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My late grandfather was fortunate enough to have worked for the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and stayed at one of his most intriguing creations--Taliesin. I had heard stories about the magnificent, ever-changing home that would go on to become Wright's "self portrait". What my grandfather left out (for children of tender years, of course) was the horrible tragedies that happened many years before he worked there. Whether the rumors of ghosts are true or not, it is most certain that the tragedies haunted Wright...so much so that the estate would become a part of his work for the rest of his life.

Taliesin, in Spring Green Wisconsin, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1911. Wright's architecture is known by many, especially for designing the Guggenheim Museum among other well known landmarks and over 25 homes that still stand in Oak Park, Illinois today. The home gave Wright a chance to create a structure that would not only be on the land in which it sat, but actually be a part of it. It was also where he would have an ill-fated romance and a horror that most likely stayed with him for the remainder of his years.

Much has been speculated and written (including a best selling novel) about the affair between Wright and one of his married clients. All of that aside, when he moved into the home, his lady love, a woman by the name of Mamah Borthwick (who had dropped her married name of Cheney by this time), moved in with him. They spent a few years together there until one night in August, 1914. Wright was working in Chicago, when a recently hired servant, for reasons unknown, set fire to the home and brutally murdered seven people there with an axe. Mamah was one of the victims, along with her two children. The servant survived, but died in jail six weeks after the murders.

Wright rebuilt the living section of the home...only to have it engulfed in flames several years later in 1925. This time it was thought to have been a surge of some kind, as the fire was said to have come from the area of the telephone during a lightening storm.

But Taliesin would not die. Because Frank Lloyd Wright refused to let her. He continued his rebuilding, and while he did not live there exclusively, Taliesin would forever be part of his life. He always returned there, hiring apprentices to continue work and design on the home. He even built another home in Scottsdale Arizona called Taliesin West, so he could make his dreams of a home "being not only on the land but a part of the land" in the Southwest as well. Taliesin was the foundation for the Frank Lloyd Wright School Of Architecture still going on today. http://www.taliesin.edu/history.html

There are of course the stories of hauntings and ghosts. There is also the perseverance of the human spirit. Tragedy could have stopped him in his tracks...caused him to throw up his hands and give up. Instead, he continued to design and dream..and encourage others to do so.

Maybe not the best story for a "haunted location"...but a haunting story nonetheless.

For pictures and some more background information: http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/taliesin/index.htm

Interesting story!

Mamah Borthwick Cheney was said to be a very headstrong woman and often fired servants and staff members for slight offenses that often seemed minor later on. This is what occurred one day in 1914. Mrs. Cheney fired one of the servants, a man from Barbados, and he returned to the house with a vengeance. He came into the house and poured gasoline around two dining rooms where Mrs. Cheney, her children and some guests were having lunch. He set the rooms on fire and then ran in with a hatchet and killed seven of the nine people present, including Mrs. Cheney.

Firefighters took the dying and badly burned victims to a cottage on the property called Tan-Y-Deri. It is in and around this cottage where the ghost of Mrs. Cheney has been reported over the years. She is usually dressed in an long, white gown and while she is a peaceful presence, she is obviously restless and lost. It is also said that doors and windows open and close by themselves within the cottage and light sometimes turn on and off. Witnesses say that they sometimes close the place for the night, only to return the following day to find everything wide open. The events of the past have truly marked the house as a haunted place that will be forever linked to a tragedy of long ago.
The rest of the story

Great story! Frank Lloyd Wright was a brilliant man with a great dedication for his work.

I remember when I first read the story (I think it was on the prarie ghosts site you linked to, UNR). As I said, I had heard of the home because of my grandfather talking about it when I was little. But I didn't know about the tragedy until I read that. He certainly never mentioned ghosts!

I live in Illinois, and although my town doesn't have the number of homes designed by Wright that Oak Park does, we do have two..and we have many designed by his students.

Nice story!!!!

Great post, SG !! Thank you.

Very interesting story. Thank you SG and UNR for sharing the information. I was not aware this occurred.

Neither was I..as I said, it wasn't a story my grandfather shared, although as much of a history buff as he was..I'm quite sure he knew about it.

When I was doing my family tree, I found documentation of my grandmother, grandfather, and my father going there in 1952. The Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger Lists had their names, including their final destination as being Taliesin. My father was very successful in the field of architecture, and he was greatly inspired by that trip even at his very young age. I know he spoke about it a lot...(of course, if he saw any ghosts while he was there...he would have found an explanation for them, even when he was five!)

Wright's architecture was an inspiration to many..but none so much as himself. He never stopped learning and doing. When he had a client, his vision would be tempered by what they wanted. Taliesin was his...and he made it his own.

The ghost story was a nice touch, but don't get me started on architects... I could rant for hours.

(04-26-2011 12:40 PM)jadewik Wrote: [ -> ]The ghost story was a nice touch, but don't get me started on architects... I could rant for hours.

LOL! Try living with one and having to do what he says! And to be fair, a lot of Wright's visions, while fascinating...were not always practical. I know that Taliesin requires a LOT of upkeep as not to fall victim to the elements that it was built to be a part of.