# The Lost Cow Tunnel of New York **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 11, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675 "2013-11-11T21:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/1 "2013-11-11T21:28:11Z")
It’s not the cows that are lost … [it’s the tunnel](http://gizmodo.com/the-lost-cow-tunnels-of-new-york-city-1455215193)! You can’t make this stuff up! Found on [The Honest Courtesan](http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/links-175/)site. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/2 "2013-11-11T21:35:06Z")
It makes sense. Imagine trying to herd cattle down a busy NY street. A underground shoot or tunnel from one building to another would be possible. I can’t imagine anything much longer. Something that short is probably long gone by now. Its like Chicago’s underground freight tunnels. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/3 "2013-11-12T00:16:48Z")
There’s also [The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode](http://www.amazon.com/Tunnel-Hugsy-Goode-Eleanor-Estes/dp/0152049169), but I think that was in Brooklyn. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/4 "2013-11-12T02:36:36Z")
I think that’s a load of bull! ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/5 "2013-11-12T03:06:53Z")
" ‘Low cost tunnel?’…:smack:" ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/6 "2013-11-12T03:07:51Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > " ‘Low cost tunnel?’…:smack:" Same. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/7 "2013-11-12T03:44:50Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > " ‘Low cost tunnel?’…:smack:" Me three on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/8 "2013-11-12T06:42:27Z")
I dunno, the story cracked me up because I imagined all these cows ambling through underground tunnels going “Moooo!” and meaning … “is this the way to the slaughterhouse? Really? And what do they do at a slaughterhouse anyway?” ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/9 "2013-11-12T13:54:42Z")
Or the old Monty Python bit: > [@](#): > > \*Good morning, gentlemen. This is a twelwe-storey block combining classical neo-Georgian features with the efficiency of modern techniques. The tenants arrive in the entrance hall here, and are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort and past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives. The last twenty feet of the corridor are heavily soundproofed. The blood pours down these chutes and the mangled flesh slurps into these… \* > Did you say knives? > _Rotating knives, yes._ > Are you proposing to slaughter our tenants? > \*Does that not fit in with your plans? \* > No, it does not. We asked for a simple block of flats. > \*Oh, I see. I hadn’t correctly divined your attitude towards your tenants. You see I mainly design slaughter houses. Yes, pity. Mind you, this is a real beaut. I mean, none of your blood caked on the walls and flesh flying out of the windows, inconveniencing the passers-by with this one. I mean, my life has been building up to this. \* ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/10 "2013-11-12T14:33:58Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > There’s also [The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode](http://www.amazon.com/Tunnel-Hugsy-Goode-Eleanor-Estes/dp/0152049169), but I think that was in Brooklyn. It was indeed Brooklyn. Highjack and fun facts: The tunnel itself is a myth, but much of the story is based on real life. Eleanor Estes was our neighbor, and the main characters, Copin and Tornid, are based on my brother and his friend. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/11 "2013-11-12T14:50:53Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > It’s not the cows that are lost … [it’s the tunnel](http://gizmodo.com/the-lost-cow-tunnels-of-new-york-city-1455215193)! Thank you for posting that link. It was awesome. I loved reading it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/12 "2013-11-12T15:59:57Z")
> [@orderfire](#): > > It was indeed Brooklyn. Highjack and fun facts: The tunnel itself is a myth, but much of the story is based on real life. Eleanor Estes was our neighbor, and the main characters, Copin and Tornid, are based on my brother and his friend. 🆒 Neat! Thanks for sharing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/13 "2013-11-12T17:07:15Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Neat! Thanks for sharing. 🙂 I’m in there too - a very, very, very, very minuscule bit part as “Holly Carrol”. The boys really did go off on an unauthorized adventure on the Myrtle Avenue El, and my mom really did call us home with a cow horn. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/14 "2013-11-13T21:56:57Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > A underground shoot or tunnel from one building to another would be possible. Shooting animals in a tunnel just isn’t sporting. Even if they are cows. Shooting them in a chute may be slightly fairer. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lost-cow-tunnel-of-new-york/673675/15 "2013-11-14T15:20:26Z")
“Meatpacking District” is a name I can never read without thinking it sounds incredibly rude.