Cropsey: The Staten Island Boogeyman

For decades, Staten Island children were warned about Cropsey - a boogeyman who lurked in the woods, an escaped mental patient, a hook-handed monster who snatched children. It was just a campfire story, parents said. Then children started disappearing. And the boogeyman turned out to be real.

The Legend

Cropsey the Boogeyman

Every Staten Island child grew up knowing Cropsey:

• An escaped mental patient from Willowbrook State School
• A drifter who lived in the abandoned tunnels beneath the institution
• A hook-handed killer (in some versions)
• A maniac who grabbed children from the streets

Parents used Cropsey to keep children in line:

• “Don’t stay out after dark, or Cropsey will get you”
• “Don’t go near those woods - that’s where Cropsey lives”

It was folklore. It was discipline. It was just a story.

Willowbrook State School

The Real Horror

Willowbrook State School was a state institution for children with intellectual disabilities. Opened in 1947, it became:

• Massively overcrowded (6,000 residents when designed for 4,000)
• Understaffed and underfunded
• The site of terrible neglect and abuse
• A hepatitis experiment ground (injecting children with the virus)

The Geraldo Rivera Exposé (1972)

Reporter Geraldo Rivera broadcast footage from Willowbrook showing:

• Naked children lying in their own waste
• Overcrowded wards with minimal supervision
• Disease, malnutrition, and neglect
• Conditions described as “a snake pit”

The exposé led to reforms and Willowbrook’s eventual closure in 1987.

The Tunnels

Willowbrook’s sprawling campus included:

• Multiple buildings connected by tunnels
• Abandoned structures as the population decreased
• Hidden areas where anyone could hide
• A perfect setting for the Cropsey legend

The Disappearances

The Missing Children

Between 1972 and 1987, children vanished from Staten Island:

Jennifer Schweiger (1987)

• 12 years old, with Down syndrome
• Disappeared July 9
• Her body was found on Willowbrook grounds 35 days later
• She had been buried in a shallow grave

Holly Ann Hughes (1981)

• 7 years old
• Last seen at a store near the Willowbrook grounds
• Never found

Tiahease Jackson (1983)

• 11 years old
• Disappeared from a group home
• Never found

Hank Gafforio (1972)

• 15 years old, with intellectual disabilities
• Went missing from a state school
• Never found

Multiple others

• Several other children disappeared over the years
• Some cases were connected; others remain unclear

Andre Rand

The Drifter

Andre Rand was a former employee of Willowbrook State School:

• Worked there in the 1960s
• Was fired after accusations of inappropriate behavior
• Continued to live on the grounds in abandoned buildings
• Became a transient, living in the tunnels and woods

Description

Those who knew him described:

• An unsettling presence
• Someone who made children uncomfortable
• A figure who lurked around playgrounds and schools
• The living embodiment of the Cropsey legend

The Investigation

After Jennifer Schweiger’s body was found near his campsite:

• Rand was arrested
• He was linked to multiple missing children
• Physical evidence was limited
• Witnesses were often challenged in court

Convictions

Jennifer Schweiger (1988)

• Rand was convicted of first-degree kidnapping
• Sentenced to 25 years to life
• He has always maintained innocence

Holly Ann Hughes (2004)

• Years later, Rand was tried for her kidnapping
• He was convicted based on witness testimony
• He received an additional 25 years to life

The Other Children

Rand was never charged in the other disappearances:

• Bodies were never found
• Evidence was circumstantial
• He refused to cooperate with investigators
• The cases remain officially unsolved

Legend Made Real

The Terrible Symmetry

The Cropsey legend and Andre Rand aligned perfectly:

• An institutionalized person
• Living in the abandoned Willowbrook tunnels
• Targeting children
• Operating in the same woods parents warned about

The boogeyman was supposed to be fiction. He wasn’t.

The Community

Staten Island grappled with:

• How to explain the truth to children
• The guilt of institutions that failed
• The horror of real monsters
• The way folklore can predict reality

The Documentary

Cropsey (2009)

Filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio, both Staten Island natives who grew up with the legend, created a documentary:

• Explored the legend’s origins
• Investigated Rand’s crimes
• Interviewed families of victims
• Examined how folklore and reality intersected

The film asks: Did the community know Rand was dangerous and do nothing? Did the legend obscure the real threat?

Andre Rand Today

Still Incarcerated

Rand remains in prison:

• He is eligible for parole (repeatedly denied)
• He has never admitted to any crime
• He has never revealed where the missing children are
• Families still wait for answers

The Silence

Rand’s refusal to speak means:

• Parents will never know what happened
• Children will never be found
• Closure is impossible
• He holds power even from prison

The Legacy

What Cropsey Teaches

The Cropsey case demonstrates:

• How urban legends can reflect real dangers
• How institutions can enable predators
• How communities can be blind to threats
• The thin line between folklore and history

The Ongoing Tragedy

For the families of Holly Ann Hughes, Tiahease Jackson, Hank Gafforio, and others:

• There is no resolution
• Their children are still missing
• Rand could speak but chooses not to
• The boogeyman won

Staten Island Today

The Memory Persists

Willowbrook grounds are now:

• Partially developed
• Partially parkland (Greenbelt)
• Still eerie to longtime residents
• Forever associated with the legend

A New Generation

Today’s Staten Island children may not know Cropsey. But their parents do. And in the woods near what was once Willowbrook, the memory lingers:

A boogeyman who was supposed to be fake. Children who never came home. A monster who turned out to be just a man. And questions that will never be answered.

Some stories are told to scare children. Some stories come true.

Cropsey was both.