Monday, October 30, 2017

IOWA MUSIC SHOWCASE PODCAST - Episode 55: Happy Hawkeye Halloween 2017, Part 4 of 4 - The Black Angels and Other Iowa Evil Spirits



Welcome back, you who dare come for a fourth and final installment of horrific hymns from the musical children of the corn.

We have quite the rock collection for you in this terminal installment, 90s punk, 10s punk, bluesy grunge rock, indie pop rock, lo-fi buzz punk, old style heavy metal, and just plain old horror rock. But all tunes to bring a chill to your back.


And to help with that back-chilling, we give you a little presentation of Iowa's evil spirits.

Some may not know this, but Iowa has NOT just one black angel in their graveyards, but TWO! One in Iowa City and one in Council Bluffs.

The one in Oakland Cemetary in Iowa City has many legends attached, such as that it went from bronze to black of the evil of Teresa Feldevert. Her husband's grave is where the angel sits.

It is said that any girls who kisses its feet will die in six months, unless she is a virgin. And supposably, if a pregnant woman walks under the wings, she will miscarry.


The other one is in Fairview Cemetary, or "The Old Burial Grounds", in Council Bluffs. This cemetary originally started as Native American burial grounds.

This statue is based on a spirtual being to have visited Ruth Ann Dodge, wife of the chief engineer of The Union Pacific Railroad, three times before she died.

The myths of this statue include that it comes to life and flies around, it shoots fire from its eyes after midnight, children who run behind her base diappear forever, and those who stare into her eyes at midnight will die early.

Iowa City musician, Kate Kane, did a song about it. I didn't put it on this podcast, because I played it in an earlier Halloween episode and I've already accidentally put one of her songs on two Halloween episodes! But you can hear it here - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=930553&songID=7397908


At The Edinburgh Manor, abandoned now but once housed the insane, in Scott Grove, Iowa, a spirit< nicknamed The Joker, is said to reside. He apparently enjoys choking visitors.


And in Fort Dodge, at The Banwell Bridge or "Terror Bridge", you might bump into a floating head. This is supposed to be the head of a woman who hung her children from the bridge where they got hit by a train.

But watch out if you go there, it has been told that the head likes to try to run and scare people of the bridge. And reports have been given of a furry creature spotted under the bridge.


And before The Evil Doctor OlderMusicGeek leaves for another year, I would like to thank Dean Sturtevant for providing all four covers of our Halloween podcasts this year. Especially the first one, where he only had a day's notice!


So with those haunted histories floating in your mind, please enjoy the last installment of Iowa's tunes of terror....


Art by Dean Sturtevant

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