Let’s face it – the “Cemetery Traveler” blog is not all that
scary. I mean, its mostly about making photographs in graveyards. Maybe a little creepy at times, but it won’t typically scare you out of
your wits. I’m guessing that a lot of people find my blog and browse a few
articles, hoping to be scared, but then leave somewhat disappointed. So why is
it that people like to be scared?
A good topic to cover as we approach Halloween. Its all
about controlled fear, isn’t it? A vast subsection of the American population
likes to be scared a little. They like to be frightened – but on their terms.
That’s why horror movies and novels are so popular, not to mention “fright
nights” at mock-up “haunted houses” around Halloween. There are even people who
will PAY to walk around in a cemetery at night! (Laurel Hill Cemetery in
Philadelphia offers night photography tours through the grounds. People
sometimes show up without cameras just for the experience! Now
that’s
controlled fear.)
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| Night photographers at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia |
A friend of mine, who works at Laurel Hill, called me on his
cell phone the other day. The connection was rather choppy, so I asked him if
he could call me on a land line. He said, “
Sorry, I’m out in the middle of the
cemetery and there’s a dead zone here.” He’s probably used that line a million
times but I always fall for it! Cemeteries can be frightening places for many
people. There is a different kind of fear there – fear of the unknown. What’s
happening there under our feet, what will happen to
us after we
die. Even after traveling to hundreds of cemeteries internationally over the
last fifteen years, I
still run across graveyards that just
look creepy! Its like they just
can’t help themselves.
Cemeteries may not look so forbidding in the summer, but in
the fall, when things are beginning to die (at least here in the northeast
portion of the U.S. where deciduous trees abound), they take on a more stark
appearance. Sure, the orange and red leaves dress them up a bit, but that only
lasts a few weeks. Then the trees are bare, the air gets cold, and soon the
snow begins to fall.
Not many people crave
real fear, the actual thing. Consider
the current (October 2014) situation in the counties in northeast
Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountain region, where Halloween has been cancelled. Suspected
murderer Eric Frein (who supposedly ambushed PA State Police officers and
killed one on September 12, 2014) is still on the loose. There have been two sightings near the Pocono Mountain East High School (Swiftwater, PA),
where a witness described a rifle-toting man with mud on his face. Think those residents are thinking about trick-or-treating?
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| Suspected killer, Eric Frein (ref) |
Thanks to Eric
Frein, there’s no Halloween. It's been cancelled. The fact that controlled fear has been replaced
with the real thing might get people thinking about fright nights a little differently. The manhunt continues as I write this, six weeks later. Schools have
been closed, hunting season has been cancelled. Again, there will be no Halloween. Night time,
as usual, is the scariest time. Consider this account of a Swiftwater resident
interviewed by
CNN:
"Every night, every day, but mostly at night, the
helicopters would be flying over our house, waking us up at 1 o'clock in the
morning," said Cory Batzel, in Swiftwater.
He said he's not afraid, except at night, when he believes
Frein might be on the move.
Reference and further reading:
