Wow, what a powerhouse video and channel! This is like the opposite of clickbait: you start with a simple question and, sticking to facts, you go to a place that’s truly fascinating. Excellent work so far!
I live In Las Vegas where vast communities live underground. I would estimate a few thousand people live in tunnels right next to and underneath multi billion dollar skyscrapers
Most of those skyscrapers are empty too. I've been inside a few for work and they're unsettling. One of them had concrete hallways that were extremely humid and poorly lit. It was very strange and honestly gave me the creeps
This video right here. Take notes, people! It's not overly artsy, accusatory, and doesn't reak of insecurity. It's a detailed, factual, and overall well made piece discussing an old book.
Just discovered your channel and became an instant subscriber after seeing your intro and content presentation. There’s a unique vibe with your videos (positive, informative, whimsical yet serious) and the way you present them. Plus, you’re singlehandedly restoring the good name of Durian-a daunting task which many would have considered outright impossible. I agree, too, with the comment about not changing too much. You clearly have a vision for your channel that’s unlike what “everybody else” is doing,. Just a matter of time before the subscriber count skyrockets.
I'm very much enjoying all of your videos so far. My only complaint is gotta equalize the audio better! The volume from the Chili Town outro to this intro was a bigger jump scare than the horror clips lol
Awesome video! For those curious about the project mentioned at 42:45 was very likely part of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, a proposed highway that was meant to connect the Holland Tunnel in the west with the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges in the east.
Although very indicative of a new channel, you have serious potential and your videos are really interesting and informative. I'm glad to have found your channel and I hope to see you grow!
I can already tell this channel is gonna blow up like Wendigoon did and I’m glad I’m here early like I was there. Always awesome to see these new channels grow and improve!
@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895 I subbed to Wendi when he uploaded his Lighthouse video followed by his random stairs in the woods video. Those were practically his first non-Bible reading videos on his channel like 4 years ago
I did data analysis for the corrections industry for almost a decade. Almost all of the decline in crime credited to increased policing seems to be corralative, not causitive. Most of the stuff with causal evidence is environmental changes, systemic policy overhauls, and access to QOL materials, as tech rapidly decreased in price. Basically, once there are enough police around, that the average person sees them, somewhere, regularly, they basically max out their effect on deterring crime. Just like strict sentencing, as a deterent, caps out once the sentence take your liberty for long enough to really damage your life. Thus the death penalty doesn't work as a deterrent. Also I really suggest you look into the Houston method more closely. There is a lot of twisting of stats, and really shady policies, that are included to get those numbers down, that much. Not to say this hasn't worked at all, but there is a lot of stuff that went into it that reveals it to not be just as they say. Also that non-policy effects of the economy had, that aren't really repoducible elsewhere, and aren't going to last forever there, aren't really considered when reporting/politicking on the subject. Also, have you seen the documentary Dark Days, and its follow-up? If not, I highly, highly, suggest it.
Good points. Economics is very much a part of crime. A bad economy creates crime. People disenfranchised are left with no other choice. It’s shady the dances that get made around that subject.
I wouldn't really say that about misogynoir. It's a very apt term for something that is incredibly important, and describes like, how black women were abused and treated back in slavery, then in Jim Crow, then in segregation, then in the modern era, and well, so on, even to today. And also to mention, it's not really a 'new' term, since it's been around for almost 2 decades now, and fairly well respected as a term in usefulness and accuracy of describing a unique experience specifically of black women. I think that saying it's on the level of buzz words like "houseless" is I feel very unfair and a bit uninformed, even if unintentionally so. But otherwise this is a really well made video and I'm definitely subscribing for more videos from you! I just do wish that that one bit was maybe considered a bit more.
Others have said this but FYI “misogynoir” isn’t a buzzword. It’s an academic term that’s been around for decades. It gets used in academic settings all the time and is both very much a real thing and very much a useful word that it’s good has filtered down into the general consciousness - although it’s not always used perfectly by the general public.
hey, second video i’ve watched. great stuff. one thing, cus i know ur gonna be big, don’t change ur style. stick with the DIY studio and editing. its authentic, lovable, and alot more enjoyable to sit down and watch. maybe with SLIGHTLY better audio (not audiophile studio quality, we don’t want that, moreso just little less echo, airy white noise from reflective surfaces surrounding) and it cant get better than this. keep it up man, you’re pretty cool, and very informative. excited to watch you grow and learn from you 🫡
10:29 this makes me think of the weird underground in Paris where supposedly parties are held and people go missing. Might be another good episode! And, oh my goodness, if you listen to old radio shows like The Shadow-highly recommend, btw-they used a Mole person villain theme a good bit.😂 I suspect this is much smaller an issue than these accounts claim-though I would not be at all surprised if these old tunnels are used for various kinds of criminal trafficking.
