Quote to Jour
"A fence around a cemetery is foolish, for those inside can't get out, and those outside don't want to get in."
                                                                                                                                                       ~Arthur Brisbane

Halloween week continues. All this week, the blog centers on all things spooky.

For someone psychic, I have a terrible sense of direction. Leave it me to get lost in a cemetery, close to Halloween.
As many of you know, I often go on long nature walks, camera in tow. Usually I'm alone but on a recent Sunday, hubby and my step-daughter joined me. After a pleasant afternoon we found ourselves driving past the famous Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. http://www.sleepyhollowcemetery.org The cemetery is named for  Washington Irving, who wrote the Legend of Sleepy Hollow in 1820.  A film by the same title, starring Johnny Depp was filmed there in 1999.
Over the past seven years that I've lived in the region, I've driven past this cemetery dozens of times but never stopped by. This is all the more bizarre since I love photographing cemeteries.

Well, as luck would have it, glorious fall foliage with golden, late afternoon light made it an offer I couldn't refuse. We drove in through the narrow side entrance. Little did we know the main entrance had maps of the 85 acre site. For some reason, I thought it was just a tiny cemetery and certainly not one large enough to necessitate a map. I was dead wrong. The cemetery is a hilly Medusa head of twists and turns. The map, besides helping the hapless like me, also pinpoints locations of it's famous occupants including; William Rockefeller, Elizabeth Arden, Andrew Carnegie, Walter Chrysler, Leona Helmsley and of course, Washington Irving. I didn't find any of them, but I did find a everything from the ironic, the bittersweet to over-the-top monuments to excess.

My teen-aged step-daughter asked me about the tiny tombstones scattered about. "They're for babies and children," I said. "Only two months old," she lamented at this grave.

When I spotted a soaring, three-story high monument (above center), I yelped in excitement, "Wow, life-size statues! Gothic splendor!" While I pondered about who and why, I realized I'd wandered off by myself. I kept going around in circles, returning to this intersection.
My feet ached. I regretted not bringing a water bottle. The light cast longer and longer shadows. I had to face the truth: I was lost and it was getting dark and creepy. I shooed away visions of the headless horseman and other horrors. There was no place to rest, at least not any where I felt comfortable. It was time to ask for help but from who? An angel?

I kept going and found a spectacular grave surrounded by huge stone angels. I considered this a good omen.

My camera ran out of batteries and I wondered if that was an omen too. Ditto leaving my cell phone in the car. Suddenly, I heard someone call my name. It was no angel but my step-daughter. I ran up the hill towards her and the car. My angel!
Was it worth getting lost? Yes, for shots like this one but next time I'll pick up a map.


I'll be adding a folder of high resolution shots of cemeteries to my photo gallery at www.laylamorganwilde.com