Est. 1906 · Colonel William Sanger · Olmsted-Designed Grounds · Stigmatine Monastery 1960-1970
The Sangerfield House occupies the crest of West Hill above the village of Waterville, in Oneida County's rolling farmland. Colonel William Carey Sanger Sr. built the 52-room stone mansion in 1906. Sanger had served with the 203rd Infantry during the Spanish-American War; the family's broader presence in the region dates to Jedediah Sanger's late-18th-century arrival, for whom the adjoining hamlet of Sangerfield is named.
The house sits on grounds attributed in regional histories to the Olmsted firm — the same office that produced Central Park. Its main entrance faced Waterville; its terrace looked toward Madison.
William Sanger sold the property after a serious illness, and in 1960 it became a Stigmatine Fathers monastery. The religious community operated there for roughly a decade. In 1970 the John Hall family purchased the house from the order, and it returned to private residential use. Listings have appeared periodically, but the house has remained in private hands and is not open to the public.
Sources
- https://lite987.com/haunted-sangerfield-house-in-waterville-cny-paranormal/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedediah_Sanger
ApparitionsEVPShadow figures
Most of the lore around the Sangerfield House attaches to its decade as a Stigmatine monastery. Regional sources — central New York radio coverage among them — describe figures in monastic robes seen on the grounds and inside the house, particularly at night.
A more recent account, attributed to a caretaker, describes a woman standing in a second-floor window. Several paranormal investigation groups have visited the property over the years, with claimed EVP recordings and unexplained photographic anomalies among their reports.
The lore is not unanimous. Other regional accounts hold that the house was always a private residence and that the monastery story is exaggerated. The Stigmatine ownership period from 1960 to 1970 is, however, documented in property records and local reporting.
The house is not open to the public. The grounds are private. View only from Sanger Hill Road.
Notable Entities
The MonksWoman in the Window