Urban Legend Wiki
Register
Advertisement

This page is dedicated to the urban legend of an unnamed man who was buried alive in a public park by five Burbank, CA police officers sometime before 2011 (earliest known info on this, date of incident could be several months or years prior).

Since 2011, hundreds of flyers, posters and signs have appeared throughout the Burbank, CA community and Los Angeles metro area, posted in high visibility areas such as utility boxes, grocery stores, public parks and street signs. A blog post on Tumblr by Positively Transforming, from October 30, 2011 is the first mention of this story online. Subsequent comments found online have suggested that the victim of the story was killed just days after the Tumblr post while attempting to cross a section of the 134 freeway that runs between the exact geographic location of the alleged incidents.

Legend

Abduction and Rolf's Castle:

Typically the content of the signs describes an incident where five Burbank, CA police officers and a "Rich Man" abduct the victim and force him to defecate outside of a steakhouse or restaurant. They move the victim to a location referred to as "Rolf's Castle" by the CA-134 freeway, which, as far as one can tell upon visit, is an abandoned sewage or waste pumphouse located between the freeway and the Los Angeles River, just southeast of the CA-134 freeway entrance, accessible via dirt path for pedestrians and horse riders (location is Equestrian neighborhood). At this site, the unidentified victim alleges that "tests" and torture were done to him by the Rich Man and/or the five police officers. Some posters depict him nude with objects inserted into his body connected to generators and wires. In one poster, he states that the Rich Man, who he alleges is the boss of the officers, switches clothing with him. Several posters make reference to bodies being hidden in the large pipes at Rolf's Castle and that the Burbank Police hide or dispose of them there.

Buried Alive:

After an undefined amount of time, the police bring the victim to a nearby park, drug him (posters mention being stuck with needle), and bury him alive. He states that someone, "a deform" witnessed this incident. The witness is often depicted as wrinkled or possibly badly burned and referred to by the victim as "The Hiden Man" or "Hiding Man." He refers to this witness as "ruber faced" and "neopolitan face" and mentions that the witness lives somewhere in the Los Angeles River (Note: the L.A. River runs along the area his story takes place).

Underground Experience:

Nearly all the posters seen around Los Angeles describe a series of fantastic and arguably impossible situations he encountered and experienced while buried alive, up to and including his escape to a local hospital (Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center). The first of which is him finding a door or hatch, once buried, after speaking with God. He states several times that God told him to find a "hidden door in the ground" or that God "weep" and his tears revealed a hidden door for his escape through a series of tunnels and passages under the park and into a pipe leading to a nearby hospital. He often illustrates E.T. in these posters, occasionally to depict God or as a toy he encounters underground. Another toy he illustrates on the posters is a Bananas in Pajamas doll, which he refers to as a "food that look wrong." Several posters depict him being given books and dolls featuring Peanuts characters.

A few of the posters found in 2011 and 2012 depict cut away maps of the passage found under the park. In these images, the victim suggests that he moved from the initial hole/grave to into two, separate, stacked caverns, the lower of them containing a large pipe that connects to St. Joseph's hospital, located less than 1/8 mile from the park (EDIT: As of March 1, 2016, the park is under construction with fences blocking any viewing opportunity).

Content of Posters

Generally, the text on these posters is difficult to decipher. Many have speculated that the person making them suffers from mental illness, drug addiction and/or that English may not be their primary language. Conversely, the art that accompanies the text suggests skill and ability, perhaps the creator, and possible victim, was once an artist.

Some posters appear to be written from the first person while others have a narrative from an eye witness' perspective.

Several different media appears to have been used in their creation: ink, charcoal/pencil, paint.

Repeated Info/Themes

-Madness (mentally ill?); forced to do drugs (smoke and injected); buried alive; sexual acts; public defecation; divine presence; subterranean exploration; medical horror; hidden and/or abandonded rooms.

-Deformed persons: a "ruber face man", "a vermin who act like a man", a man who resembles a baby, a "chicken skins man" and a "lifing doll."

-A rich man in control of the police, many commenters online have pointed out that the man bears a resemblance to former Burbank Mayor and city council member, Gary Bric.

-A Burbank address with an extensive arrest history is also frequently noted: 313 West Elmwood. In some posters, he dares the observer to go there at 1:01 AM.

Media Attention

Article on pop culture site Boing Boing discussing the bizarre signs.

Distribution

It is unknown how these posters are printed and distributed throughout Burbank and Los Angeles. If, as has been stated by several bloggers and anonymous commenters, the original artist/creator of them was killed while crossing the exact section of the 134 freeway that runs through the alleged abuse locations, in November 2011, the questions remains: who is printing and posting them still, five years later? The following are theories found in online discussion:

- Multiple creators: several different handwriting art styles have been noted

- Original victim of the police and creator still lives today, working secretly to distribute his story

- Original creator left a surplus of posters that are now in the hands of someone else, continuing his work

- A guilty police officer looking to gain forgiveness for their participation in the events (very unlikely)

- The alleged witness, the "Hiding Man" with the deformed face is carrying on the distribution of the story

Advertisement