Page 58 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Late January 2019

58 UFO Over the Statue of Liberty?

U.F.O. Over the Statue of

Liberty? ‘The Banksy of

Monuments’ Strikes Again

By Corey Kilgannon

Eduardo Vargas was walking in Battery Park
recently when he noticed a small memorial
overlooking New York Harbor.
Mr. Vargas, in town from San Diego,
squinted at a figure of a tugboat crewman
depicted in weathered bronze on a stately
pedestal situated at the southern tip of
Manhattan. A plaque on the statue claimed it
was erected in 1982 by Mayor Edward I. Koch
and the longshoreman’s Local 333, to
memorialize a little-known harbor tragedy from
1977.
All six crew members from a tugboat,
the Maria 120, had “mysteriously vanished octopus. Last year, he displayed a monument in anonymous English street artist.
while investigating what appeared to be a Brooklyn Bridge Park that memorialized a Mr. Reginella said several friends have
private aircraft crash in New York Harbor,” the Brooklyn Bridge elephant stampede. helped him create these projects. A buddy who
plaque reads. Mr. Reginella enjoys eavesdropping on is a tugboat crewman took video footage for the
“Wait, I’ve never heard of that before,” viewers’ conversations, often while pretending documentary and a singer, David Johansen,
said Mr. Vargas, 38, while looking at the statue. to fish nearby. He frequently poses with tourists, narrated a walking-tour map for the elephant
His skepticism increased as the statue’s patina imitating the sailor’s stance. At times, he offers stampede hoax website.
of officialdom gave way to weirdness. offhand remarks that support the absurd For the ferry hoax, he advertised a (fake)
An alien figure is depicted lying at the narrative. memorial museum near the (real) Snug Harbor
feet of the seaman, whose raised hand seems He might point out the nearby racks that Cultural Center on Staten Island, where visitors
intended to block a bright light overhead. Then display tourist pamphlets. There, passers-by can might view ferry relics bearing “strange
there is the logo atop the plaque — is that a find glossy fake brochures advertising a $25 suction-cup-shaped marks,” an octopus petting
spaceship hovering over the Statue of Liberty? “Harbor Mystery Cruise” to visit the site of the zoo, historical exhibits and a “Ferry Disastore”
“Is this a joke?” said another passer-by, vanished tugboat. gift shop.
Suzanne Mason, 40, a tourist from France. He might remark that the tugboat Enough people went searching for the
Her half-incredulous reaction brought a incident was overshadowed by the blackout of museum, he said, that Snug Harbor officials
smile to Joe Reginella, 47, who was standing 1977, and even suggest an internet search, called him to complain.
nearby. hoping viewers will come upon his U.F.O. “I’ll get people who see me with the
Mr. Reginella, a commercial artist from tugboat abduction website – “Learn the Truth tugboat piece and say, ‘Hey, you’re the octopus
Staten Island, recently created the statue as a about New York’s U.F.O. Cover Up.” guy, right?’” he said. “And I’ll say, ‘Shh, keep it
hoax. “People keep finding more layers and down.’”
“I made it as a social experiment, to they’re like, ‘Whoa, this could be real,’” said A tour guide, Alex Haskel, 27, recently
enjoy that moment when people actually believe Mr. Reginella, who sets his fictional incidents led a group of Spanish-speaking tourists past the
it — and it just blows my mind that most people on days when they believably might have been statue.
do,” Mr. Reginella said. overshadowed by bigger news. “It’s a social experiment,” said Mr.
The 300-pound monument looks and The ferry incident, for example, Haskel, who has discussed the monument with
feels like a permanent installation. But its base occurred on Nov. 22, 1963, the day President Mr. Reginella. “A realistic sculpture of an
is made of plywood painted convincingly to John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The incredible event that’s crazy but almost
simulate granite; the whole thing comes apart to elephants stampeded on Oct. 29, 1929, during believable.”
fit neatly on a hand truck. the Wall Street stock market crash. Mr. Reginella said he mostly sets the
Since September, Mr. Reginella has According to his U.F.O. tugboat site, the statue up on weekend days when the weather is
risen early on weekend mornings and carted it vessel was just off the Battery when the crew nice. He brings it home at night to protect it —
over on the Staten Island Ferry to a fixed saw a mysterious streak in the sky and put out a and its mystique.
location near the Statue of Liberty ferry dock. call for help for an aircraft that had crashed in He said he has never sought a permit
The area bustles with tourists waiting for boats, the harbor. When the Coast Guard arrived, because he is not damaging property, selling
taking in the harbor and stopping at the military according to the site, they found no crashed merchandise from that location or impeding
monuments. aircraft, and the tug crew had vanished. traffic. He said no park employees or
Mr. Reginella, clad in a nondescript The site describes a fake museum and enforcement officers have objected since he
bomber jacket, hovers nearby to observe and shows the trailer to a documentary about the began displaying the monument — although
photograph reactions, which range from abduction. And of course, the site offers several have taken selfies with it.
dismissive snorts to puzzled internet searches souvenirs, including “NYC U.F.O. Encounter” He did get nervous, however, when a
on cellphones. Many people just snap a photo T-shirts for $25 apiece. United States Park Police officer recently pulled
and move on, confident they have captured Mr. Reginella said he has sold roughly up in his cruiser and got out.
another tourist site. 1,500 T-shirts of the three hoaxes, of which the “O.K., I guess the jig is up,” Mr.
When he is not making public-art ferry disaster is the top seller. Reginella said as the man approached. But the
pranks, Mr. Reginella is a sculptor who creates On a recent Sunday, he watched three uniformed officer only pulled out his phone,
props and statues for movie and television women from Toronto react skeptically after took a photo of the statue and left.
shoots as well as for department stores and reading the statue’s plaque. Still, Mr. Reginella decided to pack up,
amusement parks. “How is this even here?” asked one of which took less than five minutes.
He has previously completed two them, Caitlin Rudnick, who laughed when Mr. “See?” he said, wheeling the U.F.O.
similar spoof monuments. Reginella revealed the details. Tugboat monument back to the Staten Island
A statue in 2016 paid tribute to a Staten “What is he? The Banksy of Ferry. “It’s like it never existed.” []
Island Ferry that was dragged down by a giant monuments?” she said, conjuring the