5 Creepiest Cemeteries in the World
“When you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Salinger had a point. The whole going to a graveyard or cemetery or even a mausoleum is hardly a great day out, and rather odd that we, as a species, give so much reverence to a rotting corpse.
Although dumping a body in the river isn’t a great alternative. The smell and pestilence alone would be enough to give people nightmares. Plus, seeing dear old grandad bob past like an errant log half-decayed would leave a rather sour note on your fishing trip.
For many places where the population keeps on growing and the spaces gradually disappear in cemeteries, the other option is cremation. An ever popular choice, and it means you can scatter the ashes of your loved one in a place they used to frequent (or keep them in the house to freak out guests who’ve outstayed their welcome). Although I wouldn’t recommend scattering them in your local pub or restaurant while patrons are dining. Dust, anyone?
But while cremation is preferred by many, in many parts of the world, burying the remains of your loved one, even if it means above ground in a mausoleum, is still the go-to option for relatives or even at the request of the departed family member.
In some parts of the world, bodies are removed from their coffins, redressed in fancy new togs and reburied until the following year, where the process is repeated all over again. Grim to Westerners, but I reckon Norman Bates would have loved that!
Anyway, let’s take a look at a selection of creepy necropolises in the world. There are so many, so I can only feature a small number here.
1. Hanging Coffins in Sagada, Philippines
Image credit: Kok Leng, Maurice Yeo/wikimedia
The exact age of these coffins is not known, but you will find them positioned on natural rock shelves and crevices or onto projecting beams slotted into holes dug into the cliff-side.
The coffins are not as big as you would typically find in Western cultures. This is because the bodies within are positioned into a foetal position. The Filipino people believe you should leave the world in the same position you entered it.
Coffins are sometimes stacked up and, depending on your social standing in life, will dictate where in the stack you are placed. A bit of a bummer if you were the underdog. However, this style of burial is only reserved for those considered distinguished or honourable leaders within their community.
To guarantee a spot on the cliff with a superb view, the distinguished individual must have involved themselves in leading traditional rituals and made some well-educated decisions.
The hanging coffins in Echo Valley are a popular tourist spot for those of a more macabre leaning.
2. The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Italy
The Professionalists Corridor. Image credit: Sibeaster/Wikipedia
Remaining in the deep-end of unusual ways to store your dead; in Italy, monks realised they were quickly losing space in their cemetery in the 16th century. So, to combat this little hiccup, they dug out crypts underground consisting of seemingly endless passageways and filled them with the dead.
Initially, this was only for the friars of the monastery. However, over time, the citizens of Palermo saw it as a status symbol to be preserved in this way in the catacombs. Some wished to be dressed in certain clothes and even have these changed regularly by relatives. Others would request to be preserved in certain poses.
Apparently, there are two children positioned on rocking chairs. Those in coffins are accessible to loved ones who, if wanting to, can join their deceased relative’s hands together in prayer. Or give them a cheeky tickle under their leathery chin where the cadaver can playfully giggle. (I made that bit up - heart attack, anyone?)
The most famous person within the catacombs is a young girl called Rosalia Lombardo, who died not long before her second birthday. Preserved by Professor Alfredo Salafia, the girl is known as ‘Sleeping Beauty’ due to her remarkably intact appearance.
She was one of the last people to be interred here in the 1920s. Burials continued until the 1930s, with 1939 being the final burial. The catacombs were closed in 1880, but have now become a popular tourist attraction, bringing in much needed revenue for the maintenance of the underground necropolis.
The catacombs contain around 8,000 bodies and, according to the last EURAC census in 2011, 1,252 mummies line the walls of the passageways. The halls are also divided into sections for men, women, children, virgins, priests, monks, and professionals.
3. Sedlec Ossuary, Kutna Hora, Czech republic
Image credit: Pudelek/Wikipedia
What exactly is an ossuary, I hear you ask? Well, this is referred to as a box, chest, building, well or place that was used as final resting places for the dead where space was limited. In other words, the bodies of the dead were placed in temporary graves until the body was reduced to bones. They were then removed and placed into the ossuary.
