Posts Tagged ‘Queens Cobbler’
Hey Now! and auld acquaintances be forgot
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mountain Avenue to Yard Way part four/ ‘fin.’
After a fairly fun scuttle, through the South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh, one found the stinking pre-corpse that his brain is trapped within shambling forth unto the South Side Flats region. The flood plain of the Monongahela River is how I’d describe this area – quite atypical for Pittsburgh – which is a patch of absolutely flat ground.
My plan for the remainder of the day was a simple one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First, I walked out onto the South 10th street bridge to see if there was anything going on, as far as maritime traffic goes.
Allow me to teach you an Italian American slang word here – ugatz. That’s what I got, as far as boats go, ugatz.
No bueno.
Second, that brewery I used to mention all the time, that one which is nearby the railroad tracks and had been closed, has reopened – with a new owner operator occupying the space.
It had been a few weeks since I had drank a beer, so I set out to rectify that situation. I walked about six or seven blocks worth of Pennsylvania to get there, using one of the nearby waterfront trails.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Soon, while drinking a Pale Ale, CSX #3100 appeared, heading east.
After quaffing the brew, I returned my glass to the bar and then ‘inspected their porcelain.’ Refreshed, I was soon heading up a flight of stairs and towards the second level of this so called ‘Highline’ location, which the brewery is based in, towards a truss/ramp structure which offers a higher POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had a bit of time left to me, so I found a spot to sit down and then just sort of waited for something to happen. Time was passed by shooting the various T light rail units moving back and forth over the Panhandle Bridge, spanning the Monongahela River.
In the distance, to the west, a train horn sounded.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! CSX #4793 appeared, hurtling through the scenery. Hooray!
It was definitely time to head back to HQ afterwards. One began scuttling towards the T’s nearby Station Square stop, to catch a ride back to HQ in Dormont, found about five or so miles from this spot.
That’s when I saw it. Conspicuously displayed in an area which I move through regularly, and have published multiple posts about doing so.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cobbler? The Queens Cobbler?
Single shoes have been noticed recently, alongside pathways that I frequent here in Pittsburgh, starting back during the winter. Chalked this up to coincidence… something which I chuckled about… but… it’s odd.
I haven’t mentioned this to anyone, really, but I’ve been seeing cast off singular shoes, on prominent and conspicuous display for a few months now, scattered along the roads here in Pittsburgh. Can it be?
Back tomorrow… with something different… I hope…
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archetypal infinity
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One often questions the thought process of others. To wit, the waves visible on the surface of the fabulous Newtown Creek – pictured above – were caused by the passing of a jet ski. You get pretty moist when riding a jet ski, as the thing is positively cleaving the water at a high rate of speed. Speaking as someone who has spent an inordinate amount of time on all sorts of water craft on this waterway, the last thing you want to do at Newtown Creek is get wet. Particularly if it’s rained recently. Yuck.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has also been keeping busy, despite certain existential annoyances and “have to’s” manifesting themselves all around me. Given that the physical symptomology, described in prior weeks, of my malfunctioning left foot continues to bedevil and hinder necessitating transit use – there’s been lots of opportunity to photograph subway infrastructure, like the 7 train entering the Vernon Jackson station in Long Island City pictured above. Here’s your history trivia fact of the day – this was the very first subway station in Queens and it opened in June of 1916.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over in Woodside, one observed the ghastly evidentiary leave behinds of the Queens Cobbler, a likely serial killer who leaves singular shoes as taunting trophies in pursuit of tormenting the gendarmerie.
More tomorrow at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
unthinkable situations
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had to head over to industrial Maspeth recently to guide a few students around the “IBZ” or Industrial Business Zone. Their course work involves getting granular about the types and sorts of businesses in the area, the demographics of who is employed there, and how to travel to and from the area. Hey… if you want to get granular about Industrial Maspeth, who ya gonna call?
I won’t bore you with the ridiculous amount of information I tried to impart to them, rather, my intention with this post is to warn you that the Queens Cobbler seems to have returned to their nefarious ways.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been talking about the Queens Cobbler for several years at this point in time.
The first time I used the term was way back in 2014, and there have been posts mentioning the monster since then. Halloween of 2014, this one from March of 2015, another from April of 2015, and from the same month – the appearance of a potential copycat Cobbler was mentioned in this one. June of 2015 saw more evidence appear, and shoes continued to drop right on through 2016. 2017 brought more macabre trophies to the fore, and it seemed like the Queens Cobbler began to grow haughty. All through the summer of 2017, single shoe sightings began to grow in frequency. Even children aren’t safe from the Cobbler, and I should have taken the message when a singular shoe was found at my local saloon in October. Halloween of 2017? As late as middle December of 2017? Yep.
