Deathly Decayed

Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery; Burlington, ON.

2009-12-08T17:49:33Z

Fifield, WI Cemetery

2009-11-10T23:36:17Z

My mother and I visited the Fifield cemetery today. Someone told me it's on National Geographic's top 10 list of most haunted cemeteries in America, and I live less than a mile down the road from it. I'm not sure why this is considered a haunted cemetery, but I took a quick look online and found an excerpt on a website that says:

Weird feelings and voices can be heard there at night. Strange pictures have been taken there displaying orbs, and ectoplasm mist swirling around headstones. Strange shadows and orbs can also be seen.

My mother has seen mist around one of the gravestones, and she and her friend have both experienced "weird feelings" while there at night. I haven't experienced any of this myself and I'm usually very sensitive to this sort of thing.

Nonetheless, it's a very old cemetery full of very interesting gravestones, including some from the 1700's. So I took a whole bunch of photos of them.

This is a grave stone from the late 1700's.

Haapsalu, Estonia

2009-10-21T11:58:21Z

Dieselpunks Interview - Photographing the afterlife with JR Pepper

2009-10-09T03:17:11Z

Dieselpunks Interview - Photographing the afterlife with JR Pepper.

When Spiritualism was all the rage, having a dead relative make an appearance in your portraits could mean big money for a shrewd photographer. By taking a ghostly looking photo ahead of time and then reusing the negative, our dark room magicians could conjure all sorts of hidden shades in their work.

Fast forward 100 years, and you can still find these grifters haunting America's cities, except this time they're capturing spirits for the sake of art. Most notable of the bunch is New York artist JR Pepper. For years now, Pepper has been recreating the photographic techniques of Mumler and Buguet, creating her own contemporary blend of spirit photography.

Take a look under the sheet if you dare.

Necropolis of Saint Petersburg

2009-09-20T20:04:29Z

deathly_decayed @ 2009-08-04T14:18:00

2009-08-04T18:19:53Z

St.Peter's Cemetery (aka: Elmwood Cem.) - downtown Columbia, SC

deathly_decayed @ 2009-07-31T06:54:00

2009-07-31T10:57:22Z

Peak, SC .. tiny old Southern town somewhere along Hwy 176

deathly_decayed @ 2009-05-22T10:25:00

2009-05-22T14:39:50Z

from various New Hampshire cemeteries

2009-05-20T22:45:52Z

Walsdorf Jewish Graveyard

2009-05-18T22:42:22Z

Next to my tiny little village in Germany stands an old Jewish cemetery hidden in the forest. You really can't find old cemeteries in Germany due to the fact you have to update and pay for you plot to keep it. The village has a fence around it that you could not enter and my boyfriend and me respected that. So there really is not too many upclose photos.

Yes I know newer headstones are not encourage but it was so out of place. There were about three in the whole cemetery. Atleast there is someone looking out for their loved ones.

Old columbarium

2009-05-05T16:38:10Z

just one

2009-04-12T05:34:13Z

Mocsa, Hungary part 1

2009-03-21T18:06:53Z

Information about the village plus 17 more pictures behind the cut.

Mocsa is a small village with a population of a little over 2000, surrounded by fields and a little forest (within which is the cemetery). It's a very quiet, not a particularly lively village. The village is at least 800 years old (the first written mention of it is in 1200 under the name Mocha). The village name comes from the Hungarian word mocsár which means "swamp." Mocsa indeed was a swampy area for centuries and this is partially why the village survived through the Turkish invasions, etc. The villagers hid themselves and their animals in the swamp.
My mum grew up in this village, my grandma and grandpa are buried here, and some relatives still live in Mocsa to this day. :) So it's a village that's close to me.
Anyway, the cemetery's brief history: It has been used as a burial ground since Roman times. There is a stone marking the specific site. In the early 1930's the 'old' cemetery was abandoned (it's called the old cemetery by the villagers) and a new site was picked out a few meters to the right.
For a very long while the old cemetery had literally become a part of the forest. It was a lot creepier and more forlorn, but just last year about half if it was dug out; the trees and bushes cut back.
Around the cemetery is a forest, after that fields, and in the distance is a large commercial hog farm. Sometimes, if the wind is blowing right, you can hear the hogs screaming (if they are hungry or scared) and you can sense their awful smell.
Anyway, here are the pictures...

