Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Episode 150 – Terrifying True Urban Legends: Cropsey and The Missing Children
November 6, 2025 | Host: Kayla Moore

Overview

This episode dives deep into the chilling intersection of urban legend and grim reality in Staten Island, New York. Host Kayla Moore unpacks the haunting legend of Cropsey—a supposed monster lurking in the woods targeting children—and traces its roots to the real history of Willowbrook State School. The episode reveals how horrifying abuses at this institution, alongside a series of unsolved disappearances and murders, transformed rumor into nightmarish truth. Moore investigates the origins of the Cropsey legend, the atrocities within Willowbrook, the terrifying acts of Andre Rand, and the legacy of trauma, activism, and myth that still endures.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Cropsey Urban Legend

[01:36–05:30]

• The legend of Cropsey—a monstrous figure living in the ruins of an abandoned asylum, preying on children—was told for generations in Staten Island, warning kids and parents alike.
• Unlike most urban legends, Cropsey is grounded in true events and a real place: Willowbrook State School.

Quote:

• "Cropsey wanders throughout the back alleys and side streets of nearby suburbs, a transient man looking for work. But wherever he goes, children tend to disappear." – Kayla Moore [01:36]

2. Willowbrook State School: The Foundation of Horror

[05:30–14:29]

• Willowbrook opened in 1948 as the nation’s largest institution for developmentally disabled children.
• Outwardly idyllic, inside it rapidly became overcrowded and grossly underfunded, with poorly trained staff and horrifying neglect.
• Kayla recounts nurse Diane Buglioli's first impressions: children locked behind three steel doors, sitting in squalor, many malnourished and traumatized.

Quote:

• "What institution keeps their patients behind three steel doors?" – Recounting Diane Buglioli's experience [08:36]
• "The truth of the matter was the hospital had no idea what it was doing... Instead of tending to each child's needs, they were often locked behind steel doors and left to fend for themselves." – Kayla Moore [09:15]

3. Medical Cruelty & Human Experimentation

[14:29–21:27]

• Dr. Saul Krugman conducted infamous hepatitis experiments on Willowbrook children, infecting them intentionally to study the disease.
• Consent was obtained under duress, as desperate parents were forced to agree or risk their child being denied admission.
• Children were given hepatitis-tainted chocolate milk, resulting in lifelong harm.

Quote:

• "Basically, Dr. Krugman gave each of the children a glass of chocolate milk and he told them to drink it very quickly. What he didn't tell them or their parents was that the milk had been mixed with the feces of other infected children." – Kayla Moore [19:32]
• "These experiments were, to quote another doctor at the time, unjustifiable, whatever the aims and however academically or therapeutically important the results." – Kayla Moore [20:40]

4. Political Scandal, Public Outrage, and the Institutional Downfall

[21:27–26:16]

• Senator Robert F. Kennedy famously condemned Willowbrook as a "snake pit," yet efforts to reform the facility failed amid budget crises.
• Understaffing and poor oversight led to even greater danger; staff with past criminal backgrounds—including sexual predators—were employed with little or no background checks.

Quote:

• "To give you a quick picture of the kind of person that Willowbrook was hiring at the time, there was a custodian... who lied on his job application. They just never checked." – Kayla Moore [23:03]

5. Disappearances, Murders, and the Birth of a Real Monster

[26:16–32:16]

• Multiple women working at or near Willowbrook disappeared or were murdered in the late 1970s, never solved. Paranoia about a lurking predator grew.
• These events coincided with coverage exposing abuse at Willowbrook, emptying the institution and giving rise to stories of haunted woods and an ever-present evil.

