Tuesday, November 10, 2009

My poor forgotten cemetery

Yesterday, I made a trek into my little cemetery that no one remembers exists. I went to take pictures, and what I found was pretty sad. When I first arrived, a drunk homeless man was stumbling out from its gates, probably going to get onto the blue line. I was a little annoyed that he had taken up residence in the final resting place of these people, and even more annoyed when one of the gravestones, which was already knocked over, was wet and smelled suspiciously of urine. Thankfully, he had already left, because I have a habit of opening my big mouth to speak out about wrongs, even if it could result in trouble for me. The cemetery is very unkempt, with leaves covering many of the gravestones, and even more knocked over, broken, and in general disrepair. This lends to the spookiness of the place, but it's also kind of sad to me. These people spent lots of money to be buried somewhere that they felt would be a sufficient resting place for all eternity, and now it has turned into a dumping ground and homeless haven. I don't have anything against people sleeping in cemeteries, if that's what they're into, but I am wary of the disrespect they present to the people buried there. Besides the homeless man who peed on a tombstone, there were a ton of little blue, plastic bags. Now, I am not a dog owner, so at first I didn't know what these bags were. However, after I picked one up, I quickly realized that someone had been kind enough to scoop their pooch's poop...and then hurl it into the cemetery grounds. I feel like it is so unfair that the people buried here are so utterly disrespected with the bodily excretions of both human and animal nature! Along with the excrement, there were a ton of empty beer cans, bottles, cups, cigarette butts, and other litter. I know it's naive of me to believe that people actually respect the dead, but really...do we have to throw our shit at them? It made me really sad for the souls who are seeking eternal slumber in this disheveled place. In the pictures I took, I tried to capture the eerie, creepily peaceful nature of the cemetery, instead of the gross conditions these helpless bodies are stuck with. And although I didn't pick up the litter, I did consolidate some of it to the entrance, so the next time I go I can hopefully remember to bring a garbage bag to clean it up a bit. While I haven't found any ghosts here, or even ghost stories surrounding the forgotten resting place, I still find it absolutely fascinating and eerily captivating. I'm going to keep researching both the history of the place and the people who reside there, and maybe I will get some great little fact that can make it worth paying attention to...or at least keep it from being the communal dumpster.

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