I really like your editing ad writing style. For a more recent example of the NYC underground, the TV series "The Changeling" does actually partially take place there but I think it's just a segment of season two.
32:41 in places like South Korea people still call locks, dreads "reggae hair" ... also i wouldn't call misogynoir a buzzword, it's an academic term invented in 2008. it addresses a real issue and how black women are at receiving end of specific type of bigotry remix. idk how familiar you are with the work of black feminists tho
@DeandreSteven nope it’s not a buzzword bro just cause it’s a new word to you because you don’t read doesn’t mean it’s a buzzword. Y’all are turning the word buzzword into a buzzword. Just say you don’t understand how misogyny affects black women.
Also! Huge agree on not really vibing with the term 'houseless' which in my opinion only really serves to make people feel like they're not homeless. Because often it is considered that Homeless is a type of person, sometimes even thought of as not like normal people or lesser than human. Generally the stereotypical unwashed 'bum' on the road asking for money. Instead they are just Houseless: A temporary state of being that they believe they will inevitably escape, often within the year. And it feels sometimes like a plea to not think of them like 'those homeless people, but as someone just like you' idk. Kinda back to your point of seeing homelessness as something like, inate, or mythologizing them into a separate type or society of people than 'normal folks'. A bit like the recurring idea that even the mole people had stories and lines drawn between them, the normal ones, and the deeper mole people. Idk. Really good video either way.
There really should be a special layer in Hell specifically for unscrupulous authors who pass off blatant fiction as outright fact. The darker, more outlandish elements in this story would have made for a solid read on its own, but its greed over all else that makes writers do this. It's not enough to have a novel that has to stand on the strength of its premise and writing alone, it has to be rEaL, too, because that's how you pull in the easiest money. Either be a journalist or be a novelist. Both are storytellers, but the gap between the two just couldn't be wider and for very, very good reason.
omg i'm a huge horror b-movie fan and i almost screamed when CHUD showed up lol. love your videos and your vibes dude!! Also, the only comparison I've seen that comes close to the NYC mole people is an episode of Bones called The Woman in The Tunnel. It's very similar in my opinion, I think it was based on the book. And btw, thank you for your nuanced take on NYC today, as a New Yorker it's very refreshing to hear someone talk about the city and the factors affecting it accurately!
About 25-30 years ago, Baltimore's homelessness rates were bad. Pretty close to that of nearby Washington D.C. Now, they aren't even in the top fifteen. It's for three really weird reasons. For decades, the city had three areas that were practically empty. There were areas of Baltimore that had been ravaged by looting after the murder of MLK that somehow or another didn't get fixed until the early 2000s. They had a sewage plant blow in the late 90s, leaving several blocks uninhabitable until about five years ago. And another problem was there had been an abandoned paint factory that hadn't operated since the 50s that was still leaking stuff all the way until the year The Wire came to a close. After the Freddie Gray riots... the federal government finally stepped in and started doing what they had promised to do decades before. But here is the strange part. The Orioles and The Ravens wanted to know why attendance was dropping. Someone said: 'Maybe if the closest parking spots other than your small lots looked safe, more people would come.' So, they partnered with Habitat for Humanity (RIP Jimmy Carter) to really fix up the area. Then seeing that all this condemned property city had ceased back in the 70-90s was livable again, the mayor and city council decided to take advantage of state and federal housing grants so instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars locking up nonviolent homeless people on vagrancy charges, they could spend a quarter of that putting those same people in those newly repaired homes. Not only that but those people would now need jobs. So, they put many of them to work in varying capacities helping with the repairs of more homes and abandoned properties. Of course, this is Baltimore so something did go wrong... but only slightly and not in the epic way Baltimoreans have come to expect. Unlike many other cities where this sort of program has been tried, where most people who get these homes don't stay in the program long enough to get full deed and title, in Baltimore, they did. Of course, part of the deal that let them get the house that cheaply, meant that if they moved/sold it within ten years of ownership, the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore have 90 days to make a FMV bid on the home before it can go on the market. If they make the bid, the owners have to take it. About 50% of the time, the city does... but because of that, they can do the process all over again and the program pays for itself.
