Comments on: Alligators-In-The-Sewers Are Real

By: Trapster

Trapster — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:50:14 +0000

Back in the 50’s and early 60’s it was a common promotion to get a free baby alligator with a fill up of gas at Florida gas stations. Most of these died due to mistreatment but it would seem that some could have been released into sewers in far away places, where they might be able to live, likely until winter. Water that is too cold essentially paralyzes the crocodilian and it will be become unable to swim, sink to the bottom and drown.

Here in Florida alligators will commonly use storm drains “aka sewers” to get from pond to pond or where ever they feel like.

Want proof? Two weeks ago I had to crawl into such a place to remove an alligator that became stuck and clogged the line.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:11:38 +0000

Good theories about the alligators dealing with the environment. Yes, they have more advanced metabolisms than other reptiles, but the story of one wallowing about in icy water does not sit well with me. It does not seem like something you would find an alligator doing. I have no idea about the living conditions in the New York sewers, that’s why I asked. But moving around in icy water?

By: Rillo777

Rillo777 — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 01:14:14 +0000

I found the article in a 1935 edition of my local paper in the mid-90’s while I was researching something else. I took note of it because I minored in Folklore at I.U. Glad to know now that you had already tracked it down.

(By the way, the original “death car” was probably in Michigan, lol.)

By: kittenz

kittenz — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 22:43:10 +0000

I would think that sewers, even in northern areas, would be comparatively warm in the winter; after all, decomposing organic matter produces heat. Crocodilians are archosaurs and their metabolism is more advanced than that of other reptiles. I can well believe that they could survive in sewers. There would be rats and maybe some kinds of scavenger fish and occasionally other animals for food, as well as small carcasses washed into the sewers during rainstorms. Given the right circumstances a crocodilian could probably survive for many years in a sewer. It might not be the healthiest or most pleasant of environments, but they could probably make it ok.

By: joe levit

joe levit — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:56:36 +0000

As to alligators actually living for some time beneath NYC or any other large city, remember that cities generate a ton of ambient heat. I don’t think it is surprising to say that alligators could live in the NY sewers through winters.

And I quite agree with Trent Mullen above. As with many cryptids, there would be a lot more reports of them if more people spent more time where they dwell, if simply because the number of people willing to report their encounters would necessarily increase.

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 15:14:24 +0000

Being underground would shield it somewhat from the wintery conditions above, although that would still mean an average temp of no more than 55 degrees. I’ve heard it said that the decomposition of sewage would keep their “habitat” warmer, although it seems to me that this would only really occur where solids could accumulate, not in the water itself.

Never knew it was you, Loren, who uncovered that gem from 1935, but I’m even more glad I got the date right the last time I mentioned sewer gators here on Cryptomundo.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 09:23:36 +0000

The story about an alligator in an icy sewer is curious. Since alligators are cold blooded creatures, I would not think one would survive very long in those kinds of conditions, let alone prosper and breed. There is a reason alligators are not found in the cold areas of the world, so I find the stories about alligators living in the sewers of New York to be very odd as this would not be an acceptable habitat for their particular physiology. It seems any released gators would perish soon enough without a hunting party to go out and find them. Was there ever a theory that explains how they survived?

By: pup

pup — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 22:52:00 +0000

Well, I’ve got a family legend from the *other* end. My wife’s great grandfather, who lived in Dayton Ohio, kept alligators in an ornamental pond. Her mother actually remembers seeing the alligators. Apparently, it was something of a fad in the early 20th century, as part of beautifying Dayton, to have ornamental ponds and gardens.

About 1920, so the story goes, one of the alligators got loose, and was never recaptured. When I hear alligator-in-the-sewer stories, I always think that’s where one might have come from.

Tried to google, to see if the family story was totally off-the-wall, and the first hit was this which mentions an alligator pond at the Dayton VA center in the late 1800s.

Trends like that are usually more widespread than one city, so I wonder if alligator ponds were more common in cities in the late 19th-early 20th century, thus leading to alligator escapes and abandonments up through the 1930s.

By: Trent Mullen

Trent Mullen — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:08:07 +0000

I am confident that gators acan be found in many places. It wasnt that long ago that I ran across a picture of a gator in Florida ringing someones doorbell!! The gator was standing on his hind legs at the front door. They must of been cooking somethin that smelled good. Anyway, there would be alot more reports of gators in the sewer if more people spent their free time in the sewer. Maybe my next picnic will be in a sewer pipe somewhere…hmm

By: busterggi

busterggi — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:45:30 +0000

Daley’s book, ‘The World Beneath the City’ from 1959 devotes most of chapter 17 to sewer gators in the ’30’s and the methods used to eradicate them.

Worth a read if you can find it.