What is a “Cropsey,” if you’re like me and I’m sure many others, you’ve probabily never heard of this word before now, but you are definitely very familiar with the notion of what the word, Cropsey represents. Cropsey as described in the Cropsey documentary is the “generic term for manic” (“Cropsey”). Cropsey is the awful human being that’s “out there, lurking in the shadows” (“Cropsey”). But of course, Cropsey must be an urban legend that has been passed down from one scared adolescent to another over time right? There isn’t really such a scary and evil individual that exists is there? Well, the film Cropsey explores the very question as to whether or not Andre Rand, an accused murder and convicted kidnapper is “the Cropsey” of Staten Island.…show more content… The documentary clearly presents the notion that the community needed a scapegoat, they needed a villain, someone that they could blame, and they found that in Andre Rand (“Cropsey”). It didn’t matter if he was innocent because once the media was involved, guilt or innocence’s didn’t matter anymore, what mattered was keeping the hysteria going. The documentary Cropsey, presents how the media manipulated the situation, which had a substantial impact on Rand’s image and case. Once his image was aired he became guilty for everyone, as stated in Cropsey, “that image forced a lot of people in the community to say, that is the killer, that man is not right”. The media itself made no effort to inquire what the actual evidence was, if there were any other possible suspects or if this was just a mentally ill homeless drifter. In my opinion the crime was reported, but only one side of the story was told. Because the media focused so much on the details of Jennifer’s disappearance this made people more sympathetic to the case. This is the way the film explaining why Rand was arrested and conviction of Jennifer Schweiger kidnapping with no solid evidence, yet it just wasn’t enough to convict him of murder…show more content… This eventually led to the case of Holly Ann Huges, which was conveniently brought to trial at the time that Rand was close to being up for parole (“Cropsey”). Rand was convicted of Hughes kidnapping and again as stated in Cropsey “there wa[i] no physical or documentary evidence” against him. This continues to build the documentary’s case proving that Rand guilt for the crimes he was convicted of were never actually proven, it was merely a monster
