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pen. The remainder of the crowd decided to follow suit, and seconds after the last members of the multitude had retreated from the sphere, it exploded with a peculiar muffled sound, creating a miniature mushroom-shaped cloud. The debris from the craft 'sizzled' in the grass, and gradually turned to powder.
A police inspector named Liabeuf travelled over a hundred miles from Paris to investigate the crash, and he quizzed many of the witnesses, including the mayors and physician who had been present at the strange spectacle. The inspector organised a thorough search of the woods where the oddly-dressed man had taken refuge, but the hunt resulted in nothing. There stranger seemed to have vanished as mysteriously as he had arrived.
In the report to his superiors, Inspector Liabeuf put forward the suggestion that the man who had landed in the globe could have been 'a being from another world' - but the high-ups in Paris dismissed the intimation as 'a ludicrous idea'. | | No offence but some of the stories here are so funny and not the least bit creepy | - THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN -
The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a legend, documented by the Brothers Grimm , which tells of an unusual disaster that occurred in the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Germany, 26 June 1284.
In 1284, the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation. One day, a man claiming to be a rat-catcher approached the villagers with a solution. They promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted and thus took a pipe and lured the rats with a song into the Weser river, where all of them drowned.
Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay the rat-catcher. The man left the town angrily, but returned some time later, on June 26th, seeking revenge.
While the inhabitants were in church, he played his pipe again, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and never seen again. Depending on the version, at most two children remained behind, who informed the villagers what had happened when they came out of the church.
Other versions (but not the traditional ones) claim that the Piper returned the children after the villagers paid several times the original amount of gold.
History
The earliest mention of the story seems to have been on a stained glass window placed in the church of Hamelin c. 1300. The window was described in several accounts between the 14th century and the 17th century but it seems to have been destroyed. Based on the surviving descriptions, a modern reconstruction of the window has been created by Hans Dobbertin. It features the colorful figure of the Pied Piper and several figures of children dressed in white.
This window is generally considered to have been created in memory of a tragic historical event for the city. But although there has been a lot of research, no clear explanation can be given of what historical event is behind the reports, see an external link with a list of theories. However, the rats were first added to the story in the late 16th century; they are absent from all previous accounts. Some traumatic event must have given rise to the tale; Hamelin town records are dated from this time.
Theories that have gained some support can be grouped into the following categories:
• The children fell victim to an accident, either drowning in the river Weser or being buried in a landslide. | • The children contracted some disease during an epidemic and were led out of town to die in order to protect the rest of the city's population from contracting it.
• An early form of Black Death has been suggested.
• Others attribute the dancing of the children to be an early reference to Huntington's disease; however, this is an inherited disorder, and the statistical probability of that many unrelated children having the same genetic condition is very low.
• Another possibility would be the outbreaks of chorea, or communal dancing mania, which are recorded in a number of European towns during the period of general distress which followed the Black Death. The 'Verstegan/Browning' date, 1376, would be consistent with this. These theories perceive the Piper as a symbolic figure of Death. Death is often portrayed dressed in motley, or "pied." Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the Dance of Death, Totentanz or Danse Macabre, a common medieval type. Various ecstatic outbreaks were associated with the Plague, such as the Flagellants, who wandered from place to place while scourging themselves in penance for sins that presumably brought the plague upon Europe. The rat is the preferred host for the plague vector, the rat flea. When the rats die, the fleas seek humans as a substitute host. Children might be especially vulnerable to the disease.
• The children left the city to be part of a pilgrimage, a military campaign, or even a new Children's crusade but never returned to their parents. These theories see the unnamed Piper as their leader or a recruiting agent.
• The children willingly abandoned their parents and Hamelin in order to become the founders of their own villages during the colonization of Eastern Europe. Several European villages and cities founded around this time have been suggested as the result of their efforts as settlers. This claim is supported by corresponding placenames in both the region around Hamelin and the eastern colonies where names such as Querhameln ("mill village Hamelin") exist. Again the Piper is seen as their leader.
