What started as a routine walk along a shrinking shoreline turned into a moment straight out of a crime novel for one Staten Island fisherman.
According to the New York Post, as water levels at Silver Lake continued to fall, newly exposed rocks and debris drew curious onlookers to the edges of the reservoir.
Among them was Chris Sammon, a lifelong Staten Island resident and avid fisherman, who noticed something unusual taped tightly to a rock near the waterline.
“You can see somebody had bundled something up and taped it to this rock with like a mile of tape, which piqued my interest about it,” Sammon said.
At first, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. The bundle raised immediate concerns, and not pleasant ones.
“I figured it was probably either somebody’s pet that they had given some kind of weird water burial to, or it was probably a weapon of some sort,” he told The Post. “So I was a little concerned that it was going to be some decomposed animal, but luckily it was not.”
Instead, Sammon uncovered a pistol and a pair of brass knuckles — a discovery troubling enough that he promptly handed the items over to a nearby police officer.
Actually, the stash was alarming enough that Sammon didn’t hesitate to alert authorities, fearing the items could be tied to an old or unresolved crime.
“I would’ve kept the brass knuckles,” said Sammon, who later shared his find with the Staten Island Advance.
The unsettling discovery is just one of many strange items revealed as Silver Lake’s water level has dropped more than eight feet over the past year. The decline followed a decision by the city Department of Environmental Protection to stop refilling the reservoir as part of a broader water conservation effort.
As of Dec. 17, Silver Lake held 239.5 million gallons of water — well below its 400-million-gallon capacity. That marks a sharp drop from 361.5 million gallons recorded last October, translating to an 8.5-foot decrease.
“That I can remember, that’s definitely the lowest. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it getting close to that level. Every year it seems to go low, but not like that,” Sammon said.
Despite fences and warnings, residents have repeatedly ventured into the off-limits area, drawn by the exposed lakebed. Sammon said he initially went exploring in August, hoping to find old wine bottles, not weapons.
Others have reported finding discarded phones, golf balls from a nearby course, visible infrastructure pipes, and large amounts of trash.
A DEP spokesperson emphasized that Silver Lake’s role is aesthetic and said the city has no immediate plans to refill it, urging residents to stay out of the restricted area while water levels remain low.
