Black Angel of Council Bluffs

Omaha World-Herald

Some say anyone who looks directly into her eyes at midnight will die within two days while others whisper of children running behind her base only to never make it out the other side.

Original sculpted in bronze as a memorial to Ruth Anne Dodge, wife of General Grenville M. Dodge, by Daniel Chester French, architect of Washington’s Lincoln Memorial. It was weathered black by the elements and any attempts to return it to original state of shine have been fruitless. The statue has spouted dozens of local legends. Some say anyone who looks directly into her eyes at midnight will die within two days while others whisper of children running behind her base only to never make it out the other side. The work is said to be a translation of a dream Mrs. Dodge had in which an angel offered her a bowl from which to drink, which she did. She died days later. Though the statue rests at the edge of a cemetery, it is not a grave, Mrs. Dodge and her husband rest in a mausoleum at Walnut Hill Cemetery, about 2 miles from the statue.

Know Before You Go

The Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial is located at the head of Lafayette Avenue and North Second Street at the edge of Fairview Cemetery. It is of heroic size, representing a winged angel standing in the prow of a boat, one arm outstretched and the other holding a vessel from which flows a stream of water.