Mole People
Encyclopedia
Mole people is a term used to refer to the homeless
people living under large cities in abandoned subway
tunnels and shafts.
s, numbering up to hundreds living underground year-round. It has also been suggested that they have developed their own cultural traits and even have electricity by illegal hook-up. The subject has attracted some attention from sociologists but is a highly controversial subject due to a lack of evidence.
Jennifer Toth
's 1993 book The Mole People: Life In The Tunnels Beneath New York City, written while she was an intern at the Los Angeles Times
, is allegedly a true account of travels in the tunnels and interviews with tunnel dwellers. The book helped canonize the image of the mole people as an ordered society living literally under people's feet, reminiscent of the Morlock
s of science fiction writer H.G. Wells.
The book has met with criticism, primarily for the inaccuracy of geographical information, compounded by numerous factual errors and an apparent reliance on largely unverifiable claims. The strongest criticism came from Joseph Brennan, a New York subway enthusiast who declared that "Every fact in this book that I can verify independently is wrong."
A widely-read reference to urban legends, Cecil Adams
's The Straight Dope, devoted two columns to the dispute. The first, published on January 9, 2004 after contact with Toth, noted the large amount of unverifiability in Toth's stories while declaring that the book's accounts seemed to be truthful. The second, published on March 9, 2004 after contact with Brennan, was more skeptical of Toth's truthfulness.
, numerous homeless people find shelter in the storm drains underneath the city, for protection from extreme temperatures that exceed 115 degrees Fahrenheit while dropping below 30 degrees Fahrenheit in winter. Most of the inhabitants are turned away from the limited charities in Las Vegas and find shelter in the industrial infrastructure of the Las Vegas Strip, similar to most cities. The Las Vegas Channel 8 News sent their Eyewitness News I-Team with Matt O'Brien, the local author who spent nearly five years exploring beneath the neon to write the book, "Beneath the Neon". Mark Sayre, Investigative Reporter, I-Team: 'Beneath the Neon' -- Underground Las Vegas. Las Vegas resides in Clark County and the Clark County Regional Flood Control District stated the valley has about 450 miles of flood control channels and tunnels, and about 300 miles of those are underground.
A September 24, 2009 article in the British paper The Sun interviewed some of the inhabitants and included photographs.
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
people living under large cities in abandoned subway
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
tunnels and shafts.
Urban folklore
While it is generally accepted that some homeless people in large cities do indeed make use of accessible, abandoned underground structures for shelter, urban legends persist that make stronger assertions. These include claims that 'mole people' have formed small, ordered societies similar to tribeTribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s, numbering up to hundreds living underground year-round. It has also been suggested that they have developed their own cultural traits and even have electricity by illegal hook-up. The subject has attracted some attention from sociologists but is a highly controversial subject due to a lack of evidence.
Jennifer Toth
Jennifer Toth
-Biography:Born in 1967 in London, she studied history, political science and philosophy in London, New York and St. Louis. After a 1987-8 internship at Gateway Heritage , the periodical of the Missouri Historical Society, she graduated with a MA in journalism from Columbia University...
's 1993 book The Mole People: Life In The Tunnels Beneath New York City, written while she was an intern at the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, is allegedly a true account of travels in the tunnels and interviews with tunnel dwellers. The book helped canonize the image of the mole people as an ordered society living literally under people's feet, reminiscent of the Morlock
Morlock
Morlocks are a fictional species created by H. G. Wells for his 1895 novel, The Time Machine. They dwell underground in the English countryside of 802,701 AD in a troglodyte civilization, maintaining ancient machines that they may or may not remember how to build...
s of science fiction writer H.G. Wells.
The book has met with criticism, primarily for the inaccuracy of geographical information, compounded by numerous factual errors and an apparent reliance on largely unverifiable claims. The strongest criticism came from Joseph Brennan, a New York subway enthusiast who declared that "Every fact in this book that I can verify independently is wrong."
A widely-read reference to urban legends, Cecil Adams
Cecil Adams
Cecil Adams is a name, possibly a pseudonym, designating the American author of The Straight Dope, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader since 1973. Ed Zotti is Adams' current editor....
's The Straight Dope, devoted two columns to the dispute. The first, published on January 9, 2004 after contact with Toth, noted the large amount of unverifiability in Toth's stories while declaring that the book's accounts seemed to be truthful. The second, published on March 9, 2004 after contact with Brennan, was more skeptical of Toth's truthfulness.
Cities
Media accounts have reported "mole people" living underneath other cities as well. In Las VegasLas Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, numerous homeless people find shelter in the storm drains underneath the city, for protection from extreme temperatures that exceed 115 degrees Fahrenheit while dropping below 30 degrees Fahrenheit in winter. Most of the inhabitants are turned away from the limited charities in Las Vegas and find shelter in the industrial infrastructure of the Las Vegas Strip, similar to most cities. The Las Vegas Channel 8 News sent their Eyewitness News I-Team with Matt O'Brien, the local author who spent nearly five years exploring beneath the neon to write the book, "Beneath the Neon". Mark Sayre, Investigative Reporter, I-Team: 'Beneath the Neon' -- Underground Las Vegas. Las Vegas resides in Clark County and the Clark County Regional Flood Control District stated the valley has about 450 miles of flood control channels and tunnels, and about 300 miles of those are underground.