Somehow, the Queens Cobbler figured out where I live, and left a shoe on the fence surrounding HQ here in Astoria right around Christmas of 2017.
April of 2018 – uh huh. May of 2018, yessir. The last evidences of the Cobbler which I’ve spotted were in 2019.
I’ve been looking, but haven’t found any single shoes that fit the Cobbler Criteria during the pandemic months. The single shoe pictured above was spotted on the Grand Street Bridge, just last week.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Less than a block away, this sneaker was also spotted.
Theoretically, this suggests that the Queens Cobbler might be a person with financial means, and has been riding out the pandemic in some other community. Have single shoes been turning up at Gilgo Beach out on Long Island, or along the Taconic Parkway upstate? Watch out Queens, hold your children and loved ones tightly.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, November 9th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
piled coffins
Friday odds and ends.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Queens Cobbler knows no shame, as evinced by the baby booty pictured above, which the probable serial killer left behind as a ghastly trophy and taunt on Northern Blvd. Babies, Cobbler?
Today’s post carries a few images I captured while doing something else or heading towards a location where I was intending to do some shooting. “Catch as catch can” shots like these fall under my category of “snapshots” rather than the ones I consider “photographs.” What’s the difference? “Intentionality” would be my answer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To wit, that’s a fairly nice shot from the Celtic Park section of Sunnyside depicting the Empire State building rising on the horizon. I didn’t set out to get the shot, rather I was walking over to the Kosciuszcko Bridge to get some “photographs” and while crossing the street this image just jumped out at me. I’m not downplaying serendipity, and being ready for captures on the fly, but you could have just as easily gotten this shot with your phone as I did with the dslr I always have dangling off of me.
I’ve always got the camera ready to fire, as a note. Always.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay section, this butterfly suddenly appeared. How can the itinerant photographer not capture its splendor?
I’ll be conducting a tour on the NYC Ferry Soundview line tomorrow morning, link is below. Come with? Looks like it’s going to be a perfect summer day. Back Monday with something completely different at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
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Upcoming Tours and Events
Saturday, August 10, 10 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.
Exploring the East River, From General Slocum Disaster to Abandoned Islands – with NY Adventure Club.
June 15th is one of those days in NYC history. In 1904, more than a thousand people boarded a boat in lower Manhattan, heading for a church picnic on Long Island — only 321 of them would return. This is the story of the General Slocum disaster, and how New York Harbor, the ferry industry, and a community were forever altered.
Join New York Adventure Club for a two-part aquatic adventure as we explore the General Slocum disaster, and historic sights and stories along the East River, all by NYC Ferry.
Tickets and more details here.
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
bearded stranger
Long shadows.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found one sheltering from a passing band of precipitation over on the normally sunnier side of the neighborhood, and once the atmospheric wave had passed through a humble narrator began kicking his heels around in pursuance of returning to HQ. My northward path was a familiar one, as was the pensive and self reflective mood I was in. The odor of a not unpleasant smelling strain of marijuana which those two teenagers crossing the street above were smoking mingled with the musty smells of a wet and cold evening. The trees and gardens of Sunnyside Gardens added to the bouquet, as did the wet but creosoted wood of the railroad tracks and the oily street. I can capture audio and images, but I’ve got no methodology for transmitting the experience or quality of “smell,” other than describing it with words.
Is smell the new technological frontier, I wonder? Just imagine if I could deliver the smell of Newtown Creek or its tributaries, after a thunderstorm, to your inbox.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The forgotten sense, smell is. Humans are essentially audio visual beasts, I suppose, which is why there’s so much technology available out there that allows us to transmit what we see and hear. Personally, when the olfactory region isn’t too clogged up by seasonal allergies, I like to take a ripping “shnort” of the ambient. There’s a whole memory center associated with smell that’s almost never accessed. I can imagine something I’ve seen in the past, conjure up a sound or series of sounds, but can’t seem to tell my brain that I’d like to imagine the smell of toast or whatever.
Funny that, ain’t it? Life’s rich pageant and all this.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The scene above was encountered nearby Northern Blvd., and I can offer two possible explanations for it. One is that somebody was making a meal of a watermelon and drinking water from a red plastic cup when they were raptured.
The other is that the foul serial killer whom I have named as the “Queens Cobbler” has returned to the neighborhood and is leaving behind their gruesome trophies as a taunt to community and the Gendarmes alike.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 