Where did he go? No one can explain what happened to the eerie Santa Claus statue that once stood in this parking lot on Bogart Street. The missing neighborhood landmark has stirred anger, sadness and new religion in some community members. — Photo and composite by Diego Cupolo

He’s been standing in the same parking lot for years, watching you, smiling at you and creeping you out from time to time.

Whether you were hurrying to work or stumbling around drunk after a night at Kings County, you could always count on the Bogart Santa to shoot you a grin and reassure you life was worth living. But now he’s gone.

He disappeared a little more than a month before Christmas and no one, not even Jose, the parking lot owner, knows what happened to him.

“That thing is really heavy,” Jose said. “I don’t know how anybody coulda carried it away. Especially since the gates were locked, the only way out was over the fence.”

Jose, who had a special attachment to the Bogart Santa, said he fell into deep depression since the vanishing act and can no longer get out of bed to work. As a result, mounting financial troubles have forced him to put the property up for sale and he has lost hope on ever recovering the statue.

“Without Santa, nothing matters anymore,” he said.

On the eve of Christmas Eve, the majority of Morgantown residents walking on Bogart Street remained indifferent after hearing the news, but local clairvoyant/sword swallower Yelena Paprika said she sensed high frequencies of paranormal energy during the week the statue disappeared.

“This will be our second to last Christmas in the current dimension and there is much work to be done,” Paprika said. “The earth angels have already begun removing humanity’s false idols in preparation for the great gathering.”

If you have any information on the missing Bogart Santa, please contact us at info@bushwickbk.com. Think of Jose. Think of the children.