Not gonna lie, was enjoying the video but not sure why you put misogynoir in quotes around 37:36 as if it is an extraneous term. It's a pretty relevant and valuable term to describe the specific intersection of misogyny and anti-blackness. I'm not sure what other word you would expect someone to use in that situation. Like I get thinking "womxn" is just a trendy attempt at seeming inclusive, but seeing a white person put misogynoir in air quotes rubs me the wrong way. I hope you can take this criticism genuinely. You've got strong content and potential, and I wish you the best.
yeah that kinda struck me wrong too but I think maybe the point he was making was it's not a word you see often used anymore? I think ppl more often say anti black misogyny now, maybe just because they aren't sure how to type or pronounce misogynoir (I even second guessed myself here and referenced your comment to make sure I spelled it right)
🌹RIP - Tony Todd 🌹 the radio station I had on that announced his death played the Philip Glass music as a tribute..the thought that Clive Barker could well have known about that Dark Angel down under the city makes Candyman an even more unsettling story. ..a terrifying tale to make lovers cling a little closer in they're rapture..
I just found this channel yesterday and I've already watched a handful of your videos, I LOVE how you're handling them. You show humanizing respect and empathy for the people you're covering while endeavoring to stick to facts, not indulging fanciful fabrications. You include your own opinions which is also always fun to connect with the video producer but your focus is on the genuine truths in the mysteries! Your topics are also really fascinating things I genuinely haven't heard of or haven't seen other people cover, and isn't bogged down by loads of useless fluff and conjecture that goes nowhere. I don't get to the end of your videos thinking "this could have been a 20 minute video..." I really enjoy all of it. Great work! ...Also raising my hand as someone who would like trains going through their living room. Diagnosed train lover, if you get what I mean.
tor i gotta say i just found your channel and enjoy the content a lot, i enjoyed this video too. however, i implore you and anyone watching this video to think more deeply about some of your conclusions regarding homelessness towards the end of the video. i agree that the terms "houseless" or "unhoused" unhelpfully downplay the serious nature of the homeless issue, but i believe you misappropriate the liberal attitude of "homelessness as a lifestyle" as a leftist belief. politically i, and the people i surround myself with, are what could be described as "radical leftists". And that attitude of thinking is unheard of in our circles. the clear solution to ending homelessness is tackling the material conditions that precipitate homelessness. which brings me to my other point. you say that america is "on the right track" and that homelessness is shrinking in many parts of the country. i think its important to understand how those numbers and statistics come to be. in recent years, a nation-wide effort to criminalize homeless, fueled by similar sentiments to "broken window policing", have moved many of americas homeless into prisons. statistically lowering the populations of homeless, but not doing anything to solve the material conditions that cause it. homelessness is an intersectional issue that has many causes and is itself only a symptom of several other bigger issues. i think you are on the right track with some of your conclusions, but when tackling the issues we should always seek to understand why things are the way they are, what drives these statistics? what are the material conditions?
27:47 there is a sort of constantly re-emerging meta-meme of verticality measured in sets of seven. what you describe here, for starters. seventh heaven. seven circles of hell. the tower where the great work is done in the famous alchemical text, the chymical wedding of CRC has seven levels. the creation story of the cherokee people says the sun was raised seven times before it no longer burned the earth. it seems that humans just have some propensity to cut vertical spaces into seven layers
The movie "Dark Days" that came out in 2000 is a beautifully haunting documentary about this very topic and shows a number of different people's living situations in the tunnels under Manhattan. It also has an amazing soundtrack by DJ Shadow.
I've been meaning to watch this documentary. I first heard about it at a Sparta show. Jim Ward mentioned that their song "Dark Days" was about this very topic. I didn't know about the DJ Shadow soundtrack. That's so fuckin awesome. Cheers
When I was a kid I read a book called "The Downsiders", about a school-aged kid who accidentally comes across one of these mole people, although they weren't called multiple. What stuck out to me that I still remember is that they wore their watches on their ankles, to remind themselves that time is of low importance
im skeptical that houston has actually brought homelessness down, rather than criminalizing it, im not educated on houston's local politics or its government but i do know housing prices are still rising there as they are in most other american cities, so it does not pass the smell test
I really like the way you talked about Houston in a positive light. Zoning is 100% in the way of getting new affordable housing built. Especially in San Fran. A lot of nightmare stories there about trying to get anything built.
I'm genuinely surprised that you didn't acknowledge the Hasids that were digging under Queens. I know there weren't thousands of them and that they weren't living in the tunnels, but it certainly contributes to the mythos of mole people in NYC. Sure, it happened long after The Mole People was written, but it's still very related to the topic.
My mother grew up in Mexicali, Mexico, where large Chinese comunities, most of them children of migrants who were deported en masse from San Francisco, lived in tunels underground until an earthquake revealed its existence to the world.
I have really been enjoying this channel, but I was struck by your casual dismissal of the term misogynoir at 37:36. I'm further surprised at your lack of response to any of the other comments highlighting this issue. In your channel update you shared a different comment from this video, so it's a reasonable assumption that you *have* read those comments, and I'm disappointed that you haven't even made a token apology or updated the description to indicate that you were (to make a generous assumption) ignorant to the word's ongoing cultural significance. Please recognize this as a valuable learning opportunity as your channel is growing.
