History Main / CreepyCemetery

* "Pet Sematary" by Music/TheRamones depicts a run-down graveyard with goblins and ghosts (and it's implied a vampire or two) living(?) there. [[FilkSong Like the book/film the song is based on,]] it's UnholyGround that brings back anyone buried there. The singer follows his friend Victor in one night, and is unpleasantly surprised to find out that Vic's actually a skeleton.

[[folder:Videogames]]

* The Gamindustri Graveyard from ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2''. Doesn't help that it has its own [[Literature/LordOfTheRings creepy, all-seeing eye on top of a tower.]]

* The third season of ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' has a few cemetery scenes and it's mentioned a few times that Cole can't be tracked in a cemetery.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Voldemort did his little forbidden ritual in a graveyard. You know, the usual "bone of father, blood of enemy, flesh of servant" rebirth routine.

* Actually, most of our ideas about creepy cemeteries originate in Victorian London. The city had serious problems with overcrowding, both for living people and as a consequence for the dead as well. This resulted in dead bodies being buried in graves that were already occupied, half-buried body parts sticking out of the ground and the like. Add constant smog for special spookiness. Matters were much improved in 1839 by the founding of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgate_Cemetery Highgate Cemetery]] and six other rural or garden cemeteries in London. Based partly on the iconic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Auburn_Cemetery Mount Auburn]] which was itself inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A8re_Lachaise_Cemetery Père Lachaise]], these garden cemeteries -- and even the ''word'' "cemetery" -- were part of a movement in society to change the mindset around death. Instead of grim graveyards with constant reminders of the physical reality of death, the cemetery was a hopeful place to think about the next life.[[note]]That's why so many of the early ones are filled with Myth/EgyptianMythology art.[[/note]] People were actually encouraged to go there to relax and have fun. They were the first city parks.

* Music/MichaelJackson's "Music/{{Thriller}}".

* Music/MichaelJackson's "Thriller".

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj41xZHA5Eg Victor and his Demons]], by Music/FiddlersGreen, also features a creepy cemetery.

* The graveyard in ''Pet Sematary'' by Music/TheRamones features a run-down graveyard with goblins and ghosts (and it's implied a vampire or two) living(?) there. [[FilkSong Like the book/film the song is based on,]] it's UnholyGround that brings back anyone buried there. The singer follows his friend Victor in one night, and is unpleasantly surprised to find out that Vic's actually a skeleton.

This is the birth place of TheUndead, and in a ZombieApocalypse you can expect every grave to be a ClownCarGrave. If you're lucky, then the local vampire coven didn't get the memo about this not being the best place to sleep, so you'll just need to find their AncientTomb and hope there isn't a night guard ([[OurVampiresAreDifferent and that they're heavy sleepers]]).

Little wonder, then, that so many {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works like this setting. In one of ''these'' graveyards, it is AlwaysNight, or occasionally twilight. Most often the moon is full, for extra supernatural points. [[SnowMeansDeath Snow]] may also be present, or [[GraveClouds clouds]], or [[OminousFog fog]]. And more importantly... the dead people there ''[[NightOfTheLivingMooks aren't really dead]]''.

Cemeteries have long held an air of creepiness about them. They are the places where we bury the dead after all, and our loved ones in particular. Places that make us think of unpleasant things. Places that can sometimes manage to creep us out simply because of the way they look.

Cemeteries have long held an air of creepiness about them. They are the places where we bury the dead after all, and our loved ones in particular. Places that make us think of unpleasant things. Places that can sometimes manage to creep us out simply because of the way they look. Little wonder that {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works like this setting.

In one of these graveyards, it is AlwaysNight, or occasionally twilight. Most often the moon is full, for extra supernatural points. [[SnowMeansDeath Snow]] may also be present, or [[GraveClouds clouds]], or [[OminousFog fog]]. And more importantly... the dead people there ''[[NightOfTheLivingMooks aren't really dead]]''.

** The haunted house ''[[Ride/DungeonOfTerror Cryptkeeper's Dungeon of Terror]]'' from ''Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights'' 1995 has the guests walk through one of these at one point.

