The Legend of Stiffy Green
Serendipitous Discoveries in Terre Haute
Traveling with PugsleyTonks would like to welcome back guest author, Goosebuster, for a heart warming tale about a man and his dog…
Recently, on a road trip to Missouri, my wife and I passed through Terre Haute, Indiana. Prior to this trip, my knowledge of significant people/events from Terre Haute was lacking. However, that is the beauty of road trips. I now know the three most important things (shown in ascending order of importance) about Terre Haute…
First, Terre Haute is the birthplace of Coke’s contour bottle. I did not even know that was a thing. But, it’s definitely a thing in Terre Haute. There are signs, murals, museum exhibits, and Coke bottle art throughout the town. Secondly, there is Larry Bird. While I have heard of Larry Bird, I am not much of a basketball fan. However, PugsleyTonks said that my post would not be published without mention of Larry Legend. Finally, and most importantly, Terre Haute is best known for the Legend of Stiffy Green.
Man’s Best Friend
Just to clarify, Stiffy Green was a bulldog. Sadly, he was NOT a pug. Anyway, as we learned, Stiffy Green was the much beloved dog of local florist, John G. Heinl. In the early 1900s, John had a flower shop in downtown Terre Haute. John and Stiffy were inseparable. However, as humans ultimately do, John passed away in 1920. John’s body was placed in a mausoleum in the Highland Lawn Cemetery. As the legend goes, Stiffy Green spent the remaining months of his life protecting the mausoleum until at last he died of a broken heart. The Heinl family then had Stiffy stuffed (pun intended) and put in the mausoleum. They say, if you come to the mausoleum at night. Shine your flashlight into the mausoleum. Then perhaps, you will see the ghost of John G. Heinl visiting his beloved Stiffy in the corner of the mausoleum.
Even Legends are not safe
My wife and I did visit the cemetery. Furthermore, we also visited visit Mr. Heinl’s mausoleum. We shined our light into the mausoleum. Disappointedly, we did not see the ghost of John G. Heinl. And tragically, we did not even see Stiffy Green. Sometime in the mid 1980s, some idiot actually shot a gun into the mausoleum. In the previous pictures of Stiffy, you can see the damage to his right eye. So, in order to protect Stiffy Green, concerned family members moved Stiffy to the Vigo County Historical Museum in downtown Terre Haute. To clarify, Mr. Heinl remained in the cemetery mausoleum. Anyway, the museum had a small replica of the Heinl mausoleum built and their building. In this mausoleum replica, you can find the find the final resting place of Stiffy Green.
So Ends the Legend of Stiffy Green
When we travel, my wife and I try to allow time to explore the places along our path. The Legend of Stiffy Green was one such accidental discovery as we passed through Terre Haute on the way to Missouri. My wife and I found the story very touching. I hope you did as well. Have a Blessed Day. Goosebuster
I hope you have enjoyed reading about “The Legend of Stiffy Green” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.
Here was another post from Goosebuster https://travelingwithpt.com/forget-biden-trump-its-about-wilbur/
The long version of the Stiffy Green ghost story… http://indianaghoststories.com/stiffy-green/
P.S. and the rest of the story
WARNING! If you enjoyed the heartwarming tale of Stiffy Green, you might want to read no further. If you read further, the story becomes a bit less heartwarming. OK….you have been warned.
The Legend of Stiffy Green is mostly bull crap. Sorry. I told you the story as it was initially told to me. But, with a minor bit of research, I was able to uncover the rest of the story. Most notably, Stiffy Green was not a real dog. He is now, and was always…just a concrete statue. The same concrete statue that now resides in the Vigo County Historical Museum. Apparently, John G. Heinl loved this statue and kept it on the front porch of his house. When he died, the family put the dog statue in the mausoleum. Over the subsequent decades, the cement statue sat in the mausoleum and the Legend of Stiffy Green was just born (actually made up).
Now, the shooting part of the story was true. Someone did shoot the statue, prompting them to move it to the museum to preserve the dubious legend. It truly did amaze me how big this urban legend is in Terre Haute. At the building that used to be the flower shop of John G. Heinl…they actually have a Stiffy Green mural. Furthermore, there is even a local brew named after Stiffy Green. Certainly, these memorials are quite amazing considering the dog was NOT REAL.
