It was a tragic day on November 22, 1963 at 4 a.m. when 400 passengers were killed aboard the Cornelius G. Kolff ferry off the coast of New York City's Staten Island, so artist Joseph Reginella decided to commemorate the event by creating a cast-iron statue in Battery Park in lower Manhattan, just across from Staten Island and close to the ferry terminal. There’s only one problem: the disaster never happened.

The pop artist really committed to the joke: he created the statue along with an elaborate website complete with articles, artifacts, and video documentaries about an incident that involved a larger-than-life sea monster taking down the boat. Pamphlets were also handed out last month around Manhattan urging tourists to pay a visit to the Staten Island Ferry Disaster Memorial Museum. According to an inscription on the statue, it is "Dedicated in loving memory to the passengers and crew of the Cornelius G. Kolff who lost their lives on November 22, 1963 in one of the most mysterious and tragic maritime disasters in American history.” The reason that so many people didn’t remember the "incident," the website explained, was because it was overshadowed by the assassination of John F. Kennedy on the same day.

"I wanted to create an urban legend," Reginella, a Staten Island native, told Metro New York about his artistic experiment. "I didn't realize how quickly you could create one and have people believe it."

The address list for the fake museum was 1001 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, New York, where dozens of people who went to visit found nothing. Confused tourists ended up across the street at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden asking where they could find the museum. “I got a call from the cultural center,” added Reginella. “They were less than pleased that people were coming around looking for it. But they soon changed their tune when they realized that it’s because of [the hoax] that foot traffic to the cultural center has improved significantly." Maybe his next project will be a collaboration with the Staten Island tourism board?