Oct 13, 2024
Black Aggie by Jessica Lauser
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Malaysia
seen from T1
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from United States
Black Aggie by Jessica Lauser
The one positive rumour surrounding Black Aggie was that if one left coins in her palms, good luck would come to you.
Black Aggie
The Black Aggie saga began near Lafayette Square, across from the White House in 1885. Marian “Clover” Adams lived there. She was a celebrated socialite, hostess and one of the country’s earliest portrait photographers. At the time, though, she was thoroughly despondent about the death of her father. She ended her life by drinking chemicals from her photography developing supplies. Her husband Henry Adams, the great-grandson of President John Adams and the grandson of President John Quincy Adams, was grief-stricken. He commissioned one of the world’s most celebrated sculptors, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to create a gravesite memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery. The statue, though never officially named, was often called Grief, or simply "The Adams Memorial."
The figure, a seated and draped woman, evoked a particular feeling of mystery and gloom. So much so that it became a popular tourist attraction, even though Adams tried to shield the view with trees and shrubbery. Despite many requests, he refused to allow copies of the statue to be made. However, a sculptor named Eduard L.A. Pausch managed to do so.
Meanwhile, Baltimorean Felix Agnus purchased a family plot in Druid Ridge Cemetery. Agnus had led a eclectic life. A native of France, he was a world traveler, veteran of several wars (including the American Civil War), a silver craftsman at Tiffany and Co. and a Baltimore newspaper publisher. He purchased Pausch's copy of the Adams Memorial for the plot and built a pedestal similar to the original.
Augustus St. Gaudens' widow was incensed. Though Agnus insisted that he was the unwitting customer of an unscrupulous art dealer, the statue remained in Druid Ridge Cemetery. He and his wife Annie are buried in the plot, along with his mother.
Soon after their deaths, the whispers around Baltimore evolved: Pay Aggie a visit after dark, look her in the eye and be struck blind. Pregnant women were warned to stay far, far away as it was said you would miscarry. Sit in her lap at midnight and death lurks around the corner. People visited anyway, almost nightly. It was a Baltimore rite of passage and often a fraternity initiation drill. Her eyes were rumoured to glow red as well.
The nocturnal crowds, notoriety and resulting vandalism were too much for Agnus family descendants. They quietly donated the statue to the Smithsonian Institution in 1967. The museum had little interest in displaying her, though. She was placed in storage and quietly forgotten, at least by her D.C. caretakers. Not so in Baltimore, where Aggie's legend never died away.
In 1996, Shara Terjung, a Baltimore-based reporter discovered that she had been quietly on display since 1987 in a somewhat out-of-the-way courtyard of the National Courts Building. Ironically, the final location is on the east side of Lafayette Square, the same neighborhood where Marian “Clover” Adams took her life in 1885.
Black Aggie
Black Aggie is the folklore name given to a statue formerly placed on the grave of General Felix Agnus in Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, Maryland.
The statue is a somber seated figure in a cowl or shroud.
The legend is that someone spending a night in its lap would be haunted by the ghosts of those buried in the cemetery. It's said that the spirits of individuals buried there would convene annually at the statue.
No grass would grow on the ground where the statue's shadow would lie during the day.
The statue would animate itself during the night, whether that be by physically moving or by showing glowing red eyes.
The urban legend has led to much unwelcome attention toward the statue, many people have been caught breaking into the cemetery at night to visit Black Aggie. It has also been vandalized a number of times.
The Agnus family was disturbed by the attention and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1967. It has sat in storage for many years at the National Museum of American Art, now called the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Black Aggie was moved to a courtyard behind the Dolley Madison House on Lafayette Square in Washington D.C where she currently stands.
Black Aggie
When Felix Agnus put up the life-sized shrouded bronze statue of a grieving angel, seated on a pedestal, in the Agnus family plot in the Druid Ridge Cemetery, he had no idea what he had started. The statue was a rather eerie figure by day, frozen in a moment of grief and terrible pain. At night, the figure was almost unbelievably creepy; the shroud over its head obscuring the face until you were up close to it. There was a living air about the grieving angel, as if its arms could really reach out and grab you if you weren’t careful.
It didn’t take long for rumors to sweep through the town and surrounding countryside. They said that the statue – nicknamed Black Aggie – was haunted by the spirit of a mistreated wife who lay beneath her feet. The statue’s eyes would glow red at the stroke of midnight, and any living person who returned the statues gaze would instantly be struck blind. Any pregnant woman who passed through her shadow would miscarry. If you sat on her lap at night, the statue would come to life and crush you to death in her dark embrace. If you spoke Black Aggie’s name three times at midnight in front of a dark mirror, the evil angel would appear and pull you down to hell. They also said that spirits of the dead would rise from their graves on dark nights to gather around the statue at night.
People began visiting the cemetery just to see the statue, and it was then that the local fraternity decided to make the statue of Grief part of their initiation rites. “Black Aggie” sitting, where candidates for membership had to spend the night crouched beneath the statue with their backs to the grave of General Agnus, became popular.
One dark night, two fraternity members accompanied new hopeful to the cemetery and watched while he took his place underneath the creepy statue. The clouds had obscured the moon that night, and the whole area surrounding the dark statue was filled with a sense of anger and malice. It felt as if a storm were brewing in that part of the cemetery, and to their chagrin, the two fraternity members noticed that gray shadows seemed to be clustering around the body of the frightened fraternity candidate crouching in front of the statue.
