The Statue in the Cemetery

Every small town has the stories that bind them together. The stories that are shared between locals create a single identity in the town and create a line between locals and visitors. Some of these stories are based in events which may or may not have taken place, however they are linked to physical landmarks which make the story feel real, regardless of it's lack of evidence. The following story is told by a local resident about a cemetery in Mt. Blanchard Ohio, a small town about 30 minute drive south of Findlay.

“A long time ago there was a rich family who lived on the end of town. They had made their wealth in farming and animal husbandry.One summer, the beautiful daughter, who was reaching the age when she would be married, met a young farm hand and he asked her to marry him. The girl's parents were displeased and said no, they assumed he could not worthy of her. The couple were married anyway. Later the parents received a call that she was pregnant and going into labor to have the farm hand’s baby. So the parents go to the house to witness the birth and the parents make the farm hand leave the room for the birth. As he waits the daughter gives birth but when the new father goes to see her both the daughter and the baby have died. The birth was going well before the parents arrived. He buried the daughter in the cemetery a block behind the parent’s house and the farm hand carved a statue which looks exactly like his lost wife. It is said on a full moon or the anniversary of her death the eyes of the statue open and reveal two emeralds which stare into the window of the parent’s bedroom to remind them of the daughter they had killed.”

  

This story as also been used as a means of controlling the children in town. They were told to not go into the cemetery or the woman would come after them. The story was perpetuated by children being taken into the cemetery during

school and told the story by thier teachers.

It's stories like this that draw people together. These stories become part of people's memories about their home towns. It separates the locals from the visitors, the old from the new. These small towns have stories like this to create a sense of place and to attribute stories to their town which they can tell each other. These stories bind the people together and create a sense of togetherness which may not be otherwise replicated. 

Source: Nathan Shrider, resident of Mt. Blanchard, Ohio for 26 years.