Our Strange Meanderings: Weird Musings on Strange Travels.

A deeper dive into familial connections with abandoned mental facilities, Willowbrook State School, convicted murderers .

Greetings Readers!

Firstly, thank you to those who took time to read and like the first installment of our evolving, work in progress new blog. As I cited in Part One, these first few articles will document elements from my childhood and life that have direct or adjacent connections to true crime events, locations and people. This will continue to be a semi-autobiographical focus on topics cited in Part One. In the first part I discussed my parents move to California, the Hotel Cecil, home of Richard Ramirez “The Nightstalker” in the ’80s, and their proximity to one of the Manson Family murders.

All of this as a prelude to the strange meanderings my wife and I have documented, which have had historical, occult, true crime, alleged paranormal backgrounds.

Before I begin I want to cite that I am not happy about these connections. It is not to offer something of shock value. In fact some of it can be seen as sad, yet eye opening that they even exist. Many people may be able to claim similar connections, or where they were when certain tragic events took place. However, as you will see over the course of the next few articles theres a few more eye opening connections.

Below I will discuss “Uncle W.” and my connection to certain people and events. Uncle W was the family genealogist who shared his findings with my parents. There are very interesting stories to be found about my ancestors, such as our criminal ancestors, most notably The Pine Robbers, or Pine Bandits ca 1770s. This will be explored in a later article as my wife and I have visited abandoned Burdge cemeteries, old farms and sites all over New Jersey related to my family. It doesn’t make me jump for joy knowing some of the dark Pine Bandit activities, or other connections I reveal below. But I find it interesting enough to ponder, research, and write about, whether fiction or non-fiction. If you read our last work of weird fiction, “Eldritch Tides,” there are several references to The Pine Bandits.

At the end of Part One I said I would share with you childhood paranormal experiences, and a discussion about my “belief” in the paranormal. However, before I get to that discussion, I want to cover two other familial connections first. Concerning family names, when I cite an Uncle or relative I will use only first initials such as “Uncle W.” whom I shall discuss first.

When my father was in the Army ca 1966-69, and my Mom was graduating from Stonybrook University, my Uncle W., my father’s older brother, had finished college. One of his first places of employment was Willowbrook State School located in Staten Island, New York.

Uncle W., would go on to work in a variety of facilities such as a minimum security prison on Staten Island and others in upstate New York as a teacher and educator of prisoners. However, since Willowbrook was one of his first, if not the first place he was employed post college, I am not entirely sure at the time of this writing what his function was at Willowbrook.

I had heard from my father, who was close with Uncle W., that his brother had worked there in the late 1960s. I have made attempts to locate Willowbrook employee records with the New York State Archives, and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), and were told they do not have records that far back. Perhaps that is true, or no one wants to share said information. I do not know. So I took a different route, since Uncle W. passed away in the ’90s, I inquired with his son, my cousin. In turn he asked his Mom, my Aunt and widow of Uncle W. Indeed she was able confirm that she remembers him working there and recalls that Willowbrook had been shut down due to “stories by Geraldo Rivera.”

Geraldo Rivera’s exposé “The Last Great Disgrace,” was his first big break, and this can be viewed on Youtube. Investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera’s exposé documentary of Willowbrook State School revealed gruesome conditions and neglected mentally disabled children. Rivera won a Peabody Award for this documentary and has done several follow-ups.

Now, during the years Uncle W. was employed at Willowbrook State School there was an employee named Frank Rushan who would later change his name to Andre Rand. Does that name bring back stories from the 1980s of a convicted kidnapper and murderer?

Rushan worked as an orderly and physical therapy aide in the years 1966-1968 at Willowbrook State School.

Did Uncle W. know Rushan, I haven’t any idea nor will I ever know if they met.

“On May 5, 1969, Rand was arrested in the South Bronx for kidnapping and attempting to rape a 9-year-old girl, whom he had enticed into his car and driven to a vacant lot. He removed his clothes and hers, but a passing police car interrupted the crime. Charged with attempted rape, Rand pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and was sentenced to four years. He served sixteen months in prison, gaining parole in January 1972 and legally changing his name to Andre Rand, but logging three more arrests by the end of the decade for “minor” offenses, including burglary.”~~Wikipedia

In Part One I cited being three steps from one of the most foul beings to walk the earth, Adolf Hitler. Now I present another link to horrible places and people via Uncle W., 1) he worked at Willowbrook State School and 2) at the same time as Andre Rand. In citing this I am not glorifying the neglect nor alleged abuse at Willowbrook. Nor am I citing this to protest any actions Uncle W may or may not have taken, or whatever his job may have been. I may never know exactly what role Uncle W played, if any in the sad story that is Willowbrook State School. However, this connection does not end here.

First , if you are unfamiliar with Andre Rand, his crimes and the legend of Cropsey, I highly recommend the 2009 documentary “Cropsey,” by Joshua Zeman. In 1983 my family moved to Staten Island, and most of my childhood from age 11 to 18 was spent on Staten Island. Like Zeman I grew up hearing stories of Cropsey, especially in Rolling Hills Day Camp. The documentary highlights missing children from the 1970’s and 80’s due to Andre Rand and other potential associates and groups. I will discuss those memories and early Staten Island life later in a future article. For the moment please visit Amazon Prime Video to watch Cropsey if you have not seen it yet

In the documentary Zeman points out elements he discovered of Rand’s early life. In 1958 Rand was only 14 when his father passed away, and shortly thereafter his mother was committed to Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center.

At one time Pilgrim State held upwards of 13,000 people, and was considered the largest psychiatric facility in the world and Willowbrook State School was designed, built and functioned just like Pilgrim State. After Geraldo’s expose it took more than 10 years for Willowbrook to be shut down.

This is where another Rand connection to my family comes in. At the same time Rand’s mother resided at Pilgrim State, my great Aunt Annette, my father’s Aunt was also a patient at Pilgrim State. They may not have known one another, or if they did, there is no way of knowing for sure at this time. As with Uncle W. working at Willowbrook in the same years as Andre Rand, there is no direct evidence they knew one another. To be honest it’s actually disturbing to know there are connections at all to the Rushan family and “The Pied Piper of Staten Island,” Andre Rand. So while Uncle W. worked at Willowbrook at the same time as Rand, his Aunt had been neighborly in a psych unit with Rand’s mother.

In the 1990’s the campus of Willowbrook State School was bought and converted into the new College of Staten Island, which is where my wife currently is employed as a teacher. It was building #6 that Geraldo entered and filmed the state of its residents in 1972, which is now the main cafeteria at the College of Staten Island.

There is quite a bit to digest, and will leave the story here for now. In the next article I will offer our 1st meandering, a walk through Willowbrook today. In this I will share some of the Willowbrook Mile where former residents, patients and victims are memorialized. For me it is important to remember at the core of the Willowbrook stories and associated horrors, are the victims.

Lastly, in addition to the Willowbrook Mile in Part Three I will discuss a small connection to the November 13th 1974 Defeo family murders in Amityville, and my first introduction to horror.