Council Bluffs, Iowa -
Black Angel of Iowa #2

Black Angel of Iowa #2

A very beautiful cemetery with an extraordinary panoramic view of Omaha. Nice for civil war historians too. [Bob Schimpf, 04/04/2010]

Black Angel of Iowa

I know the Black Angel all too well. For 12 years of my childhood I lived just 1 block from it. The story goes: at 12 midnight on the anniversary of Ruth Anne Dodge's death, if you look into the Angel's eyes they will turn red. That is a sign that you will die in two days! If you read the stone at the site, it said that Ruth saw the Angel in her dreams then died two days later.

I do not believe in these kinds of stories, but let me tell you, when i tried it I was scared. I guess the good Lord had better plans for me. [JD, 08/17/2009]

Black Angel - Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial

It is a statue of an angel, on the edge of Fairview cemetery, and the statue is the subject of much local lore. Created by Daniel Chester French, who did the large seated Lincoln, at Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, DC, it turned black after being exposed to the elements. Subsequent attempts to polish it seem to fail, as it always turns black again.

Some locals say the statue jumps off its pedestal, and flies around at night. Ruth Anne Dodge, whose grave the Black Angel Statue watches over, was the wife of Gen. Grenville Dodge, whom Abraham Lincoln chose to be the Chief Engineer of the Transcontinental Railroad. [Donald Fraysier, 11/23/2000]

[RA: Nowhere near as unsettling as the Black Angel in Iowa City. Cleaned in the 1980s and not very black any more. Come back in 2050 if you want a good scare.]