A September 24, 2009 article in the British paper The Sun interviewed some of the inhabitants and included photographs.
Media portrayals
- The 1962 French science fiction film La jetéeLa JetéeLa jetée is a 1962 French science fiction film by Chris Marker. It is also known in English as The Jetty or The Pier. Constructed almost entirely from still photos, it tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel. The film runs for 28 minutes and is in black and white...
is set in a post apocalyptic world where survivors live underground ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the galleries of the Palais de Chaillot. An underground community of survivors is also seen in Terry GilliamTerry GilliamTerrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
's adaptation of the film, Twelve MonkeysTwelve Monkeys12 Monkeys is a 1995 science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 short film La jetée, and starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer....
. - In the 1996 film Extreme MeasuresExtreme MeasuresExtreme Measures is a 1996 thriller film based on Michael Palmer's 1991 novel of the same name, about the ethics of how far we are willing to go, and how much we are willing to sacrifice, in order to cure the world's ills.-Cast:...
a community of mole people is preyed upon for use in medical experiments. - The 1999 novel DownsidersDownsidersDownsiders is an award-winning 1999 novel by Neal Shusterman.-Plot summary:The Downsiders which is located underneath New York City, is a secret community of over 5,000 people that are never allowed to travel to the Topside...
features an entire city of people below New York - In the TV Show Bones: Season 1, Ep. 16 - The Woman in the TunnelBones (season 1)The first season of the American television series Bones premiered on September 13, 2005 and concluded on May 17, 2006 on the Fox Network. The show aired on Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET before moving to Wednesdays at 8:00 pm ET in 2006...
, a dead body of a woman doing a documentary on mole people was found in the tunnel. - The Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
character Mole ManMole ManThe Mole Man is a comic book supervillain that exists in Marvel Comics' main shared universe. He first appeared in Fantastic Four #1, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.-Fictional character biography:...
is the ruler of a race of mole men called the Moloids and the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series X-MenX-MenThe X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
has featured a society of superhuman mutantsMutant (Marvel Comics)In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
, known as MorlocksMorlocks (comics)The Morlocks are a group of several fictional comic book mutants associated with the X-Men in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Paul Smith, they were named after the subterranean race of the same name in H. G. Wells' novel The Time Machine. They first appeared...
after the H. G. WellsH. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
characters, who live in the tunnels below New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. - The 1994 short documentary film by Steven DuplerSteven DuplerSteven Dupler is a U.S.-based writer, producer and director with extensive and pioneering experience in high definition television . An early member of REBO HD Studio, which in 1986 became the first High Definition production company in North America, he has created, produced or directed more than...
, Outside Society, went underground in New York to cover the homeless community living in the Amtrak tunnel, as well as the NYC subway system. It was awarded the Nombre D'Or Prize for Best Documentary in 1995 by the International Broadcasting Conference's Widescreen Film Festival in MontreuxMontreuxMontreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
, and also received the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
' UNESCO Prize for Best Direction, Human Rights Programming, at the 1995 International Electronic Cinema Festival in AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. - The 1987-1989 television series Beauty and the Beast featured Vincent, a lionLionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
-like man who lived among a group of the homeless in the tunnels of New York Below. - The film SubwaySubway (film)Subway is a 1985 French film directed by Luc Besson, starring Isabelle Adjani and Christopher Lambert and is part of the Cinema du look movement.-Plot:...
(1985) featured mole people. - The 2006 film UrchinUrchin (film)Urchin is a 2007 film about a homeless boy living in a New York City underground mole people community called Scum-City.-Plot:This is the story of a child who lives in Scum City. When the Old Man came to Scum City, a homeless camp in the Manhattan tunnels, his story seemed wild...
features a society of mole people who call their home "Scum City". - Neil GaimanNeil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's novel NeverwhereNeverwhereNeverwhere is an urban fantasy television series by Neil Gaiman that first aired in 1996 on BBC Two. The series is set in "London Below", a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar London, referred to as "London Above". It was devised by Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry, and directed by Dewi...
depicts highly fictionalized dwellers in their world of London Below, who are literally invisible to those who dwell aboveground. - Douglas PrestonDouglas PrestonDouglas Preston is an American author who has written seventeen popular techno-thriller and horror novels, four alone and the rest with Lincoln Child...
and Lincoln ChildLincoln ChildLincoln Child is an author of seventeen techno-thriller and horror novels. He often writes with Douglas Preston. Many of their novels have become bestsellers, and one, Relic, was adapted into a feature film...
