When Untermyer passed away in 1940, the enormous cost of upkeep required to maintain his gardens was far too daunting for either the City of Yonkers or the State of New York, and the estate was left to fall into a slow decay.Īfter decades of neglect, the early glory years of Untermyer Park are still apparent in the impressive ruins that remain, along with traces of a darker and far more sinister era that came to follow. In their heyday, Samuel Untermyer’s gardens were applauded as a horticultural marvel, celebrated internationally and attracting droves of visitors in the 1920s and 1930s. 2,000-year-old imported Roman columns tower dramatically from a scenic clearing, heralding the end of a stone staircase which seems to descend infinitely crumbling tiles line the bottom of what must have once been an incredibly elaborate mosaic pool.Ī circular temple within the Persian gardens (photograph by Michelle Enemark) Statues of sphinxes peek at passersby from just beyond the wall, hinting at the decaying grandeur that awaits inside Untermyer Park. Hidden away behind a great stone wall in suburban Yonkers, New York, sits a long-forgotten gardener’s masterpiece. Untermyer’s sphinx bore witness to some dark and disturbing things (photograph by Michelle Enemark)
![satanic ceremony sacrifire satanic ceremony sacrifire](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/6f1235010b59c87cc1af8575ab810c64b746fba8/c=25-0-270-326&r=537&c=0-0-534-712/local/-/media/MIGroup/None/2014/10/20/635494043776201837-635484721795446109-Clemmons-Case-Suspects2.jpg)
![satanic ceremony sacrifire satanic ceremony sacrifire](https://dasg7xwmldix6.cloudfront.net/episodes/189897_eyWO4d1N.jpg)
31 Days of Halloween: On Atlas Obscura this month, we’re celebrating Halloween each day with woeful, wondrous, and wickedly macabre tales all linked to a real locale that you can visit, if you dare.