Louis Homer
lhomer@trinidadexpress.com
Monday, May 25th 2009
The constant witness to the car crash deaths of dozens of people near the Claxton Bay overpass is a statue perched on a hill overlooking what many consider the most deadly strip of road in the country.
And each time another person dies in that area along the Solomon Hochoy Highway, the elders turn to the lady on the hill, blaming her again, in what is one of the most enduring stories of supernatural belief in Trinidad and Tobago.
The lady, some believe, is a restless soul haunting the highway, taking lives.
This is how the story started.
Maria was the daughter of a Forres Park estate overseer who died near the highway in March 1909 while on her way to warn her lover that he was about to be killed because her parents did not approve of their love affair.
Shortly after her death, a statue of the Virgin Mary was erected near the spot where she died.
It was some years later that the statue was desecrated by a mentally impaired woman who claimed it was not responding to the questions she had asked it. Â
In a fit of anger, the story goes, she climbed the pedestal on which it stands and decapitated the statue.
Former workers at the Forres Park sugar estate testified to the decapitation and they also knew why the statue was erected by the overseer.
It was for Maria, the daughter of a Spanish overseer on the Forres Park (sugar) Estate, in love with an East Indian labourer working on the estate.
Maria's parents, especially her father, did not approve of the love affair and he was determined to stop it at all costs.
He was a very influential man, and there were labourers on the estate who were prepared to do his bidding, even to the point of getting rid of Maria's lover.
As the love affair developed the young couple had decided to get married without the consent of her parents, according to the story.
One night the couple were seen by her father in a compromising position and he decided to end the affair.
After the young man left Maria's home she was summoned by her father and given a sound licking with instructions that she should no longer be seen in his company.
Maria was in love with the labourer and had no intention of ending the affair.
Enraged at what he had seen the night before, the overseer summoned a few of his trusted workers and devised a plan to kill the labourer.
One of the workers told Maria of the plan, and she was advised to tell him to leave the area immediately because his life was in danger.
Maria then left her home in a rage and was on her way to her lover when she was bitten by a snake while walking along a footpath leading to his home.
She died there.
Overcome by the loss of his only daughter, the father decided that he would erect the statue in memory of her.
He placed it on the highest hill on the estate that he could see the Virgin Mary and continuously plead to her for forgiveness.
The estate changed ownership several times over the years but the statue was not interfered with until it was decapitated.
Harry Seedas, a former worker on the estate, was the last person to testify about the accuracy of the event.
Seedas died a few years ago leaving behind the story of a legend that has captivated the minds of many for years.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of her death and residents are planning a religious ceremony in commemoration of her death and to make every effort to have her spirit put to rest.
