Graveyards and relocation

Hi Everyone,

This is a really thrilling tale about a relocated graveyard that may interest you.

According to the online Oxford Dictionary, a graveyard is a burial ground near a church. A sacred place, where we lay our dead once they have passed (hallowed ground). Rituals and ceremonies are usually held in graveyards when someone passes on. The dead are lowered into the grave amidst cries, and blessing for the afterlife. Dirt is thrown onto the coffins by family, and the holes are filled by duteous groundsman once the service is over.

It is hoped the souls of the dead move swiftly to the afterlife.  Religious leaders teach, that if someone led a good life, their soul will pass through the pearly gates of heaven. Sinners on the other hand, are destined for the chambers of hell. Hindu’s have a varied belief. They believe the souls of the dead are sometimes reincarnated into a new bodies, to settle karmic debts. Or if all debts are settled, the souls join God and are forever at peace.

In all of these teachings, ghosts and lingering souls are mere whispers. Religious leaders do not like talking about such things, but the tales of those who have encountered such spirits, make us wonder about lingering souls and why they show themselves.

A friend of mine from Fiji, told me an alarming tale of such lingering graveyard spirits. The house her grandmother lived in, was built on a relocated graveyard. As some may know, when graveyards are moved to accommodate housing, not all the bodies are moved. This may be due to unmarked graves, or even time constraints. The former was the case with the grandmother’s home. My friend, let’s call her Jane, said odd things would happen in house after the sun set. One night the family sat around the table to eat dinner and were struck with horror, when a snowy white hand reach out to them through the table top. The family fled from the room in fear, the meal was only cleared the next day.

This, incident was unfortunately not their only interaction with lingering graveyard souls. One evening the family returned late from the shops. The minute Jane and her mother were out of the car, bags of groceries were flung out of the vehicle onto the ground. No one dared touch the groceries for a whole hour until they felt certain the spirit had moved away.

Reliving these events from Jane’s past left her with goose bumps and gave me such cold shivers, that is took months before I could reflect on the tale and write down the story down in the blog. The lesson I learnt from this tale was that souls may linger, and the relocation of graveyards for housing is not a good option. Hallowed ground remains hallowed ground, and lingering spirits will let us know these places are sacred and should not be disturbed.

Nivi

Acknowledgements to the following:

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/graveyard for the definition

https://highgatecemetery.org/ for the image