New York City has its fair share of famous ‘urban legends’ — persistent rumors, too good to be true, often macabre and dark.
No, we’re not talking about just about ghost stories. (Those arrive next episode.) We mean far fetched, reality defying fantasies sometimes rooted in science fiction and horror – with just enough bearing to the real world that many people believe them to be true.
Tom and Greg go deep into their favorite New York urban legends. breaking down their origins and revealing the hidden truths that live beneath the legends. This episode answers the questions:
— Are there alligators in the sewer? Believe it or not, there are. Or at least, there were. Kinda. New York’s most famous urban legend has a fun and twisted origin.
— Does the Cropsey Maniac stalk the corridors of a New York ruin? Campfire tales collide with genuine institutional breakdowns and real-life horrors in this somber story set in Staten Island.
— Did somebody really sell the Brooklyn Bridge? The truth is even more surprising!
— Have UFO’s landed in New York City? Sounds preposterous, but one incident in 1989 ignited a decade of conspiracies, entangling both the New York Post and the United Nations. You’ll never look at Pier 17 the same way again….
And more!
LISTEN NOW: URBAN LEGENDS OF NEW YORK CITY
From the New York Daily News, February 10, 1935
The Brooklyn Citizen, June 7, 1937
The Truth About Alligators in the Sewers of New York, New York Times, 2020
We want to thank Michael Miscione for his help with this week’s show and for keeping the spirit of the alligator urban legend alive.
Michael also made an appearance on the City Reliquary’s podcast Undiscarded, also speaking of the alligator legend.
Haring, L. & Breselerman, M. (1977). The Cropsey Maniac. New York Folklore
The Geraldo Rivera expose. Very disturbing to watch!
The 2009 documentary Cropsey goes further into the terrifying tale of Staten Island’s missing children and the secrets of the Farm Colony ruins.
A couple stops on the Willowbrook Mile on the campus of the College of Staten Island. Highly recommended! Not only informative but a lovely campus. And you’ll get a sense of how enormous the total facility was.
George C Parker, the man who “sold” the Brooklyn Bridge.
Did an Unidentified Flying Object abduct a woman from this building on Catherine Street?
FURTHER LISTENING
Of course check out our entire roster of Ghost Stories of Old New York shows. But a few others that pertain to details in this week’s show:
The UFO case in this week’s show takes place right around the spot of one of last year’s creepiest ghost stories….
… and near the place of an infamous Gilded Age murder!
It’s also fair to pair our stories this week with some of the most famous hoaxes in New York history: