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Cemetery legend attracts vandals

Monday, 07 August 2006

By Cassandra Adamson

INDIANA--Ask Martinsville teenagers about Stepp Cemetery at Morgan-Monroe State Forest and they will have a story to add to the urban legend about the “Lady in Black.”

“I heard about how the Lady in Black rocks her baby at night,” said Martinsville High School 2006 graduate Megan Wilson said. “The baby died in a carriage wreck.”

Lindsay Kimmel, another 2006 graduate, said, “I remember the story about the Lady in Black’s grave. I’ve looked for it several times, but never found it.”

The story about a woman dressed in black may be the most well-known legend surrounding Stepp Cemetery, according to genealogy records at Morgan County Public Library. The legend has many variations.

A common version relating to the “Lady in Black” involves the early 1900s death in a car accident of a woman’s baby. Grief-stricken, she had a tree next to her son’s grave cut down and the stump shaped into a chair where she sits, even in death, to guard the baby against strangers who enter the cemetery. When she is not sitting by the grave, she places a curse so that whoever sits in or even touches the chair will die exactly one year to the day of the incident.

While ghost stories and legends can make a site famous, the effects of curious passersby can be detrimental. As one enters the pathway leading to Stepp Cemetery, toilet paper and medicine packets can be seen. Upon reaching the entrance, there is evidence of late night revelries and bonfires.

At the far end of the cemetery, a marker labeled “Baby Lester 1937” is where much of the vandalism is found. Many visitors believe this is the grave of the “Lady in Black’s” child.

Candle wax, coins, and trash litter the area.

Remains of fires are dotted around the outside of the cemetery. One fire site sits just a few feet away from the baby’s grave.

Unknown to many people, however, is the fact that the state forest does not own Stepp Cemetery. Benton Township is in charge of the cemetery and it’s upkeep.

Trustee Donna Richardson said, “We’ve tried to repair the grave stones, but they get toppled again and moved. ...I wish (visitors) could enjoy it without vandalism.”

Kimmel said she hadn’t been to the cemetery recently, but her mother has told her that “headstones are missing and there is a lot of wax from candles burning down on gravestones.”

Although some headstones appear to be in fair condition, over half are still defaced either by age or by vandalism.

“People like to cause trouble,” Wilson said, “but (the vandalism) can mess up our history and it will be harder to preserve.”

http://www.reporter-times.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=34009&format=html

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