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Iowa City, Iowa: The Black Angel

Go to the cemetery, kiss the angel statue, drop dead -- or so the legends say. The 1912 sculpture has spooked generations who prefer the supernatural over any scientific explanation of the statue's blackness.

Visitor Tips and News About The Black Angel

Reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.

Black Angel.

The Black Angel

Worth checking out as it is a bit creepy. My girlfriend said she felt something was very odd and asked politely to leave...

[Matt Otis, 08/04/2013]

Black angel.

The Black Angel

The Black Angel is fantastic! A more direct route is to take Church St. east off of Dodge and then go North on Reno St. There is a south entrance to the cemetery and you can see her up the hill from there.

She is both menacing and welcoming at the same time. Awesome!

[Ryan Miller, 06/13/2013]

Black Angel statue.

The Black Angel

I've been wanting to visit this for quite some time but never had the chance in the past. This time I made it and brought my video camera! Simple directions to the site: Turn east onto Brown Street from Dodge and it "dead-ends" into the cemetery.

[Scott, 02/18/2010]
Black Angel

The Black Angel statue in Iowa City featured on your site is cool, but your tipsters seem to have missed its literary fame...In W.P. Kinsella's 1986 novel, "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy," the Black Angel comes to life and plays right field in a baseball game of Biblical proportions.

Kinsella is also the author of "Shoeless Joe," the book that was made into "Field of Dreams," also featured on your site for Dyersville, Iowa.

[David Williams, 09/11/2009]

Black angel.

Black Angel

On an eerie summer night (midnight) in mid-August, I tempted fate when I kissed The Black Angel. The statue stands approximately 12 ft tall from ground level to tip of her wing, so I ended up kissing her waist. Visitors are not welcomed after 9 pm, so we had to make a hasty exit as we were tailed into the site by an Iowa City patrol car. We took refuge behind Mrs. Bruegger's gravestone to avoid being detected for what seemed an inordinate length of time.(Sorry Mrs. B.) We had set off some motion detector lights by the front entrance that I think alerted them to our presence in the cemetery. Use the Brown St. entrance because it is a huge facility and you'd likely get lost if you didn't.

[John Kershner, 09/22/2008]

The Black Angel

Oakland Cemetery

Address:
1000 Brown St., Iowa City, IA
Directions:
I-80 exit 246. South on Hwy 1/Dodge St. for about 1.5 miles. Turn left onto Summit St., then right onto Dewey St., then left onto Brown St. to the Oakland Cemetery entrance. The Black Angel is in a ways, but straight in from the entrance. Lot 1, Block 24.
Hours:
Gates open daily 7:30-dusk (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Phone:
319-356-5105
Save to My Sights

Nearby Offbeat Places

Hamburg Inn: Booths of Reagan and ClintonHamburg Inn: Booths of Reagan and Clinton, Iowa City, IA - < 1 mi.
The Sitting ManThe Sitting Man, Iowa City, IA - 2 mi.
Medical MuseumMedical Museum, Iowa City, IA - 2 mi.
In the region:
World's Largest Watermelon Slice, Muscatine, IA - 30 mi.

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