You may be intrigued by the idea of celebrating the spooky season by paying a visit to a local cemetery, but how much do you really know about them?
Ghost stories aside, a cemetery is often referred to as a symbol of the bridge between life and death. For fans of the macabre who believe in the lore of the holiday, the veil between these two worlds is believed to be thinnest on the night of Oct. 31.
The overlap between cemeteries and Halloween is widely recognized in historical context and popular culture, with a predominantly negative stigma associated with the burial sites.
They are frequently portrayed as places of solitude and grieving, but they also represent togetherness and the celebration of life that continues long after loss.
“It gets into our fascination and very arm’s-length relationship, especially in Western culture, with death and grief,” says MacEwan University English Professor, Shawn Hamm, on the human perception of cemeteries.
“At a certain point, you can’t really ignore it.”
Hamm admits to always having had an interest in these spooky spaces. “It actually started to influence my own research interests,” says Hamm, who also works as a Seasonal Groundskeeper at the Edmonton Cemetery.
“Once I got a master’s, I started gearing toward gothic literature, and a lot of that came from spending so much time in the cemeteries.”
As a groundskeeper, he contributes to handling the general upkeep of the property grounds. This upkeep includes lawn care, cleaning, yard work and patrol of the historic cemetery located at 107 avenue.
“Cemeteries were meant to be public parks — a place where you can have a picnic with your family and it is maintained as such.”
The Edmonton Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in the city, founded in 1866 on land obtained from the Hudson’s Bay Company reserve. The cemetery serves as the final resting place for various historical figures who were integral to the development of Edmonton.
As you walk through the lush burial grounds blanketed in foliage, you can catch a glimpse of the prominent namesakes of various neighbourhoods and buildings throughout the region including Muttart, McDougall, Boyle, Griesbach, Secord and Oliver. “You can learn a lot about the history of a city or region just by the people that are buried there within,” Hamm says.
According to Hamm, the cemetery has been sold out of plots since the 1980s, but there remains a steady stream of visitors who all share a common appreciation for the space. “What we do get are a lot of dog walkers and an older crowd who are trying to stay fit,” he explains. “Cemeteries were meant to be public parks — a place where you can have a picnic with your family and it is maintained as such.”
If you are interested in visiting a cemetery, there are some important rules of etiquette to keep in mind to ensure that these sacred spaces and the people that are buried within them are respected. “It comes down to yourself, respecting the space and what your intention is to be there,” Hamm says.
It is expected that you keep in mind the sanctity of the cemetery to the loved ones of those buried within and act appropriately. Visitors are always welcome at the Edmonton Cemetery. They even offer educational panels on-site that explain some of the history behind the space.
As author of The Mortician, A.L. Mengal once wrote, “Cemeteries are like a giant library of stories.” Graveyards are filled with collections of memories and experiences. Hamm has seen this himself throughout his time doing this work. “You begin to notice how old some are,” he says. Some tombstones are unique or even humourous; they can be “emblematic of the person,” says Hamm. “I enjoy the ones that give you a sense of who that person is.”
Though cemeteries have a spooky stigma, you may be pleasantly surprised when visiting. “Your mind is primed for that supernatural or ethereal connection, but to be honest, for the most part they’re very peaceful places,” says Hamm. A cemetery is a place where the lifetimes of diverse peoples have been assembled together within a collective of shared humanity. Hamm’s largest takeaway from his work as a cemetery groundskeeper is something to be considered when examining your own perspective on these sacred spaces. “Cemeteries are places for the living,” he says. “There’s a lot of life in the cemeteries.”
