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Abdulrahman Hamadi
English 113B
Professor Batty
April, 28th, 2015
The Creepiness of the Cemetery
Although a cemetery is nothing more than a place where dead bodies are buried, many
people believe that spirits, zombies, and other fantastic creatures walk the grounds. This
characterization is not true, but since there are so many scary stories that take place in
cemeteries, and since these stories are such a part of our culture, it is hard for people to
remember that the good qualities of a cemetery. Cemeteries can be peaceful and even relaxing as
they are generally quiet and allow people to reflect on their lives and the lives of their deceased
love ones. Still, based on the stories, many people do not regard cemeteries in this way, and is
often the last place a person wants to be. Since cemeteries are thought of in such negative terms,
they have the effect of causing fear and anxiety in people, and therefore most people would
rather just keep away from them.
When people think of cemeteries, the first thing that comes to mind is death. Human
beings have always been afraid of death, but whether we like it or not, all of us are going to die
sooner or later. However, this does not mean that people are eager to die, or that they will not do
everything possible to make sure that they live for as long as possible. Still, most people
eventually come to accept that death is just a natural part of life and that death is unavoidable.
Unfortunately, this is not true in a cemetery since a cemetery is associated with spirits, and the
spirits of the dead are thought to be present in cemeteries. This idea is supported by a CNN

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article, Get Spooked: Five Haunted Cemeteries, which quotes Richard Senate, a historian and
ghost hunter, who says that there are an abundance of spirits roaming their final resting place
visiting one just may introduce you to someone, or something, waiting on the other side (4).
Associating spirits with cemeteries is a frightening idea that is going to lead people to feel fearful
and anxious since no one really wants to encounter a spirit. Therefore, people tend to avoid
cemeteries whenever possible, and when not possible, they go to these cemeteries during the day
when it is light and not during the nighttime when these spirits are thought to be roaming around.

One can imagine walking past a cemetery and hearing a voice crying from the cemetery
in pain even if this image is just fiction. Frequently, it is said that the spirits of the dead are
moving around when people are not watching. In many cemeteries across the world, people
leave flowers on top of the graves while other people leave drinks and food. It has been reported
that when these people return to the individual gravesites, this food and drink is no longer there
and has, instead, been taken. Although these reports are not real, they still serve their purpose of
confirming peoples suspicions regarding cemeteries as places that should be avoided. Also, by
making it so that it seems that cemeteries are places where spirits roam, people are less likely to
want to visit them. People are often influenced by pressure from others. Therefore, when people
see that other people do not want to do something, this sets off a reaction that can spread through
large parts of society. This seems like part of the reason cemeteries have gained such a bad
reputation and, in turn, are avoided by many people.
A cemetery is also a place where the bodies of the dead people are put to rest, making it a
place that people want to avoid because no one wants to die. If someone happens to walk through
a cemetery, he or she will definitely experience some strange feeling because a cemetery is

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different than any other place. A cemetery is not where life is. A cemetery, contrarily, is where
dead people are placed, causing a feeling of fear and uneasiness when people walk through a
cemetery. In Hollywood movies, there is a pervasive image of decaying bodies under dirt and
the image of a bony arm emerging from the soil to grab a persons ankle and jerk him or her into
the underworld is well known. One of the best known movies showing these images is George
A. Romeros, Night of the Living Dead, which depicts a world overrun by zombies who have
risen from their graves. In a Vanity Fair article, George A. Romero: Who Says Zombies Eat
Brains?, the director states that his stories are about humans and how they react, or fail to react,
or react stupidly. Im pointing the finger at us, not at the zombies. I try to respect and sympathize
with the zombies as much as possible (Spitzagel, 10). People do not know how to react with
zombies because they are terrified of them, and since zombies rise from their graves which are
located in cemeteries, it is only natural that people would be afraid of cemeteries.
A cemetery creates a sense of unease in human beings, thus provoking anxiety. One of
the most popular settings in scary stories is, therefore, the cemetery, and authors who write these
stories almost make sure that when people enter cemeteries it is at night. Normally, darkness and
night represents evil and thus using a dark or night setting to write a story about cemetery only
makes them scarier. This is the reason darkness is used so often in literature and in other forms
of art since it is associated with evil and everything that is unholy. In the book, Critical White
Studies: Looking behind the Mirror, authors Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic write how
black or darkness has served as the symbol for evil for many Western cultures. Darkness is the
symbol of the anti-God, Satan by any other name (263). This symbolism is evident in the
cemetery too since there is so much evil associated with burial grounds.
As stated before, when people go to a cemetery on purpose, it is because they want to be

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scared or frightened. Some people enjoy experiencing fear since it is an emotion that many
people do not want to experience. These people see themselves as different. Fear is a unique
feeling and can make people think or act in ways that they would not do if they were not filled
with fear. After all, a cemetery symbolizes the final resting place for many of our dead.
Consequently, a cemetery is not a place where people go very often. However, there have been
instances where cemeteries are seen as places to enjoy oneself and hangout. For example, in the
journal, Space and Culture, authors Miller and Rivera write that the attractive features of the
cemetery that once inspired feelings of terror and seclusion soon became tourist destinations,
illustrated in the specific cases of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston and Pre la Chaise in
Paris (6). This shows how the idea of a cemetery as a frightening place can change so that it is
no longer considered scary, and instead a place where people can meet, talk, and take part in a
frightening experience.
Cemeteries are supposed to be respected and avoided because of their scary nature. In the
future, there will be more cemeteries since more people will die and the old cemeteries will fill
up. This means that cemeteries will never entirely go away, and that human beings should
understand and get used to them. However, given that cemeteries will likely always be portrayed
as places where ghouls and zombies lurk, it is reasonable to assume that people will hold on to
their fright and anxiety and will, in turn, continue to avoid cemeteries unless they are forced to
go to them. Interesting enough, many cemeteries will probably become tourist attractions also as
there seems to be an interest on the part of a number of people for the dead. In the end, people
just like being frightened even if this fright leads blood pressure to rise and the hair on the back
of a persons neck to stand up.

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Works Cited
Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic, eds. Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror.
Temple University Press, 1997.
Miller, D. S., and J. D. Rivera. "Hallowed Ground, Place, and Culture: The Cemetery and the
Creation of Place." Space and Culture 9.4 (2006): 334-50. Sagepub.com. Sage, 2006.
Web. 04 May 2015.
Spitzagel, Eric. "George A. Romero: "Who Says Zombies Eat Brains?"" Vanity Fair. N.p., 27
May 2010. Web. 05 May 2015.
Strickland, Ashley. "Get Spooked: Five Haunted Cemeteries." CNN. Cable News Network, 21
Oct. 2011. Web. 05 May 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/21/travel/five-hauntedcemeteries/#>.