26 Days until
Halloween
Happy Friday Everyone! It is so hard to
believe that we are already coming to an end of the first week in October. Today I was convinced that I was not going to get my story done before deadline. Looking at my clock, I have 31 minutes to spare - Phew! Why
does time go by so fast? OK, let me get back on track. A strange thing happened that might just spook most people, but for me, I am looking at this as as a writers miracle. Oh shoot, wait, but before I get into that, you'll never guess what??? Once again, the majority of readers believed
that yesterday’s story was also fiction. I hate to be the bearer of bad news,
but the story "The Flash" was also a true story and had happened to
my Mom and Dad.
So you see - every family has some story to tell about things
that have happened to them or someone they know. If you dare, send me your
spooky story, let me know if it is Fact or Fiction, I'll post it on my blog and let’s see if the readers can determine if it is Fact or Fiction. I
decided that since it was the weekend, the time for guessing games needs a
break too, which is perfect for the story that I want to share with you and what happened to me.
You know the old saying, things happen in 3's.
Well, I have found myself in the last 24 hours running into this story over and over again.
I saw it last night for the first time on our local television news channel.
Then I also heard about it on the news at my doctor’s office, and then later
today, someone was talking about it over the radio. I don't know what it is, but there is just Something about this story that gives me the chills and has me wanting to see "Black Aggie" for myself. I do hope you find this story as interesting as I do. So until tomorrow - Blog ya later.
Black Aggie
A Maryland Ghost Story
Retold by: S. E. Schlosser
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 shrouds 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.
You can read
more Maryland folktales and ghost stories in Spooky Maryland by S.E. Schlosser.
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