What had been a funny initiation rite suddenly took on an air of danger. One of the fraternity brothers stepped forward in alarm to call out to the initiate. As he did, the statue above the boy stirred ominously. The two fraternity brothers froze in shock as the shrouded head turned toward the new candidate. They saw the gleam of glowing red eyes beneath the concealing hood as the statue’s arms reached out toward the cowering boy.
With shouts of alarm, the fraternity brothers leapt forward to rescue the new initiate. But it was too late. The initiate gave one horrified yell, and then his body disappeared into the embrace of the dark angel. The fraternity brothers skidded to a halt as the statue thoughtfully rested its glowing eyes upon them. With gasps of terror, the boys fled from the cemetery before the statue could grab them too.
Hearing the screams, a night watchman hurried to the Agnus plot. To his chagrin, he discovered the body of a young man lying at the foot of the statue. The young man had apparently died of fright.
The disruption caused by the statue grew so acute that the Agnus family finally donated it to the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C.. The grieving angel sat for many years in storage there, never again to plague the citizens visiting the Druid Hill Park Cemetery.
Spook Of The Day #237 • Black Aggie - aka a hella creepy and hella haunted statue
If you’ve had the misfortune of stumbling upon the Weeping Angels episodes of Doctor Who, then - like me - you’ll be terrified of all creepy statues that linger in graveyards.
Even looking at a pic of Black Aggie creeps me out. And I’m not the first to fall victim to her strange aesthetic...
This statue once sat on a General’s grave in a cemetery in Maryland and soon adopted a reputation for paranormal activity.
Urban legends used to claim if you sat in her lap during the night, you would be followed by the ghosts of those buried at the cemetery. It also claimed the statue would animate during the night, have glowing red eyes, and no grass would grow where the shadow of it would fall.
It was donated to the Smithsonian in 1967 after it was repeatedly vandals by various teens and alleged paranormal enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of something supernatural.
Follow to hear a real ghost story everyday + check out peoplesparanormal.com to hear more real supernatural experiences...
Black Aggie is a supposedly cursed statue. Originally being on the grave of General Felix Angus, in Druid Hill Cemetery located in Pikesville Maryland.The legends say that at midnight the statue comes alive, and has glowing red eyes. The legend also says that pregnant women who walk inside its shadow will miscarriage, and looking into her red eyes will blind or kill a person. It was also said that grass wouldn't grow within the shadows during the day. One urban legend surrounding the statue, claims that a girl went to the cemetery at midnight and looked at Aggie, the girl was found dead by her friend in the statues arms. The popularity of the rumors, made many people brake into the cemetery. The statue was relocated, where it eventually ended up in the Smithsonian, and later a courtyard behind the Dolly Maddison House.
Black Aggie
When Felix Agnus put up the life-sized shrouded bronze statue of a grieving angel, seated on a pedestal, in the Agnus family plot in the Druid Ridge Cemetery, he had no idea what he had started. The statue was a rather eerie figure by day, frozen in a moment of grief and terrible pain. At night, the figure was almost unbelievably creepy; the shroud over its head obscuring the face until you were up close to it. There was a living air about the grieving angel, as if its arms could really reach out and grab you if you weren’t careful.
It didn’t take long for rumors to sweep through the town and surrounding countryside. They said that the statue – nicknamed Black Aggie – was haunted by the spirit of a mistreated wife who lay beneath her feet. The statue’s eyes would glow red at the stroke of midnight, and any living person who returned the statues gaze would instantly be struck blind. Any pregnant woman who passed through her shadow would miscarry. If you sat on her lap at night, the statue would come to life and crush you to death in her dark embrace. If you spoke Black Aggie’s name three times at midnight in front of a dark mirror, the evil angel would appear and pull you down to hell. They also said that spirits of the dead would rise from their graves on dark nights to gather around the statue at night.
People began visiting the cemetery just to see the statue, and it was then that the local fraternity decided to make the statue of Grief part of their initiation rites. “Black Aggie” sitting, where candidates for membership had to spend the night crouched beneath the statue with their backs to the grave of General Agnus, became popular.
One dark night, two fraternity members accompanied new hopeful to the cemetery and watched while he took his place underneath the creepy statue. The clouds had obscured the moon that night, and the whole area surrounding the dark statue was filled with a sense of anger and malice. It felt as if a storm were brewing in that part of the cemetery, and to their chagrin, the two fraternity members noticed that gray shadows seemed to be clustering around the body of the frightened fraternity candidate crouching in front of the statue.
What had been a funny initiation rite suddenly took on an air of danger. One of the fraternity brothers stepped forward in alarm to call out to the initiate. As he did, the statue above the boy stirred ominously. The two fraternity brothers froze in shock as the shrouded head turned toward the new candidate. They saw the gleam of glowing red eyes beneath the concealing hood as the statue’s arms reached out toward the cowering boy.
With shouts of alarm, the fraternity brothers leapt forward to rescue the new initiate. But it was too late. The initiate gave one horrified yell, and then his body disappeared into the embrace of the dark angel. The fraternity brothers skidded to a halt as the statue thoughtfully rested its glowing eyes upon them. With gasps of terror, the boys fled from the cemetery before the statue could grab them too.
Hearing the screams, a night watchman hurried to the Agnus plot. To his chagrin, he discovered the body of a young man lying at the foot of the statue. The young man had apparently died of fright.
The disruption caused by the statue grew so acute that the Agnus family finally donated it to the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C.. The grieving angel sat for many years in storage there, never again to plague the citizens visiting the Druid Hill Park Cemetery.