Cropsey, The Real Boogeyman of Staten Island

In this episode, we examine the disappearance of six-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, a medically fragile child who was last seen months before authorities were alerted. What started as a routine welfare check turned into a disturbing investigation involving deception, alleged ab ...  Show more

In the hills outside Philadelphia lies Duffy’s Cut, a stretch of railroad haunted by whispers, strange lights, and a century-old secret. What began as a ghost story passed down through generations slowly revealed a hidden chapter of American history involving immigrant laborers, ...  Show more

In the 1970s and ‘80s, teens in Staten Island were terrified by the legend of Cropsey: an escaped mental patient who roamed the woods and had a penchant for kidnapping and murdering innocent children. Some say Cropsey was merely a campfire tale… but he may actually be based on a ...  Show more

Growing up on Staten Island, filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio had often heard the legend of ‘Cropsey.’ For the kids in their neighborhood, Cropsey was the escaped mental patient who lived in the old abandoned Willowbrook Mental Institution, who would come out late a ...  Show more

When a 10-year-old girl didn’t come back from a quick trip to the store on a cold January night in 1988, her family and the Pawtucket, Rhode Island community searching for her feared the worst. Then weeks later when her body was found miles away, those fears were confirmed… an ...

Welcome to the Dark History podcast. Today we’re talking about a place that NYC has tried to erase from its maps: Hart Island. Since the day it was discovered, it has been used as a prison, a war training camp, and even an insane asylum. Today, millions of dead bodies are kept on ...  Show more