Night Film(48)
With the termination of his production deal with Warner Bros., Cordova started self-financing his films, turning The Peak into his official one-man studio—and only adding to the mystique of the director as an agoraphobic recluse and madman.
Source: Wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislas_Cordova Page 1 of 9
Trip to Crowthorpe Falls, NY, and The Peak Estate
S. McGrath Aerial Views of The Peak
The Peak mansion sits in dense wilderness atop a high ridge just north of Graves Pond, a smaller pond north of Lows Lake.
The entirety of the property—which extends north past Darning Needle Pond close to Cranberry Lake—is surrounded by a twenty-foot military fence.
Page 2 of 9
Trip to Crowthorpe Falls, NY, and The Peak Estate
S. McGrath
Interview with Nelson Garcia – April 3, 2006
December 2004
Medical Equip?
Garcia is Stanislas Cordova’s closest next-door neighbor, a seventy-eight-year-old retired apple farmer originally from Lafayette, New York. Since 1981, he has lived in the rust-colored single-wide trailer on a patch of land across from the overgrown driveway that leads to The Peak. He claims never to have met or even seen the Cordovas—due to his type 2 diabetes he rarely ventures into town, having a nurse visit and bring supplies three times a week. But he did have a few interesting incidents to tell me about his infamous neighbor.
“We used to have street signs all around here, but the mailman told me they removed them,” he said.
“Who do you mean by they?“ I asked.
“The people who live up there.”
“You mean the Cordova family?
He nodded.
“Why would they remove the road signs?” I asked.
“They don’t want people up there. They like to keep to themselves. That’s what I heard around town. I used to see all kinds of fancy cars driving in and out from midnight till all hours of the morning. Especially in the eighties and nineties. Limos. A Rolls-Royce once. A few times I heard helicopters landing in there. Music, too. But starting in early 2000, it’s been quiet. Never see a soul go in or out.”
According to Garcia, in early December 2004, he received a series of UPS deliveries that were intended for The Peak but, by mistake, were delivered to him. The first was a massive box stamped with a label reading Century Scientific.
Page 3 of 9
Trip to Crowthorpe Falls, NY, and The Peak Estate
S. McGrath
Interview with Nelson Garcia – April 3, 2006
Century Scientific, Inc., based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a company that specializes in medical equipment. They vend beds, wheelchairs, stretchers, and other therapeutic devices to private hospitals.
“My daughter sometimes sends me packages, so I signed for it,” Garcia told me. “After the boy drove off, I realized it wasn’t mine.”
“Who was it addressed to?” I asked.
“Someone named Javlin Cross. And the address said 1014 Country Road 112. I’m 33 Country Road 112. I didn’t open it. But it was heavy. I could barely lift it. About four feet high. I guess it was some kind of chair—that was the shape of the box.”
Garcia called UPS and within the hour the package was picked up.
A week later, the driver delivered another box, again for Mr. Javlin Cross.
“The return address said something or other ‘Pharmaceuticals,’” Garcia said. “I told the boy he’d made a mistake. He apologized, said he was new on the job. And that was really the last of it. For a month or two, though, once a week in the afternoon, I’d see the truck drive by and turn in there, bringing them God knows what. I’d wait a few minutes and then I’d hear the real shrill scream of the iron electronic gate opening to let the truck drive up. A piercing hinge so shrill it hurt to listen to. You’d think it’d shatter the TV.” He shook his head. “My guess is someone was sick up there. Or injured.”
Garcia told me he’d probably have forgotten about the mix-up had he not noticed something else strange about a week after the accidental deliveries. He drove his garbage to the Dumpster at the end of the road and noticed a strange odor emitting from the other plastic bags.
“Never smelled anything like it. It was foul. Like burned plastic.”
Garcia said only he and the Cordovas used the disposal site. The week after this observation, he noticed no other trash bags had appeared, and to this day, he’s the lone user of the bin.
“Now they set fire to all their garbage,” he said. “You can smell it when it’s hot at night. Burning. And sometimes when the wind’s blowing southeast I can even see the smoke.”
I asked Garcia if he’s ever seen any of Cordova’s films. He shook his head.
Page 4 of 9
Trip to Crowthorpe Falls, NY, and The Peak Estate
S. McGrath
Interview with Nelson Garcia – April 3, 2006
“I’ll get nightmares,” he said.
“In his film Isolate 3,” I explained, “there’s a man being held in captivity against his will. A former convict that the main character has to hunt down and free. His name is Javlin Cross—the name on those packages you received.”