4. Cropsey
Cropsey, much like The Boogey-Man, became an urban legend in New York City and surrounding areas, particularly Staten Island. The Staten Island urban legend goes something like: an insane man with a hook for a hand terrorized neighborhood boys and girls, dragging them into the crumbling ruins of Staten Island’s abandoned Seaview Hospital. Cropsey became real in the 1970s when a drifter named Andre Rand began abducting children.
Rand worked as a janitor at a local school for the mentally disabled. Four children went missing in the area and their bodies were never recovered. A massive search party was launched for missing Jennifer Schweiger in the summer of 1987. She had Down Syndrome and went for a walk one day and never returned. Jennifer’s body was eventually uncovered near where a homeless Andre Rand had set up camp.
There was very little evidence to actually convict Rand of a specific crime. In 1988 he was ultimately convicted of kidnapping in the first degree and sentenced to 25 years in prison. A documentary called Cropsey was made about the missing children, the urban legend, how a community suffers when crimes remain unsolved, and about Rand himself.
The filmmakers repeatedly tried to get an interview with Rand, who was serving time at Rikers Island. They eventually went to go visit him, but when they finally arrived he declined to speak to them, even though he previously agreed. That said, Cropsey and the missing children of Staten Island may forever be urban legends.