By Roscoe Barnes III, PhD
#VisitNatchez
#TurningAngel
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| The Turning Angel |
My colleague, Katie Ernst, and I were driving around
Natchez looking for the Devil’s Punch Bowl when we came upon Cemetery Road. I
was commenting on the beauty of the Natchez City Cemetery when she pointed to a
striking white figure, a tall angel monument, just off the side of the road.
“That’s the Turning Angel,” she said.
I looked over and saw the angel standing above five headstones.
“Why is it called the Turning Angel?” I asked, squinting
to get a better look.
“People believe that when you drive past it at night, and
your headlights hit it at a certain angle, she appears to turn.”
“Did you ever see her turn?”
“When I was a teenager, my friends and I would drive up
and down the road at night just to see if she would turn,” Katie said. She chuckled.
“Yes, she appeared to turn.”
“Wow,” I said. “That caught me off guard.”
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| Roscoe Barnes III, PhD |
Apparently, it’s an optical illusion and one I will try
to see for myself and shoot a video of my findings.
The story about the Turning Angel is well known in southwest
Mississippi, but in the mid-2000s, it generated world-wide acclaim because of
the writings of Natchez author Greg Iles, who titled his best-selling novel, “Turning
Angel (Thomson Gale, 2006).
The story of the Turning Angel is a sad one. It’s about an
explosion that occurred on March 14, 1908, at the Natchez Drug Company that
resulted in the deaths of five employees, most of whom were teenagers.
The company’s five-story brick structure was located at
the corner of Main Street and South Union Street. The employees who died were
all young ladies: Carrie Murray, 22, Ada White, 19, Inez Netterville, 17,
Luella Booth, 17, and Mary Worthy, 12.
The owner of the company reportedly became so distraught over
the tragedy that he purchased the gravesite for the young ladies and the monument
of the angel to watch over them. Today she stands proudly and majestically,
looking calmly over the five headstones of the ladies whose lives were cut
short in that 1908 tragedy.
On the back base of the monument, the following words are
etched in all caps:
“ERECTED BY THE NATCHEZ DRUG COMPANY TO THE MEMORY OF THE
UNFORTUNATE EMPLOYEES WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT DISASTER THAT DESTROYED
ITS BUILDING ON MARCH 14, 1908.
CARRIE O. MURRAY
INEZ NETTERVILLE
LUELLA D. BOOTH
MARY E. WORTHY
ADA WHITE
“Thy will be done.”
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Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D., is the Cultural Heritage
and Tourism Manager at Visit Natchez.
Wow. Never heard that story. Will have to check it out next time I’m there or read the book!
ReplyDeleteYes, please check it out. And thanks for sharing your comments
ReplyDelete