As a native New Yorker and a paranormal investigator, I have to say that in my opinion, the creepiest borough in New York City is Staten Island. Not Manhattan, not Brooklyn. Queens is barely on my radar, and the Bronx is scary for non-paranormal reasons, but the forgotten borough is the place to be if you want to be really creeped out. Even the Native Americas who once resided there, the Lenni-Lanape, called Staten Island “Aquehonga Monocknong,” roughly translated as “the place of bad woods.” Charming, huh?
And to this day, there are still many creepy, allegedly haunted places on the island: Willowbrook Park and the College of Staten Island (which used to be the Willowbrook State School), the abandoned Seaview Hospital and Farm Colony, Wolfe’s Pond Park, Snug Harbor, the Conference House, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, and…well, you get the point. Anyway, to add to the spookiness, now there are reports of a creepy clown roaming the island. Not paranormal, but it just goes to show you that there’s something about Staten Island that just isn’t quite right.
Because sitting in an hour of traffic to go two miles isn’t scary enough as it is…
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Maybe he’s trying to get a few laughs, but there have been several reports of a mysterious clown wandering the borough, and he seems to be spooking Staten Islanders on social media.
While it’s uncertain who the person is, folks have photographed the face-painted individual wearing a yellow clown suit, white puffy collar, and trademark red nose.
This clown is also bald and was spotted holding green and yellow balloons.
Sightings have been reported by the Grasmere and Richmond Valley train stations. Two photos of the oddball have appeared on Instagram, with one showing the clown standing in front of a detour sign. Another image shows him lurking behind a tree.
One Instagram user compared the costumed character to Bozo, a former professional wrestler known as Doink, and the infamous Pennywise, from Stephen King’s “It.”
Westerleigh resident Vincent Innocente spotted the clown by the South Shore train station around 8 p.m. Sunday.
“He was just kinda standing there waving like he is in the picture,” he said, calling it very bizarre.
Twitter users have been losing their minds over the clown’s recent appearances, including Robert Privitera, who photographed the character in Grasmere.
“Bro I did a double take,” he tweeted, “my heart stopped.”
“The fact that there’s some [expletive] dressing as a clown and roaming around Staten Island has me never wanting to leave my house,” wrote @LisaCattt.
Why some lunatic would want to dress up as a clown and wander Staten Island at night is beyond me. I’m just glad I’m back in Brooklyn, where the crazies all dress like normal crazy people. Dressing up like a creepy clown is a special kind of crazy.