The tradition that the children emigrated in 1284 is so old and well-reported that explanations associated with the Black Death seem unlikely (there is an alternative, post-Black Death, date 1376, but it is documented far away from Hamelin and as late as 1605 - see below). Modern scholars regard the emigration theory to be the most probable,[1] i.e. that the Pied Piper of Hamelin was a recruiter for the colonization of Eastern Europe which took part in the 13th century and that he led away a big part of the young generation of Hamelin to a region in Eastern Germany.
Decan Lude of Hamelin was reported ca. 1384 to have in his possession a chorus book containing a Latin verse giving an eyewitness account of the event. The verse was reportedly written by his grandmother. This chorus book is believed to have been lost since the late 17th century. | The Lueneberg manuscript (c. 1440-1450) gives an early German account of the event:
Anno 1284 am dage Johannis et Pauli
war der 26. junii
Dorch einen piper mit allerlei farve bekledet
gewesen CXXX kinder verledet binnen Hamelen gebo[re]n
to calvarie bi den koppen verloren
In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul
on the 26th of June
130 children born in Hamelin were seduced
By a piper, dressed in all kinds of colors,
and lost at the place of execution near the koppen.
This appears to be oldest surviving account. Koppen (Old German meaning "hills") seems to be a reference to one of several hills surrounding the city. Which of them was intended by the verse's author remains uncertain.
Reportedly, there is a long-established law forbidding singing and music in one particular street of Hamelin, out of respect for the victims: the Bungelosenstrasse adjacent to the Pied Piper's House. During public parades which include music, including wedding processions, the band will stop playing upon reaching this street and resume upon reaching the other side.
In 1556 De miraculis sui temporis (Latin: Concerning the Wonders of his Times) by Jobus Fincelius mentions the tale. The author identifies the Piper with the Devil.
The earliest English account is that of Richard Rowland Verstegan (1548-c. 1636), an antiquary and religious controversialist of partly Dutch descent, in his Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (Antwerp, 1605); unfortunately he does not give his source. He includes the reference to the rats and the idea that the lost children turned up in Transylvania. The phrase 'Pide [sic] Piper' occurs in his version and seems to have been coined by him. Curiously enough his date is entirely different from that given above: July 22, 1376. Verstegan's account was copied in Nathaniel Wanley's Wonders of the Visible World (1687), which was the immediate source of Robert Browning's well-known poem (below). Verstegan's account is also repeated in William Ramesey's Wormes (1668) - "...that most remarkable story in Verstegan, of the Pied Piper, that carryed away a hundred and sixty Children from the Town of Hamel in Saxony, on the 22. of July, Anno Dom. 1376. A wonderful permission of GOD to the Rage of the Devil".
In 1803, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a poem based on the story. He incorporated references to the story in his version of Faust. The first part of the Drama was first published in 1808 and the second in 1832.
Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, siblings known as the Brothers Grimm, drawing from eleven sources included the tale in their collection "Deutsche Sagen", first published in 1816. According to their account two children were left behind as one was blind and the other lame, so neither could follow the others. The rest became the founders of Siebenbürgen (Transylvania). | Using the Verstegan/Wanley version of the tale and adopting the 1376 date, Robert Browning wrote a poem of that name which was published in 1842. Browning's verse retelling is notable for its humor, wordplay, and jingling rhymes.
“When, lo, as they reached the mountain's side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.”
