There are always many myths and legends around cemeteries and graves. In ancient times, these places served as the subject of sacred veneration, and today they are often associated with various cults. Occult lovers are especially attracted by the graves marked with the "devil's seal".
We are talking about the burial places of alleged vampires, black magicians or villains, in front of whom people experience superstitious horror.
For a long time, there have been legends about the dead who rise from their graves at night and suck blood from living people. They are usually called vampires, ghouls, or ghouls. Different peoples have their own traditional ways of protecting themselves from the bloodsucking dead. The most common of them is to drive an aspen stake into a vampire's heart: it supposedly kills the "astral" essence of the ghoul.
In 1994, in the Czech Republic, near the town of Chelyakovitsy, a strange burial was discovered, attributed by archaeologists to the end of the 10th century. This place was called the "vampire graveyard". In 11 graves there were 13 skeletons tied with leather belts. Aspen stakes were stuck in the region of the heart, some had their heads and hands cut off. All the remains belonged to men of about the same age, presumably from places
local residents. Undoubtedly, their fellow villagers considered them vampires, and therefore killed and then buried according to ritual tradition.
In Venice, during the excavations of a medieval cemetery, where victims of the plague epidemic were buried, the remains of a woman holding a stone in her mouth were found. Matteo Borini, an archaeologist at the University of Florence, claims: in that distant era, people believed that the plague was spread by ghouls who drink human blood at night. Perhaps such a belief arose due to the fact that patients with plague sometimes bleed from their mouths. Therefore, when a person suspected of vampirism died, they gagged him with a stone - it was believed that then the dead would not bother the living …
More recently, a similar burial was discovered in the Bulgarian city of Sozopol near the Church of Nikolai
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Wonderworker. It is dated to the XIII-XIV centuries. The remains of 70 people rested there, with two skeletons pierced with iron stakes. The director of the National Historical Museum, Bozhidar Dimitrov, said that not a single tombstone had yet been found in the excavation area. However, the scientist believes that the "vampires" belonged to the nobility. Most likely, during their lifetime they were considered villains, hence the "anti-vampire" measures. By the way, in total, about a hundred skeletons of people were found in Bulgaria, whose bodies were pierced with wooden or iron stakes.
St. Louis and the voodoo cult
St. Louis in New Orleans (USA, Louisiana) is a complex of three Catholic cemeteries located in different parts of the city. A characteristic feature of the local burials is that they are located above the ground, since the city is often flooded with groundwater. Perhaps that is why so many mysterious stories are associated with the cemetery: the souls of the deceased in such an atmosphere cannot find peace in any way. One way or another, experts call St. Louis the most mystical cemetery in the world.
The oldest cemetery in St. Louis is number one. It was founded in 1789, and the dead are still buried there. After the release in 1969 of Dennis Hopper's legendary film “Easy Rider - and the books of the vampire cycle by Anne Rae, tourists rushed here. Fearing vandalism, the authorities banned solo visits to the cemetery, only guided tours are allowed.
Many visitors say that crying and groans are heard from the crypts, and some even saw ghosts - in the form of foggy clouds over the tombs or even human figures … Sometimes on the wall of one of the crypts the ghostly face of an unknown old man begins to appear - apparently, the one who is there buried.
Most of the legends are about the "voodoo queen" buried here - Marie Laveau. Her ghost is allegedly often seen in the cemetery, walking between the tombs. You can recognize a voodoo priestess by a red and white turban with seven knots. Under his breath, the spirit mutters a special curse, designed to punish those who violate the cemetery peace.
Sometimes a large snake is seen next to Marie Laveau. This is the symbol of Boa - one of the main voodoo deities. Marie had a real snake named Zombie, and when the witch died, she was buried along with her pet. The snake is also seen crawling near the grave of the mistress.
There is a belief that Marie Laveau is able to grant wishes even after death. To do this, you need to draw a cross on the wall of her tomb or put three coins next to it, stand near the grave, turn around three times around its axis and knock on the crypt door three times. Some also perform voodoo rituals here. After them, various objects often remain - flowers, candles, beads, dolls … But in no case should you touch them - they may have a curse or a conspiracy for illness.
Another local ghost is Delfina la Lori, the local Saltychikha. She became famous for bullying her black slaves. They say that once a fire broke out in La Lori's house, and neighbors who came running to help found a "torture chamber" in the attic, where either the cut off parts of human bodies were lying, or there were seven beaten and emaciated slaves chained to the walls … Sadist were going to lynch, but she fled and, according to legend, was buried in St. Louis Cemetery.
There is also a ghost here that looks like a huge black cat with fiery red eyes. They call him that - the devil cat. It is believed that when you see a ghostly cat, you should certainly cross yourself three times and move away from it, but so that it cannot see your back. The same should be done when meeting the ghost of Marie Laveau. According to legend, if evil spirits look in your back, then you will fall into slavery to them for the rest of your life …
Black masses on Père Lachaise
Many celebrities are buried in the Parisian Pere Lachaise cemetery. Among them, for example, writers: Moliere, Balzac, Proust, the occultist Papus, the artist Modigliani, the executed Communards during the Great French Revolution, many Russian emigrants, movie and pop stars: Edith Piaf with her husband, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret and Jim Morrison. Visitors come here every day, but not only to honor the memory of celebrities, but also … to perform a magic ritual!
For example, the tombstone of the grave of Robespierre's beloved Eleanor Duplet is covered with inscriptions left by the victims of unhappy love. They say this helps to achieve reciprocity. Homosexuals have their idol - the writer Oscar Wilde. Rather, a semi-angel-semi-phinx located on the grave of the writer. Previously, the most zealous fans managed to copulate with this stone monster, which, at the behest of the sculptor, was endowed with an impressive phallus. Then, by order of the authorities, the monument was “castrated”. But there are still traces of kisses on it - prints of lipstick, and at the foot there are mountains of love messages …
At night, Satanists and thrill seekers, thirsty for easy riches, try to enter the crypt of Princess Demidova, who, as if every night, rises from her coffin to celebrate black mass. Previously, for the same purpose, they visited the grave of the famous spiritualist Allan Kardek, but in the 1990s it was blown up by a certain intruder.
At the grave of the mystic Duplet at noon, they read Tarot cards, and predictions always come true … And the tombstone of the utopian communist Louis Auguste Blanca supposedly helps with infertility. To do this, you need to sit on a lying statue, or rather, touch a certain place. The sculpture also attracts fans of the phallic cult … The same functions are performed by the statue of the young journalist Victor Noir, who was killed in a duel in 1870 by Prince Pierre Bonaparte: the place where the man's penis is located has been polished to shine by numerous "clients".
It seems that most of the irrational stories about cemeteries are nothing more than legends and beliefs. However, some of them still defy logical explanation. And the very atmosphere of the cemetery, especially if it has a rich and eventful history, adjusts to a mystical mood.
Margarita TROITSYNA
"Secrets of the 20th century" February 2013
