10 Terrifying Monsters That (We Hope!) Don't Exist

7. Sewer Alligators

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phMYzIBTMSs A highly specialized breed of alligator or crocodile, sometimes described as being very large, mostly colourless and functionally blind, sewer alligators are legitimately feared by a surprising number of Americans. Stories of these large predators infesting city sewers began in the 1930€™s (although, like most folk tales, nobody can be quite sure as to exactly when). The story usually goes that wealthy tourists from New York would buy baby alligators for their children (in their defence, baby alligators are super-cute) and then flush the poor creatures down the toilet (or dump them into drains) once they got too big for comfort. The animals then formed small breeding colonies beneath the city streets and went about their business in the man-made tunnels in much the same way they would anywhere else. A 1959 book by Robert Daley details an account given by New York€™s Commissioner of Sewers, Teddy May. According to May€™s testimony, sewer workers first encountered alligators in the mid 1930s, but their claims went unheeded. Eventually, May saw the creatures for himself and attempted to mount an extermination campaign. He even put down poisoned meat, but no bodies were ever discovered... Since that time, the stories have only increased with each re-telling. Sounds mad, doesn€™t it? Well, yes it does. Until you consider that alligators DO actually turn up in Florida sewers from time to time. In 2006, a 7ft €˜Gator was removed from a sewer pipe on Ormond Beach, Florida. The trapper who removed it, a Mr. Curtis Lucas, appeared to be somewhat less than surprised, telling local news station WFTV €œthey use it to travel in and around the city (...) Instead of going over land or through creeks that we've dammed up and stuff, they just go through the sewer system.€ Alligators may not be prowling the sewers of New York (although the stories persist), but elsewhere in America, it is a definite (not to mention scary) possibility.