Black Agnes

The September wind blew crisp and damp through Loudon Park Cemetery as the girls jumped the low stone fence. Everyone in Baltimore had heard of “Black Agnes”. It was a mournful thing, the embodiment of grief. The marble statue was of a seated woman, her hands outstretched to all who passed her final resting place. Agnes Madison killed herself back in 1918 by swallowing potassium cyanide after being jilted by her fiancé. Legend had it that the statue’s eyes glowed red at midnight, blinding anyone foolish enough to look at them. Lying in her arms was supposed to be fatal. But this sorority had been daring pledges to lay in her arms for years now, and none of the girls Susan met were dead or even blind.

After the other girls left, Susan resigned herself to a cold and uncomfortable night’s sleep. The sleeping bag and pillow would be little insulation against the slick cold marble. But someone would spy to make sure she actually slept in the statue’s arms, so she set about getting ready to go to sleep. She brushed off the accumulated leaves and dirt so it wouldn’t get all over her sleeping bag. She discovered a little plaque which she read by flashlight after she had made herself as comfortable as possible on the hard uneven surface. The statue had been carved by a Frenchman, Augustus Saint-Gaudens by commission of Henry Adams. As Susan settled into the warmth of her sleeping bag, she wondered who it was that had such a magnificent statue carved for the poor girl. The wind whistled a lullaby as Susan drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Susan suddenly awoke with the hair on the back of her neck tingling. The wind was still, but the air was colder than before. Her grandfather’s name was Henry Adams. Was he the one who left Agnes with a broken heart? By way of answer, she felt cold, stony hands tighten around her throat as the statue’s eyes started to glow.

-- Epilogue --

The statue is gone now - in 1967 it was moved to Druid Hill Park. Still too close for comfort, it was later donated to the Smithsonian Institution - by Susan’s grandmother, Marian Adams.