What cultural significance? Its an academic term thrown around by intellectuals that the average person hasn't ever heard of. A better term would be anti black misogyny, if you wanted to highlight the intersectional oppression of black women in a way that was comprehensible.
Love the content so far. The only suggestion i have so far is that the clip audio for some of the clips is far louder than your own vocal clips, which can catch me a little off guard sometimes hehe.
Fascinating essay! I wonder if the same urban legends also inspired the Morlocks - community of mutants dwelling under NYC in the X-Men comics in the 1980s.
I had trains running just past my window in an apartment in NYC and I got used to them pretty quickly and would just sleep right through them. But trains to NYC being what they are, then they wouldn't come and THAT would wake me up. "Up, it's my nothing at all is happening alarm, hope I'm not late for work again."
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear someone reference Underland Chronicles. Those books are so good. Although I definitely wouldn't describe the underground human civilization as a "wise, decadent, space opera." The human civilization is more high fantasy. They have a monarchy, for instance & far from wise are warmongering.
"to the world, they were the mole people. To themselves, they were the people." Not to sound pretentious, but I feel like that's a powerful line to end on Great video c:
Wow, what a powerhouse video and channel! This is like the opposite of clickbait: you start with a simple question and, sticking to facts, you go to a place that’s truly fascinating. Excellent work so far!
Haven’t seen a video from him that isn’t super well researched and supremely watchable. Happy to be here on the relative ground floor!
Criminally early to the makings of a big channel
When he has a million subs in a few months, we'll be able to comeback and say we were here before he was cool 😎
Came to say the same thing. Very underrated channel
whu- a 'weird stuff' channel that's not based on mindless gawking? that treats its subjects with empathy and humanity? sign me the fuck up!
And no freaking AI at all!!!!
Right?? And no BS baseless conspiracies and lies??
@@justkiddin84 None, yet at least. They've retweeted posts sympathetic to AI
I live In Las Vegas where vast communities live underground. I would estimate a few thousand people live in tunnels right next to and underneath multi billion dollar skyscrapers
omg my neighbor makes 5x more than me let me cry aboutit
Most of those skyscrapers are empty too. I've been inside a few for work and they're unsettling. One of them had concrete hallways that were extremely humid and poorly lit. It was very strange and honestly gave me the creeps
Makes more sense than living above ground in a desert.
@@Sim-q9tWhy did this comment upset you so much lol.
I'm calling it now, you are going to make a career out of this. Please don't change too much tho, there's a certain home made vibe here that helps
Couldn’t agree more. A lot of channels get a “studio” and then that level of professional appearance strips them of their accessibility.
This video right here. Take notes, people!
It's not overly artsy, accusatory, and doesn't reak of insecurity. It's a detailed, factual, and overall well made piece discussing an old book.
Old book? From the 90's?
Oh shit! I just realized...
I'm ANCIENT!!! 😢
Just discovered your channel and became an instant subscriber after seeing your intro and content presentation. There’s a unique vibe with your videos (positive, informative, whimsical yet serious) and the way you present them. Plus, you’re singlehandedly restoring the good name of Durian-a daunting task which many would have considered outright impossible.
I agree, too, with the comment about not changing too much. You clearly have a vision for your channel that’s unlike what “everybody else” is doing,. Just a matter of time before the subscriber count skyrockets.
Durian doesn't need gweilo to defend him
I'm very much enjoying all of your videos so far. My only complaint is gotta equalize the audio better! The volume from the Chili Town outro to this intro was a bigger jump scare than the horror clips lol
C.H.U.D. The surface has fallen
Billions must go under.
Awesome video! For those curious about the project mentioned at 42:45 was very likely part of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, a proposed highway that was meant to connect the Holland Tunnel in the west with the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges in the east.
Although very indicative of a new channel, you have serious potential and your videos are really interesting and informative. I'm glad to have found your channel and I hope to see you grow!
I can already tell this channel is gonna blow up like Wendigoon did and I’m glad I’m here early like I was there. Always awesome to see these new channels grow and improve!
Hell yeah agreed
wendigoon? uggghhh
Cringe. Bet you werent even “early” there
@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895 I subbed to Wendi when he uploaded his Lighthouse video followed by his random stairs in the woods video. Those were practically his first non-Bible reading videos on his channel like 4 years ago
@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895 how is this cringe
I did data analysis for the corrections industry for almost a decade.