There are many ossuaries throughout the world where bones are displayed. The one in Sedlec is very ornate in its presentation. Originally brought into being by Frantisek Rint, a woodcarver in 1870. He was tasked with placing the bones in order. Instead, he created a masterpiece of bone chandeliers, a coat-of-arms for the Schwarzenburg family made entirely from bones, including many other decorative pieces all made from… you guessed it, human bones.
These bones were mostly the victims of the Black Death and Hussite Wars during the 14th and 15th centuries, respectively. Approximately 40,000 to 70,000 bodies or skeletons of the corpses are found within the Ossuary. It is located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints, which forms part of the Sedlec Abbey.
4. Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh, Scotland
Image credit: Carlos Delgado/Wikipedia
A very famous graveyard located in Scotland within the Old Town of Edinburgh City. This one is less about catacombs and mummies, and more about tombs, prisons, grave robbers and ghosts.
This graveyard surrounds Greyfriars Kirk and one section of it was once turned into a makeshift prison toward the south end in 1679. This, owing to a lack of room in the actual prisons at the time. High stone walls, including the enclosing wall of George Heriot’s School, created a natural enclosure. The exposed side was secured with a well-patrolled and guarded picket fence. The name Covenanters Prison has stuck ever since.
During the 18th century, body snatching became a problem where people would dig up freshly laid graves to take the cadavers to medical doctors for a fee. These doctors would then use the corpses in real-life dissections for their medical students to practice on. Grim.
Body snatchers at work. Image credit: Kim Traynor/Wikipedia
Fact: Grave robbing and body snatching are two different things:
Grave robbing is the act of unearthing a grave or accessing a tomb/crypt to steal the artefacts or personal items inside. This does not typically involve stealing the body.
Body snatching is the act of taking the actual body. Theft of belongings may also occur, but the real profit comes from selling the fresh corpse to doctors needing cadavers for their dissections.
To prevent this rather grisly atrocity, ironwork cages and walls were built around graves to deter such practices. Mortsafes were another deterrent and you can find two such creations within this cemetery.
Image credit: Kim Traynor/Wikipedia
For a while, some believed these ‘cages’ were constructed to stop the dead rising from their graves as vampires. However, this has since been confirmed as false and was simply used to stop those pesky Resurrection Men stealing the bodies of the deceased.
There are many hauntings said to lurk in the shadows of this cemetery. An angry poltergeist known as the Mackenzie Poltergeist is said to harass visitors. His home is the Black Mausoleum. The story goes that a homeless man was looking for a place to rest during the night, broke into George Mackenzie’s tomb, releasing the angry spirit. There’s no mention of what happened to the homeless man. Perhaps he was dragged to the depths of hell by the enraged George… who knows?
5. Highgate Cemetery, Camden, London
Egyptian Avenue, Highgate Cemetery. Image credit: John Armagh/Wikipedia
The final cemetery we shall look at is one of the most well-known in the world. Stradling Swains Lane, it is made up of two sites in north London. Around 170,000 people are buried here. It forms part of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries in London, built to accommodate the ever-growing internments of cadavers.
One of the largest in London, it has become a nature sanctuary, and was designated as Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Home to the most famous of ghouls - the Highgate Vampire during the 1970s, it was a media frenzy that all started by several inexplicable occurrences. These involved dead animals found with their blood drained in the cemetery, ghostly figures seen rising from the graves and a ‘tall man in a hat’ striding around the area before melting into the cemetery walls as if they weren't there.
Two self-proclaimed vampire hunters went head-to-head, insisting they would track down the vampire. This went on for years, where their rivalry never eased. The media interest came and went as time went on.
In today’s modern world, the Highgate Vampire is nothing more than a passing fancy or amusing story. Beyond bloodsuckers of the night, there are other peculiar things that go bump in the night in Highgate. A woman in white, a cycling ghost, bells ringing and disembodied voices calling out. The dead perhaps calling for the loved ones they left behind?
It is certainly a place to visit, even if you’re not inclined toward the supernatural. The graveyard itself is an extraordinary place to visit for its beauty alone. Many of the flora growing in and around the old gravestones have come about naturally, creating a blend of detailed gothic architecture mixed with the wild chaos of nature. Certainly one to put on the bucket list.
Want to be updated on the latest blogs?
Then subscribe to my email list now, otherwise you'll be missing out on the wonders of the strange and unusual.
That's the kind of stuff you don't want to miss out on!