Can you imagine that huge tree was just a tiny thing when it was planted there to decorate the grave?

This is the "cleaned up" part of the cemetery. The year before it was ALL forest.

Sun-bleached snailshell.

Pool of muck.

Across the street from the cemetery is the village's Catholic Church.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

PART II will include pictures of the forest and the abandoned mortuary.

Cedar Grove Cemetery, Ohio

2009-03-20T17:50:46Z

a question

2009-03-18T04:51:06Z

a few years ago i came across this little oddity.

this is just outside the boundaries of an old New Hampshire cemetery. i know that it was once a common practice to bury certain people outside cemeteries - but one of the graves in this little plot (the one with the flag and flowers - it's hard to see from this angle, sorry) is quite recent from what i recall - i think the date of death was in the 1980s-early 90s, though it's been awhile since i visited.

i am curious to know if there might be some reason a (relatively) recent grave would be put outside cemetery grounds.

Cemetery in Maine.

2009-02-20T18:04:00Z

Hello! This is my first post and I just joined a couple seconds ago! I want to share this video with you, made by me, with footage of my favorite local cemetery. All the information you'll likely be seeking is included in the video.

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abandoned house / ghost pictures

2009-02-08T17:29:54Z

So last week Meghan and I drove out 80-West and found an amazing abandoned house. The things in it are so interesting.. it's like these people just up and left their whole lives behind. There was a fire, so I'm wondering if someone died and they could just never go back in there. I went back yesterday with my friends Jamie & Gabby to use as "ghost" models.. working towards my final in Black & White technique. These photos are the test shots from my digital. I also took 60 exposures on b&w film that I will process tomorrow. Just thought I'd share the test shots & get some opinions.

Your feedback is really appreciated!

This first one is a panorama of the kitchen/dining area of the house.

Your feedback is really appreciated!

Woodlawn Cemetery, New England

2009-01-18T05:16:39Z

Azle, Tx.

2009-01-13T16:00:24Z

Taken in a small cemetary in Azle, Tx.
Much of it was converted into newer plots, and very few of the older original graves existed.
At least their headstones were gone.
There was a gorgeous fenced grave that I fell in love with.
The way it was over-grown, was just beautiful.

A couple more

Pittsburg, Kansas

2009-01-07T07:36:13Z

click to enlarge-

Pere Lachaise cemetery, Paris

2008-12-28T20:03:57Z

I recently learned some tricks with curves in PS and managed to salvage what I thought was a useless negative... Sharing here 'cos it's a cemetery photo. :)

Victoria, British Columbia

2008-12-28T03:12:56Z

From a graveyard in Canada.

(click for slightly larger...)

deathly_decayed @ 2008-12-21T10:54:00

2008-12-21T18:55:10Z

My fabulous wife was kind enough to allow me some time on our honeymoon to photograph the lovely cemeteries that New Orleans has to offer. I had spent a considerable amount of time shooting in "The Cities Of The Dead" shortly before Hurricane Katrina and was a bit anxious to re-visit them. I found myself looking for damage, waterlines, etc as many of the cemeteries were severely flooded. For the most part they were incredibly well cleaned. Signs of damage were nearly impossible to differentiate from what I witnessed on our previous trip.

There were several facades to family crypts that were completely open, exposing the coffins and skeletons inside, though I'll never know if this was from storm damage.

Metarie Cemetery:

Lafayette Cemetery #2

St. Joseph Cemetery #1

Yanaka Cemetery, Tokyo, May 2007

2008-12-14T15:52:59Z

One of the largest and oldest cemeteries in Japan.

Many stray cats and crows act as guardians.

There is a lot of mixing of old and new, tidy and abandoned.

This one is from a small cemetery of a Buddhist temple that I came across while walking to Yanaka.

Donskoy necropolis, Moscow. part 2

2008-12-01T16:12:45Z