LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — A Long Island man hiking through the woods in Berkeley Jackson County Park stumbled upon a scene that could have come straight out of a horror movie.
James Rankin posted a video of the scene on Facebook that showed numerous missing persons posters attached to trees.
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One, which he took to the Suffolk County Police Department as evidence of his find, was Orlando’s Jennifer Kesse, who was reported missing in 2006.
Rankin’s video, which was posted Oct. 3, has been viewed more than 1.3 million times and shared almost 27,000 times.
Comments on Rankin’s Facebook post range from terrified shock to skepticism, with some saying that the video is part of a viral marketing campaign for a movie.
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“It’s where they filmed the new 'Blair Witch' (movie), (and) they left the props there,” one commenter said.
Media outlets in New York confirmed to the Suffolk County Police Department that Rankin reported what he found in the middle of the woods.
“This is either going to turn out to be nothing at all, or something serious,” Rankin said on his Facebook page. “I think we’re all hoping it turns out to be nothing, but popular opinion seems to be that I should say something just in case this is actually something serious.”
Some commenters said the scene was set up by the property owner for a Halloween party.
The claim was met with skepticism, though, with people pointing out that Halloween is weeks away and that the missing persons posters were weathered and looked like they had been there for a while.
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Some people were disgusted by the idea that someone would set up such a scene for a party, if that were the case.
“So disturbing someone would use real missing people pictures,” one person wrote. “(It) is disgusting and not funny to make it as a Halloween prank.”
The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Kesse, who was 24 when she vanished in 2006, remain a mystery.
Police have no suspects and continue to investigate her disappearance.
Police in Orlando have not said whether they are looking into the Long Island find as a possible lead in the case.