Dark Days

I found a copy of the documentary I had been looking for - "Dark Days".

It's about a group of people who were living down in the NYC subway tunnels, what the natives call the "Mole People".

I was working on a scene for Crow where our protagonist Denora and the mysterious Silas go down into the tunnels looking for a man they call "The Oracle" who lives down below the streets. I've been riding the subways since I was a child, though I have to admit I've never been into the tunnels (though I think I would, given the chance, just to see it for myself), so I needed some visuals to get the scene clear in my mind.

The documentary itself is very interesting - certainly worth watching. I was immediately struck by the use of DJ Shadow's music for the video - I forgot how much I loved DJ Shadow and had to go dig out my old CDs.

The mythos of the "Mole People" is a long running urban legend in New York - originally chalked up to being just a myth, like the alligators in the sewers. There were movies and stories written about deformed and mutated people living in little underground cities - the reality is much more depressing. Most of the people living down there are homeless - some with serious drug problems, some with unstable mental disorders. The idea that the subways are safer than the homeless shelters in NY sheds light on a problem that people in the city try to ignore. Yes, you see a lot less homeless on the streets and in the subways panhandling in the past several years, but that doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist.

The first real look into this world, revealing it to not only be real and not a myth but to be an actual societal problem happened when Jennifer Toth wrote a book in the mid-ninties called "The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City".

It's worth a read, if you're curious.

I found the documentary "Dark Days" HERE


The documentary follows a man named Marc Singer who moves down into the subway tunnels as a lifestyle choice and records his life and experiences with his "family" he finds down there. The film was released in early 2000 and by the end, AmTrak had issued them a 30 day eviction notice. I haven't found much else on the subject from recent years so I'm not sure how many people are still residing down there.

I love doing research, it's one of the most fun things about writing, especially urban fiction since I get to delve into the history and mystery of a place I know well, only to discover new things that surprise me.

Happy Watching!