Almost all of the decline in crime credited to increased policing seems to be corralative, not causitive. Most of the stuff with causal evidence is environmental changes, systemic policy overhauls, and access to QOL materials, as tech rapidly decreased in price. Basically, once there are enough police around, that the average person sees them, somewhere, regularly, they basically max out their effect on deterring crime. Just like strict sentencing, as a deterent, caps out once the sentence take your liberty for long enough to really damage your life. Thus the death penalty doesn't work as a deterrent.
Also I really suggest you look into the Houston method more closely. There is a lot of twisting of stats, and really shady policies, that are included to get those numbers down, that much. Not to say this hasn't worked at all, but there is a lot of stuff that went into it that reveals it to not be just as they say. Also that non-policy effects of the economy had, that aren't really repoducible elsewhere, and aren't going to last forever there, aren't really considered when reporting/politicking on the subject.
Also, have you seen the documentary Dark Days, and its follow-up? If not, I highly, highly, suggest it.
Good points. Economics is very much a part of crime. A bad economy creates crime. People disenfranchised are left with no other choice. It’s shady the dances that get made around that subject.
I wouldn't really say that about misogynoir. It's a very apt term for something that is incredibly important, and describes like, how black women were abused and treated back in slavery, then in Jim Crow, then in segregation, then in the modern era, and well, so on, even to today.
And also to mention, it's not really a 'new' term, since it's been around for almost 2 decades now, and fairly well respected as a term in usefulness and accuracy of describing a unique experience specifically of black women.
I think that saying it's on the level of buzz words like "houseless" is I feel very unfair and a bit uninformed, even if unintentionally so.
But otherwise this is a really well made video and I'm definitely subscribing for more videos from you! I just do wish that that one bit was maybe considered a bit more.
why are u gey?
agreed! it has a long-time and very legitimate use as a term describing the intersection of misogyny and racism
thank you for saying this. i was just about to do the same
Thank you
🤦🙄
Others have said this but FYI “misogynoir” isn’t a buzzword. It’s an academic term that’s been around for decades. It gets used in academic settings all the time and is both very much a real thing and very much a useful word that it’s good has filtered down into the general consciousness - although it’s not always used perfectly by the general public.
Yes, it is. Learn the difference between public and private please. “Public” refers to government and its entities such as corporations.
That closing statement hit with some weight my man.
And that credits sequence is gold.
Respect.
hey, second video i’ve watched. great stuff. one thing, cus i know ur gonna be big, don’t change ur style. stick with the DIY studio and editing. its authentic, lovable, and alot more enjoyable to sit down and watch. maybe with SLIGHTLY better audio (not audiophile studio quality, we don’t want that, moreso just little less echo, airy white noise from reflective surfaces surrounding) and it cant get better than this. keep it up man, you’re pretty cool, and very informative. excited to watch you grow and learn from you 🫡
10:29 this makes me think of the weird underground in Paris where supposedly parties are held and people go missing. Might be another good episode!
And, oh my goodness, if you listen to old radio shows like The Shadow-highly recommend, btw-they used a Mole person villain theme a good bit.😂
I suspect this is much smaller an issue than these accounts claim-though I would not be at all surprised if these old tunnels are used for various kinds of criminal trafficking.
I really like your editing ad writing style. For a more recent example of the NYC underground, the TV series "The Changeling" does actually partially take place there but I think it's just a segment of season two.
32:41 in places like South Korea people still call locks, dreads "reggae hair" ...
also i wouldn't call misogynoir a buzzword, it's an academic term invented in 2008. it addresses a real issue and how black women are at receiving end of specific type of bigotry remix. idk how familiar you are with the work of black feminists tho
why are u gey?
it is a buzzword.
@@hrr597 its a real form of misogyny that black women experience. Maybe stop being racist idk.
"Invented in 2008 by academics" its definitly a buzzword
@DeandreSteven nope it’s not a buzzword bro just cause it’s a new word to you because you don’t read doesn’t mean it’s a buzzword. Y’all are turning the word buzzword into a buzzword. Just say you don’t understand how misogyny affects black women.
just discovered your channel and I really appreciate the dignity you give each of your topics
I really like the way you ended this video. Idk how the algorithm recommended your channel to me but I'm glad it did.
So incredibly happy I found this channel. Cannot get enough, will not get enough
I'm so happy I found this channel! An amazing, well researched and nuanced video - I can't wait to see you grow!
0:42 the film industry has fallen, billions must watch
Also! Huge agree on not really vibing with the term 'houseless' which in my opinion only really serves to make people feel like they're not homeless.
Because often it is considered that Homeless is a type of person, sometimes even thought of as not like normal people or lesser than human. Generally the stereotypical unwashed 'bum' on the road asking for money.
