Peter Ledger's Memorial Bronze Plaque

PETER LEDGER
Memorial Bronze Plaque

As mentioned on the Epitaph page, this is the unique plaque and headstone created by Peter's son, Julian. It took Julian two years to complete this amazing piece of work. He did all the sculpting, had the lettering cast, fitted that into the sculpture and had the entire plaque cast in bronze.

He had the stone cut to his pattern, and finally the plaque was bolted to the stone. The stone is Gorman Green marble, shipped from the east coast. It weighs a lot. The photo on the right shows the plaque standing on its own before it was fixed to the stone.

About ten years earlier, Peter had had a life mask made, so Julian incorporated Peter's own face into the sculpture. Below his face is the poem Peter wrote and said would be his epitaph.

The other elements represent some of the things Peter loved in life: clouds because he loved to fly, Celtic knotwork, grape vines (with a hidden scorpion), an eagle logo that Peter designed, the Greek and Spartan helmets he loved to draw.

THE CURSE OF THE GREEN MAN

The Green Man

There's a strange story behind this sculpture of the Green Man. Peter purchased the sculpture, but painted it to look like his favorite metal, bronze. While Julian was working on the plaque, I decided to place the Green Man on his grave so it wouldn't look so barren without a stone or marker there. One day I stopped by and discovered the Green Man had been stolen.

I was furious. Purely as a way to release my anger, I wrote a curse, bought an ad in the local newspaper, and published the curse along with a photo of the sculpture. The curse read like this:

GRAVEROBBER

     To the person or persons who stole the head of the Green Man from my husband’s grave. My husband was an artist. He painted this Green Man with his own hands to look like aged bronze. I placed it on his grave as a temporary marker and you took it.
      Only the lowest form of scum would desecrate a grave. If you have any shred of decency, you will return the Green Man to Oakhill Cemetery where he belongs. If you do not, you are thrice-cursed. Cursed once for defiling the dead, cursed again as a thief, and finally the Curse of the Green Man is upon you which will bring you misfortune, bad luck and misery for the rest of your days.
      Return what you have stolen or never know peace again.

Someone from a Fresno television station saw the curse. They sent a team to shoot an interview with me, then ran it as a human interest piece on the news. The Green Man was returned to the cemetery the very next day.

Maybe there's something to the power of a curse after all.

Julian and I have been officially designated as weird. The story of Peter's grave and the Curse of the Green Man is featured in WEIRD CALIFORNIA.