The advice in some American locations is the same, and it’s to enjoy yourself, but make sure you don’t annoy whatever’s supposed to be living there.
The angel that turned black
You might be surprised to learn that Iowa City’s Black Angel wasn’t like that when it was first built. Teresa Dolezal Feldevert commissioned an 8.5-foot bronze statue to be built there in 1912 for her family’s graves. Oxidization caused the metal to slowly darken, something entirely normal. The stories that followed weren’t so ordinary, though.
One story says that the statue is cursed, and that anyone who kisses the statue will surely die. Another version warns against touching the statue at midnight on Halloween because that’ll kill you. Not all of the stories promise such an instant death, however, as one says you’ll be given seven years left to live. The moral of the story is don’t touch the statue.
A town with a dark reputation
Dudleytown in Cornwall, Connecticut, has a family to blame for its curse story. It apparently all started with the Dudleys, who came from across the pond and brought a curse with them. That’s when everything began.
You name it, insanity, suicides, murders, sudden deaths, even demons, the curse of this place has it all. People retelling the story don’t seem to care that it doesn’t line up with the historical record. It has a bad reputation.
A curse before the park
Griffith Park in Los Angeles might be a popular hiking spot today, but it turns out, the area had an interesting story long before that. It all goes back to a woman named Petronilla Feliz. Her uncle died in 1863, and she was left out of the Rancho Los Feliz estate. That made her mad.
So mad, in fact, that she cursed the land and whoever would own it next. The legend goes that droughts occurred shortly after, causing ruined crops and money problems.
Violent deaths are another part of the story. Griffith J. Griffith later bought the property and seriously wounded his wife, then gave thousands of acres to Los Angeles.
Three curses on one island
Having one curse is scary enough. Charles Island somehow has three of them. Yes, the small Connecticut island has a story involving Native American chief Ansantawae, who cursed the land after European settlers took control.Â
There’s even one story about Captain William Kidd’s treasure being buried there. He cursed anyone who tried taking it. If that wasn’t enough, an old Aztec story states that treasure hunters found a treasure chest on the land. They were spooked when they saw a headless figure.
The warning before the storm
Be careful what you cut down. That’s the warning associated with the Witches’ Tree in Louisville, Kentucky, it was supposedly the site for witches to gather. But the city removed it in 1889 for May Day celebrations. Surprise, surprise, the witches got annoyed, and they promised trouble.Â
Real witch trouble. It took almost a year, but eleven months later, a deadly tornado ripped through Louisville and destroyed a lot of the city. The story says that lightning struck the old stump during the storm. The twisted tree standing there grew from what remained.
The oak nobody wants to anger
There aren’t a lot of rules you need to follow with New Jersey’s Devil’s Tree. Just leave it alone. Yes, that’s right, simple as that, and it’s because local stories claim that anyone damaging the oak will be cursed. It’s also a problem if you insult it or touch it.
Car trouble and accidents are supposed to follow. The historical record of the tree is pretty dark, as some versions say some people were lynched from its branches. It’s quite the creepy tree with quite the creepy history, that’s for sure.
A stain that wouldn’t leave
It’s hard to miss one detail at Colonel Jonathan Buck’s memorial in Bucksport, Maine. It’s a stain. The stain looks suspiciously like a lower leg and foot, which is probably where the curse story came from. It says that Buck once ordered a suspected witch to be executed, but before she died, she promised her mark would appear on his grave.Â
That’s where the mark allegedly came from. The funny thing is, the timeline doesn’t fit because Buck was born after New England’s witch-trial period, and there’s no record of him ordering such an execution. Scientists believe the stain was caused by iron in the granite oxidizing, but really, the curse story is way more interesting.
The rocks people send back
It’s no surprise that people have tried stealing rocks from the Gettysburg Battlefield. It is a pretty important place, after all. Except, maybe they shouldn’t do that, as there’s a story about a curse on these rocks. The National Park Service has received many rocks mailed back by visitors.
They claim they returned the rocks after being plagued by bad luck and accidents, as well as illnesses. That’s not all. Gettysburg has plenty of ghost stories involving apparitions of soldiers and phantom gunfire, so clearly, this is a place with a lot going on still.
The witch story in the woods
The old lumber town of Pere Cheney, Michigan, is almost all gone now. All that’s left behind is a cemetery and wooded ground, as well as a pretty dark story. It says that a woman was accused of witchcraft and lost her child. She was driven away from town, but before she left, she cursed the settlement.
The legend says her curse caused an outbreak of diseases and fires, which you can still see some evidence of today. The Pere Cheney Cemetery is where the victims of these incidents were buried.
A warning carved in stone
No need for any legends here, Mary Hart’s grave in New Haven’s Evergreen Cemetery is creepy enough. The Connecticut grave includes the line, ‘The people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away,’ which apparently curses plenty of people.
Except, that line is from the Bible. It’s from the Book of Job, to be specific, but storytellers don’t seem to care. Rumor has it that Hart was buried while she was alive, and relatives later found evidence she’d tried to climb out of it. No wonder there are stories saying anyone damaging the grave will suffer an early death.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
13 children who left a dark mark on history
Some of the darkest cases in human history involved culprits who were still young enough to be worrying about homework and curfews.
