Tragedy’s fake; memorial’s real
Eduardo Vargas was walking in Battery Park recently when he noticed a small memorial overlooking New York Harbor. 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 Ed Koch and the longshoreman’s Local 333 to memorialize a littleknown harbour tragedy from 1977.
All six crew members from a tugboat, the Maria 120, had “mysteriously vanished while investigating what appeared to be a private aircraft crash in New York Harbor,” the plaque reads. An alien figure is depicted lying at the feet of the seaman, whose raised hand seems intended to block a bright light overhead. Then there is the logo atop the plaque — is that a spaceship hovering over the Statue of Liberty?
“Is this a joke?” said another passerby, Suzanne Mason, 40, a tourist from France.
Her half-incredulous reaction brought a smile to Joe Reginella, 47, who was standing nearby. Reginella, a commercial artist from Staten Island, recently created the statue as a hoax.
“I made it as a social experiment, to enjoy that moment when people actually believe it — and it just blows my mind that most people do,” Reginella said.
Since September, Reginella has risen early on weekend mornings and carted it over on the Staten Island Ferry to a fixed location near the Statue of Liberty ferry dock. The area bustles with tourists waiting for boats, taking in the harbour and stopping at the military monuments.
Reginella hovers nearby to observe and photograph reactions, which range from dismissive snorts to puzzled internet searches on cellphones. Many people just snap a photo and move on, confident they have captured another tourist site.
Reginella enjoys eavesdropping on viewers’ conversations, often while pretending to fish nearby. He frequently poses with tourists, imitating the sailor’s stance. At times, he offers offhand remarks that support the absurd narrative. He might point out the nearby racks that display tourist pamphlets. There, passersby can find glossy fake brochures advertising a $25 “Harbor Mystery Cruise” to visit the site of the vanished tugboat.
Reginella said he mostly sets the statue up on weekend days when the weather is nice. He brings it home at night to protect it — and its mystique.
He said no park employees or enforcement officers have objected since he began displaying the monument — although several have taken selfies with it.
He did get nervous, however, when a U.S. Park Police officer recently pulled up in his cruiser and got out. But the uniformed officer only pulled out his phone, took a photo of the statue and left. Still, Reginella decided to pack up, which took less than five minutes.
“See?” he said, wheeling the UFO Tugboat monument back to the Staten Island Ferry.
“It’s like it never existed.”