Sewers are always below you - whether you live in a small town or a city, youre never
too far from one.
Its great that they exist - carrying away all our waste - but we don't often like to
think about them.
Maybe this will make you think about them more though as we take a look at some really
weird sewer finds from all over the world.
My name is Danny Burke and this is the Top 10 Strange Sewer Discoveries.
Starting off at number 10 we have the Fatberg.
I hope youre not eating for this one.
In September 2017, a mass of congealed fat was found in a London sewer so big that it
was refered to simply as a Fatberg.
It weighed the same as 11 double decker buses and stretched the length of 2 football pitches.
It was found during a blockage investigation of Londons old sewer network.
It was made up of fat, baby wipes and nappies.
Officials say that if they had found it any later, it would have risked raw sewage flooding
into the streets of East London.
It took a team of workmen 3 weeks to break it apart.
The head of the waste network described it as -A total monster- … its hard a life being
a fatberg.
Next up at number 9 we have Big Teeth.
In 2016, Florida resident Louis Comacho went outside his home to collect his post.
At that point, he felt a strong vibration under the ground.
He realised it was coming from the sewer drain in the road - he grabbed his camera - and
this is what he saw.
FULL CLIP.
Did you hear that hiss?
I would be pretty scared.
Animal control was called to remove the alligator as it was in an area with children and pets.
Mr Comacho said he wasnt that scared - he was more scared of the 300 pound bear that
appeared behind his house the week before.
This story is definitely from Florida.
At number 8 now we have Half A Mini.
If you don't know what a mini is - its this - an iconic little British car.
You can expect to see them on roads all over the world but one place you might not is a
sewer - especially just half of one.
Thats exactly what happened though in 2014.
The Thames Water company pulled half a mini from a London Sewer while investigating sewer
blockages.
Simply finding a car in a sewer raises a lot of questions - finding half a car raises even
more …
Moving on to number 7 now we have Placenta.
This is a strange story coming from Chicago in 2009 where sewer workers found a placenta
- the organ that provides unborn babies with oxygen and nutrients during a pregnancy.
The police called in Julie Pryde, head of the Public Health District who said it was
one of the weirdest calls shed ever received.
Officials suspect it was dumped into the sewer by a midwife or veterinarian trying to avoid
paying for a proper medical waste disposal service.
An investigation did find human DNA but it needed further testing because the sewage
system is so full of human DNA anyway.
Next up at number 6 we have Dinosaur Fossils.
In August 2010, workers digging in a sewer tunnel found some strange looking bones in
the dirt.
The foreman called police in to rule out the possibility they had unearthed human remains.
What they really were turned out to be extraordinary.
The remains were parts of a large limb bone from a dinosaur known as Edmontosaurus and
a tooth from an Albertosaurus.
I had to google they were actually real dinosaurs because these Edmontosaurus and Albertosaurus
were found in Edmonton in the province of Albertosaurus - but yeah, they are totally
real - sorry for doubting it.
Moving on to number 5 now we have the Grenade.
Rob Smith is an Engineer from the UK who is in charge of a sewer maintenance.
In an interview with the BBC about some of his strangest sewer finds, he once said he
found a hand grenade at 2 in the morning.
He took it to the surface and put it on the ground with a marker next to it.
He then called the police and got back on with his work in the sewer.
A few hours later, the police contacted him - Rob asked if the grenade was live - they
said -you don't want to know- … I think that answered his question.
Next up at number 4 we have Seweed.
This is a bizzare story coming from Washington USA.
Sewer authorities stumbled across a small forest of Marijuana plants in a sewer.
They concluded they must have come from seeds that were flushed down a toilet and had managed
to take root - absorbing the nutrients that passed by them.
They harvest the plants and took them to be destroyed.
Before doing so though, the police weighed them - their street value came in at over
1,400 dollars.
Next up at number 3 we have The Baby.
This is a sad story coming from Sydney in 14.
Some cyclists passing a roadside drain heart cries and when they went to investigate - they
found a week old baby.
The baby boy was rushed to hospital where he remained in a serious but stable condition.
It appears the baby survived for a few days purely on fat reserves.
He was wrapped in a hospital blanket which police used to track down the mother.
She was deemed to have mental conditions and given one year and 9 months in prison for
attempted murder.
Moving on to number 2 we have the Wedding Ring.
In 1988, Larry Matti was a patient at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota.
Somehow, his wedding ring slipped off - he and his wife Linda tried looking for it everywhere
but failed to find it.
A few months later, plumber Dale Grobe found it while he was unplugging the hospitals sewer
main.
He put it in the hospitals lost and found section but it remained there unclaimed for
6 months.
After that, Dale decided to take it home and give it to his wife.
She wore it for 25 years and then, in 2015, she was at a party when they met a man whose
parents had the same names as those inscribed on the ring.
They quickly realised he was Larry and Lindas son and returned the ring to them.
This could have been the plot to Lord of The Rings if it was a PG 90s sitcom.
And finally at number 1 we have Luxury Watches.
In February 2012, a street cleaner found a gold Rolex watch in an English drain worth
21,000 pounds - thats just under 30,000 US dollars.
The honest guy handed it in at the nearest police station but it had not been registered
lost or stolen.
If it had not been claimed, he would have been allowed to keep it - however, the owner
did eventually come forward to claim it.
He said it had been stolen during a burglary and was originally a gift from his wife who
had since passed away.
The owner, who did not want to be named, thanked the street cleaner and gave him a reward for
his integrity and honesty.
What do you guys think most people would have done it that situation?
I like to think we all would have done the same - am I being naive?
Let me know.
And of course let me know all of your thoughts on these stories - have you ever found anything
strange in a drain or sewer?
Please don't go searching for things in sewers now guys, they generally arent the best places
to be - Im sure you already know that though.
Thanks for watching as always, my name is Danny Burke and Ill see you all in the next
video.