Playlist: Cropsey

Jasper Cropsey was a 19th century Staten Island resident who became well known for his Hudson Valley School paintings. The name Cropsey also is a name of an avenue in Brooklyn, New York that I lived near for years. Apparently, it is also the Name of a New York urban legend that says a crazed man who has a hook or knife for a hand kidnaps little children and kills them in the woods in many New England and Mid-Atlantic states. This documentary is about the Cropsey legend that apparently the directors of this film were aware of as they grew up in Staten Island. The director and producer are about my age and I have never heard of this legend...maybe other Staten Islanders can let us know if they have heard of this legend.

The doc goes on to tell of the link between the Cropsey legend, The Willowbrook State School for mentally handicapped kids, the Geraldo Rivera expose in 1972 that exposed the Willowbrook atrocities, the Greenbelt forest, the disappearance of many missing kids in Staten Island including the Jennifer Sweigart case (which I do remember from 1987), and a man who many believe to be Cropsey, but they never come out and say it. The doc is very loose and vague at times...it made me interested again in my old hometown, it also reminded me why I wanted out of there...the garbage, the dumps, the bad accents...etc.

The directors show the old Willowbrook (where I used to play soccer all the time and had field day once)...and to think, the doc exposes the fact that dead kid bodies were found throughout, including Jennifer Sweigart. Let us know if you have heard of Cropsey.