What do you think about when you drive past a graveyard?

[Dangerously Amused]

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like if I had x-ray vision and could see through the ground and/or the walls of the mausoleum, and through all the caskets, to all the rows of people lying there in neat rows and various states of decomposure, in clothing and accessories that hint at their era and their place in the world. Fascinating. Then I wonder how many people around me would freak out if they could suddenly see what they were driving past.

:)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. I think ...day-um! I can't wait ...

maybe then I will finally get some sleep!!

[liberaltrucker]

14. DING! DING! We have a winner!

My thoughts exactly.

:)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

16. hello to a fellow insomniac

:toast:

[DarkTirade]

2. You need to find a less dangerous way to amuse yourself.

:yoiks:

:P

[Parche]

3. I Wonder How Many Dead People Are There

:shrug: :hi:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. all of them

:D

[Maine-ah]

42. lol, I always think that too

my Dad (RIP) used to ask us that everytime we drove past one.

[Ptah]

5. Many thought swirl

- nice boquet for my date
- What strange rituals they do
- I should stop and honor them
- kneel in the green grass and sob
- thankful for the shoulders to stand on

[Orrex]

6. I think "Look at that primo real estate. I'll bet people are dying to get in there."

Or: "We should play poker there; if someone has to leave, we can always dig up another player."

[JTG of the PRB]

7. I think about going there some moonlit night and trying to communicate with the dead.

With some friends, of course. I'm too chicken to go alone. If I'm scared with friends, though, it's okay. At least we're ALL scared that way!

[littlebit]

34. Girlfriend was arrested for

dancing naked in a graveyard once. She said her and a group of friends were tying to communicate with the dead. I think they were all just stoned and bored.

[IDemo]

8. Looks like the mods must have been busy tonight n/t

[grannylib]

9. I think that I should get out to visit my daughter's grave more often

and it makes me miss her more

[Fran Kubelik]

20. ...

:hug:

[MrsBrady]

10. i used to think they were creepy...

but now they just make me miss my grandparents.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. I wonder who's buried there...

How old the graves are...

And when I see flowers, I think "those should have been given when the folks buried there were still alive to enjoy them..."

So much life, so much potential, so many stories........gone...

:cry:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. I don't go if i can help it.

It bothers me too much. I'm in my 50s now and can't deal with it very well. My parents and grandparents are gone.

That said, June 27, 1948 was an important day in my life, although I was not here yet.

My big sister Karen was born that day. She would have been 60 on Friday had she lived.

Cancer got her at age 42. I looked up to her as any little sister would.



:cry:

[pokerfan]

13. I think about all that land making a sweet golf course

[defendandprotect]

15. I think real estate people are trying to figure out how to disappear . . .

the ... eh . . . residents of said plots ---

and sell a few "lots" --

[JVS]

17. "I wonder where the fresh meat is. Mmmmmmm"

[bertha katzenengel]

18. my father, who died January 10 this year

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7338765

[Blue Diadem]

25. .

:hug:

[stuntcat]

19. I think I want to stop and look

Little graveyards next to highways are interesting. My family's used to humoring me and stopping to wait while I take pictures.

[Heidi]

21. Self-delete.

Wrong place. :hi:

[skygazer]

22. I wonder how old the graves are

I love cemeteries - they are a microcosm of history.

[Blue Diadem]

23. I like to walk or drive through them, especially the old ones.

I never really think of the person's physical state, I look at the dates and names and types of stones. Sometimes I've run across sections with familiar names and remember stories from my parents of town/county families that suffered tragedies long before I was born. Other times I see dates and think about things like the 1918 pandemic or the various wars.

[rug]

24. GDP

[graywarrior]

26. That people are dying to get in there

[bluedigger]

27. "Hope I never...

have to dig those poor souls up!"

I helped exhume a large cemetery about five years ago, in the name of "progress". Had to be done, was done as reverently as possible, given there were no gravestones or markers left, wasn't fun.

[sniffa]

28. I think about whistling

Spook City USA, is the tune I pick

[Rhythm]

29. I wonder whether there is any photogenic statuary therein...

IF it's a true cemetery, and not a 'memory garden', with those annoying ground-level plaques.

