Note: If you choose to visit this location, please do so with the respect it deserves.
I had arrived at Lakeview Cemetery in Penn Yan with a list of graves I wanted to visit. The main reason for my visit was to pay my respects to Francis Marion McDowell, a founder of the National Grange. After spending the afternoon roaming the cemetery grounds, I stopped at a large, black granite memorial located just a short walk from the grave of Francis McDowell. Note: More about Francis McDowell can be found here: Francis McDowell.
As I walked carefully towards it, I could see the name “Bishop” on the side closest to me. Scanning the stone, I walked around it counter-clockwise – on the opposite side was the name “Gillette”. On the fourth side of the stone is a patch of granite that stands out on the otherwise black monument – a patch of white granite which has a ghostly legend attached to it.
Standing at the monument, I stared at the patch of white granite in the midst of the solid black stone. I cocked my head one way and then the other. I squinted as I stared at it and while I squinted, I again cocked my head one way then the other. Using my imagination, I could see the outline of a head reclining backward – as if staring at the sky – but I felt I was really using my imagination as I stared at the spot.
As I stood there, I did what many others have done over the years – I reached out and ran my fingers over it. Nothing felt out of the ordinary as I traced the spot. My immediate thought was it was a natural flaw in the stone, but that has not stopped it from becoming the source of a number of local legends.
Known by locals as “the Lady in Granite,” the image is supposedly the head of Matilda Gillette. Although the stone has never been replaced – I imagine it would have cost a fortune to replace the flawed stone – it supposedly has been polished numerous times in an attempt to remove the flawed spot. Note: Some stories claim the stone has been replaced and the spot reappeared, but there is no record of this ever happening.
Newspapers fail to reveal much about the life of Matilda Bishop Gillette. It is known that she was born in 1859 and after her marriage to Francis “Frank” Gillette, the couple resided in Penn Yan. While little was discovered about Matilda’s life, Frank was a noted dance teacher and musician – his fiddle playing was in demand for regional parties and dances. On December 23, 1929, at the age of 79, Frank passed away after 45 years of marriage and was placed to rest in Lakeview Cemetery. Seven years later, on December 1, 1936, Matilda joined her husband in eternal slumber – she was 77 and was buried in the family plot in Lakeview Cemetery. She was survived by her daughter and two grandchildren.
At some point after her death, stories began to circulate about the gray patch of stone. Supposedly, it was created by the ghost of Matilda Gillette and many versions of the spot’s origin exist.
Legend 1: The couple vowed to never remarry if the other passed away. According to local legend, Matilda passed away first and Frank remarried. Her spirit then appeared on the stone. Supposedly he had the stone replaced and the spot reappeared. However, as mentioned above, Frank passed away seven years before Matilda, so this version has no factual base to stand on.
Legend 2: Frank was unfaithful and Matilda vowed to show her displeasure by marking the stone to show she was faithful when he wasn’t. In researching what little I could find about their lives, there is nothing that would hint this to be true.
Legend 3: Frank was cursed by Matilda on her deathbed for any one of a variety of reasons. Some say they were constantly fighting. Others say Frank claimed she had been a burden on him all his life. Again, the story fails due to Frank being the first to pass away.
Legend 4: There is one more story which was the reason I stopped to visit the stone. According to an email I had been sent, the spot is the spirit of Matilda attempting to escape her grave. Once the spot fully develops into a female figure, she will be able to roam the cemetery grounds and the village of Penn Yan.
Pushing aside the legends about the spot and its connection to Matilda Gillette, I was curious about the story’s origin. On a couple websites, there is mention of the story circulating in the mid- to late 1970s, but I was not able to find any earlier mentions of the Gillette stone. Beginning in the late 1960s, there was a massive increase in folklore, especially regarding urban legends. Was the story merely an urban legend to explain the flaw in the stone? I personally lean towards this explanation due to none of the “historical” facts in the story being correct.
Is the flaw in the black granite the image of Matilda? It does look kind of like a woman’s face, but I’ll leave it to others to determine what they see.
Note: There is a second “flaw” in the stone which is harder to see and but does appear in the photograph. When I returned to the vehicle and double-checked my photos, I realized there was a darker line which starts beneath the spot and runs diagonally towards the left side of the stone. Not sure what it was, I returned to the stone to check it out and the area was smooth, so whatever caused this marking is in the stone not on it. Examining other online pictures of the memorial, the dark line appears in them. I believe it is also a flaw in the stone, but I’m not sure what caused it.
The Pennsylvania Rambler 