To think it's not weird, creepy or disrespectful to go for a walk around a cemetery

[JuvenileBigfoot]

Told a friend I went for a walk in a local cemetery. She thinks it's creepy and disrespectful. I think it's a nice quet place to take a walk.

Admittedly I also like looking at old headstones, but I feel like reading the names and dates is acknowledging that person's life and is not disrespectful.

The cemetery in question is old, and no longer accepts burials but is open to the public. However, I've also walked around open cemeteries.

What do you think? Creepy ot not?

The people buried under the old tombstones will have died so long ago that no living person remembers them, even if they have living relatives. Isn't it lovely that someone is reading their names, maybe even saying them out loud?

Thats how I feel and why I always say the names of those I pass. I feel a bit sad at those stones that are so worn they are no longer possible to read, as you have no idea who they belong to.

It makes me sad when the tombstones become unreadable as either made from some very porous material so writing gets attacked by the elements, being unloved etc.

Done family history and looked at tombstones.

There are some in a village near where I am and the church dates back to the 12th C. Some of the stones look hundreds of years old and there’s no writing at all that’s visible any more.

Halloween wouldn't bother me as I don't believe in all that. In the dark no I wouldn't because the living might be lurking and wanting to mug or attack people. The dead are no threat the living are.

I love cemeteries. Some are incredible.

There is one in Sydney on a cliff top.

It’s not ant all there’s one near me. Lots of old ww1 headstones from young boys who went.
I like to go a read their names and remember them for a moment.

One place I found eerie was this place https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/things-to-do-hill-of-crosses-religious-tourism in Lithuania. About 120k crosses from thumb size to 10ft tall.

But what about the Weeping Angels?

@cakeorwine
don't!
we have a few of them.....😁

Absolutely fine. Some graveyards are very pretty. The one by me is covered in bluebells at the moment, and it’s also particularly pretty when it (rarely) snows.

Nice for those people buried there to be remembered too when you read their headstones.

I love them. I find them peaceful and thought-provoking. I don't go often as DH pretty much refuses to set foot in one. 🙄

Our local church yard is set up as a living church yard. They encourage peaceful nature walks around it, with a sign/path mapped out with interesting trees, what projects they're doing (bats at the moment), and some religious bits and bobs too. The kids go to an after school activity in the church hall next door to the church yard and on a nice evening if we have a few minutes spare they quite like going in and spotting things like butterflies, birds, the yew trees, gargoyles on the church, the war graves, angels, old graves, finding different generations of the same family names...

Definitely not creepy. Or if it is, I'm proudly creepy!

I grew up near a naval base, and there is a large wartime naval/military cemetery. When we were little, my sister got very upset that the mummies of the men who were buried there couldn't visit because they were from all over the world. We used to go quite often, and we'd always stop by the German, Australian, Indian and US graves (those are the nationalities I can remember, but I think there were more) and say a prayer for them in lieu of their families. We always hoped someone was doing the same for the British dead buried abroad.

I think they are really interesting and lovely places to walk around. There’s a sense of peace and calm that isn’t always the case when walking through a park or other open space. When DH and I are on our way to the football at Chelsea we sometimes walk through Brompton Cemetery and we’re always saying we’d like to wander round there properly rather than just cutting through.

Nothing weird about it. They’re often havens for wildlife, too.

Talking to DH about this thread and he reminded me of the time that we went to Belgium. We were taking an evening tour to Ypres and stopped at one of the sites where the trenches were still intact from WW1 together with a small museum and a cemetery. DH found me in tears in front of the graves of three lads aged 15, 16 and 17, all from the same regiment and all died on the same day. I couldn’t get the picture out of my mind that perhaps they were all friends from the same village who had joined up for a big adventure and who had lost their lives together. So sad.

I've always like cemeteries. As a kid the very old ones had beautiful headstones and I would imagine their lives and why they died. Ita,s all a story in my head of who they were
Not disrespectful as imagine how many do not visit any more as they are not a round, but you do visit and remember them.
They are still here when we think of them and bring them back to life.
Sounds weird but its how I think of it. And yes it's lovely and peaceful to.
I worry some might think I am being weird birthday at least I know who I am.
Ignore them I do what feels right. My rule always only old ones, very old and never stand in the grave, try walk around.
I'd I could I'd clean them to

Just walking around a cemetery even on offical paths you are probably walking over old graves, there are usually 1000's even in the small churchyards over the life of old churches, that's why paths and the grass areas undulate so much.
I help clear local church yard and photograph /record for Find A Grave website.
I also work in family history so spend a lot of time tramping around church yards.
It's relaxing and tranquil, have had the odd weird thing happen when on my own that couldn't be explained but I'm not bothered by woo things.

This thread reappeared in my list ...

We have a hidden cemetery 5 minutes walk from us. There used to be a church there which for reasons lost in the mists of time got moved. Leaving the graveyard which is now a cemetery. You could walk within a yard of it on the pavement and not know it was there (as indeed many people do). There's a 7 foot hedgerow obscuring it one side and houses in front of it on the other 2.

You have to go down an alley to be able to visit it.

I was intrigued to see it is still in use - there being a headstone dated 2022.

There are a lot of graves with dates 1914-1918 and young men and their ranks. Which isn't unusual. In fact it would be unusual to find any burial ground that goes back that far without them.

And the most poignant are where you have what can only be an entire family. Father, brother, and their sons.

It's in no way weird, creepy or disrespectful. Cemeteries can be very beautiful, tranquil places. There's one right behind my home that I sometimes go and meditate in.

If your friend thinks taking a walk in a cemetery is creepy, then heaven knows what she'd make of the fact that some witches/occultists whose practice includes necromancy and ancestor work will sometimes give offerings and do some magic rituals in a cemetery.