In Arena Play, a Spirit Inspired by 'Grief'

If audiences are spooked by the figure that represents the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come in Arena Stage's "Christmas Carol 1941," they aren't the only ones.

The play's spirit is based on a hooded statue by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens that sits on a 20-foot hexagonal monument in Rock Creek Cemetery in Brookland. It was commissioned by author and historian Henry Adams in memory of his wife, Marian "Clover" Hooper Adams, who committed suicide in 1885. Though commonly known as "Grief," the memorial has no name.

There are two copies of "Grief" in the city: One, an authorized replica cast from the original about 40 years ago, sits in a corner niche in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The other has a history as spooky as a Dickens ghost story. Originally thought to be an authentic but unknown copy, it was actually a knockoff by sculptor Eduard Pausch, who made it in 1905 for Brig. Gen. Felix Angus, a Civil War hero and later publisher and editor of the Baltimore American newspaper. Angus died on Halloween 1925 and was buried in Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville at the feet of his statue, which became known as "Black Aggie."

Stories quickly spread that no grass would grow near Black Aggie; that anyone who spent the night in its lap would be haunted by the cemetery's occupants; that its eyes glowed red and could blind an onlooker; and that it came to life after dark.

The monument became a target of graffiti and vandalism, so in 1967, the Angus family donated the sculpture to the Smithsonian Institution. About the same time, however, the authorized replica was cast and the truth about Black Aggie revealed.

Aggie languished in storage for about 20 years until, restored and cleaned, it was moved to the courtyard behind the Dolley Madison House on Lafayette Square -- a stone's throw, as it happens, from 1607 H St., where Clover committed suicide, now the site of the Hay-Adams Hotel. Clover's ghost, which is said to haunt the hotel's fourth floor, is most active during December, the month of her death.

-- Eve Zibart