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

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