Brightside on Raquette

As with any old, historic building, one of the many aspects of history that always seems intriguing to people is the tales and stories of ghosts…The Brightside in its many years of serving as a hotel has acquired quite a few over the years and also within the past couple. There have been quite a few instances where our guests, even today, insist that they saw, felt, witnessed, or simply knew that there was “something” there. Billy Gestrich, one of the owners of The Brightside in the 1970s, tells a story of a couple who had checked into the hotel and was staying in one of the bedrooms over the kitchen. The man went out over the ice to the village through a blue fog or mist in the middle of a blizzard. According to the tale, he never returned. The wife, just sat in her room gazing out the window awaiting his return and continues to wait, even today. Her only relief is said to be when someone plays the old, but original Vose and Sons piano in the Great Room which in earlier days was used as music for the guests dining there. When someone plays, she appears and seems to be comforted by the music only to return to lonely vigil in her bedroom.