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Creepy and beautiful cemeteries around the world
Cemeteries aren't the first places most people go to while on vacation, but they can tell a lot about a culture and its history. We all have to die sometime and the way we deal with the dead says a lot about ourselves.
Some cemeteries are overgrown and covered in moss. Others are orderly and well-kept. Some are beautiful, and can inspire wonderful photographs like the one taken here by user Perrimoon over at Flickr. Sometimes graveyards can be downright dangerous, like the cemetery in Haworth, England, famous as the hometown of the Brontë sisters. The dead were literally stacked ten deep in this graveyard and the stream that provided the town's water flowed right through them!
Some of the best free sights in Paris are cemeteries. The same goes for New York. My pick for the best place to see cemeteries is Rome, the city of the dead, which has splendid Renaissance tombs, ancient Roman gravestones, and mummified monks.
Do you have some good cemetery shots? Join us over at Gadling's flickr pool and show us your art. You might just get picked for Photo of the Day!
Gallery: Cemeteries, creepy and beautiful
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Photos
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
J.E.B. Jun 20th 2011 4:56PM
Check out Bachelors Grove Cemetery on You Tube. This is THE MOST HAUNTED cemetery in the world, as far as I'm concerned! It is located about 30 minutes southwest of Chicago in the Rubio Woods Forest preserve, and you DO NOT want to be out there after dark!
Deana Jun 20th 2011 5:40PM
Check out www.findagrave.com. I discovered the site while doing research on a cemetery my family lived near when I was a kid. My two older brothers used to tease me that the old schoolhouse (now used by a local Cub Scout Troop) next to the graveyard was haunted. The joke was on THEM because it really IS haunted. Shortly after the schoolhouse closed for good (the town and the Board of Education built a much larger school inside the villiage limits), the last woman to teach there hung herself in the attic and is buried less than 20 feet from the building! We used to see a shadow crossing in front of the attic window and my grandmother, whose grandfather helped build the schoolhouse, said people have seen the woman's ghostly form wandering around the outside of the building. According to the town historian, the woman's first name was Emily, but there is no record of her last name. I found her grave and it looks like someone used a chisel to remove part of the inscription from her tombstone. Even weirder, the place where she is buried is just OUTSIDE the cemetery boundary. There used to be a fence surrounding the property, but it was taken down during World War 2,
Hattie Crabtree Jun 20th 2011 4:45PM
I love cemeteries.My hubby and I like to " cemetery hop ".He also does family research.I've been to quite a few famous cemeteries as well as small non-famous ones.I'd like to see the big one in Rochester,NY someday.Cemetery in Greek means " resting place ".
Hattie Crabtree Jun 20th 2011 4:47PM
I drove thru two famous city cemeteries in Chicago.Rosehill was bigger than the other one which name escapes me right now.
Dian Jun 20th 2011 6:31PM
Eerily beautiful -- that kind of silent beauty that draws one in -- frozen in time -- hardly able to draw another breath -- a fine line balancing between panic and tranquility. Not until recently have I been able to understand and appreciate my mother's fascination with old cemetaries.
Deana Jun 20th 2011 5:46PM
Hattie, do you mean Mount Hope in Rochester? I live in the area and have toured the grounds several times. Bob Marcotte wrote a book about Mt. Hope a few years ago. Can't remember the title but you should be able to find it on the internet.
Boris Jun 20th 2011 6:09PM
When I was in college I worked part-time as a watchman at a cemetery, where every shift is the graveyard shift....
barbara Jun 20th 2011 6:14PM
on an earleir drive to the Jersey shore, I saw a small cemetery. On exploring, I saw this written on a tomb stone dated 1720.
"As you are now, I once was
As I am now, you will shortly be"
Makes you think- ?
thomas Jun 20th 2011 7:41PM
i still think its the wing child some thing else there trying
Huguette Jun 20th 2011 8:04PM
I actually work for a cemetery in Florida; it is the most beautiful I have seen so far. It looks more like a country club. Nothing creepy or scary about it. Would you like to see pictures?
