The Legends of Maryland's Black Aggie

As a historic sites surveyor, I've seen some strange monuments and some beautiful monuments in cemeteries. When you look at them, you can't help wonder about the person who was buried there. What was it about that person that made their loved ones honor them in such a way after death? Were they great men and women, rich men and women? What were their lives like? If you're lucky enough to visit a few of the nicer historic cemeteries in our country, you just might run across some monuments completed by Augustus St. Gaudens.

Augustus St. Gaudens was a sculptor who completed a large number of monuments across the country during the late 19^th century right up to his death in 1907. Though he was well respected for his work, a number of his statues are rumored to be haunted.

The most famous of his sculptures is on display in the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, located at the gravesite of Marion Adams. Marion's wife Henry loved his wife so much that he gave her the nickname Clover. Following her suicide in 1885, Henry decided that it would be best to give the woman a more fitting memorial.

It took four years for St. Gaudens to finish the sculpture and have it installed in the cemetery. The monument had several nicknames, including the ever popular Grief. Adams remained silent about the monument, and had it placed in an odd location nearly hidden behind trees and shrubbery. People quickly flocked to the cemetery, trying to find it and nearly everyone claimed to feel strange and unsettled when looking at it. Within a few years the monument had earned the nickname the Black Aggie.

One person who visited the cemetery did so with some ill intentions; they wanted to make a copy of the statue. To do so, they cast the entire piece and later created a copy. General Felix Agnus would later purchase this copy to place at his own gravesite. This statue would go on display at his grave in the Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikeville, Maryland.

Agnus planned to have the monument sit in the middle of the family plot he designed in the cemetery, and placed it near his mother's grave. He took special pains to ensure that the monument look exactly as the original did in Washington, including the environment. St. Gaudens' wife eventually contacted him about the reproduction and suggested that he sue the man who sold him the reproduction. Though he sued and won, he never attempted to move the statue, or get rid of it. In fact, he was buried there after his death in 1925.

Stories began spreading of something strange at the Black Aggie statue in the cemetery. The large female statue's eyes were rumored to burn red with fury at night. Legend claimed that other ghosts in the cemetery converged at the statue at night, causing pain to anyone who dared interrupt their conference. Others claimed that grass refused to grow near the statue, and especially where her shadow passed.

Things grew even worse when a fraternity decided to use the statue to initiate their freshman brothers. To pass initiation rites, certain young men were required to sit on the statue and stare into her eyes. According to the stories, the statue came to life one night and killed one of the men sitting there. Stories also claim that another seemingly healthy college man died while standing at the foot of the statue.

Cemetery workers discovered that the statue had been desecrated one night in 1962. The arms of the statue were chopped off using an ordinary handsaw. One of the workers was eventually convicted of the crime, though the man claimed that Aggie herself cut off her arms, before handing them to him.

Sadly enough, visitors to the cemetery often caused severe destruction to the Black Aggie statue. Graffiti was scrawled on the monument, and people often chipped off pieces to take home with them. Eventually family members donated the monument to the Maryland Institute of Art. Later it was moved to the Smithsonian and the National Museum of American Art.

Today the Black Aggie statue sits at the Federal Courts building in Washington D.C. Though her stories may be gone, they are not forgotten.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Aggie

http://urbanlegendsonline.com/classics/aggie.html