The Atlas Obscura Podcast Under Our Feet: Exploring the Underworld With Jessica Leigh Hester
Sep 22, 2025
Jessica Leigh Hester, author of the investigative book Sewer, joins the discussion on the murky world beneath our feet. She reveals the shocking truth about fatbergs—massive blobs of waste that block sewer systems. Hester shares tales from the front lines of fatberg removal, detailing the dangerous and messy work involved. The conversation emphasizes the importance of civic responsibility and how our behaviors impact urban infrastructure, all while exploring the often overlooked narratives hidden below ground.
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Sewers As Hidden Urban Highways
- Sewers are vast underground highways that carry water, waste, and surprising debris through cities.
- Fatbergs form when fats, oils, grease, wipes, hair, and trash combine into sticky masses that keep attracting more material.
Why Fatbergs Grow So Massive
- Fatbergs are sticky assemblies of fats, oils, grease, wet wipes, hair, and trash that accrete more material over time.
- Their stickiness is what makes them grow into monstrous sewer-blocking masses.
Seeing And Smelling A Fatberg
- Jessica Leigh Hester followed crews in London and witnessed a fatberg being dislodged from a maintenance hole.
- She mostly smelled it and described it as rotten-egg and rancid fry grease rather than purely fecal.
