Back where I grew up, there are several cemeteries in and around town.  The oldest of these is the Lubbock Cemetery.  Established in 1892, it has held as many as four separate burial grounds, which were integrated in the late 1960s.  It is the 3rd largest in Texas, and is the final resting place of Buddy Holly. 

As a teenager, one of the rites of passage was to go the Lubbock Cemetery and "Kiss the Angel's feet."  The Angel is the Umlauf Angel, which you can see here: 

http://cemetery.ci.lubbock.tx.us/images/Statue/Angel1.jpg 

It is eleven feet tall and stands on a granite pedestal four feet tall.  To say it is intimidating would me putting it mildly.  Especially in the middle of the night. 

The story was, of course, that if you kissed the Angel's feet at midnight, you'd never make it out of the cemetery alive.  Despite the fact that no one we ever heard of actually disappeared or died in the cemetery, it still led to a plethora of teenagers in the 80's driving out there to test their bravery. 

On this particular evening, after a few beverages most of us were too young to drink legally, as well as a bit of wacky weed, a group of us loaded up in the guys' collection of rad Trans Am's and Cobra Mustangs and headed across town.  The only chicks were my buddy Becky and myself.  And I confess - we were chicken.  We had no intention of walking around in a cemetery in the middle of the night.  The guys were cute though, so we went along for the ride. 

We arrived at the cemetery shortly before midnight.  The guys left the Trans Am we were in running and walked over to the Angel, synchronizing their watches so they could all kiss the Angel's feet at the appropriate time.  Becky and I were in the backseat, watching them walk over the the Angel and declaring to each other that boys were just crazy.   

So there we are - sitting the back seat of a running Trans Am, watching cute boys wait for midnight.  When midnight struck, all 5 of them lean down, kiss the Angel's feet..... 

And the car died. 

At that exact instant.  Of course, Becky & I being the clear-headed 16 yr olds we were, we immediately reached over and locked the doors to the Trans Am and started saying terribly coherent things such as "shit! shit shit shit we're gonna die we're gonna die oh my god oh my god oh my god."  The boys, in the meantime, broke into a run as soon as they heard the car die, and start banging on the windows of the car yelling things like "Unluck the CAR!! Her head MOVED!!!!" 

After a minute of panic, they got the car doors unlocked, started the car and we all hauled ass outta there.  All the way back to the other side of town, one of the guys swears that the Angel was looking at him as they walked up to her, and looked up to the sky as soon as he kissed her feet.  Needless to say he was seriously freaked out.  As were we.   

Now - it's entirely possible that it was a mere coincidence that the car died at the exact instant those guys kissed the Angel's feet.  Or maybe - just maybe - there were a couple of spirits in the cemetery that felt like messing with the teenagers.  After all - we're in redneck country out here.  I can just see dearly departed Bobby Joe saying "Hey Bubba - watch this." 

You'll notice in that picture of the Umlauf Angel that it's a side view.  None of the pictures on the City of Lubbock's website has a picture from the direct front.  None.  Which is too bad - because as you walk up to the Angel, when you first see it, it looks like the Angel has its head bowed. As you get closer, it looks as though it raises its head and looks towards the sky.  I have no idea if this is intentional, but it's an eerie effect at 11:50 pm.  (Which I discovered when I was much older and must braver.)  I have taken pictures of the Angel from the front - and oddly enough - they never come out very well. 

She might just be shy.  Whatever the reason, even though I've made more than one trek out to the Lubbock Cemetery - to this day - I've never attempted to kiss the Angel's feet.
 

And I don't intend to!