Instead they are just Houseless: A temporary state of being that they believe they will inevitably escape, often within the year. And it feels sometimes like a plea to not think of them like 'those homeless people, but as someone just like you' idk. Kinda back to your point of seeing homelessness as something like, inate, or mythologizing them into a separate type or society of people than 'normal folks'. A bit like the recurring idea that even the mole people had stories and lines drawn between them, the normal ones, and the deeper mole people. Idk. Really good video either way.
why are u gey?
Or ‘Unhoused.’ That one makes me sick to my stomach. It’s ice effing COLD.
There really should be a special layer in Hell specifically for unscrupulous authors who pass off blatant fiction as outright fact. The darker, more outlandish elements in this story would have made for a solid read on its own, but its greed over all else that makes writers do this. It's not enough to have a novel that has to stand on the strength of its premise and writing alone, it has to be rEaL, too, because that's how you pull in the easiest money. Either be a journalist or be a novelist. Both are storytellers, but the gap between the two just couldn't be wider and for very, very good reason.
Thats most academics today.
"For a little while.... they did terrorize civil engineers, which is all you need in life." This is the phrase that made me click sub.
wildly underrated content my man. I love your videos
This channel gonna do numbers, really good stuff g
Mildly interesting, Coin locker babies by Ryu Murakami mentions the crocodiles in the sewer thing as well, but in the fictional Tokyo
omg i'm a huge horror b-movie fan and i almost screamed when CHUD showed up lol. love your videos and your vibes dude!! Also, the only comparison I've seen that comes close to the NYC mole people is an episode of Bones called The Woman in The Tunnel. It's very similar in my opinion, I think it was based on the book. And btw, thank you for your nuanced take on NYC today, as a New Yorker it's very refreshing to hear someone talk about the city and the factors affecting it accurately!
About 25-30 years ago, Baltimore's homelessness rates were bad. Pretty close to that of nearby Washington D.C. Now, they aren't even in the top fifteen. It's for three really weird reasons. For decades, the city had three areas that were practically empty. There were areas of Baltimore that had been ravaged by looting after the murder of MLK that somehow or another didn't get fixed until the early 2000s. They had a sewage plant blow in the late 90s, leaving several blocks uninhabitable until about five years ago. And another problem was there had been an abandoned paint factory that hadn't operated since the 50s that was still leaking stuff all the way until the year The Wire came to a close. After the Freddie Gray riots... the federal government finally stepped in and started doing what they had promised to do decades before. But here is the strange part. The Orioles and The Ravens wanted to know why attendance was dropping. Someone said: 'Maybe if the closest parking spots other than your small lots looked safe, more people would come.'
So, they partnered with Habitat for Humanity (RIP Jimmy Carter) to really fix up the area. Then seeing that all this condemned property city had ceased back in the 70-90s was livable again, the mayor and city council decided to take advantage of state and federal housing grants so instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars locking up nonviolent homeless people on vagrancy charges, they could spend a quarter of that putting those same people in those newly repaired homes. Not only that but those people would now need jobs. So, they put many of them to work in varying capacities helping with the repairs of more homes and abandoned properties. Of course, this is Baltimore so something did go wrong... but only slightly and not in the epic way Baltimoreans have come to expect. Unlike many other cities where this sort of program has been tried, where most people who get these homes don't stay in the program long enough to get full deed and title, in Baltimore, they did. Of course, part of the deal that let them get the house that cheaply, meant that if they moved/sold it within ten years of ownership, the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore have 90 days to make a FMV bid on the home before it can go on the market. If they make the bid, the owners have to take it. About 50% of the time, the city does... but because of that, they can do the process all over again and the program pays for itself.
Truly fantastic videos
Not gonna lie, was enjoying the video but not sure why you put misogynoir in quotes around 37:36 as if it is an extraneous term. It's a pretty relevant and valuable term to describe the specific intersection of misogyny and anti-blackness. I'm not sure what other word you would expect someone to use in that situation. Like I get thinking "womxn" is just a trendy attempt at seeming inclusive, but seeing a white person put misogynoir in air quotes rubs me the wrong way. I hope you can take this criticism genuinely. You've got strong content and potential, and I wish you the best.
yeah that kinda struck me wrong too but I think maybe the point he was making was it's not a word you see often used anymore? I think ppl more often say anti black misogyny now, maybe just because they aren't sure how to type or pronounce misogynoir (I even second guessed myself here and referenced your comment to make sure I spelled it right)
i agree! i was enjoying the video but that threw me off!
agreed, ive enjoyed a lot of his videos but this seemed super dismissive and wrong
Womxn is a term used by some anti-trans groups as well
Tell everyone you spend all day feeling perpetually offended and aggrieved without telling everyone. 🙄
Keep making videos, please. What I’ve seen so far has been great!
