{"id":780069,"date":"2026-07-23T15:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/780069\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:28:13","slug":"more-than-50-years-later-a-story-documented-by-a-peekskill-journalist-comes-to-the-paramount-peekskill-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/780069\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than 50 Years Later, a Story Documented by a Peekskill Journalist Comes to the Paramount \u2013 Peekskill Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

A story of faith, a journalist who graduated from a Peekskill High School, and a documentary will come together on the big screen at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater<\/a> on Saturday, July 25. The Sight Unseen<\/a> will screen at 2:30 p.m. at the historic venue, located at 1008 Brown St. The film, directed by filmmaker Shawn Antoine II, tells the story of his mother. It was 1971 when Sharon Wilson, 6, discovered a glowing cross in the bathroom window of her family\u2019s apartment in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cThe Sight Unseen\u201d is a documentary by filmmaker Shawn Antoine II that will be presented Saturday, July 25, at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater in Peekskill. (Supplied)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The event drew people from different parts of the community and turned the building at 507 East 179th Street into a gathering place for those who wanted to observe the phenomenon. The story of the cross even reached the press and was documented by Melvin \u201cMel\u201d Tapley<\/a>, a journalist for the New York Amsterdam News who was born in Peekskill and graduated from Peekskill High School<\/a> in the class of 1935. The screening at the Paramount revisits that story more than five decades later and brings it back to the city connected to the journalist who documented what happened.<\/p>\n

In the article, Tapley described how people approached the building with different explanations for what they were seeing. Some claimed it was \u201ca phony,\u201d while others maintained that it was \u201ca reflection.\u201d The journalist\u2019s account also documented the conditions in which visitors remained outside the building to observe the image.<\/p>\n

The film combines the historical archive with Wilson\u2019s personal memories. Her testimony is woven together with Tapley\u2019s report and reenactments written by Antoine II. The production also uses elements of speculative fiction inspired by the work of writer and scholar Saidiya Hartman. The intention is not only to reconstruct the phenomenon, but also to explore the different layers that remain around a popular story.<\/p>\n

The making of The Sight Unseen was supported by the Maysles Documentary Center<\/a>, which served as the project\u2019s fiscal sponsor, as well as Northwestern University and the New York Amsterdam News<\/a>. Antoine II earned a master\u2019s degree in Documentary Media from Northwestern University, and his work has been presented at more than 100 film festivals around the world, as well as at venues and showcases including DOC NYC, Lincoln Center and the Gene Siskel Film Center.<\/p>\n

\"\"Filmmaker Shawn Antoine II, director of \u201cThe Sight Unseen,\u201d developed the film from the story of his mother. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

For Antoine II, the story also represents a part of his own family. The director describes his mother as the so-called \u201cmiracle child\u201d of the Bronx and explains that Tapley\u2019s report helped preserve a chapter of the family legacy that otherwise could have been lost over time. The filmmaker, who is originally from Harlem, New York, explained that screening the film in Peekskill holds particular meaning because of the connection between the film and Tapley\u2019s journalistic work. \u201cBringing this film to Peekskill is especially meaningful because it builds upon Mr. Tapley\u2019s reporting, revisiting the story more than fifty years later through my mother\u2019s reflections on faith, memory, and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tapley\u2019s legacy is also remembered locally through Mel Tapley Day, which is celebrated each year on May 12. In addition to his work as a journalist, Tapley was a longtime leader within the NAACP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information about tickets and the screening, visit the following link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A story of faith, a journalist who graduated from a Peekskill High School, and a documentary will come…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-780069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}