This location is located on Coppenbrugge mountain and is known as an ancient site of pagan worship. | | | On September 3, 1873, a man named James Worson had accepted a challenge to race, in record time, from the town of Leamington to the town of Coventry, a 20-mile trek. He had been boasting of his foot skills and then was asked to prove them, so, with sporting good spirits, he set about to do just that. Two friends, Hammerson Burns and Barham Wise, followed behind in a horse-drawn gig. Burns brought along his camera. Worson was never out of their sight, and would often turn around while running to exchange some friendly words with the two riders. Running in the middle of the road, Worson suddenly appeared to stumble and pitch forward, having time enough for only one short, piercing scream. Wise later said, “It was the most ghastly sound ether of us had ever heard.” But as Worson pitched forward with that terrible cry, instead of falling to the ground as he appeared to be about to have done, he completely and totally vanished in mid-fall, before ever striking the ground. The road itself told the story and Wise took the pictures to prove it. There, in the soft dirt, were Worson’s footprints.They led down the middle of the road, looked as if the runner stumbled, and there they disappeared. A search was called and the locals scoured the area for James. The bloodhounds used in the search were strangely reluctant to approach the spot where Worson disappeared. He was never seen or heard from again. | This is one of my favorites:
There was a hunter in the woods, who, after a long day hunting, was in the middle of an immense forest. It was getting dark, and having lost his bearings, he decided to head in one direction until he was clear of the increasingly oppressive foliage. After a what seemed like hours, he came across a cabin in a small clearing. Realizing how dark it had grown, he decided to see if he could stay there for the night. He approached, and found the door ajar. Nobody was inside. The hunter flopped down on the single bed, deciding to explain himself to the owner in the morning. As he looked around, he was suprised to see the walls adorned by many portraits, all painted in incredible detail. Without exception, they appeared to be staring down at him, their features twisted into looks of hatred. Staring back, he grew increasingly uncomfortable. Making a concerted effort to ignore the many hateful faces, he turned to face the wall, and exhausted, he fell into a restless sleep.
Face down in an unfamiliar bed, he turned blinking in unexpected sunlight. Looking up, he discovered that the cabin had no portraits, only windows. | My family had this little girl named Catelin, way before I was born. You see, Catelin was a daddy's girl. Mys sister Miranda was extremely envious o her.
So one day, my dad bought Catelin a puppy on her third birthday, even though Miranda had been asking for one since she turned 13. Miranda went to argue with dad about Catelin's Puppy.
She said " Dad! How come you give Catelin whatever she wants, but not me> I'm tired of her!"
She left the room and saw Catelin going down the stairs with her puppy. The puppy started whining and started to squirm.
Miranda told the puppy to be quiet and tried to grab the puppy from Catelin.
Catelin started shouting, "No! My doggy!
Miranda said "Tell him to be quiet or I'll take him to the garage."
The puppy jumped out and ran down the stairs. Catelin started to o after her puppy, when Miranda grabbed her arms. She started to pull and suddenly Miranda let go of her arms. Catelin fell down the stairs and sadly died.
My parents had me the next year and made sure Miranda was nowhere near me. When I turned 13, my mother announced she was pregnant with another girl, which again turned out to be daddy's girl. She was named Cindy.
When Cindy turned 3, Miranda cried and cried. Catelin's puppy was a grown dog now and followed Cindy everywhere. No one knew why!
One day I was i the hallway with my friend and we saw Cindy going down the stairs after the dog. Miranda just stared.
Cindy turned and said "you are not going to throw me down the stairs gain, are you?"
I was in shock at listening these words. Miranda screamed and ran to her room. My and my friend never mentioned this incidence to anyone. | http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt88tsTARs1qbqsu7.jpg
This photo of Elizabeth Templeton was taken in on May 4, 1964 by her Dad who was a fireman near their home in Australia. Jim, his wife and three daughters went on a picnic that day bringing along his new camera.
The area they were at was almost deserted but Jim reported a “strange electrical feel” to the air as if it was going to rain. When the photos were developed, the store owner remarked what a shame it was that the nicest photo of Elizabeth had been ruined by the man in the background. Yet there was no man in the area at the time; a tall humanoid in a space suit would have attracted a lot of attention.
A year later Jim went back to the site to take some photos so he could give a talk about it to his fellow firemen. The story became a popular local anomaly. When he got his developed film back, the specific shots he had taken at the picnic area were missing from the rest of the various other photos he had snapped. The police were called and all they could find out was that the Ministry of Defense was interested in his photos because, as it turns out, the picnic area was next to a site where missles were being built.
