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Animal Remains in Prospect Park: Santeria or Just Butchery?
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 24, 2010
Modified Mar 24, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 24, 2010
Modified Mar 24, 2010
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If you're still eating your breakfast burrito, you may want to skip this one: Chicken heads, feet, and "the entrails of a large animal" have been revolting visitors to Prospect Park in recent weeks, and no one knows who's behind the butchery. Most of the remains have been gathered at one spot near the lakebed at the southwest corner of the park, and at least eight chicken heads were recently found, plus intestines and chicken feet. "It was so gross," local Susan Yuen tells the Brooklyn Paper, in an article packed with great quotes. "I saw a chicken head, it started to smell as [a Parks employee] pulled it all out of the water!"
"It was quite repulsive," says another observer, Bonita Makuch. "With a pile that big, it seems to me you’d have to do a lot of killing to get that many guts." And frequent park visitor Ed Bahlman caught a small moment of animal slapstick arise from the revolting scene: "The chicken’s neck was stretched out facing the lake on the rocks — the head was in the water. No feathers, just flesh. A swan ended up knocking the head into the lake."
Dog owners are cautioned to keep their pets away from the lake. "Your dog wants to drink the water, and it’s dangerous," warns Bob Ipcar, a member of the dog advocacy group FIDO. "Everybody wants to feed the ducks, and there are chicken heads floating around. They need to come and rake this stuff out." Bahlman's worried the lake is now poisoned, and says the swans and geese that usually flock to eat breadcrumbs have been staying away: "They’re afraid. They know something is wrong. They’ve seen so much."
This is hardly the first time visitors to NYC parks have been revolted by animal remains. Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx has seen its share of gross-outs, and some speculate that they're leftover from Santeria rituals. A Parks official thinks Santeria may be involved here, but Bahlman disagrees because "there was no blood, unlike last time. Now, they’re dumping dead animals in the park. I do not believe this was a sacrifice."
Tagged
animal remains
butcher
prospect park
sacrifice
santeria
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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