's sci-fi/horror novel ReliquaryReliquary (novel)Reliquary is the 1997 New York Times best-selling sequel to Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The legacy of the blood-maddened Mbwun lives on in "Reliquary", but the focus is shifted from the original museum setting to the tunnels beneath the streets of New York City.-Plot summary:The...
deals with mole people living in numerous communities in the subway tunnels, sewers and service tunnels beneath ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. - The 1984 horror film C.H.U.D.C.H.U.D.C.H.U.D. is a 1984 American horror film produced by Andrew Bonime, and directed by Douglas Cheek with Peter Stein as the director of photography and William Bilowit as production designer. The cast includes Daniel Stern and John Heard. It was followed in 1989 by C.H.U.D. II: Bud the...
portrays mole people as mutated cannibalistic humanoids that come up from the sewers and prey upon the citizens of New York. - The 1981 John CarpenterJohn CarpenterJohn Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
classic Escape From New YorkEscape from New YorkEscape from New York is a 1981 American science fiction action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. He co-wrote the screenplay with Nick Castle. The film is set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security...
features "Crazies" - underground dwelling cannibals. - Mervyn PeakeMervyn PeakeMervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
's 1959 novel Titus AloneTitus AloneTitus Alone is a novel written by Mervyn Peake and first published in 1959. It is the fourth work in the Gormenghast series. The other works in the series are Titus Groan, Gormenghast, the novella Boy in Darkness, and the fragment Titus Awakes.-Plot summary:The story follows Titus' journey in the...
of the GormenghastGormenghast (series)The Gormenghast series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake, featuring Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.-Works in the series:...
series features a poor, displaced, underground society who live in an area known as the "Under River". - The animated television series FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
has a race of mutants living in the sewers of New New York. - The Troglodytes in the French black comedy DelicatessenDelicatessen (film)Delicatessen is a 1991 French black comedy film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard. It is set in an apartment building in a post-apocalyptic France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the building and their desperate...
are a group of vegetarian rebels who live in the sewers. - A community of people living underground in New York City is featured in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
- In the James PattersonJames PattersonJames B. Patterson is an American author of thriller novels, largely known for his series about American psychologist Alex Cross...
novel Maximum Ride: The Angel ExperimentMaximum Ride: The Angel ExperimentMaximum Ride: The Angel Experiment is the first book in the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. The book was released in the US on April 11, 2005 and in the UK on July 4, 2005. The book is set in the near future and centers around the 'flock', a group of human-avian hybrids on the run from the...
, the Flock (a group of genetically altered children) take refuge in an abandoned subway tunnel in New York City, meeting up with a young mole person and observing other mole people living there as well. - In the 1993 film Demolition ManDemolition Man (film)Demolition Man is a 1993 American, science fiction action film directed by Marco Brambilla, and starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, and Denis Leary co-star....
Denis Leary's character, Edgar Friendly, is the leader of the homeless “Scrap” people who live in the underground “Wasteland,” or the ruins of old Los Angeles. - The show Upright Citizens BrigadeUpright Citizens BrigadeThe Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational comedy and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The most recent incarnation consists of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh...
features a Moleman character in one episode, who leaves his girlfriend with only his clothes to remember him by. This causes a stranger to ask the woman if she is wearing "Moleman perfume." - The Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesThe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
, as well as their sensei Splinter and one of their primary villains, The Rat KingRat KingThe Rat King is a fictional character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles multimedia franchise. The character was created by Jim Lawson and first appeared in the comic Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 written by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird and has made various appearances since, in...
, live permanently in the New York sewer system. - The 2001 novel The Manhattan Hunt Club by John SaulJohn SaulJohn Saul is an American author of suspense and horror novels. Most of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List.-Biography:...
is about a secretive gentlemen's club in New York that turns hunting of humans into a sport in the tunnels under New York City.
See also
- Voices in the Tunnels (documentary)Voices in the Tunnels (documentary)Voices in the Tunnels is a 2008 documentary directed by Vic David, a New York filmmaker and a graduate from New York University...
- Dark Days (documentary)Dark Days (documentary)Dark Days is a documentary made by Marc Singer, a British filmmaker. The film follows a group of people living in an abandoned section of the New York City underground railway system, more precisely the area of the so called Freedom Tunnel.-Background:...
- Underground livingUnderground livingUnderground living refers simply to living below the ground's surface, whether in naturally occurring caves or in built structures.Underground homes are an attractive alternative to traditionally built homes for some house seekers, especially those who are looking to minimize their home's negative...
- New York City SubwayNew York City SubwayThe New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
- Freedom TunnelFreedom TunnelThe Freedom Tunnel is the name given to the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City. It got its name because the graffiti artist Chris "Freedom" Pape used the tunnel walls to create some of his most notable artwork...
- Avinguda de la LlumAvinguda de la LlumAvinguda de la Llum is a now closed underground mall in Barcelona, the first one of its kind to open in Europe, open between 1940 and 1990, on a 2000 square-metre site built in 1929 and boasting 68 commercial establishments, including a movie theater...
- Sewer alligatorSewer alligatorSewer alligator stories date back to the late 1920s and early 1930s, in most instances they are part of contemporary legend. They are based upon reports of alligator sightings in rather unorthodox locations, in particular New York City.-Legend:...
External links
- NYU Portfolio Review: The Mole People - Jennifer Toth, The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City - Chicago Review Press, 1993.
- Straight Dope article: Are there really "Mole People" living under the streets of New York City?
- Straight Dope article: The Mole People revisited
- Joseph Brennan - Fantasy in The Mole People
- Teun Voeten - Tunnel People