But that still wasn’t the end of it.
The missle facility at Woomera was run by Group Captain Tom Dalton-Morgan from 1959-1963 and
he came forward with his own story. Prior to the test firing of an earlier “Blue Streak” rocket,
observers stationed 100 miles down range called to tell Tom that there was a ‘light’ heading his
way at incredible speed, towards restricted air space. Tom and several scientists watched as the
light circled the facility, then shot away and vanished. He remarked that he “could not conceive of any plane or missle that was able to perform the maneuvers seen by my team”. He said UFOs were frequently seen in the area. In 1964 they had aborted the launch of another test when a ‘white being’ was seen on the automatic security cameras.
On researching this story, it was found that there is footage of almost every Blue Streak missle test
but this particular launch’s records are not available. Further investigation finds some reference to that film, that the ‘white being” was caught on camera on June 5th, less than two weeks after Jim caught this being on his camera. It’s recorded that on the official security camera film taken that day, a white disk-like patch is visible by the Blue Streak rocket. The Ministry of Defense suggested it was a lens flare, but the photographers at the Woomera facilty say the cameras are all specially hooded to prevent exactly that. They might not be related but the fact that two anomalous images were caught on film within this short time period in the same area has to make you go “hmmmm”. | This one freaked me:
I moved into my house five years ago. In the last two years there have been strange things happening. It all started in October of 2004. I noticed strange footsteps but shrugged them off, thinking there was probably an explanation for them. My sixteen year old son, Michael, slept in the only downstairs bedroom while his little sister and I have our own bedrooms upstairs.
I would wake up in the morning with Michael sleeping on my bedroom floor. He, at first, heard strange noises and soon saw shadows moving across the room. He came running from his room one day because a plug flew from the outlet. I put it down to electrical faults. He’s felt something brushing him, too.
I have been with my partner, Mike, for a year now and he moved in with me in April. At first, Mike couldn’t sleep with the noise of someone moving about up and down the stairs. He always checked, but there was never anything there. He would always say, “Did you hear that?” I was just used to hearing them.
Four months ago, Mike was sitting at the computer beside Michael’s bedroom door and he jumped up in pain. He lifted up his shirt and found a deep scratch on his stomach. There were no sharp instruments about and no possible explanation for this. The computer always acts up for him but no one else in the family. I am also catching shadows out of the corner of my eye and have been putting it down to my imagination.
We were lying in our bed two weeks ago watching TV. I lie nearest the doorway and caught a shadow going into my daughter’s bedroom. Mike jumped up and told me he saw it too. For once, I was completely freaked out. I had to sleep on the other side of the bed.
Everything was forgotten, but two days ago Mike was sitting at the computer again, holding a piece of drawing paper in his lap. The paper hit him in the eye somehow and took a chunk from his cornea. He was admitted to the hospital and is in complete agony. He cannot explain how the paper hit his eye from the angle he was holding it on his lap, but we know that even if he tried to do it to himself it would be impossible.
At first, I thought it was just a mischievous ghost of some kind, but now I am starting to get very worried with this thing assaulting my partner. It is no longer mischievous, but evil. I wonder if it is the shadow that has always been with me, that I have always seen from the corner of my eye…or if it’s something that was already in the house.
Two weeks ago, my son came in screaming from the bathroom saying he’d seen a bloody face wrapped in a dirty sheet. He killed himself last Friday and we are all devastated beyond words.
His suicide note said, “I got it mom. Check the camera.”
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8ov0nwnhs1qbqsu7.jpg | Way back in the deep woods there lived a scrawny old woman who had a reputation for being the best conjuring woman in the Ozarks. With her bedraggled black-and-gray hair, funny eyes - one yellow and one green - and her crooked nose, Old Betty was not a pretty picture, but she was the best there was at fixing what ailed a man, and that was all that counted.
