Seven men climbing out of a New York City sewer sounds like the setup of a bad joke.
Authorities, however, aren’t laughing.
A viral video swept the internet this week, courtesy of The Flatbush Scoop, showcasing that exact setup:
🚨 SHOCKING FOOTAGE – BREAKING STORY IN FLATBUSH: A bizarre and developing situation is unfolding on McDonald Avenue between Kings Highway and Avenue S, near Kosher Corner Supermarket.
Video shows approximately six individuals emerging from a manhole at around 2:00 a.m. after… pic.twitter.com/afm3L7Vfe8
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) May 29, 2026
“A bizarre and developing situation is unfolding on McDonald Avenue between Kings Highway and Avenue S, near Kosher Corner Supermarket,” the viral post, sitting at over a million views, read.
“Video shows approximately six individuals emerging from a manhole at around 2:00 a.m. after reportedly spending nearly two hours underground — with the cover closed and a person standing watch nearby.”
Indeed, the video did appear to show just that — though it appears that there were seven individuals, not six, to ultimately emerge from the sewer.
Initially, the video showed what appeared to be that aforementioned spotter wearing a white shirt, standing by a trio of vehicles. He then walked over to the manhole in question and appeared to give some sort of signal.
At that point, seven individuals all crawl out of the sewers, with the first one physically moving the manhole cover near the cars.
Even more bizarre, several of the men then immediately began to strip down, and the video cut out shortly thereafter.
For obvious reasons, the internet had a field day with this.
Those boys are doing some Oceans 11 type things down there.
— B (@mrbluemellow) May 29, 2026
— LH (@LH78__) May 29, 2026
(For the unaware, that second post is a reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a fictitious group of anthropomorphized turtles who live in the New York City sewers.)
But for as much fun as the internet was having, according to the New York Post, local authorities were treating this much more seriously.
The outlet reported that the New York Police Department formally launched an investigation into the bizarre, viral video.
That investigation apparently involved sending one of their own men down the sewer, though nothing concrete appears to have materialized from that venture.
No arrests have been made.
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