Quote:

• "It felt almost like someone was watching them. And to Ethel Louise Atwell, she was not the first Willowbrook employee to disappear that year." – Kayla Moore [28:55]

6. Andre Rand: The Man Behind the Monster

[32:16–40:55]

• In 1987, 12-year-old Jennifer Schweiger (who had Down syndrome) disappeared in the woods near Willowbrook. Her body was later found in a shallow grave on the grounds.
• Local transient Andre Rand was connected by eyewitnesses. He was a former Willowbrook employee with a record of sexual assaults and attempted kidnappings.
• Rand had used numerous aliases; his criminal acts spanned decades, including kidnapping multiple children.
• No physical evidence ever directly connected Rand to the murders, but public fear and circumstantial links built his monstrous reputation.

Quote:

• "You're not gonna recognize that name, but I have already told you about Andre Rand in this story. Remember Frank Bruschetta, the sex offender who had lied about his name to get a job at Willowbrook? ...He was now known as Andre Rand." – Kayla Moore [33:18]
• "He was really creepy looking, first and foremost. He had this eerie, faraway gaze." – Kayla Moore [36:22]

7. Trial, Sentencing, and Enduring Urban Legend

[40:55–42:48]

• Rand was convicted of kidnapping Jennifer Schweiger and later, Holly Ann Hughes, but the evidence was largely circumstantial. He's been in prison since, eligible for parole in 2037.
• The Cropsey legend has since merged with Rand's crimes, blending real horror with folklore and even Satanic Panic-era rumors.

Quote:

• "Even the name Cropsey doesn’t really have anything to do with Rand. It was the name that was given to him... now Cropsey is synonymous with Rand and Willowbrook." – Kayla Moore [41:37]

8. Lasting Legacy, Social Reform, and Hope

[42:48–end]

• Out of Willowbrook’s horrors came activism: former nurse Diane Buglioli co-founded "A Very Special Special Place" to support people with disabilities.
• The class action lawsuit and exposure of the school’s abuses inspired federal legislation—eventually leading to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Quote:

• "Willowbrook was a place of horrors. But the name of this horribly mismanaged institution is now synonymous with disability rights. And that is a more worthwhile legacy than any summer camp boogeyman." – Kayla Moore [43:25]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The neglect, the malnutrition, being locked behind all of those steel doors. But unfortunately for everyone involved, it was about to get worse.” – Kayla Moore [20:12]
• “Why kidnap 11 kids just to drop them off exactly where you found them? Now some people think it's because he had something really horrible in mind, but maybe got nervous and bailed on his own plan.” – Kayla Moore [35:50]
• “What's even scarier, at least to me, is the horrors that persisted inside of those buildings for over 30 years. But that's not the stuff of legend. That was real and it was horrible.” – Kayla Moore [42:39]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:36] – Introduction to the Cropsey legend & Willowbrook State School
• [05:30] – Founding and false promises of Willowbrook
• [08:36] – Nurse Diane Buglioli’s harrowing first day
• [14:29] – Start of the hepatitis human experiments
• [21:27] – Robert F. Kennedy’s tour and condemnation
• [26:16] – Disappearances of women and rise of rumors
• [32:18] – The disappearance and discovery of Jennifer Schweiger
• [33:18] – Revealing Andre Rand’s true identity and criminal record
• [36:22] – Rand arrested and public perception
• [40:55] – Trials, convictions and the blurring of legend/reality
• [42:48] – Positive aftermath: activism and disability rights

Resources Mentioned

• Book: Public Hostage, Public Ransom by Dr. William Bronston
• Documentary: Cropsey by Joshua Zieman and Barbara Brancaccio

Tone & Style

Kayla Moore guides this journey with empathy, curiosity, and a haunting sense of wonder, balancing factual research with a campfire storytelling vibe. The episode is dark and unsettling, but ends with hope—ensuring the real victims receive dignity and the lessons of history inform the ongoing fight for justice and disability rights.

Conclusion

This isn’t just a story of monsters in the woods—it’s about real, human-made horror, the blurred lines between legend and reality, and how society’s cruelties can spawn myths that reflect both our deepest fears and our failures. Moore closes by uplifting the activism inspired by Willowbrook’s survivors, reminding listeners that sometimes the scariest tales are those history almost forgets.

“Stay curious.” – Kayla Moore [43:35]