Old Betty's house was full of herbs and roots and bottles filled with conjuring medicine. The walls were lined with strange books brimming with magical spells. Old Betty was the only one living in the Hollow who knew how to read; her granny, who was also a conjurer, had taught her the skill as part of her magical training.
Just about the only friend Old Betty had was a tough, mean, ugly old razorback hog that ran wild around her place. It rooted so much in her kitchen garbage that all the leftover spells started affecting it. Some folks swore up and down that the old razorback hog sometimes walked upright like man. One fellow claimed he'd seen the pig sitting in the rocker on Old Betty's porch, chattering away to her while she stewed up some potions in the kitchen, but everyone discounted that story on account of the fellow who told it was a little too fond of moonshine.
"Raw Head" was the name Old Betty gave the razorback, referring maybe to the way the ugly creature looked a bit like some of the dead pigs come butchering time down in Hog-Scald Hollow. The razorback didn't mind the funny name. Raw Head kept following Old Betty around her little cabin and rooting up the kitchen leftovers. He'd even walk to town with her when she came to the local mercantile to sell her home remedies.
Well, folks in town got so used to seeing Raw Head and Old Betty around the town that it looked mighty strange one day around hog-driving time when Old Betty came to the mercantile without him.
"Where's Raw Head?" the owner asked as he accepted her basket full of home-remedy potions. The liquid in the bottles swished in an agitate manner as Old Betty said: "I ain't seen him around today, and I'm mighty worried. You seen him here in town?"
"Nobody's seen him around today. They would've told me if they did," the mercantile owner said. "We'll keep a lookout fer you."
"That's mighty kind of you. If you see him, tell him to come home straightaway," Old Betty said. The mercantile owner nodded agreement as he handed over her weekly pay.
Old Betty fussed to herself all the way home. It wasn't like Raw Head to disappear, especially not the day they went to town. The man at the mercantile always saved the best scraps for the mean old razorback, and Raw Head never missed a visit. When the old conjuring woman got home, she mixed up a potion and poured it onto a flat plate.
"Where's that old hog got to?" she asked the liquid. It clouded over and then a series of pictures formed. First, Old Betty saw the good-for-nothing hunter that lived on the next ridge sneaking around the forest, rounding up razorback hogs that didn't belong to him. One of the hogs was Raw Head. Then she saw him taking the hogs down to Hog-Scald Hollow, where folks from the next town were slaughtering their razorbacks. Then she saw her hog, Raw Head, slaughtered with the rest of the pigs and hung up for gutting. The final picture in the liquid was the pile of bloody bones that had once been her hog, and his scraped-clean head lying with the other hogsheads in a pile.
Old Betty was infuriated by the death of her only friend. It was murder to her, plain and simple. Everyone in three counties knew that Raw Head was her friend, and that lazy, hog-stealing, good-for-nothing hunter on the ridge was going to pay for slaughtering him.
Now Old Betty tried to practice white conjuring most of the time, but she knew the dark secrets too. She pulled out an old, secret book her granny had given her and turned to the very last page. She lit several can | She lit several candles and put them around the plate containing the liquid picture of Raw Head and his bloody bones. Then she began to chant: "Raw Head and Bloody Bones. Raw Head and Bloody Bones."
The light from the windows disappeared as if the sun had been snuffed out like a candle. Dark clouds billowed into the clearing where Old Betty's cabin stood, and the howl of dark spirits could be heard in the wind that pummeled the treetops.
"Raw Head and Bloody Bones. Raw Head and Bloody Bones."
Betty continued the chant until a bolt of silver lightning left the plate and streaked out threw the window, heading in the direction of Hog-Scald Hollow.
When the silver light struck Raw Head's severed head, which was piled on the hunter's wagon with the other hog heads, it tumbled to the ground and rolled until it was touching the bloody bones that had once inhabited its body. As the hunter's wagon rumbled away toward the ridge where he lived, the enchanted Raw Head called out: "Bloody bones, get up and dance!"
