Trees dot the grassy hills of Thornden Park, located on the edge of Syracuse University’s campus. Roses bloom in late summer, and Shakespeare is performed every August.

Despite its scenery and amenities, the park has a reputation for being unsafe at night. One crime in particular has defined Thornden for more than a decade. In 1981, Alice Sebold, author of the 2002 novel “The Lovely Bones,” was raped in Thornden Park while she was an SU student.

In interviews with The Daily Orange, SU students who live near the park pointed to “The Lovely Bones” as a reason some people are afraid of Thornden. Two rapes — one in 2017 and one in 2019 — have also been reported in the park or the surrounding streets.

Data from the Syracuse Police Department, however, shows a decrease in crime since 2015, when 90 crimes were reported in the park or surrounding areas. In 2018, 70 crimes were reported. From the beginning of 2019 until Sept. 25, 48 crimes were reported.

“The park sometimes gets a bad reputation — a worse reputation than what really does happen there,” said John Sardino, deputy chief of the Department of Public Safety. “There’s a reason why most parks and municipalities close at dusk. Because it’s hard to see. They’re typically not well-lit.”

Miranda Hine, former director of the Thornden Park Association, said there was a period of time around the 1970s when the park wasn’t kept up by the city and wasn’t as safe. People’s thoughts about the park from that period may have passed down to SU students today, she said.

Hine worked with a student volunteer from SU who had never ventured into Thornden Park because she was told not to go. Though the park has improved, stories and rumors haven’t adapted to fit the park, she said.

“During the day, you can see joggers, you can see dog-walkers, you can see picnickers, you can see people on playgrounds,” Hine said. “During the summer you can see people swimming and taking swimming lessons. It is not an unsafe park.”

A murder was reported in 2015 in either Thornden Park or the streets surrounding it. Between October 2014 and September 2019, there were 131 larcenies, 76 burglaries and 32 possession or use of marijuana cases reported.

The analysis report does not distinguish crimes reported between the roads in Thornden Park and streets that border the ends of the park: Greenwood Place, Bristol Place, Ostrom Avenue and Madison, Clarendon and South Beech streets.

Students who rent in the University Neighborhood told The Daily Orange that they don’t believe rumors regarding criminal activity in the park and have little reason to believe it’s less safe than other parks.

Nicholas Hoffman, a senior music major, lives close to Thornden Park and walks through it to get home. He has never seen anything concerning in the park or ever felt unsafe, he said.

Dean Herrera, a junior in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said the park is like a superstition, and it’s fun to be scared of it.

“I know (crime) occasionally happens,” Herrera said. “But I’ve never personally seen or heard of any real crimes occurring in the park, so I’m not afraid of it. Sometimes at night it’s a little scary because it’s dark in places.”

Bruno Gonzalez, a junior in the Whitman School, said seeing police officers parked in the street next to the park’s rose garden leads people to associate Thornden Park with police.

“I hear either that shady people go to Thornden Park, or it’s where people go to smoke,” Gonzalez said. “DPS emails would be sent out, and Thornden Park comes up enough that people think it’s that kind of place.”

Karleigh Merritt-Henry | Digital Design Editor

Though Thornden Park is a nice park to walk through, many students tell others not to walk there at night, said Lydia Dunbar, a senior in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. This advice makes sense, especially as a woman, she said.

Lancaster Avenue homeowner Kim Apgar said her daughter, who is a college student and a runner, would never walk through a park like Thornden Park. While one side of the park houses many university students, the other side of the park may make students uncomfortable, she said.

“In the summertime, we’ve gone more than a couple times to Shakespeare-in-the-Park. A lot of our neighbors go and it’s something we enjoy doing,” Apgar said. “We walk through the rose garden occasionally, usually early in the day. The neighborhoods that surround it cause us to not go later in the day.”

Despite the park’s reputation, SUNY-ESF senior Katherine Rossi said she usually goes up to the park’s water tower to watch the sunset. She’s heard a range of rumors about the park, she said.

“I’ve heard the classic ‘don’t go there or you’ll get stabbed’ thing,” Rossi said. “But rumors are popular and they spread like wildfire.”

Published on October 14, 2019 at 11:35 pm

Contact Richard: rjchang@syr.edu | @RichardJChang1