As October evening falls cool and dark and the bewitching hour approaches, scare hunters traditionally make their way to haunted grounds like cemeteries, decrepit farmhouses and — the Yaddo gardens?
The rose-laden, manicured grounds of the Yaddo Artist’s Retreat in Saratoga Springs might not seem very ghostly, but apparently there are a few guests who won’t leave.
“I think Yaddo carries this air of mystery about it,” said Barbara Hefter, publicity chairperson and member the Yaddo Garden Association. “Yaddo is the hidden gem of Saratoga, people just don’t know about it, which adds to the mysteriousness about it.”
The Garden Association is hosting a tour titled Ghosts in the Yaddo Gardens every Friday at 5 p.m. through Oct. 28. This is the second year of spirited strolls. Hefter said that they’ve been kicking the idea around for a few years, and it finally took off last year with about 150 guests.
“It was very successful, people were very intrigued about all of it,” said Hefter. She added she visits the gardens for the peace and serenity and has not encountered any ghosts, though other association members say they have had the sense that they’re not by themselves there.
“Unfortunately, I have not had any encounters in the garden. The only thing that I felt while there is peace and tranquility. I have been there by myself a few times and I never feel like I am alone. I will say that I find myself looking around to catch a glimpse of my surroundings,” said Yvonne Bastian, a member of the association.
The association started in 1991, though the estate with its mansion was founded as a second home of the Trask family of Brooklyn in 1900. Today, it harbors visiting artists of all genres who apply to the Yaddo Foundation to spend time at the secluded estate to work on their craft. The retreat can accommodate around 30 artists who live at Yaddo for various amounts of time throughout the year depending on their artistic endeavor.
Hefter said financier Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina, along with their four children, would travel to their Saratoga home often, especially after each of the kids took ill. Katrina is buried on the grounds, while the children are buried in Brooklyn.
“There have been stories of Katrina sightings up around the mansion but that is not part of the tour. … There have been people that claim to Katrina sightings be it wherever – in the gardens, floating down the staircase,” said Hefter.
Even the current name of the estate has peculiar and morbid origins. The Trask children all died very young and it is said after the death of the youngest boy, little Christina Trask said while traveling to Saratoga there would be no more “yaddos” at their respite home. She was young and couldn’t pronounce the word shadows so it came out as “yaddos.”
“There are stories that people hear children laughing and they think it’s the Trask children,” said Hefter. “A lot of visitors to the gardens have experienced sightings … things to make people think the gardens are haunted. It’s all what you believe, also.”
It was after all of the children died and the Tasks were left with no heirs that Yaddo was bequeathed to Saratoga as a retreat for artists. Legend has it Katrina Trask had a vision of “men and women yet unborn walking the lawns of Yaddo creating, creating, creating.”
The cost for a ghost tour is $10 and free for children under 12. Tours last for about an hour. All proceeds go to the association for garden maintenance. More traditional garden tours are held throughout the summer.