Five major urban legends in New York

Alligators in the sewers, penny-killer, treasures of Liberty Island, kidnapper on Staten Island and the figure of Babe Ruth - these are the five main urban legends of New York, about which the publication writes Events.

Each city has its own fairy tales, folklore and legends. New York is no exception. In the old days, these stories were fictions or jokes, but over the years, more and more people began to believe in them (sometimes not unreasonably). To find out where is true and where is fiction, read about the five best urban legends of the Big Apple in this article.

Alligators in the sewer

The sewer system of New York is vast, it may even seem that it has no end and end. Therefore, many people assume that some secrets are hidden under the asphalt. For example, creepy alligators live there.

There are many versions of why people believe that alligators once got into the city's sewers and adapted to life underground, forming huge colonies. Perhaps an explanation can be found if we turn to history. So, in 1935, the New York Times published an article that an alligator was found in a sewer manhole on East 123rd Street in New York. It was assumed that when he was small, he was flushed down the toilet or thrown under the sewer grates.

However, this is just a theory, the author notes. After all, it has not been scientifically proven that alligators live in the city's sewer system, although there have been several real-life encounters with them in New York and beyond.

Killer penny

Legend has it: if you drop a penny from the top of the Empire State Building and a coin hits a pedestrian, he will die. They say that the speed that a penny will gain during a flight from a height of 381 meters will be enough for this.

«Well, this unfortunate pedestrian can rejoice - everyone who has studied physics knows that this is impossible. One gram (and this is how much a penny weighs) is not enough to gain the necessary speed or energy and kill someone, - the source writes. "And it doesn't matter from what height this coin will be thrown."

Treasures of Liberty Island

There is a legend that the Statue of Liberty is not the main asset of Liberty Island. Legend has it that in the XNUMXth century, Captain William Kidd, who led numerous expeditions, was accused, prosecuted, and hanged as a pirate.

However, the legend says, he managed to accumulate many valuable things during his travels. Among them is the Quedagh Merchant - an Armenian ship with innumerable riches inside. Rumor has it that when Kidd found out that he was wanted for piracy, he hid all his treasures near Liberty Island.

However, there is bad news for the treasure hunters: rumor has it that the dark spirits of the island have guarded those riches ever since.

Staten Island Killer Cropsy

Cropsey is the urban legend of Staten Island in New York City. According to rumors, at one time there was such a crazy killer who escaped from Willowbrook State School.

This is an instructive story for the children that their parents told them about Cropsey for their own safety, so that they would not walk at night and talk with strangers.

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However, in the 1970s, Cropsey came to life in the form of a real killer and a madman who really hunted children. As it later became known, the psycho was called Andre Rand. He once worked at Willowbrook. He was convicted of kidnapping, and was also suspected of killing numerous children on Staten Island. By the way, Rand has the right to parole in 2037, the newspaper writes.

Over the years, the legend continues to exist, forcing the desperate to visit the old Willowbrook territory to meet the ghosts there.

Babe Ruth figure

George Herman "Baby" Ruth Jr. was an American professional baseball player. His career in Major League Baseball lasted 22 seasons, from 1914 to 1935.

He achieved immense fame as a slugger outfielder in the Yankees.

Ruth is recognized as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture, and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time.

With it, the Yankees won seven World Series championships.

Rumor has it that the Yankees have chosen their pinstriped branding to make Ruth's relatively bulky and thick figure slimmer. But this is a fiction. “Ruth may have inspired the team in many ways, but not in terms of uniforms. In fact, he was only 17 years old when the Yankees began to wear pinstriped uniforms, ”the author concluded.