James Kelly, nicknamed the Sniffer, is perhaps the most extraordinary figure in New York City history. More than once he saved the metro from a gas explosion, and people from certain death!
James Kelly is the man with the legendary nose
James Kelly was born in Ireland in 1898. Even as a child, he showed his superpowers, helping his uncle dig wells and search for water sources.
After serving in the army, where he distinguished himself by participating in the development of an underwater hydrophone, Kelly moved to New York and took a job as a maintenance engineer with the Transit Authority.
Very soon, Kelly's psychic abilities gained attention
He was repeatedly invited to detect water and sewage leaks. Once he was summoned to a fashionable hotel to discover the source of the terrible stench. The hotel engineers determined that the sewer had burst outside one of the hall walls, but they could not say more precisely.
He fulfilled his promise and twenty minutes later pointed out the exact location of the pipe break. He later recalled: "From that day on, I was only looking for leaks."
For decades, James Kelly has used his sense of smell and hearing to locate the exact location of water and gas leaks.
How did Kelly's superpowers benefit?
Later, James Kelly was invited to the position of lead engineer in one of the departments of the Department of Transportation. He was assigned a group of assistants who were at his disposal around the clock. Kelly's team was tasked with examining the subway tunnels in order to identify possible accumulations of water and gas.
Thanks to his superpowers, he soon became a local legend.
Today, the New York City subway is equipped with highly sensitive sensors and computers that detect signs of gas, biological and chemical waste. But in the 30-40s of the twentieth century, ordinary employees did it.
And there was no one who could do this job better than Kelly!
Strange devices for reading information
James Kelly and his team walked 10 miles every day, investigating the leaks and using strange tools of his own invention.
The most notable of these was the Aquapon, a conventional telephone receiver with copper wire attached to a diaphragm. Kelly put copper wire to the pipe, and the telephone receiver to his ear, and in some incomprehensible way managed to determine exactly how many meters the pipe ruptured.
How Kelly's superpowers worked is still a mystery …
He also used a conventional medical stethoscope to which a steel rod was attached. The rod was pressed against the ground, sidewalk or wall, and by ear, with incredible accuracy, James Kelly determined the location of the leak.
With this stethoscope, Kelly helped solve the drinking water problem!
By “listening” to a map of Manhattan, he unmistakably pointed out the places where huge reservoirs of natural water were hidden underground.
How did the legendary nose of James Kelly help … catch fish ?
New Yorkers admired Kelly's ability to spot eels and fish that had infiltrated the water supply (this was common in the early 1940s). Fish, getting into the pipes, created a plug, which often led to a breakdown of the system.
Kelly bragged about such a catch more than once and loved to talk about the size of the specimens caught, but his career as a "fisherman" was over when metal nets were installed on the water intake facilities.
The most famous case of the psychic abilities of James Kelly
And yet the most outstanding thing about Kelly was his nose!
In addition to finding water leaks and plumbing problems, James Kelly was responsible for detecting hazardous accumulations of gas and chemicals. His super-ability to find invisible gas vapors has helped prevent trouble on numerous occasions.
As James himself reported, there was such an eerie stench throughout the station that the legs gave way. It took him a lot of work to concentrate and still find the source of the problem.
He said he was to blame … the elephants, and he was right.
It turns out that the subway station was built under the old New York racetrack, where circus elephants were often kept in addition to horses. The manure was buried right there, on the territory of the hippodrome. A breakdown in the water supply system led to a water leak, it washed away the fossilized excrement and seeped into the subway.
James Kelly is the legend of New York
In his book The World Under the City, Robert Daly devoted an entire chapter to Kelly and his superpowers.
According to rough estimates, James Kelly walked through the tunnels of the New York subway 100,000 miles, which is more than 160,000 km. He passed on his experience and knowledge to young specialists, but none of them was able to surpass his teacher.
For decades, James Kelly has used his sense of smell and hearing to locate the exact location of water and gas leaks. He died at the age of 62.
Robert Daley wrote in his book: "If the New York subway has never suffered from explosions and significant damage, it was only because of the amazing superhuman abilities of James Kelly."
