Today I went to Cleveland's famous Lakeview Cemetery. There are quite a few notable people buried there, like President Garfield and John D. Rockefeller, but possibly the most famous monument there is one called the Haserot Angel. I had seen several pictures of the Haserot grave, and the forbidding angel that sits atop it. The pictures all looked deliciously creepy and I was excited to see if the reality matched up to those pictures.
The Haserot Angel is a thing of real personality. He’s huge, and looks just as strange in person as he does in photographs. His gaze is direct and he appears to be smiling a little through the grimness of his streaked face, despite the setting and his world-weary eyes. Maybe he’s smiling because of it. It may sound silly, but I felt quite drawn to him. I try to be very respectful in cemeteries. I don’t stand on graves and I try to remember that these people are somebody’s family. When I saw this strange fellow I wanted to sit down next to him and watch the world pass by. Not to sound morbid or fanciful, but this statue has a very real presence, like he was looking at me and didn’t mind that I found him so interesting.
Some graves look like they were forced into a resisting landscape, but this angel looks as though he was always there and always will be.
I might be looking at this differently to you, but that really does look creepy, even in day light, can't imagine it at night.
Posted by: Thomas | 02/28/2011 at 08:57 AM