Halloween: when the world wrapped in slumber awakens from the grave. Halloween in 2007 fell on a Wednesday, and although I wasn’t the angsty binge-drinking type in a slutty costume I wasn’t about to sit in on my favorite holiday either! I rounded up Van, Jessica, and Kimberly to come with me for some innocent fun and visit the cemetery at the corner of Alderman and McCormick!
One of the first things you see when you get inside the gates is a huge statue of Jefferson with a creepy inscription at the base: LIFE DENIED THEM VICTORY BUT CROWNED THEM WITH GLORIOUS IMMORTALITY. Since the cemetery opened in 1828 I’m sure it had to do with soldiers buried there, but they aren’t the only residents. The cemetery is supposedly packed with especially distinguished professors and administrators like Newcomb, Clemons, and Bonnycastle to name a few. I remember trying to find the oldest grave in there, but think the oldest one we found dated back to around 1860—oh acid rain effects.
We wandered around the womping willows with glowsticks at midnight, trying to freak each other out; I was seriously hoping to find something creepy! When I thought we had stumbled upon something good (a séance perhaps…), it turned out to be some weird kids playing scrabble in the midst of the graves! I guess the scariest thing in those hallowed grounds was the bagpipe guy who used to play in them when you were trying to study. The UVA Cemetery surprisingly lacked any sinister feeling whatsoever—if you can’t get it at midnight on Halloween when will you?!—so all you fraidy cats should get out there now and enjoy it!
"He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery"
- Harold Wilson
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