How does a community deal with an Urban Legend that turns into something real? In the new documentary Cropsey directors Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman delve into the story of Andre Rand, the Pied Piper of Staten Island. Going into watching Cropsey I was expecting documentary that plays like a horror film and while there are a couple of moments that play up the horror aspect I became more interested in what the film makers had to say about how urban legends develop and the story of how Rand was convicted.

The beginning of Cropsey deals with the background behind Staten Island and the mental institutions that used to be run there. Just like how the Island became a dumping ground for the actual garbage of New York it also became a place where children who were deemed unstable or mentally unhealthy were discarded. At one point the hospital housed over 6,000 patients. When towns and communities started to develop legends of escaped patients living in the heavily wooded area became common and kids would haunt each other and make dares of entering the woods and the by then abandoned institution.

In the 70s and 80s children started to disappear and while at first no one ties the disappearances together eventually it becomes evident that one person or group is likely responsible. After some initial searching and some coincidental evidence is found Andre Rand is apprehended and brought in. While there is some evidence that points to him being in the area it is mostly just the way that Rand looks that convinced people he was the abductor. While there is obviously something wrong with Rand the documentary does a good job of staying unbiased and clearly points out how he may or may not be the abductor. Rand was convicted and spent much of his life in prison.

Much of the movie is spent interviewing people who “knew” Rand. Some of them are the police that investigated him and others only know him in passing. Many of them seem to have come up with some elaborate conspiracy or story as to why he was abducting children. Tales of devil worshiping cults are talked about. Some believe that Rand was simply the person responsible for gathering children to be sacrificed. In many ways Rand is turned into the bogey man that teenagers told stories about.

While the documentary does have its moments of “horror” what really draws the viewer in is discovering how the people of Staten Island react to the terror of their children being taken away from them and their search for an explanation. I am not really sure whether or not Rand truly is the Pied Piper of Staten Island and I don’t believe that the documentary is trying to prove he is. What it does do though is show how our search for an explanation for tragedies forces people to create monsters out of nowhere. Cropsey does indeed create a sense of fear in me but not that something might jump out at me. I am more worried that one day something bad will happen in the area I live in and average people around will start to make strange connections and see cultists, devil worshipers and other monsters. For me, that is much more terrifying.

Cropsey is showing on Investigation Discovery this Friday night (Jandy’s Film on TV Post). It is definitely worth checking out and while you won’t be jumping out of your seat scared you will be frightened by how bogey man are created.