Cemeteries have long held an air of creepiness about them. They are the places where we bury our loved ones. Places that make us think of unpleasant things. Places that can sometimes manage to creep us out simply because of the way they look. Little wonder that {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works like this setting.

* In the second ''VideoGame&PrincessMaker'' game, Baran the Gravekeeper handles one of these, and he can hire the Daughter to help him working there. He'll often tease the girl by telling her about a Skeleton Knight who supposedly haunts it. [[spoiler: If she has good enough Fighting/Magic skills, the Skeleton Knight will challenge her and she'll have to defeat him to send him to Heaven, which will net her at least 2.000 gold.]]

It's the birth place of TheUndead and in a ZombieApocalypse, expect every grave to be a ClownCarGrave. If you're lucky, then the local vampire coven didn't get the memo about this not being the best place to sleep, so you'll just need to find their AncientTomb and hope there isn't a night guard ([[OurVampiresAreDifferent and that they're heavy sleepers]]).

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' [=TOS=] has this in two episodes.
** "The Grave".:The scary part of the episode took place in a cemetery.

In one of these graveyards, it is ''always'' nighttime, or occasionally twilight. Most often the moon is full, for extra supernatural points. [[SnowMeansDeath Snow]] may also be present, or [[GraveClouds clouds]], or [[OminousFog fog]]. And more importantly... the dead people there ''[[NightOfTheLivingMooks aren't really dead]]''.

* The graveyard in ''Pet Sematary'' by Music/TheRamones features a run-down graveyard with goblins and ghosts (and it's implied a vampire or two) living(?) there. [[FilkSing Like the book/film the song is based on,]] it's UnholyGround that brings back anyone buried there. The singer follows his friend Victor in one night, and is unpleasantly surprised to find out that Vic's actually a skeleton.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Voldemort did his little forbidden ritual in a graveyard. You know, the usual "bone of father, blood of enemy, flesh of servant" rebirth routine.
* Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/PetSematary'' and its film adaptations have these.

* Averted in ''Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide'', which points out that zombies (by that book's rules) ''can't'' rise from the grave, and they won't go into cemeteries because that's not where the food is. Therefore, cemeteries are usually a good place to rest.

* In ''Literature/ShamanBlues'', cemetaries are usually an inversion, as oft rituals spoken on them make them anathema to most ghosts. However, Katia and Witkacy do visit one that neatly fits the bill, complete with being a source of weird magic energy and having power-mad ghosts invading it slowly.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' has Van Helsing and Dr. Seward keeping vigil at the cemetery where Lucy was entombed (and from which her body has disappeared), discovering she had become a vampire, and ultimately dispatching her with a stake through the heart after she had returned to her coffin.
* The first urban Circle Of Hell in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' is a cemetery filled with fiery tombs that hold arch-heretics and their followers. The tombs remain open until the Last Judgement, so those passing through can hear the "sorry cries" the heretics create for eternity.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[HorrifyingTheHorror So creepy that even the vampire wants to leave.]]-] ]]

* Actually, most of our ideas about creepy cemeteries originate in Victorian London. The city had serious problems with overcrowding, both for living people and as a consequence for the dead as well. This resulted in dead bodies being buried in graves that were already occupied, half-buried body parts sticking out of the ground and the like. Add constant smog for special spookiness. Matters were much improved in 1839 by the founding of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgate_Cemetery Highgate Cemetery]] and six other rural or garden cemeteries in London. Based partly on the iconic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Auburn_Cemetery Mount Auburn]] which was itself inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A8re_Lachaise_Cemetery Père Lachaise]], these garden cemeteries -- and even the ''word'' "cemetery" -- were part of a movement in society to change the mindset around death. Instead of grim graveyards with constant reminders of the physical reality of death, the cemetery was a hopeful place to think about the next life.[[note]]That's why so many of the early ones are filled with EgyptianMythology art.[[/note]] People were actually encouraged to go there to relax and have fun. They were the first city parks.