Mole People

um...what are Mole People?

AJ

and I had to write this as well, I thought it read "Mole POLE"...which immediately let me to think it was some sort of Stripper pole or something.

ANYWAYS...so what are Mole People? (sorry, too much coffee today!)

@AJ "Mole People" is what the homeless living in the subway system are called by the rest of us. And @JenMac they do come out - all the time. It'd be pretty hard to survive otherwise. Recently watched Dark Days, a documentary film on the subject - I really recommend it, especially since you are obviously interested.

There's another movie - In Search of the Mole People - but I've never actually seen it. Can anyone vouch for it?

Is the movie "In Search of the Mole People" a monster movie of the '40s. '50s, or '60s, or is that a recent documentary?

@JenMac didn't know they were called Mole people just refer to them as panhandlers/homeless. In another post on this forum we have actually discussed the ways and means they use to ride the subway system.

Uptowngirl: the Mole people are different from just the run of the mill homeless. They have a live-in society within the underground. . . i.e. they live in the subways and have their own set of rules and what have you. I remember hearing about them when I was growing up; that they never came out except for food. And, that they are really violent. . . and, that their "city" smells like chlorine and death. I know there's a new book out on them, too. . I was just wondering if anyone had had an encounter with them in approximation to their lair.

Wow, I've never heard of these people and it all sounds scary and awful.

I know! But kinda exciting and cool too . . .

@JenMac wow didnt realize NYC had another underground , secret life but remember seeing a piece about people who lived in sewers under Las Vegas. I guess they would qualify as Mole People as well?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2651937/The-people-living-in-drains-below-Las-Vegas.html

Here's some good reading for you on the subject, when it was first brought up in relation to Jennifer Toth's book, "Mole People."

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2488/are-there-really-mole-people-living-under-the-streets-of-new-york-city

And here it is again, but with a more critical eye toward Toth's claims about these Mole People:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2498/em-the-mole-people-em-revisited

It looks like a lot of that book and its more interesting claims are more the product of this writer's over-active imagination. I know there seems to be a baroque glamor in thinking this could be possible, but the whole story is near to implausible. I think the everyday lot of a handful of squatters and misfits who she hung out with and who inspired these fantasies, is probably a lot more banal and a lot more disgusting than any of us want to imagine. No romance here, sorry.

You can see the first ten minutes of the documentary "Dark Days" here:

http://www.stationstops.com/2008/02/08/underneath-it-all-exploring-subterranean-new-york-city-and-its-mole-people-with-video/

Should give an idea of the rest of the film. Like I said, dirty and in a strange way, banal. I would say this is just routine homelessness. Nothing about the first ten minutes suggests a huge, organized underground society. I'm more skeptical than before.

I always thought it was an urban legend - but now I'm curious to learn more. I'll click that link, @DBlack.

I'm so sad if they aren't real. Now what? Are vampires fake too? Those articles kinda ruined christmas.

@DBlack What's freaky about that film is how it's shot with a view to creating a romantic noir atmosphere, yet what you're watching is a guy brushing his teeth without water.

@DBlack More than routine homelessness, though - these people have what passes as a community in the train tracks. They are each other's neighbors, and have strange sad dramas between each other. I really recommend watching the entire documentary, though you are right - these are under educated homeless people rather than a sprawling underground commune. Definitely not organized and surely not romantic, but it's a weird sort of community.

Anyway, at the end of Dark Days all of these people are basically evicted from their "homes," but hooked up with some kind of sweet government housing deals....

You're kidding. How did they get sweet government housing deals? I'd like a sweet government housing deal...

@Uraniumfish Don't remember exactly, but some kind of charity or social program was working on behalf of the mole people to arrange the sweet deal. Pretty sure they all had to move out of the city to their new homes, though.