The Cemetery’s Haunted Lake
The May 29, 1869 edition of the Troy Daily Press featured a detailed account of a visit to the Albany Rural Cemetery. Filled with interesting descriptions of the Cemetery grounds and its notable monuments, it also included a curious little tale of a haunting at Consecration Lake. While the now-drained lake is presently one of the Cemetery’s most secluded spots, in 1869, it was a highly visible part of the Tour popular with visitors. Carriage paths on either side of the sparkling creek led to the ornamental lake, complete with a cast iron fountain in the shape of a cherub holding a dolphin and leaning against a column from which issued a glittering spray of water some thirty feet into the air. This very charming and scenic spot was apparently the chosen haunt of a certain ghost!
“A legend which has since died out was current in this vicinity a few years ago to the effect that the tenant of a certain tomb rose regularly from his narrow quarters, upon the anniversary of his demise, at the witching hour of night that Shakespeare chronicles, and wandered around the cemetery, always returning to his cold domicile at ‘cock crow’ in the morning. It was said that ‘Consecration Lake’ was a favorable resort of this restless inhabitant of the “silent city;” that he would walk across its bosom and linger in the vicinity of the fountain, as if to enjoy a refreshing shower bath under the falling spray. It was stoutly asserted, that on the following days, indisputable evidence appeared that the marble slab covering the mouth of the tomb had been displaced, and re-adjusted after the return of the wanderer.”
The article does not speculate on the identity of the showering spirit, though there are only two tombs in this vicinity, the McIntosh crypt with its stunning winged hourglass and the hillside vault of the Yates-Satterlee families. Perhaps the ghost with a fondness for the fountain emerged from one of them?
from Albany Rural Cemetery- Beyond The Graves https://www.facebook.com/ARCbeyondthegraves/
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