A former urban explorer says the most unpleasant part of exploring New York City’s sewer system was the cockroaches, not the rats, smells or ever-present dangers.
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Here's how to dry out your smartphoneFlower gardens endure hot, dry summers better if you choose these plantsPhotos of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia as Gaudí basilica rises before Pope Leo XIV’s visitAtaque de EEUU a presunto bote del narcotráfico deja 2 muertos en el Pacífico
Here's how to do itOne Tech Tip: Don't use rice for your device. Here's how to dry out your smartphoneFlower gardens endure hot, dry summers better if you choose these plantsPhotos of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia as Gaudí basilica rises before Pope Leo XIV’s visitAtaque de EEUU a presunto bote del narcotráfico deja 2 muertos en el PacíficoA series of bizarre sightings of people popping in and out of New York’s vast, subterranean sewer system in recent days has the whole city wondering what exactly is going on.
In this image from a surveillance video provided by AKI AUTO CARE, three people descend into a sewer on a street in New York, on May 5, 2026. This undated photo provided by Steve Duncan shows the Tibbetts Brook sewer in the Bronx borough of New York. This 2008 image provided by Steve Duncan shows the Spring Street spring in Canal Street Sewer in New York.
In this image from a surveillance video provided by AKI AUTO CARE, one of three people descends into a sewer on a street in New York, on May 5, 2026. A series of bizarre sightings of people popping in and out of New York’s vast, subterranean sewer system in recent days has the whole city wondering what exactly is going on.
In this image from a surveillance video provided by AKI AUTO CARE, three people descend into a sewer on a street in New York, on May 5, 2026. In this image from a surveillance video provided by AKI AUTO CARE, three people descend into a sewer on a street in New York, on May 5, 2026.
This undated photo provided by Steve Duncan shows the Tibbetts Brook sewer in the Bronx borough of New York. This undated photo provided by Steve Duncan shows the Tibbetts Brook sewer in the Bronx borough of New York. This 2008 image provided by Steve Duncan shows the Spring Street spring in Canal Street Sewer in New York.
This 2008 image provided by Steve Duncan shows the Spring Street spring in Canal Street Sewer in New York. In this image from a surveillance video provided by AKI AUTO CARE, one of three people descends into a sewer on a street in New York, on May 5, 2026.
In this image from a surveillance video provided by AKI AUTO CARE, one of three people descends into a sewer on a street in New York, on May 5, 2026. No, the most unpleasant part of descending into New York City’s vast sewer system, according to former urban explorer Steve Duncan, were the cockroaches.
“They’re all over the place, crawling on walls, dropping down on you,” Duncan recalled this week. “They were the worst. ” Duncan, 48, who now lives in Maryland, reflected on his years documenting the muck-filled tunnels running under New York afterThis undated photo provided by Steve Duncan, shows the Canal Street sewer in New York. Police say they’re still investigating the three incidents but don’t believe there’s any threat to the public.
Officials stress that it is both illegal and dangerous to enter the city’s Duncan believes the groups were likely explorers like him, traversing the large, 19th century sewer mains that run underneath parts of the city. These relatively cavernous spaces can exceed 6 feet in diameter — tall enough for most people to comfortably walk upright — and can feature handmade bricks and elegant arches, he said.
A number, including one near where one of the groups was spotted, trace the paths of naturally occurring waterways that once sustained New York, before industrialization fouled them and forced city builders to convert them to sewers, Duncan said.
“These old streams, they get put underground as cities grow up around them,” he explained. “It’s amazing how much this old natural environment is part of the city today. ” This 2008 image provided by Steve Duncan shows the Spring Street spring in Canal Street Sewer in New York. This 2008 image provided by Steve Duncan shows the Spring Street spring in Canal Street Sewer in New York.
The videos suggest that some of the groups spent up to three hours underground, a length of time that may seem unimaginable, but Duncan said passes quickly as sewer journeys require navigating slippery, humid environments and flowing water that could be a foot or deeper in places. Heavy rainfall days earlier would have mostly cleared the system, and venturing into the tunnels in the early morning hours would mean waste flow would be noticeably less than during peak daytime hours.
But invisible dangers lurk in these pathogen-rich environments, he said, recounting how he’d landed in the hospital with badly infected extremities on two separate occasions, which eventually pushed him to retire. Seasoned explorers will generally bring gas meters to check for dangerous levels of fumes, including potentially flammable hydrogen sulfide, which is produced by decomposition, Duncan said.
“If it’s a well-functioning sewer, it’s more like a barnyard, or compost pile smell,” he said. “But when it’s bad, it can smell like death. ”Some residents have worried the mysterious explorers captured on video were up to something nefarious. Many were dressed in waterproof hip waders and equipped with headlamps and what appeared to be shovels and other tools.
“Sewers can serve as entry or exit points to buildings, and we have all seen movies in which criminals escape jail through a sewer,” offered Magued Iskander, an engineering professor at New York University. “There must be a reason beyond mere thrill to enter a dirty place like a sewer. ”Three men were charged just last year with burglary and other counts after they went searching for gold, jewelry and other valuables in a Brooklyn sewer.
A decade earlier, police caught three others as theyIf anything, the viral videos underscore just how vulnerable some of the city’s vital infrastructure is, said David Sarni, a retired New York Police Department detective and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.
“Is this something that could be exploited by people who look to do harm? ” he said.
“You have to really take nothing for granted and always think, unfortunately, on that negative side. ” Duncan, who now works in real estate, said neither riches nor malice motivated him and many others of his generation of urban explorers. On his trips into underground passages in New York, London, Paris and elsewhere during the early 2000s, he rarely found anything of value, save for the odd credit card or tattered wallet.
“These are terrifying places that take a lot of planning and dedication to explore safety,” Duncan said. “You don’t do all of these things for the tiny chance of finding a diamond earring. ” “The real reason is to see something new, or experience the city in a different way,” he continued.
“That’s the real lure. ”Marcelo is a general assignment reporter in the NYC bureau. He previously wrote for AP Fact Check and before that was based in Boston, where he focused on race and immigration.
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