'Mole person' lived in 'freedom tunnel' with electricity and internet underneath New York City
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Erik K Swanson
A man in New York lived as a 'mole person' inside a tunnel underneath the city.
The Big Apple has historically faced a crisis of homelessness, with figures from non-profit organization The Bowery Mission claiming that nearly one in 83 New Yorkers is homeless.
This figure will include people who are reliant on shelters, the 'invisible homeless' who are sleeping on friends' sofas or in cars, and those who are sleeping rough.
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And in 1980 one group of people who were sleeping on the streets of New York found shelter in the Riverside Tunnel, also called the Freedom Tunnel.
The area got the nickname from the shanty towns that sprung up there sheltered away from the elements.
It was even the subject of two books, one by journalist Jennifer Toth and another by anthropologist Teun Voeten, who lived with the community for several months.
After being a haven for people seeking shelter for some 11 years in 1991 Amtrak began to clear the tunnel out.
This meant that people living in the tunnel, which goes under the west side highway to Riverside Park, were forced to move on.
But in 2007 YouTuber Erik K Swanson found that there were once again people taking shelter in there.
This even reportedly included people setting up electricity and appliances.
One video, posted in 2022, documented him meeting Carlos, a 48-year-old refugee who had migrated from Cuba 27 years earlier.
Carlos claimed that he had been living in the tunnel for two years, with the video showing that he had heat and electricity.
But in 2012 Carlos was forced to move out as Amtrak again tried to clear the tunnel.
He said: “They cleaned out much of the garbage, and removed the people who were living in the tunnel.”
Swanson confirmed that another man, Walter, had died the same year Amtrak began clearing the tunnels.
He wrote: “On a recent visit to the tunnel I stopped by his old place.
“There has not been a ladder there for many years, but some of his old belongings can still be seen on the landing.”
He noted that if there are still people living underground then they're ‘extremely well hidden’.
Taking to the comment section on social media many people online were saying the same thing about Carlos.
“In a post-apocalyptic world scenario, Carlos seems like a pretty resourceful and useful guy to have around,” one viewer wrote.
Another typed: “I’m sad for Carlos. He is so resilient and was happy. The authorities should have left him alone. We could learn a thing or two from Carlos.”
While a third commented: “People like Carlos are the ones who will survive the apocalypse. He’s a pretty smart guy and I hope he’s doing better.”