Leopold Stokowski - Vanderbilts and the occult.
At the Clarkstown Country Club Pierre Bernard received visits from a host of New York’s elite and famous, from the Vanderbilts to acclaimed symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski.
Bernard was a practitioner of sex magic and an avid occultist. In 1910 he was accused of kidnapping two young girls for sexual indecencies. A clip from the May 4th 1910 New York Times article concerning this kidnapping.
Ultimately the charges were dropped, some say due to very wealthy and powerful connections within the political world of NYC at the turn of the last century. The claims of strange occult sexual practices were wide spread. It was told he would bring prostitutes from the city down the Hudson River and through the large Nyack storm drains to the Country Club in order to participate in some of the more ‘extreme’ rituals. It was rumored some of these women were never seen again.
Gloria Vanderbilt married Stokowski and had 2 children before divorcing him in 1955.
Stokowski would conduct such symphonies like Fantasia. (He was a Walt Disney favorite). He would also be iconized by Bugs Bunny.