Mandy Stadtmiller

Every week in Time Out New York, we give you a fun little New-York-based lie to tell unsuspecting tourists (you're welcome), but there are some tall tales we can't take credit for. Here are ten of our favorites.   1. Eight million ratsHeard there are as many rats as humans in the city? False! Normally, animal populations are calculated with the “capture-recapture” technique, where marked critters are released and estimates are based on the percentage recaptured. The Department of Health quashed this plan (because ew), and instead a statistician used 311 calls reporting rodent sightings to calculate 2014’s tally: There are only about 2 million, which means we will totally win the inevitable rats-versus-humans war.    2. Cropsey Cropsey is a maniac who snatches kids on Staten Island and kills them with his hook hands/ice pick/ax (obviously). Though he is not real (omigod, we hope!), some IRL horror did happen when several area children disappeared. Andre Rand, an employee at the Willowbrook State School, an institution for children with disabilities, was convicted of two kidnappings, while the rest remain unsolved. Creepy.   3. Sewer alligators Like all the best yarns, a shred of truth created this pervasive legend. Wealthy city dwellers once brought back alligators from Florida to domesticate, and as the story goes, owners who tired of their “pets” would flush them down the toilet. In 1932, The New York Times reported a gator sighting on the banks of the Bronx River, and in 19