A few hours before dawn on a recent Wednesday, a figure in black chest waders clambered out of a maintenance hole in midtown Manhattan and slowly walked away.Moments later, a second person in waders and a headlamp emerged from the same sidewalk sewer, on Seventh Avenue, across from Pennsylvania Station. Then a third person popped out, sat down and straddled the open maintenance hole to pull its heavy cover back in place.Footage of the scene from August 18th was shared widely on social media and spawned rumours of an underground society as well as a debate about which cartoon characters the urban explorers resembled most: the Minions from the Despicable Me movies or the Mario Brothers of video game fame.This was the fourth reported episode since May in which people have been recorded venturing in and out of maintenance holes in the city’s vast sewer system, according to witnesses and city officials. (At around 1am on Thursday, a fifth group was captured on video entering a maintenance hole in Wantagh on Long Island, according to a spokesperson for the Nassau County Police Department.)🚨🇺🇸 Meanwhile down in the New York Sewer System at 4amThese mysterious Men have been captured on camera before escaping the Sewers in the early hours, looking professional, well equipped & up to nefarious purposes.Look how suspicious they look - Question is what are they… pic.twitter.com/otX6UHtxk6— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) August 23, 2026