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Posted: 02-08-2004 13:05 Post subject: Graveyards

These are subject to so many cliches that I was interested to know if other people, like me, find these peaceful, if rather melancholy ( to me) places, but not at all frightening. I can walk around one at night, accompanied! - and feel not the slightest shiver. Although the parents did back out of moving into a house that faced directly onto one, when I was about 7.
Does any-one have any experiences, or what are your views on these places.

Posted: 02-08-2004 15:51 Post subject:

Lovely places. A relative sent me a CD of old family photos a few years back.
One of the beautifully creepy things about it was the occasional juxtaposition of a formal family group with a snap of the gravestone of one of them, often overgrown and lichen-covered. A modern memento mori. Smile

The oldest part of our local cemetery goes back only to the 1840s which is when the area first became industrialised. I walk through occasionally and find myself reading the inscriptions. Many relate to young children, who died in their thousands from diseases we'd never even think of now. Sad

In Knutsford recently I took a morbidly large number of photos in the churchyard. Very Happy

Posted: 02-08-2004 18:57 Post subject:

I find them peaceful, too. Alone in the day, or accompanied at night - although I think the "accompanied" part is more a matter of common sense - when you go anywhere at night where there won't be people around, it's best not to go alone - for fear of the living more than the dead, or in case you (since it's dark) trip and sprain or break something and need help!
But I've always found graveyards to be quite interesting, too - reading the stones, thinking about the historical situations of these people, etc. I used to sometimes do rubbings of interesting artwork engraved on the stones, but I don't anymore, because I don't want to keep all the extra paper around!

Posted: 02-08-2004 19:02 Post subject:

I've spent a lot of time in graveyards in my role as a morbid teenager, and I've never seen anything spooky apart from graves. I remember reading in something like the Usborne book of ghosts that it's believed graveyards typically only have one ghost, the "watcher" (normally the most recent burial) who guards against evil spirits entering the hallowed ground.

Posted: 02-08-2004 19:37 Post subject:

The funeral scene in 'Ghost' was good. I liked how the pretty young lady waved then turned and walked away into a stone memorial! Just how I'd imagine it to be.

My family have seen, um, ghosts in graveyards and municipal cemeteries. Once in Birmingham my parents turned to each other in astonishment as a woman walked towards them and vanished - 'Did you see that?!' Surprised

I read the Usborne book when my kids had it.
The picture of the 'graveyard guardian' looked so terrifying that I'm glad I didn't see it as a kid myself. And it was perfectly capable of haunting all by itself!

Posted: 02-08-2004 19:49 Post subject:

IIRC, the ancient Greeks, believing that Hades (where spirits go after death) was literally underground (the bottom layer of the "three-tiered universe"), considered graves to be portals to Hades. What is the reasoning now (not that there's necessarily just one) in connecting graves with spirits?

If this is too much of a tangent to this thread, could someone please point me to a thread already relevant to this discussion? - or we could start a new thread...

Posted: 02-08-2004 20:02 Post subject:

Posted: 02-08-2004 20:09 Post subject:

I think the reasoning behind the "watcher" being the only ghost in the graveyard is that the rest of them appear in their place of death, like good ghosts should.
There's a graveyard in the middle of Oxford (where I was last night) which I've inhabited, and although it is supposedly haunted, with its location I don't suppose a minute goes by without someone walking past it, so they must be some very sneaky apparitions.

Posted: 02-08-2004 20:33 Post subject:

I'm a graveyard caretaker, and they make great workplaces. Smile

Quiet, neat and no customer is likely to make a fuss.

I find graveyards very peaceful, but swedish ones are a bit dull- too many straight lines. Continental ones are much more to my liking. They're also best if not too many people visit... in Stockholm they have problems with joggers and people walking their dogs, it disturbs the mourners. I think you need to pay a bit more respect than that- it's ok to go for a stoll but it's not a park, after all!

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:17 Post subject:

In my home town peeps use the cemetery as a shortcut.

A few years ago it was decided to put up 'bike-proof' gates to stop cyclists speeding through, so now wheelchairs and pushchairs are excluded too.

So you can't stroll in the cemetery unless you're able-bodied and childless or can drive in, as the one wide enough gate is the funeral entrance. Sad

And guess what- there's just as much vandalism, theft from cars and criminal damage as before.
In fact, all lead was nicked off the crematorium roof last year.

Funny that a cemetery is not supposed to be a park, yet the local cemeteries are run by the Parks Department!

Chigrima, you sound happy in your work.
We expect immediate reports of any and all strange goings-on, first sightings of new ULs, special graveyard folklore and so on. Wink

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:22 Post subject:

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:37 Post subject:

An ex's mother lived in Conwy, where the graveyard is used as a town centre shortcut.

She was believed to make her beer money by having it off on the graves, and a local joke was that if she showed her *rse it'd have some poor sod's name imprinted on it backwards. Very Happy

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:49 Post subject:

Hahahahahaaaaaaaaa!

Posted: 02-08-2004 23:14 Post subject:

i used to assist a ghosthunter friend, and most of her studies took place in graveyards at night. i loved how peaceful it was. a huge cemetery in iowa was our favorite. rolling hills and marshy ponds. i was a total skeptic, but i do remember one night of extremely bad vibes which i could never explain.

Posted: 03-08-2004 09:11 Post subject:

There's a big difference between the concepts of 'a graveyard' and 'a cemetery'.

Graveyards are normally attached to a church. When they're not, the British name for them is 'cemetery' but I've seen some more interesting American terms such as 'burying place'. (Stephen King has a lot to answer for!)

The old 'graveyard' section of the local cemetery is certainly more atmospheric than the newer 'municipal' part.