New Yorkers' True Stories Of Actually Haunting Subway Experiences
Oct. 30, 2018, 11:35 a.m.
These are real quotes about the NYC subway system from real paying customers who use it on a daily basis.
The MTA's first-ever haunted subway event, which took place earlier this month inside the Union Square station, was far less scary than your average morning commute. How could a child-friendly attraction possibly compare to getting trapped on rickety old elevators with no air circulation? Or clawing your way out of a stuck train? Or having someone literally urinate on your face?
New Yorkers have to exit their apartments every morning knowing that this could be the day they are featured on Gothamist.com after they get trapped in a stalled F train. Since the subway is already the scariest place in NYC, we had artist Matt Lubchansky illustrate some real nightmare scenarios, using quotes from real paying MetroCard holders. Happy Halloween!
Matt Lubchansky/Gothamist
Fina's "absolute nightmare" commute came courtesy of a Manhattan-bound L train with a broken door at Bedford Avenue. The busted door triggered evacuations and unexplained standstills, and left commuting North Brooklynites in the dark about whether their trains would ever make it into the city (they would not). It did not help things that all of this started at 8:30 a.m. on a Wednesday at the busiest stop on one of the busiest commuting lines serving many of the most aggressively online people in NYC. Five stars!
Matt Lubchansky/Gothamist
Talia Kovacs' day from hell started before she even reached the train: she and a dozen other New Yorkers were trapped inside an elevator in the Clark Street station in Brooklyn for over an hour (which included seven heart-stopping minutes of "loud crash-bangs, and what sounded like debris falling on us"). Assuming the MTA was going for a Saw vibe, it really nailed it.
Matt Lubchansky/Gothamist
Michael Sciaraffo's train ride in 2017 was truly unforgettable (for both the people on board and anyone who is even mildly claustrophobic): his rush hour F train commute turned into an urban nightmare when mechanical issues left Brooklyn-bound passengers trapped in the dark without air conditioning for over 40 minutes. In one video taken from the platform at Broadway-Lafayette, straphangers can be seen attempting to free themselves from a steamy car. "It was so hot that once we got stuck and the lights went out, it started to feel like a steam box," he added.
Matt Lubchansky/Gothamist
Part of the ceiling collapsed at the Borough Hall subway station in Brooklyn earlier this year, and Molly Scott had the bad luck to be standing there under it at the time. And she didn't even stick around for her train to arrive after workers finished clearing the area two+ hours later: "I wasn't offered medical attention and, honestly, was in shock and wanted to leave the station in case more of the ceiling fell."