Immediately, the bloody bones reassembled themselves into the skeleton of a razorback hog walking upright, as Raw Head had often done when he was alone with Old Betty. The head hopped on top of his skeleton and Raw Head went searching through the woods for weapons to use against the hunter. He borrowed the sharp teeth of a dying panther, the claws of a long-dead bear, and the tail from a rotting raccoon and put them over his skinned head and bloody bones.
Then Raw Head headed up the track toward the ridge, looking for the hunter who had slaughtered him. Raw Head slipped passed the thief on the road and slid into the barn where the hunter kept his horse and wagon. Raw Head climbed up into the loft and waited for the hunter to come home.
It was dusk when the hunter drove into the barn and unhitched his horse. The horse snorted in fear, sensing the presence of Raw Head in the loft. Wondering what was disturbing his usually-calm horse, the hunter looked around and saw a large pair of eyes staring down at him from the darkness in the loft.
The hunter frowned, thinking it was one of the local kids fooling around in his barn.
"Land o' Goshen, what have you got those big eyes fer?" he snapped, thinking the kids were trying to scare him with some crazy mask.
"To see your grave," Raw Head rumbled very softly. The hunter snorted irritably and put his horse into the stall.
"Very funny. Ha,ha," The hunter said. When he came out of the stall, he saw Raw Head had crept forward a bit further. Now his luminous yellow eyes and his bears claws could clearly be seen.
"Land o' Goshen, what have you got those big claws fer?" he snapped. "You look ridiculous."
"To dig your grave…" Raw Head intoned softly, his voice a deep rumble that raised the hairs on the back of the hunter's neck. He stirred uneasily, not sure how the crazy kid in his loft could have made such a scary sound. If it really was a crazy kid.
Feeling a little spooked, he hurried to the door and let himself out of the barn. Raw Head slipped out of the loft and climbed down the side of the barn behind him. With nary a rustle to reveal his presence, Raw Head raced through the trees and up the path to a large, moonlight rock. He hid in the shadow of the huge stone so that the only things showing were his gleaming yellow eyes, his bear claws, and his raccoon tail.
When the hunter came level with the rock on the side of the path, he gave a startled yelp. Staring at Raw Head, he gasped: "You nearly knocked the heart right out of me, you crazy kid! Land o' Goshen, what have you got that crazy tail fer?"
"To sweep your grave…" Raw Head boomed, his enchanted voice echoing through the woods, getting louder and louder with each echo. The hunter took to his heels and ran for his cabin. He raced passed the old well-house, passed the wood pile, ov | "To sweep your grave…" Raw Head boomed, his enchanted voice echoing through the woods, getting louder and louder with each echo. The hunter took to his heels and ran for his cabin. He raced passed the old well-house, passed the wood pile, over the rotting fence and into his yard. But Raw Head was faster. When the hunter reached his porch, Raw Head leapt from the shadows and loomed above him. The hunter stared in terror up at Raw Head's gleaming yellow eyes in the ugly razorback hogshead, his bloody bone skeleton with its long bear claws, sweeping raccoon's tail and his gleaming sharp panther teeth.
"Land o' Goshen, what have you got those big teeth fer?" he gasped desperately, stumbling backwards from the terrible figure before him.
"To eat you up, like you wanted to eat me!" Raw Head roared, descending upon the good-for-nothing hunter. The murdering thief gave one long scream in the moonlight. Then there was silence, and the sound of crunching.
Nothing more was ever seen or heard of the lazy hunter who lived on the ridge. His horse also disappeared that night. But sometimes folks would see Raw Head roaming through the forest in the company of his friend Old Betty. And once a month, on the night of the full moon, Raw Head would ride the hunter's horse through town, wearing the old man's blue overalls over his bloody bones with a hole cut-out for his raccoon tail. In his bloody, bear-clawed hands, he carried his raw, razorback hogshead, lifting it high against the full moon for everyone to see. | 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 Cemeter |
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