Time ago, i used to take a lot of photos of the statues and family crypts that i found in old graveyards. I have lost my collection at some point in many moved, but an image search on Google tells me that there are lots of others who find beauty in these places just as i do.


This one was taken by someone else at Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte NC... the first place i ever spent any real time with my camera and the silence of the stones.

[Schema Thing]

30. "I can't whistle for shit, dammit"

[deucemagnet]

31. I have to walk past a graveyard every day I go to work.

There's a graveyard full of nuns near my building. As I walk by, I'm usually thinking, "Man, I sure hope I'm not at work if there's a zombie apocalypse!". A graveyardful of zombie nuns attacking my building? Yeesh!

[Haole Girl]

32. I think about a lot of different things...

I drive by a cemetery every day on the way to work. It's really sad when I see a family member or loved one kneeling beside a grave. I remember my mother saying she didn't want a "shrine" or place where anyone felt they had to visit after she died. It seemed strange, when my mother said it, but I understand now.

[NJmaverick]

33. That's a pretty cool thought

[Doug.Goodall]

35. I wish I lived next to a graveyard

Just think about it

The neighbors are always quiet at night

Never have to worry about new neighbors moving in, the ones that are there will be there forever

Play your stereo as loud as you want, the neighbors will not complain

[havocmom]

36. Passing local cemetary: Wonder how much more erosion needed before that one chap's feet

will be sticking out of that bluff.

::insert 'eeewwww' smilie of your choice here::

[Forkboy]

37. "Hey, that looks like a nice place to smoke a joint."

[WinkyDink]

38. That I don't have a plot yet.

[Phillycat]

39. I live in a graveyard.

So generally I think, "Good, I'm home."

[DS1]

40. People are mostly goop at that point

[RadiationTherapy]

41. McDonald's. n t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

43. We have one in a parking lot!! No zoning in Houston.

In front of a Firestone store. It's fenced in and has about 20 graves in it. It's where a large tract of land used to be the Hillendahl family farm, and was turned into suburbia in the 50s.

At the SE corner of Long Point and Pech Road in West Houston.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Long+Point+%26+Pech+Rd,+Houston,+Tx&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=57.424512,98.085938&ie=UTF8&ll=29.809016,-95.494838&spn=0.007783,0.011973&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=29.805113,-95.495564&panoid=0f0mJQZq08_NdhjDY3Eo8g&cbp=1,171.18775907077804,,0,5

Look at street view, facing South, and it's in the SE corner (left side) of the picture.

[zanne]

44. I always think...

"I know that alot more people have died around here than that. Where the hell are they"? When a cemetery has been around for 100 years and all the burial plots can fit within a city block, it makes you wonder.

[JackDragna]

45. Food!

Then again, I'm a zombie. Please excuse me.

[Dogtown]

46. Sex

:evilgrin:

[fudge stripe cookays]

47. Ooh! Do I have anybody in this one?

fsc <<-- practicing genealogist & family history author

[hippywife]

48. My first thought is

usually, "Damn! What a mess of ugly plastic flowers!" We live a couple of miles from a cemetery and I think that's all they allow. Once particularly windy day, they ended up on the other side of the road. That was kinda funny.

Then I think things like what you said. :hi:

Thanx for being such a big help and such a great friend to our Lizzie. You are the best, DA. :hug:

[vard28]

49. My grandmother...

... she apparently wasn't the only one who asked a station wagon full of kids, "Gee, wonder how many dead people there are in that cemetery?" We fell for it a lot... LOL! Then she'd always go into a rant about people sending flowers for funerals. She would say, "Well I'll tell you ONE thing! There better NOT be a lot of flowers at MY funeral. If those people didn't give a DAMN enough about me to send flowers when I was ALIVE, I sure as HELL don't want them sending them when I'm DEAD!" Used to crack me up.

Turns out, I'm a carbon copy of her. (And damn proud of it, much to my dad's chagrin... LOL!) He swears his mom is still living through me, just to be a pain in the ass to him. I'm apparently doing a fine job. :evilgrin:

[SeattleGirl]

50. I always wonder about the lives of the people buried there.

Where were they born?
How did they die?
What interesting things did they do in their lives?
What interesting people did they meet?
Did they make a difference in people's lives?
Would I have liked them if I had known them?