Strange Pictures

Unlike these other mysterious stories that have no clear ending, this ordeal is truly behind us. If you were a kid growing up in Staten Island, you must have heard about Cropsey, a boogyman who lived in the woods and made a nightly habit of hurting children.

Unlike most boogymen, this one was proved to be real, and was caught by the police. The year was 1987, and Andre Rand was convicted of child abduction. As it turns out, Rand was connected to a series of child disappearances that took place throughout the 1970s. As if that’s not enough, Rand also worked at Willowbrook, which was a defunct mental institution, a fact that helped the story spread out across the country.