New York's Dark Side17 Mar 2023

WillowBrook State School and the Urban Legend of Cropsey

Willowbrook State School... a now abandoned institution in Staten Island, New York for persons with mental and physical disabilities that NYS opened in 1942. We'll talk about the tragic circumstances that residents at Willowbrook lived in- including some being subjected to confirmed human experimentation. Dr. Saul Krugman, a pediatrician and professor at New York University and Dr. Robert W. McCollum a virologist and epidemiologist at Yale School of Medicine performed studies at Willowbrook on the residents from 1956-1971, intentionally giving children hepatitis to try to work on a vaccination. This case help lead to the regulations around human experimentation that we have today. Dr. Michael Wilkins, a physician who worked at Willowbrook had been advocating to parents of residents within his wards to demand better care and conditions for the residents within. He was let go from his position and reached out to news journalist Geraldo Rivera and a print journalist Jane Kurtin. In February of 1972, Geraldo Rivera with help from Jane Kurtin, would release an expose on Willowbrook, titled “Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace”. We'll tie in the urban legend of Cropsey, an urban legend in the Staten Island area that was turned into a documentary film released by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio, two Staten Island filmmakers. This will segue into the topic of the second episode, where we'll be discussing the connection to Andre Rand, a convicted sex offender and suspected serial killers, also known as the 'Pied Piper of Staten Island'. Andre Rand worked for a time at Willowbrook and lived on the grounds after the school closed.

Episode Transcript

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