49:45 Ive seen stats that show the drop in violent crime is because leaded gasoline was made illegal.
this channel is so cool like srsly you seem like such a cool dude
🌹RIP - Tony Todd 🌹
the radio station I had on that announced his death played the Philip Glass music as a tribute..the thought that Clive Barker could well have known about that Dark Angel down under the city makes Candyman an even more unsettling story.
..a terrifying tale to make lovers cling a little closer in they're rapture..
I just found this channel yesterday and I've already watched a handful of your videos, I LOVE how you're handling them. You show humanizing respect and empathy for the people you're covering while endeavoring to stick to facts, not indulging fanciful fabrications. You include your own opinions which is also always fun to connect with the video producer but your focus is on the genuine truths in the mysteries!
Your topics are also really fascinating things I genuinely haven't heard of or haven't seen other people cover, and isn't bogged down by loads of useless fluff and conjecture that goes nowhere. I don't get to the end of your videos thinking "this could have been a 20 minute video..." I really enjoy all of it. Great work!
...Also raising my hand as someone who would like trains going through their living room. Diagnosed train lover, if you get what I mean.
This channel is so good
Oh yeah well I know everybody in New York and can tell you that millions of people live under New York
Everybody! You are a busy person!!😂
its great that the camera blurred just as you were talking about definition
Love your channel dude just found it last night
great job - always thoughtful - appreciated! 🎉👍🏽
this channel is wonderful and i will be binging it
tor i gotta say i just found your channel and enjoy the content a lot, i enjoyed this video too. however, i implore you and anyone watching this video to think more deeply about some of your conclusions regarding homelessness towards the end of the video. i agree that the terms "houseless" or "unhoused" unhelpfully downplay the serious nature of the homeless issue, but i believe you misappropriate the liberal attitude of "homelessness as a lifestyle" as a leftist belief. politically i, and the people i surround myself with, are what could be described as "radical leftists". And that attitude of thinking is unheard of in our circles. the clear solution to ending homelessness is tackling the material conditions that precipitate homelessness. which brings me to my other point. you say that america is "on the right track" and that homelessness is shrinking in many parts of the country. i think its important to understand how those numbers and statistics come to be. in recent years, a nation-wide effort to criminalize homeless, fueled by similar sentiments to "broken window policing", have moved many of americas homeless into prisons. statistically lowering the populations of homeless, but not doing anything to solve the material conditions that cause it. homelessness is an intersectional issue that has many causes and is itself only a symptom of several other bigger issues. i think you are on the right track with some of your conclusions, but when tackling the issues we should always seek to understand why things are the way they are, what drives these statistics? what are the material conditions?
Brother. Freaking love your videos. Never see who they are by, get hooked, then i see that tortured durian and you and i buckle up. Thanks!
How does this video have less than 70 likes! Great breakdown of The Mole People.
Just know I was here since the early days. This channel is truly a gold mine. I hope he makes it big
Came for the Durian.
Stayed for the C.H.U.D.
27:47 there is a sort of constantly re-emerging meta-meme of verticality measured in sets of seven. what you describe here, for starters. seventh heaven. seven circles of hell. the tower where the great work is done in the famous alchemical text, the chymical wedding of CRC has seven levels. the creation story of the cherokee people says the sun was raised seven times before it no longer burned the earth. it seems that humans just have some propensity to cut vertical spaces into seven layers
Excellent made video friend
It's good!
Great stories and thoughts. Very entertaining and informative... IMO
I appreciate your stuff.
amazing video. this is my new favorite channel, keep it up!!
love this channel... great work on this one dude
This makes me think of the "feral people of Appalacia" trope of videos that's going around now.
It’s not just Appalachia (say it right or I’ll throw an apple atcha😂), but all the big forested areas. Missing 411 stuff.🙄
Now? The Wild wonderful whites of West Virginia has been out for like two decades. Check it out
The movie "Dark Days" that came out in 2000 is a beautifully haunting documentary about this very topic and shows a number of different people's living situations in the tunnels under Manhattan. It also has an amazing soundtrack by DJ Shadow.
I've been meaning to watch this documentary.
I first heard about it at a Sparta show. Jim Ward mentioned that their song "Dark Days" was about this very topic.
I didn't know about the DJ Shadow soundtrack. That's so fuckin awesome.
Cheers
Great research & video - keep up the good work!
i just found your channel and im so excited to see where you go man! I'll be able to say I'm early-ish to TCC
Please move your mic closer sir and please install some acoustic sound proofing. love what you do brother 🖤
Great stuff, Tor!
