Things That Go Bump in the Day

Hey all,

Sorry I missed the blog last week.  I was just so darn busy with getting packed and doing the last minute stuff before moving, I just didn't have a chance to even think about writing one.  Hopefully this week's will make up for it.

I probably should wait til Halloween to do this topic, but I can't.  It's too weird and creepy to put in mothballs for five months.  And when I find something I think is cool, I want to share it with all of you.  And so I shall.

The last week I was in Cordoba, I went to their biggest cemetery.  I wasn't expecting much--the ones we'd seen on the road were basic condos or crosses.  But I was curious, and since I'd finished a chore a little early, I decided to walk over to the Cementerio San Jerónimo.  And I was so glad I did.

The cemetery itself was very different from others I'd seen.  It did have the usual mausoleums like I've seen in other graveyards, some quite beautiful and ornate.  Here are a few pics of some streets of the dead of Cordoba.

But they had two things I'd never seen anywhere else.

First off, they had buildings scattered through the cemetery that were ENORMOUS.  I mean as big as apartment buildings.  I thought at first they were crematoriums, but I couldn't imagine them needing six different crematoriums.  But once I translated the different plaques I realized each building belonged to a certain group.  So, for example, if you were a person that belonged to a specific club or organization, and they had a building, you could be buried there.  Or, if you were a particular ethnic or social class, they had buildings for them too.  Most were just buildings--nothing special, but this one picture is quite lovely.

Yet that wasn't the thing that made this cemetery unique.  Since it's the only Argentine one I've seen, I don't know if it's specific to this country or just Cordoba.  But, let's just say there were parts of this graveyard that hit an infinity and beyond on the creepy scale.

I'll need to set the stage before I go on.  I'd just walked into the cemetery.  It was the first row of mausoleums I'd walked down, and so far, it wasn't anything different.  But then I noticed that the windows on one of the sepulcher's doors was broken.  So, curious, I peeked in.

I think they heard my scream in Bogota!

Just joking, but I've certainly seen this scene in horror movies.  OH MY GOD.  Talk about creepy.  Check what this crypt looked like!!!!!

I was a bit freaked out.  I've seen decrepit and broken mausoleums before, but never like this.  I felt so bad for the occupants.  Was their family gone?  No one left to care for the graves?  Or was it even worse and there was family, but they just didn't care about the graves?  That's even sadder.

And for the coffins to be in plain sight was NOT something I've ever seen before.  In no other country I've visited do they just lay them out that way.  Everywhere else they hide the coffins in stone, marble or dirt.  The only time you see a coffin is at the funeral, right?

But I realized as I walked around more, that this was the way Argentines bury their dead. They don't bury them.  They stack the coffins neatly in the sepulchers.  Some are covered by beautiful lace as you see here.  

Others, as you see above, have absolutely lovely coffins--works of art themselves.  So, after a couple of hours of wandering, I was getting used to seeing all the coffins set so neatly in their places.  And then I turned down a row and came across this sight.  

And THAT scream I know they heard in China!  LOL

No, but seriously.  This one was even worse.  I could hear my inner child screaming, "Escapee, Escapee!!!" And you could tell they'd been like that for a while.  So not only the family didn't do anything about it, neither did the workers.  So the coffins just spilled out into the row.  Horribly creepy.

And just so you know...the coffins were NOT empty.  Yes.  You could see bits and pieces of dead people.  And so that whole creep factor just skyrocketed into outer space.  *shudder*   At least it was bones and not flesh.  Thank God for small mercies...

So, you can see why this post is worthy of Halloween.  Cemeteries, broken coffins, and the smell of death?  Oh yeah.  Those are the things nightmares are made of.  Or horror movies.  Or nightmares in a horror movie.  

Yeah.  That'll work!!!

Until next week!

Hugs,

CJ England

Follow Your Dreams
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