NY Ferry Sank By Giant Octopus: A Hoax

Tourists and locals alike have been victimized by an elaborate hoax behind the bronze memorial statue of a giant octopus sinking a ferry, the Cornelius G. Kolff, reportedly causing the death of 400 passengers, around 53 years ago.

The bronze memorial recently appeared at Battery Park, near the other memorials for sailors and soldiers who were lost at sea, in battle or in disasters, according to an Associated Press report in the Washington Post. The memorial directed tourists to the Staten Island Ferry Disaster Memorial Museum, where supposed wreckage which was not existent

An Elaborate, Well-Planned Hoax

According to the report, the elaborate hoax was the brainchild of artist Joseph Reginella. Aside from the monument, there is also a website that looks real, a documentary (which you can watch below), fake newspaper articles as well as promotional flyers that all point to the museum supposedly located across the harbor. The website even has a gift shop that sells memorial t-shirts.

Reginella called it a “multimedia art project and social experience – not maliciously – about how gullible people are.” It started out a silly story he told his nephew while on the ferry, about a giant octopus living in the waters around Staten Island, which eventually evolved into an elaborate art project.

The project took six months to prepare, including the documentary that was done by videographer and filmmaker Melanie Giuliano. Giuliano conscripted her father to play the role of a maritime expert and a neighbor as someone who supposedly witnessed the event.

Reginella admitted that he needed to move the memorial around every two days, so that it will not be confiscated by the city. He also spends some time around the memorial to listen to peoples’ conversations about the memorial and the event itself.

Most of their conversations revolved around whether it was true or not, just because no one has ever heard of the event. He said that he would sometimes join in and say that the event did not get that much coverage because it happened on the same day as the JFK assassination, on November 22, 1963.

There is one grain of truth in the whole story and this is the steam ferry Cornelius G. Kolff, which ferried passengers to Staten Island and back for 36 years, and later became a floating dormitory for Rikers Island prisoners.

Watch mockumentary below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmrDm0xKzSw