When I was a kid I read a book called "The Downsiders", about a school-aged kid who accidentally comes across one of these mole people, although they weren't called multiple. What stuck out to me that I still remember is that they wore their watches on their ankles, to remind themselves that time is of low importance
right im subsribing to you being recommended multiple videos and clicked almost instantly not noticing it was you
Incredibly well done, absolutely subscribed, but please turn down the music in your audio mixes
im skeptical that houston has actually brought homelessness down, rather than criminalizing it, im not educated on houston's local politics or its government but i do know housing prices are still rising there as they are in most other american cities, so it does not pass the smell test
I really like the way you talked about Houston in a positive light. Zoning is 100% in the way of getting new affordable housing built. Especially in San Fran. A lot of nightmare stories there about trying to get anything built.
Zoning is the least of their worries…
nother banger, keep on truckin brother
You have to do something about the audio. It's really hard to hear you, and i like your videos.
Love the intro, CHUD holds up surprisingly well especially in its commentary unfortunately
The surface has fallen
billions must go under
will watch any video this guy puts out this was so good
Man I love your channel!! So nerdy in the best way possible, looks like you’re a great person, keep on!
I'm genuinely surprised that you didn't acknowledge the Hasids that were digging under Queens. I know there weren't thousands of them and that they weren't living in the tunnels, but it certainly contributes to the mythos of mole people in NYC. Sure, it happened long after The Mole People was written, but it's still very related to the topic.
A whole episode could be done on those. The blood, childrens items, and makeshift living spaces with mattresses on the floor is weird.
The way things are going above ground nowadays, the mole people way of life is looking fairly enticing 🤭
Don’t forget about flushed away
My mother grew up in Mexicali, Mexico, where large Chinese comunities, most of them children of migrants who were deported en masse from San Francisco, lived in tunels underground until an earthquake revealed its existence to the world.
I have really been enjoying this channel, but I was struck by your casual dismissal of the term misogynoir at 37:36. I'm further surprised at your lack of response to any of the other comments highlighting this issue. In your channel update you shared a different comment from this video, so it's a reasonable assumption that you *have* read those comments, and I'm disappointed that you haven't even made a token apology or updated the description to indicate that you were (to make a generous assumption) ignorant to the word's ongoing cultural significance. Please recognize this as a valuable learning opportunity as your channel is growing.
What cultural significance? Its an academic term thrown around by intellectuals that the average person hasn't ever heard of.
A better term would be anti black misogyny, if you wanted to highlight the intersectional oppression of black women in a way that was comprehensible.
Stop spamming this with your friends from wherever your evil came from
Your blackmail wont work “please recognize this as a valuable learning opportunity” as you shake him down. Wild.
Yooo shout out Portland, OR 🤠
Love the content so far. The only suggestion i have so far is that the clip audio for some of the clips is far louder than your own vocal clips, which can catch me a little off guard sometimes hehe.
I love your content because it lets me know that I can someday make content, it’s a reminder that we are all just normal people:)
I like this content a lot the audio could use a lil something kinda sounds like a voice memo quality but the actual content is good job
Playing the intro 11 minutes in is sooo good
Fascinating essay! I wonder if the same urban legends also inspired the Morlocks - community of mutants dwelling under NYC in the X-Men comics in the 1980s.
Likely HG Wells’ “the Time Machine” was a big inspiration for that. (Has underground dwellers known as morlocks)
I loved the book Downsiders as a kid, built on this premise
enjoy your content. subscribed.
I had trains running just past my window in an apartment in NYC and I got used to them pretty quickly and would just sleep right through them.
But trains to NYC being what they are, then they wouldn't come and THAT would wake me up. "Up, it's my nothing at all is happening alarm, hope I'm not late for work again."
Your videos are fun
There is no escape from the fortress of the moles
Honestly surprised to see you have less than a thousand followers like HOW
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear someone reference Underland Chronicles. Those books are so good. Although I definitely wouldn't describe the underground human civilization as a "wise, decadent, space opera." The human civilization is more high fantasy. They have a monarchy, for instance & far from wise are warmongering.
"to the world, they were the mole people. To themselves, they were the people."
Not to sound pretentious, but I feel like that's a powerful line to end on
Great video c:
I love that no one could possibly claim that you’re using AI to pump out videos quicker because of how obscure some of the sources you cite are lol
You know I always imagined the tunnels under NYC houses some sort of Fear and Hunger type shenanigans
I'm just happy to hear Subways Of Your Mind
You have a mic right there but you’re not speaking into it?
There is a coordinated effort against you for your rightful criticism of the “misognoir” term, stay strong and ignore them
you're supposed to talk *into* the mic, not have it off to the side as a prop
21:12 Worf's brother, Kurn, underwent a memory wipe at some point. I guess, this is what happen to him afterwards.
37:25 I always liked "homefree" for the voluntarily homeless.
“Well, he’s with the C.H.U.D.s now”