Brunel Park/Sculpture Garden is a sanctuary dedicated to the mysteries of nature and art in the Catskills. Today, this historic site is bringing to life the notable figures who once visited Emile Brunel’s hotel, Le Chalet Indien, through a series of augmented reality profiles.

This is an image of Emile Brunel, a legendary photographer and sculptor of statuary at Brunel Park, and owner of Le Chalet Indien. In 1910, Brunel founded what is now the New York Institute of Photography. He invented the first one-hour film processing technique, which came in handy during his early work with Cecile B. DeMille. During the height of his career, Brunel operated 35 photographic studios along the east coast, where he photographed such luminaries as Betty Davis, Joan Crawford, Walt and Lilian Disney, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s dog Fala.

To celebrate Brunel’s legacy as a photographer, an augmented reality experience is being developed to experiment with visual media. Visitors can see some of the famous guests who stayed at Le Chalet Indien from the 20s through the 40s, watch acrobats swinging from the top of the Great White Spirit sculpture, and listen to Irving Berlin play the piano.

In a little town in the Colorado Rockies is a former French inn built in 1875 by Chinese laborers and owned by Louis Dupuy. This unassuming establishment, the Hotel de Paris, catered to wealthy tycoons, mining investors, hunters, fishermen, those seeking elevated regions, and a health resort. The centerpiece of the hotel was the dining room, which was where Dupuy hosted luminaries and feted them with entertainment and fine dining.

Like many historic sites, guides at Hotel de Paris are asked about hauntings. Kevin Kuharic, executive director of the site has said, “I only answer the question if asked directly… I’m a skeptic by nature so it’s not something I often dwell on, but when something happens it does grab my attention.” Like other historic sites, Kuharic and guides have heard entertaining in the dining room, and smelled cigar smoke and coffee without explanation.

For more, this video from Rocky Mountain PBS explores these possibilities even further.

We present this story as an offering:

Irma Hale leads visitors to the second-floor landing of the Reuben Hale House, pointing to the area above her father’s bedroom door. "This bulb has burned for a century," she says. It flickers once.

The frosted glass pear glows steadily as she brings up the Phoebus cartel, how they designed bulbs to fail after 1,000 hours starting in 1925. "But not this one." She touches the doorframe her father crafted. "Reuben spent over fifty years renovating, preserving, and adding his own elements to this house." The bulb pulses brighter. "A Renaissance man, he was curious about science, art, history—"

The light suddenly blazes, cutting her off with impossible warmth. Irma smiles knowingly. "He's still here, still taking care of his home."

The pre-1969 history of our persistent bulb remains delightfully uncertain—we prefer the legend anyway.

While Thomas Cole National Historic Site—which marks the birthplace of the Hudson River School of Landscape painting and its founder—does not have any tales of wandering ghosts, it may be because its former residents knew how to keep spirits at bay.

Tucked in the attic, the Main House at Cedar Grove holds a single well-worn shoe, which was part of a once widespread tradition of hiding footwear in the rafters or walls to ward off evil. Everyday items such as shoes were believed to trap or repel unwelcome forces in the 19th century. Today, this humble shoe is part of our collection, offering a window into the folklore and folk practices that shaped domestic life in Thomas Cole’s era.

We are mindful not to say we are haunted by any specific “person,” but we do mention some staff have experienced things in the house that could be categorized as “unexplained,” especially in the Green Rooms, where many have heard footsteps. “Could there be energy left behind by the many that lived in this home?” we ask. I like to add, “If I had lived in this home, I wouldn’t want to leave, either!” In the end, we leave it up to each visitor to decide when we ask, “With nearly 150 years of lives passing through this home and all that energy, be it happy or sad, do you think Villa Finale could be haunted? Do you believe in ghosts?”

Individual entres were provided by staff at each historic site.

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