by Bek EmJona

Created on: April 17, 2008

Cemeterying. Never meant to be a vowel, yet it describes best what those of us who love exploring old cemeteries do. I have seen a "witches" grave, felt the eerie vibration of ancient
drums and visited desecrated mausoleums. While there have been many other cemeteries as interesting as these, I have decided to write on these three, as they portray a wide cross-section of how we as a society view life and death.

The "witches" grave is in a very small Amish cemetery, off the beaten track. All but forgotten, the cemetery sits atop a steep hill that leads down to a lake. A heavy black iron fence completely surrounds the grave-legend says the town feared her return and the fence was to keep her spirit in. They planted a tree on top of her grave just in case the fence failed. Her crime? Speaking out against the treatment of Amish women in the church and community. Banned as a witch for her outspoken ways, she disappeared, only to be found dead in a farmers field. They say she wanders the area just inside her grave, but I'm fairly certain this woman, whose name they refuse to speak, found her way home long before the legends were told. I'd like to think her murderer, most likely buried in the grave of a person she once called family or friend, is the restless wanderer of this lonely place. Ignorance and superstition are wrought by many religious orders intent on controlling those they profess to care for.
Victims in life however, are not necessarily doomed to remain the victim in death. As a member of the Amish community, she was only valued until she dared express a contrary opinion. In death, they still tried to control her by suppressing her spirit. If only they knew the resiliency of the eternal spirit, and the answers we must all find in life's final review.

A double cemetery, divided yet one, lies deep in the woods of an old Indian settlement. History has forgotten why the cemetery was divided into two. The first part is a very small section with a handful of graves, while the back portion is much larger. Regardless of why these earlier settlers gave this cemetery two names, it is the other more sinister occupants that make this area as volatile in death as it was in life. On any given night, pitch blackness blankets the area. The full moon even seems to avoid this area. Drums, or the vibrations of drums, play behind and beneath your feet. Always behind you, regardless of the direction you turn, the drums fill you with a nameless dread. The car, a short run down a black path, seems miles away as the drums chase you out of the cemetery. It is the Kickapoo Indians, demanding in death the respect they didn't receive in life.

Desecrated graves are neither funny nor "cool". In a sprawling Illinois cemetery, vandals destroyed the above ground graves of a man and his wife. Unfortunately for them, the husbands mummified remains tumbled out of the broken glass topped coffin he was in. The vandals, scared into respecting the dead, quickly left. Re interred, husband and wife sleep peacefully on. The damage can still be seen through the glass topped coffin of the husband.

It's always interesting, sometimes sad, and a lot of times upsetting what can be found in a cemetery. The dead should always be respected, if for no other reason than not risking their ire at the ignorance the living can bring to the departed.

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