NYC manhole ‘mole people’ have plundered sewer for lost treasures for decades
In New York City, individuals known as 'mole people' have been exploring the sewer system for decades in search of lost treasures. Recent incidents in Brooklyn saw groups emerging from manholes, highlighting the ongoing allure of scavenging in the city's extensive underground network. Despite the risks and potential legal consequences, these urban explorers continue to be drawn to the depths in hopes of finding valuable items.
- ▪The NYC sewer system spans approximately 7,500 miles, attracting scavengers seeking lost valuables.
- ▪Recent footage captured groups of people emerging from manholes in Brooklyn, indicating ongoing scavenging activities.
- ▪Past incidents have led to arrests, but the allure of treasure hunting in the sewers remains strong among adventurous individuals.
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| Original publisher | New York Post |
| Canonical URL | https://nypost.com/2026/06/01/us-news/nyc-manhole-mole-people-have-plundered-sewer-for-lost-treasures-for-decades/ |
| Publication time | Mon, 01 Jun 2026 17:57:51 -0400 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-06-01T22:21:05.664Z |
| Last seen | 2026-06-01T22:22:56.355Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | IwE34aT9g58b |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Metro NYC manhole ‘mole people’ have plundered sewer for lost treasures for decades By Chris Nesi and Alex Oliveira Published June 1, 2026, 5:57 p.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google Treasures abound beneath city streets for anyone brave or crazy enough to explore the murky depths of the Big Apple’s sprawling 7,500-mile sewer system — all in search of a wayward wallet or piece of jewelry that may have fallen through a grate above. Those temptations were put on full display last week by two separate incidents caught on camera Friday night, where troops of people were seen emerging from manhole covers across Brooklyn after sneaking around the steamy depths in what police said were likely scavenging operations.
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