A Ghostly Tour of Yaddo Gardens in Saratoga Springs, New York

Yaddo, the Spencer &

  Katrina Trask Estate

 in Saratoga Springs

 has been an artists'

retreat for 90 years.

The Trasks bought this property in 1881 to use as a summer home after their five year old son, Alan, died of meningitis.  They created the gardens and entertained at Yaddo, named by their daughter, Christina. Tragedy struck the Trasks again when Katrina fell ill with diphtheria.  Christina and Spencer Jr. visited their very ill mother.  The doctor told Spencer that Katrina was no longer contagious and it was time to say goodbye.  Christina and Spencer Jr. died two weeks, of diphtheria. Katrina rallied and had a fourth child.  Baby Katrina when she was three days old.

Without heirs, the Trasks decided to support artists by establishing a retreat for them.  In 1909 Spencer was killed in a train wreck.  Since 1926, artists have lived at Yaddo while they write, paint, sculpt, etc.

To date, Yaddo artists have received 74 Pulitzer Prizes, 29 MacArthur Fellowships, 68 National Book Awards and a Nobel Prize.

Donna is our guide for
our late afternoon
Ghost Tour.















Donna tells our group that ghosts are the energy of people who have died.  People who are sensitive see and feel the energy.  Over time, hundreds of years, the energy left behind by a person does wane or dissipate.

A woman & child

enjoy sprays of

water in the pool.

Visitors to Yaddo report seeing auras, orbs of light and ghosts.  Some have taken pictures of the phenomena.

Statues representing
the four seasons look
out onto the gardens.

Autumn with her bounty.

Local lore states that the statues represent Spencer and Katrina's children.  Some visitors have seen orbs of energy hovering above the statues.

Christalan a memorial to
Alan, Christina, Spencer Jr.
& Baby Katrina.

He stands for youth, chivalry
& victory over mortality.

The 180 foot long
 pergola faces the
 garden, the four
 seasons  statues
& Christalan.

This is a copy of
the sundial that
disappeared in
the 1960s.

The company that cast the original sundial kept its form and was able to provide a replica.

The sundial's inscription:  "Time too slow for those who wait.  Too swift for those who fear.  Too long for those who grieve."

The moon has risen.

The Queen Anne
Revival mansion,
shrouded in shadow,
was built in 1891,
following the fire
that gutted the
original wood
framed house.

It's getting very dark....

Time to leave the
 ghosts to their
 nightly roaming.