From backyard to
graveyard
The subject of graveyards or cemeteries is something that
fascinates me. As a writer of supernatural thriller novels the sombre oppressive
atmosphere of a graveyard, imbued with such reverence and awe as befits the
dead, is a great place to start. Its melancholy sense of past misery seems to
hang in the air like some unholy miasma as legions of the living have cried rivers
of tears in their intense grief and loneliness. What a sad place for the
living…
Death is inevitable for all of us and in a graveyard we are
reminded of the frailty of human existence like nowhere else. The fascination
for me, when I visit graveyards, is to look at the oldest graves and
inscriptions and wonder what happened to the person… Sometimes great ideas for
stories spring forward from this as I try to imagine what life might have been
like for the said dead person.
But apart from that there is the great unknowing… What does
happen when we finally confront our very existence? Scary stuff, indeed, for
most of us… Unless you have great faith in your own brand of religion/belief…
Most of us do not want to be reminded that we are going to pass into the great
unknown someday. Perhaps that is really the scary part about graveyards and
cemeteries.
But spirits, ghosts and things that go thump in the night
are also great things to think about in graveyards…
So let your imagination fly!! If you dare…
Do graveyards/cemetaries scare you or are they just places
of great sadness?
I sometimes visit graveyards to research names and dates. There is something spooky about them, isn't there? Gargoyles too.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to take a walk through a graveyard and see what I experience. :)
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, graveyards can be comforting too: for the living of course. Paying respects to the fallen, discussing problems out in the open without the fear of being told to 'buck up and get on with life', letting go of the past - endless possibilities. But I must admit, whenever I think of graveyards, I think of Stephen King's 'Carrie'. Brrrrrrr - shivers.
ReplyDeleteGraveyards don't scare me. I find them kind of comforting - there are always signs that loved ones are remembered and often they're beautiful places. I particularly like really old ones which are now managed with wildlife in mind.
ReplyDelete