Save A Grave Jun 20th 2011 9:33PM
I want to see pictrues, come join me on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/saveagreavedotnet
Dian Jun 21st 2011 2:43AM
1720 said it all "As you are now, I once was"... How profound, I like it.
byron Jun 20th 2011 7:48PM
As You Are Now So Once Was I
This epithat appears on the gravestone of William Caldwell, a veteran of the Revolutionary War buried in the cemetery of Nazareth Presbyterian Church. The full passage reads as follows: "Remember me as you pass by/As you are now so once was I/As I am now so you must be/Prepare for death and follow me."
Byron Jun 20th 2011 7:01PM
I've visited many beautiful cemetaries in my travels. From the medieval tombs of London and Ireland to more modern family plots hidden and forgotten here in the states. As a kid we would sneak in at night and try to scare one another (DO NOT DO THIS! YOU CAN BE TICKETED, KICKED OUT, OR WORSE, ARRESTED) But those times are past. I was a tour guide for halloween and fall "Rose Hill Rambles" at Rose Hill in Macon, Ga, home of antebellem, civil war, and two members of the 1960-1970's band The Allman Brothers. I've also hosted tours of cemetaries in Savannah, St. Simon's Island, and Atlanta, ga. The ones in New England, New York, and Pa are fabulous, the above ground burials in New Orleans are also fascinating, and my new favorites are in my new home state of Iowa. In Iowa City, there is a monument called the "Black Angel" and there are two well hidden, forgotten cemetaries: one in an abandoned town (once the size of ottumwa, Iowa, founded by my wifes fathers families) and one i found by accident belonging to a family called Stoneking.
Sandi Jun 20th 2011 7:02PM
I have a photograph of a young girl in white dress in local cemetery. You can see it on I Reports under Ladycatlove
Kolene Jun 20th 2011 7:28PM
For those of you that like to walk around graves yards I have the perfect one for you…It is in Colma, Ca. Or as the locals call it the City of the Dead or City of Souls. This place is huge, over 1.5 million people are buried there. You really should check out their web site they have videos of the statues and graves. Just type in Colma, California – City of the dead and see where it takes you. This place is beautiful and has a load of history. For instance the reason why so many people are buried there is because after the 1906 Earthquake in San Francisco they had to dig up all the graves and more them to Colma…..many of those who were moved were placed under the wrong marker or their bodies were lost and misplaced. Very beautiful and yet interesting place.
edzel Jun 20th 2011 7:59PM
Yes, I was about to write about Colma where there are more dead than living in town. I have relatives buried at Holy Cross and Cypress Lawn. Many of people who are part of the history of the SF Bay Area are buried there, like the Strauss family, sugar family magnates, the Spreckels, Former mayor George Moscone, who along with Supvr. Harvey Milk was assassinated in SF City Hall by ex-Supvr Dan White, and Wyatt Earp who had a second or 3rd headstone replaced on his grave. The only cemetery in SF?
The Presidio Cemetery in the former US Army Base by the Golden Gate. Nice view of the GG Bridge. There is also the Golden Gate National Cemetery down in San Bruno which to me is awesome since I visit mostly military national cemeteries anyway after having visited Arlington in Wash., D.C. Yes, most of the bodies were bought down to Colma as a result of the 1906 quake and fire since a law was passed that there would never be a cemetery within the SF City limits with the exception of the Presidio Cemetery.
jim Jun 20th 2011 7:29PM
Years ago in America people used to picnic in cemeteries. I've done years of family research in them. You can find lots of information about your ancestors from headstones and cemetery records.
byron Jun 20th 2011 7:38PM
I believe the other cemetary famous around chicago is Ressurection Cemetary. Known far and wide as the birthplace of "Ressurection Mary, aka The Vanishing Hitchhiker"
J.E.B. Jun 20th 2011 9:40PM
Yeah, Byron, Resurrection Cemetery is the most well-known in the Chicagoland area, especially because of Resurrection Mary (Mary Bregovy in life)wh oallegedly still walks along Archer Avenue every night, back to the cemetery.