Binghamton Motel Left Covered in Vaseline After Strange Stay

You think you’ve heard it all, living in Upstate New York. But nothing could prepare anyone for what went down at a Binghamton-area motel just over two decades ago this month. Buckle up.

A Binghamton Motel Room That Made National News for All the Wrong Reasons

Picture this: a quiet motel off Upper Front Street in the Town of Chenango, just outside Binghamton. Nothing unusual about it. Travelers come and go. Rooms get cleaned. Life moves on. Except one day, it didn’t. One day, a man checked in with a very specific plan, and when he checked out, he left behind a scene that would eventually land on the desk of a Washington Post reporter, and leave an entire region asking the same single question: why?

Every Surface in Room 205 Was Covered in Petroleum Jelly

Officers who responded to Room 205 at the Motel 6 had probably seen a lot in their careers. Whatever mental checklist they ran through before opening that door, this was not on it. The TV. The carpet. The curtains. The bedding. Every last inch of that room had been deliberately, thoroughly, and completely slathered in petroleum jelly. I’m not talking about a smear here and there. I’m talking about a full-scale, premeditated Vaseline situation.

Roger Chamberlain Checked In With 14 Jars of Vaseline and a Very Deliberate Mission

The man responsible was Roger Chamberlain. He didn’t stumble into this. He didn’t act on impulse. He showed up to that motel with 14, FOURTEEN, jars of Vaseline, got to work, covered literally everything, and then walked out the front door like it was any other normal day. The front desk had no clue. Nobody said a word. The whole thing didn’t unravel until a housekeeper arrived for what should have been a routine room turnover and instead found herself standing at the threshold of the strangest thing anyone in the Southern Tier had ever seen.

Cleaning Up the Mess Cost the Motel More Than $4000

Motel 6 manager Brian Greene told The Connection that cleaning the room would cost at least $4,000. From the carpet to the curtains, everything had to be scrubbed down and sanitized, leaving the motel with a hefty bill and a strange story for the books.

Chamberlain Was Tracked Down at a Nearby Motel, Still Covered in Vaseline

Chamberlain, who was tracked down at a local Econo Lodge, was found “covered from head to toe in Vaseline.” When questioned about his actions, he did not explain and pleaded guilty to criminal mischief. A Broome County judge sentenced him to three years of probation and ordered him to pay the motel $3,886 in damages.

The Story Was So Strange the Washington Post Called to Verify It Themselves

Word travels fast when the story is weird enough, and this one made it all the way to the Washington Post. A reporter actually picked up the phone and called the motel to confirm the details, because apparently even professional journalists needed to hear it twice. Motel manager Mary Jason was happy to oblige. She walked them through the whole scene, including the mirror, which, she explained, had a Vaseline butt print on it. A Washington Post reporter. Calling Binghamton. About a Vaseline butt print. If that doesn’t put Upstate New York on the map, nothing will.

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Chamberlain Never Gave a Reason, and the Mystery Was Never Solved

Here’s the part that will boggle your mind: there is no answer. Chamberlain never explained himself. Not to the police, not in court, not ever. Broome County Judge Patrick H. Mathews wrapped up the case without demanding one. The Vaseline was cleaned up, the fine was paid, and the probation was served. And the reason? Gone. Lost to history.

This has become the most inexplicable, most petroleum-soaked, most uniquely Upstate New York story ever told.