In a cemetery in Iowa City stands a statue that has fascinated visitors for more than a century. Known as the Black Angel, the towering monument has become one of Iowa’s best-known landmarks for ghost stories and Halloween folklore. But behind the dark statue is a real family tragedy that began long before the legends took hold.
The Black Angel stands in Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City. The monument was commissioned by Teresa Dolezal Feldevert in memory of her son, Eddie Dolezal, and her second husband, Nicholas Feldevert. <Link url=”https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/parks-and-recreation/oakland-cemetery” title=”The City of Iowa City documents the monument’s history”/>.
Teresa was born in 1836 in Bohemia, an area of Europe now part of the Czech Republic. She eventually settled in Iowa City, where she worked as a midwife. In 1891, tragedy struck when her son Eddie died of meningitis at just 18 years old. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery, where his mother placed a tree-stump-shaped monument at his grave.
Years later, Teresa married Nicholas Feldevert. After his death in 1911, she decided to commission a much larger monument to honor her family. She hired Bohemian sculptor Mario Korbel, who was working in Chicago, to create the bronze angel. The monument cost $5,000, a substantial amount of money at the time.
The statue arrived in Iowa City on November 21, 1912. However, its installation date has been debated. Some accounts say it was erected shortly after arriving, while other historical records indicate it may not have been installed until 1918. The disagreement is one of several details that have added to the monument’s story.
The statue was originally bronze, but over time, exposure to the elements caused the metal to oxidize and darken. That natural process transformed the angel into the black figure visitors see today.
As the statue grew darker, stories about its appearance began spreading. Over the years, legends developed claiming the angel was cursed or that touching it could bring death. One popular Halloween tale warns that kissing the statue at midnight could lead to a deadly fate.
Other stories suggest the angel darkened because of a terrible secret involving the person buried beneath it. Those claims have become part of local folklore, but there is no historical evidence proving the supernatural explanations are true.
The documented history tells a different story. The monument was created to honor a mother’s son and husband, and Teresa’s own ashes were eventually placed beneath it after her death in 1924. Eddie’s original grave marker was moved beside the angel, preserving another piece of the family’s history.
Today, the Black Angel remains one of the most recognizable monuments in Oakland Cemetery. Visitors continue to seek it out, especially around Halloween, when Iowa’s ghost stories and haunted-history traditions receive renewed attention.
For some, the statue represents mystery and superstition. For others, it is a reminder of grief, family, and the lengths one mother went to memorialize the people she loved.
Whatever brings people to the cemetery, the truth behind the Black Angel is every bit as interesting as the legends that surround it. Beneath its darkened surface is a story that began with loss and became part of Iowa history.
