When I first heard about this documentary, I got goosebumps, a premonition that I would love this thing! I am a documentary snob! I want a 24/7 speculation/paranormal documentary channel!!! I can sit and watch them all day on a day off. But, this particular documentary caught my attention because it covered everything from childhood, small towns, and secrets.
Staten Island was a dumping ground of trash and mob bodies, the location of a TB clinic and a gigantic mental institute where children with deficiencies were sent. The conditions were horrendous and a young Geraldo Rivera uncovered it on the news. The place shut down, but some of the tenants still lurked around the over 300 acres and in the tunnels under the buildings. Children in the neighborhoods of Staten Island went missing in the 70s and 80s. A man was arrested, a very troubled, very dark man.
A man and a woman who grew up on Staten Island grew up with the tales of a man called "Cropsey" who supposedly stole children and killed them in horrible ways. It was a legend that kept children in line. But, these two decide to go in search of the legend and uncover the abandoned buildings of the mental hospital, the woods in which this evil man lived like a wild thing, and the truth behind his murder trial and the witnesses around the case.
This documentary is part urban legend, part scary abandoned mental asylum, part murder mystery. It's very well done and very disturbing and you will not look away for one minute, I promise.
I've always had a dream goal of being a published writer and a documentarian. This documentary reignited my desire to do documentaries and so I am going to try my hand at some documentary shorts relating to the abandoned and haunted places and ghost towns I explore. Expect to see this influence evolve on my blog.
