History Main / CreepyCemetery

This is the birth place of TheUndead, and in a ZombieApocalypse you can expect every grave to be a ClownCarGrave. If you're lucky, 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]]).

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, 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 [[{{Lunacy}} 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]]''.

* Several examples in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' had a graveyard on the western side of the map. Touching most of the gravestones made an invincible Ghini spawn, which could quickly become a hassle. But if you can handle them, it becomes one of the best places to farm rupees. The first quest hides the magic sword there, and the second quest has the entrance to the 6th dungeon hidden there.
** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' had several graveyards on the world map, including a massive one that hides the entrance to the third palace. Since RandomEncounters are almost always ThatOneLevel in graveyards, you'll generally want to avoid them.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Link can drop down into some of the graves to do things like race the ghost of an {{Undertaker}} in a creepy maze and fight [[OurZombiesAreDifferent ReDeads]]. Also, it houses the entrance to the spooky shadow temple, and the well isn't too far away from the cemetery.
** Ikana Canyon in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' has its own cemetery, but the entire area feels like this to some extent. Inside the cemetery, Link can race against [[DemBones the remains]] of an army officer who died centuries ago, trick his men who dance around graves at night into thinking he [Link] is the officer, and have his men open up the graves to go on adventures underground.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' had Jill going to the cemetery when she goes through the Raccoon Park. There has been one in almost every ''Resident Evil'' game since then, and a DummiedOut graveyard even got added back into the remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1''.

* First levels of ''VideoGame/MediEvil'' are in one huge graveyard.
** A smaller graveyard appears in Whitechapel in ''VideoGame/MediEvil2''.
* The graveyard in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''. It gets even creepier when lightning strikes the glowing blue tombstone near the end of it and Bogmire attacks Luigi in the area 2 boss battle.
* The first ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' game had one just after the swamp containing the [[BigBoosHaunt Cackle Mound]], in the area right before Shantae reaches the Zombie Caravan for the first time. The place is filled with a lot of floating ghosts and BigCreepyCrawlies climbing up and down the surrounding trees.

* 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.]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'': [[BigBoosHaunt Pokémon Tower]] in the infamous Lavender Town is a massive cemetery [[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere tower]] where people all over pay their respects to Pokémon who have passed on. Team Rocket infiltrates the tower, disturbing the restless spirits, one of them is a mother Marowak who was killed by Team Rocket Grunts.

* The cemetery in Halloween Town of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2''.
** Before that, ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' featured the Proof of Existence, which is basically a graveyard for Nobodies.

* [[SubvertedTrope Turned on its head]] in AustrianMedia Wolfgang Ambros' and Georg Danzer's 1974 Austropop song]] ''[[https://youtu.be/nFgj6vJEZrE Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof]]'' ('[[JustForPun Long Live The Central Cemetery]]') featuring the eponymous UsefulNotes/{{Vienna}} cemetery (which has the dubious honour of being one of the world's largest cemeteries by number of people buried). It begins with an appropriately creepy aesthetic, featuring a howling wind, distant Gregorian chants and muted bells. And then it quickly transfers to a [[SoundtrackDissonance schmaltzy and surprisingly wholesome pop ballad]] about the dead awakening and throwing a party to celebrate the Cemetery's first centennial. While [[DudeNotFunny somewhat controversial when first released due to its impious nature]], the song is nevertheless quite in tone with the [[GallowsHumour ghoulish, world-weary traditional Viennese sense of humour]].

* [[SubvertedTrope Turned on its head]] in the 1974 Austropop song ''Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof'' (Long Live The Central Cemetery) about the eponymous UsefulNotes/{{Vienna}} cemetery (which has the dubious honour of being one of the largest cemeteries by number of people buried), by Wolfgang Ambros and Georg Danzer. It begins with the appropriately creepy, featuring a howling wind, distant Gregorian chants and muted bells. And then it quickly transfers to a [[SoundtrackDissonance schmaltzy heartfelt and surprisingly heartwarming pop ballad]] about the dead awakening and throwing a party to celebrate the Cemetery's first centennial. While somewhat controversial when first released due to its impious nature, the song is nevertheless quite in tobe with the [[GallowsHumour ghoulish, world-weary traditional Viennese sense of humour]].

* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'': [[BigBoosHaunt Pokémon Tower]] in Lavender Town is a massive cemetery [[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere tower]] where people all over pay their respects to Pokémon who have passed on. Team Rocket infiltrates the tower, disturbing the restless spirits, one of them is a mother Marowak who was killed by Team Rocket Grunts.

* [[BigBoosHaunt Pokemon Tower]] In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' is a massive cemetery [[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere tower]] where people all over pay their respects to Pokemon who have passed on. Team Rocket infiltrates the tower, disturbing the restless spirits, one of them a mother Marowak who was killed by Team Rocket Grunts.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]
* The opening scene (and first zombie attack) in ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night of the Living Dead]]'' takes place in one of these. Subverted somewhat in that a.) it all happens in [[DaylightHorror broad daylight]] and b.) we never actually see said zombie emerge from a grave.[[note]]Or ''any'' zombie, for that matter, since it's eventually established that only the recent, unburied dead are re-animating.[[/note]]
* The punks in ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'' use a cemetery as their stomping ground. This is a bad idea.

* Ones serves as an arena in ''VideoGame/{{BearZerkers}}''. There's a coffin on the left, and a mausoleum on the right.

* The opening scene (and first zombie attack) in ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night of the Living Dead]]'' takes place in one of these. Subverted somewhat in that a.) it all happens in [[DaylightHorror broad daylight]] and b.) we never actually see said zombie emerge from a grave.[[note]]Or ''any'' zombie, for that matter, since it's eventually established that only the recently dead are re-animating.[[/note]]

* ''Film/HocusPocus'' has a graveyard, but relies on elements from the rest of the movie to add the creepiness factor. In fact
, the film establishes that the cemetery is the safest place to be as being hallowed ground, witches can't set foot on it lest they be turned to stone.

* ''Film/HocusPocus'' has a graveyard, but relies on elements from the rest of the movie to add the creepiness factor.

* Attempted in ''Film/PlanNineFromOuterSpace'', although it's actually a [[SoBadItsGood laughably bad]] set.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''VideoGame/WelcomeToBoonHill''. It's just a regular old cemetery.