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April 23, 2010

True Urban Legends 

Can a rat crawl through your plumbing and end up in your toilet? Can your cell phone give you a brain tumor?

A New York City manhole cover on the same block in East Harlem where, in 1935, a group of teenaged boys found something most New Yorkers assume is just a myth: An alligator in the sewer.

Prologue

Host Ira Glass investigates two urban legends—alligators in the sewer, rats in the toilet—to find out if they're true. (7 minutes)
Act One

What's That Smell?

A retired millionaire tries to understand the reality of a tough, seedy, inner city neighborhood. But what if the neighborhood is none of those things? Ira Glass evaluates the claims of this millionaire, Steve Poizner, who is also running for governor of California. (18 minutes)

Download a transcript or read much more information about this story. Read an interview with Ira Glass in Mt. Pleasant’s literary magazine, the Cardinal Quill.