Inez Clarke Monument

Deep within Chicago’s infamous Graceland Cemetery is an eerie and unsettling monument known as Inez Clarke.

Although hoisted on a stone pedestal and completely encased in glass, this haunting statue of a little girl and her parasol is easy to miss, particularly since legend holds that she regularly comes to life and explores the cemetery. Since the 1980s, security guards and tour bus drivers have attested to the statue’s unexplained disappearance during the night and reappearance the next morning.

Another mystery surrounding the monument is who is actually buried beneath it. Although the plaque reads “Inez Clarke 1873-1880,” Chicago cemetery authority Helen Sclair claims the occupant of the grave is actually a little boy named Amos Briggs.

According to Sclair, the statue was designed and built by sculptor A. Gagel, creator of another statue similar to Inez Clarke’s in nearby Rosehill Cemetery. Sclair believes these statues were merely for advertisement purposes and is unable to say where Inez is actually buried or if the little girl even existed.   

Obviously, there is plenty of intrigue surrounding Inez Clarke whether or not one is inclined to believe in the paranormal, and no tour of Graceland Cemetery can be complete without visiting her statue, or the place where her statue ought to be.