Michael Kurcsics
Real Name: Michael Kurcsics
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Nutley, New Jersey
Date: December 3, 1967
Bio[]
Occupation: Unrevealed
Date of Birth: 1962
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Marital Status: Unrevealed
Characteristics: White male with blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a green snowsuit, a striped polo shirt, an undershirt, galoshes, and undershoes.
Case[]
Details: Five-year-old Michael Kurcsics lived with his parents, John and Lydia, and seven-year-old brother, Patrick, in Nutley, New Jersey. At around 8:15am on December 3, 1967, he and Patrick went out to play and sled ride at Third River Park. As they were playing, Michael lost his footing and fell into the churning, rain-swollen Third River.
Patrick ran alongside the river bank to try and grab Michael's hand. He then saw Michael disappear under the surface of the water at the Centre Street bridge, a short distance from the park. He ran to a neighbor's house, and they contacted the police.
Two hours before the accident, at 5:56am, psychic Dorothy Allison awoke from a horrific nightmare. Her lucid and frightening dream predicted Michael's death. In the dream, she saw a park. She then saw a blond, blue-eyed little boy wedged in a drainpipe. His hands were clasped together and black. She did not know why they were so black because he was so white. She then saw a tremendous illumination of light, almost as though he had been in a vacuum.
For weeks, the authorities searched the river, but there was no trace of Michael's body. On January 3, a month after he disappeared, Dorothy went to the police and insisted that someone listen to her story. The one brief newspaper article about the case did not contain a picture or description of Michael. The police were startled when Dorothy accurately described the clothes he was wearing.
Dorothy said Michael was wearing a green snowsuit. Underneath it, he was wearing a striped polo shirt. And underneath that, he was wearing an undershirt with a medal pinned to it. Also, he had his shoes on the wrong feet.
At first, Sergeant Don Vicaro of the Nutley Police Department wondered if Dorothy was perpetrating a hoax. But when she gave him the description of Michael's clothing, he became overwhelmed because he knew Michael and the Kurcsics family, and he knew the description was accurate.
At that point, Sgt. Vicaro wanted to know more about Dorothy's dream. He wondered if there was more information from the dream that she could not immediately remember. He thought that questioning her could bring out more information. Regardless, they were going to work with her because they believed she was legitimate.
When Dorothy started talking to Sgt. Vicaro, she kept telling him that she saw the number 120. However, she did not know what it meant. She also saw the number 8 but did not know what it meant either. She kept insisting that Michael's body would be found behind a school.
Dorothy met with Michael's mother and examined his clothing, toys, and pictures in hopes of getting more clues or visions. As the search continued, Dorothy's clues began to mount up: the numbers 8 and 120, the school, the parking lot behind an ITT factory, lumber, a gray wall, and gold lettering on a window.
Sgt. Vicaro recalls that Dorothy mentioned the number 120 on the first day they met. He initially thought it was part of an address. However, they found no "120" in the area they searched. Then, he thought that the number meant January 20. However, that date came and went, and nothing significant occurred. Despite this, the number 120 kept coming up, even to Sgt. Vicaro. He could not understand why.
Dorothy recalls that at that point, the police were starting to lose their patience. Sgt. Vicaro said to her, "My God, I'm trying, but I don't know what you're saying." She then told him that Michael would be found on February 7, and their troubles would be over.
Suspects: No foul play was suspected in Michael's disappearance.
Extra Notes:
- This case first aired on the May 6, 1988 Special #6 episode of Unsolved Mysteries focusing on psychic Dorothy Allison.
- It was solved prior to the broadcast.
- Some sources state: Michael disappeared from Booth Park; his body was found in a pipe; and Dorothy led the police to the exact pipe where he was found.
Results: Solved - On February 7, 1968, Michael's body was found in Bleachery Pond behind the Waldrich Bleachery in Clifton, New Jersey. The pond is connected by a narrow channel to the Passaic River. His hands were black, just as Dorothy had seen in her dream. An autopsy determined he had drowned.
At 1:20pm that afternoon, Sgt. Vicaro was told that Michael had been found (120 was the same number Dorothy had repeatedly seen). The spot where Michael's body was found coincided with several of Dorothy's clues. Her vision of the number 8 was echoed by the fact that Elementary School PS 8 stands on the riverbank nearby. Across the street is a lumber yard. Next door is an office building with gold letters on the window. Directly across the river is a local ITT factory and its parking lot. Also nearby is a gray concrete building.
When Michael was found, he was wearing the same clothes that Dorothy had dreamt of. And although his galoshes were on the correct feet, his undershoes were on the wrong feet. Sgt. Vicaro backtracked and found that everything Dorothy had said fit into place like a puzzle. By themselves, the clues or pieces meant nothing. But when they were all put together, they seemed to fit into place. Sgt. Vicaro said he started to "kick himself" for not realizing what she was talking about.
Links:
- Five-Year-Old Dies - December 4, 1967
- Third River: Peaceful, Dangerous - December 5, 1967
- Search for Body Of Boy Continues - December 9, 1967
- Pond in Clifton Yields Boy's Body - February 8, 1968
- Body of Boy, 5, Found in River, Drowned - February 8, 1968
- Missing Boy, 5, Found in Pond - February 8, 1968
- Putting psychics on the trail of crime - April 18, 1979
- Some Days, Say Police, This New Jersey Psychic Can Indeed See Forever - July 16, 1979
- Michael Kurcsics on Find a Grave
- Michael Kurcsics' Obituary