Freaky Midnight Weirdness Under the Sackett Street Bridge

Those weird Lead Shacks, designed to remove the lead paint from the BQE overpasses, have been prettifying Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill for a couple months now (though the Union Street one was recently removed). Yet, all this time, I've never seen any evidence that they actually do anything but sit there like humungous metal paperweights, and scare the citizenry with their hazardous waste warnings.

But last night I wandered home around 1 AM and what do I see? Flood lights, illuminating the southbound stretch of the BQE under the Sackett Street bridge. It was bright as day. Was a movie being shot? No. There were trucks and trucks and trucks down there, and construction cones, and a big colorless tarp covering up the underside of the bridge. From inside the tarp emanated a great hum. It was a Lead Shack at work! It was doing its lead-paint-blasting-and-sucking business and, boy, was it a strange sight to see. Like a secret military operation.