THE BLACK ANGEL:

     IOWA CITY'S

     MOST MYSTERIOUS MONUMENT

     Generations of Iowa City residents have spoken of it with awe and wonder. Some say it is cursed. Others say it will bring good luck. At any rate, the Black Angel monument in Oakland Cemetery is, and has been a curiosity for children and adults alike.

     Among the wizened headstones it looms nine feet tall with wings outstretched, its brilliant bronze blackened by time...or perhaps something far more sinister?

     Most of the mystery surrounding the Angel focuses on why it has turned black. Some say it is because the lover of the deceased was unfaithful. Others say it is because the statue was once struck by lightning which instantly turned it black as it was being loaded onto the ship in Italy. The most likely story, however, is that the bronze simply oxidized. But who can say for sure? The Black Angel has a curious history, and rumors of its strange powers persist as each new generation of Iowa Citians spread the Angel's tales.

     The Black Angel's true moniker is the Feldevert Monument; standing as a memorial to Teresa Dolezal Feldevert, her second husband, Nicholas Feldevert, and her son by her first marriage, Eddie Dolezal. Teresa came to live in Iowa City in the 1880's with her son and though she had been a physician in her native Bohemia, her license was not recognized in Iowa and so she worked as a midwife. In 1891 at the age of about 18, Eddie died of meningitus, and was buried under a peculiar broken tree-trunk monument in Oakland Cemetery. Teresa married Nicholas Feldevert shortly there after and moved with him to Oregon. Sadly, in 1911 Nicholas died. Teresa stricken with grief, returned to Iowa City, and contacted a certain Mario Korbel of Chicago to fashion a memorial monument to her family. Finally, in 1912, the stature arrived in Iowa City by train. Unsatified with the angelic statue because it did not include a replica of the tree trunk marker standing over Eddie's grave, Teresa refused to pay Korbel. He took her to court and there forced her to pay him his $5000 fee. The monument was situated so that the Angel looks down on Eddie's grave.

     In later years, Teresa would wheelchair up to the monument that watched over her son and husband's remains and madly try to scrape off the blackness that covered the Angel. Never understanding the Angel's change of color, she died, and her ashes interred next to her family's remains.

     The statue bears this inscription in Hungarian:

     Where after frustration you wait for everlasting reward."

     Strangely, the monument does not bear the date of her death.

     Others say that touching the Angel will cause her blackness to spread onto one's own flesh, progressivley rendering limbs useless until...

     What follows is one such case, occurring on one Halloween in the 1970's.

     Larry Manning was sixteen years old when he decided to make his mark on the Black Angel. He had always been a wild lad, and was no stranger to detention or groundings. As he got older his schemes became grander- he wanted a piece of fame.

     Back in the seventies, security around the Black Angel on Halloween night was not as tight as it is today, so Larry and his small group of friends had no trouble creeping through the dark and silent cemetery to the base of the statue. One of Larry's younger friends scooped away a pile of leaves and tried to read the inscription there. "Hey Larry, what does this say?" he asked.

     "It says 'smash me'," Larry responded, hefting the sledgehammer he had brought with him. "Look out."

     Larry stood precariously atop the base of the monument, and raised the hammer high. Tonight he would have a wing of the Black Angel all to himself. But then a wind must have gusted up, because Larry lost his balance and toppled over backward, the sledgehammer slipping from his grip and landing on his wrist as he hit the ground. More embarrassed than hurt, Larry decided that the group should reconvene the next night. His friends didn't argue; they were more than ready to leave the Angel and its curse.

     The next day Larry's wrist was bruised, and his mother asked him at breakfast where he had gotten it. "Oh, I was just foolin' around, Mom," was his answer. By the end of the day, Larry had reconsidered his plan to visit the Black Angel a second time. The bruise on his wrist had grown larger, and now covered the lower half of his hand. It did not hurt, but where the bruise was, Larry had no feeling.

     Larry's mother took him to a doctor the next day. The doctor discovered no broken bones or torn ligaments, and said that the bruise was just exceptionally bad, and that time would heal. Unfortunately, things got worse. After a few more days, Larry's forearm and hand were black and numb, though not in pain. He was not able to use his arm past the elbow. His mother kept him home from school, hoping complete bed rest might help.

     When Larry awoke on the sixth day after visiting the Black Angel, his entire arm was black up to the shoulder. He decided something had to be done. Larry called his friends and asked them to accompany him to the Black Angel one more time. Reluctantly, they agreed.

     That night the small group went to visit the Black Angel. There, in witness of all his friends, Larry went up to the statue, touched it with his good hand, and said, "I'm sorry." All was just as quiet in the graveyard as it was that Halloween. Finally, feeling he could do nothing else, Larry walked back home with his friends.

     The next day the bruise was gone. It would be nice to say that Larry went on to learn the error of his ways, and become a troublemaker no more, but that is not what happened. He simply never went to visit the Black Angel again.

     And it's unlikely he ever will.

     Editor's note: Over the years, a few of the Black Angel's finger tips have gone "missing" as well as her entire right thumb which appears to have been removed with a hacksaw. One can but wonder what dark vengence visited the brazen souvenir takers...