Sewer Alligators: Fact or Fiction

Sewer Alligators: Fact or Fiction?

Ever imagine what it would feel if one of our darkest fears comes true. There are stories that are told around the world to scare us. It is up to each and every person who will hear it, if they would believe it or not. A story that is told throughout the years with different variations depending on the teller is classified as an urban legend. Different variations can be caused by tellers changed the plot of the legend to a local setting, the teller may say the legend wrong because they forgot the story, or the teller may change something like the model of a car. With so many variations, it’s very hard to tell if any of it is true and where the story originated. Urban legends exist around the world. The ways urban legends are told reflect people’s fears. There is a particular urban legend which states that there are alligators in the sewers. Sewer Alligators, this particular urban legend is pretty famous, but can this be real? What caused this story to obtain such widespread belief?   How did it circulate? Are there any proof that this is could be true? What determines the validity or fallacy of this particular urban legend?

Sewer alligator stories are part of an urban legend that date back to the late 1920s and early 1930s. They are based upon reports of alligator sightings in rather unorthodox locations, in particular New York City. Believe it or not there is a grain of truth behind this legend. In February 1935 a large alligator was reported by the New York Times as being discovered in a New York City sewer. According to the story, several teenage boys were disposing of snow into a manhole when they spotted an alligator, allegedly 7 feet long, that had gotten stuck in icy water. The male youths then dragged the trapped reptile to the surface. After the alligator snapped at one of them, the teenagers beat it to death with their snow shovels. The report suggested that the alligator had escaped from a ship traveling from the...