Black Aggie
(c) Charles Edwin Price
Nearly every graveyard has it's "Black Aggie" story. Black Aggie is the generic
name for a horrifying apparition said to lurk in the shadows of tombstones late
at night, often during episodes of dense fog or when the moon is full, waiting
to leap out and snatch away a victim, usually a woman.
Black Aggie stories vary little from location to location. The Black Aggie is
usually described as a hag with flaming red eyes, dressed all in black, having a
skeletal face and emitting a horrific scream. The apparition is usually
identified with the ghost of a woman-often suspected of having been a witch
while she was alive-who died alone and miserable because people were afraid of
her. Her haunting of a particular graveyard, in which she may or may not have
been buried is said to be her way to wreak vengeance on the living. She is said
to be in league with the devil, promoted from witch to the exalted rank of demon
after her death, possessing even more infernal power than she had while alive.
The authenticity of most Black Aggie stories is highly suspect. Boys-especially
teenage boys-like to make up such stories to terrify their girlfriends. The
ghost lore of upper East Tennessee is rife with Black Aggie stories, most of
them fake.
One October in Greenville in the early 1960's, a certain young man and several
of his friends decided that they would play a prank on one of their female
schoolmates. Not only was the girl very pretty, but she seemed to be quite
gullible and game for any new adventures prime candidate for some well planned
ghostly activity.
The young man began the gag by informing the girl that on Halloween, a ghost of
ten appeared over a certain tombstone in a cemetery located just off what is now
U.S. IIE. Then he told her that he and some of his friends were going to visit
the cemetery to see the ghost. Of course, she wanted to be included in the
party.
What the girl didn't know was that the young man began the gag by arranging for
their own phantom to pop from behind the tombstone on cue and scare the girl out
of seven years' growth. One of the boys had devised a serviceable costume made
from cheese cloth, complete with a rubber fright mask bought in a novelty store.
At the appointed hour on Halloween, everyone met in the graveyard. Suddenly, the
girl was not as brave as she had been earlier, and the young man had to keep her
from running away. The closer they came to the tombstone, the more she resisted,
and by the time they were a few feet away, the boys were literally pulling her
along with them.
Right on cue, the phantom popped up from behind the tombstone and the girl
screamed and fainted. The boys were laughing so hard that they hardly noticed
that the phantom was moving away from them and heading towards the woods.
When the young man who had organized the prank was through congratulating
himself, he called to his friend, the phantom. But the friend did not reappear.
Then one of the boys looked behind the tombstone and discovered that the boy in
the costume was still there-lying on the ground, passed out cold.
As soon as he was revived, he told his story. He had been crouched in the dark
behind the tombstone, ready to spring, when a face suddenly appeared in front of
him. It snarled, and that was the last thing he remembered.
Then one of the boys yelled out a warning. The phantom was returning from the
woods, headed directly towards them. It was a real Black Aggie. The boys
scrambled to their feet, yelling at the top of their lungs, and hightailed it
out of the graveyard, leaving the still passed out girl to fend for herself.
The next day, the girl was as mad as a scorned lover. "Why did you leave me in
that place?" she asked the young man who had invited her, when she saw him in
the hallway at school.
He confessed about the practical joke and told her what had really happened. He
said he was sorry and that he had not believed there was really a ghost in the
graveyard. He said that when they saw the Black Aggie coming towards them, they
had forgotten about everything but their own skins. The girl looked thoughtful
for a minute, then asked, "You mean to tell me that there was a real ghost in
that graveyard?" "Yes," he replied meekly. "There really was." "I don't believe
you." She answered.
"But you were so frightened that you passed out." he protested.
"Not at your silly ghost. Luckily, mine had a car."
By now the young man was totally confused, so the girl suggested that he turn
around and look behind him. Standing in the hallway was the same "apparition"
that he had seen the night before. The one that made his friend in the costume
faint. The ghost removed it's mask, revealing the pretty face of another of his
female classmates.
"I just thought that if your Black Aggie didn't show up, I'd bring my own along
just in case," the girl said, laughing. "I would have really hated to disappoint
you."
(c) Charles Edwin Price
