Spa Castle in Queens Is Kind of Gross

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If the Spa Castle in Queens wasn't already closed indefinitely, the news of people having sex in its pools would definitely have the Health Department involved by now. The New York Post is reporting that prior to its shutdown after the near-drowning of a six-year-old, this particular location was known to get a little, um, raunchy.

"There is a big problem with customers having sex in the pools, and the management doesn't know how to handle it," a staffer told the paper anonymously. "Practically every day, couples are caught having sex in the indoor and outdoor pools. They think they are being sly about it, but they're not. When you see somebody on someone's lap bouncing up and down and the jets aren't turned on, you know what's happening."

Part of the problem is that alcohol is readily available at the heated wading pool's swim-up bar, where customers can indulge in drinks like Spa-tinis — a mix of gin, Chambord, and pineapple juice — while they relax between services.

"I had to stop going on Saturdays because it was like a full-on, urban high-school orgy in the outdoor pool upstairs," said Whitney Ward, a 42-year-old Manhattan photographer. "Under the water mushroom...in the outdoor pool I would see lots of girls sitting on guys' laps and they would be bobbing up and down. It was pretty obvious they were having sex. I've also seen guys rubbing one out the wet way."

Spa Castle has a long history of run-ins with the Health Department. The Post says that the spa was cited for 49 violations between 2014 and 2015, including failure to post signs prohibiting discharge of bodily fluids in pools. Spa Castle will remain while its revised safety plan is reviewed by the city.

In January 2015, its sister location in Manhattan, the Premier 57 Spa, was shut down for operating without a license and reopened five months later.