Cemetery Stories [Paperback]

Katherine Ramsland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002

Never look at a grave the same way again

Admit it: You're fascinated by cemeteries. We all die, and for most of us, a cemetery is our final resting place. But how many people really know what goes on inside, around, and beyond them?

Enter the world of the dead as Katherine Ramsland talks to mortuary assistants, gravediggers, funeral home owners, and more, and find out about:

• Stitching and cosmetic secrets used on mutilated bodies
• Embalmers who do more than just embalm
• The rising popularity of cremation art
• Ghosts that infest graveyards everywhere

If you've ever scoffed at the high price of burying the dead, or ever wondered how your loved ones are handled when they die, or simply stared at tombstones with morbid fascination, then take a trip with Katherine Ramsland and learn about the booming industry -- and strange tales -- that surround cemeteries everywhere.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The recent success of HBO's funeral home comedy Six Feet Under proves the power of the macabre over public imagination. "[A]mused, disturbed, and delighted by the range of human behavior surrounding the subject of death," Ramsland (Ghost, Forecasts, Aug. 20; etc.) undertook a pop-anthropological survey of "cemetery culture" by interviewing graveyard caretakers, "death-care" consultants, funeral directors, grave diggers, monument dealers and mortuary assistants. This rambling, anecdotal account traces burial traditions such as embalming, cremation (30% of all funerals), corpse preparation, restorative techniques, cadaver cosmetics and unconventional funerals like the one attended by the deceased's fellow nudists. At Houston's National Museum of Funeral History and the annual National Funeral Directors Association's convention, Ramsland, a Rutgers professor, learns about mortuary schools and entrepreneurial schemes like hologram tombstones, the $65,000 mummification procedure and cemetery kiosks with touch-screen biographies of the deceased. Along with instructions on gravestone rubbing, artistic grave markers and unusual epitaphs, the book introduces "taphophiles," who visit cemeteries as a hobby. The book's closing section recounts ghastly tales of ghouls, corpse abuse, necrophilia and people buried alive, and fascinating interviews with people who grew up in funeral homes. Although it's "the corpseless soul that inspires the most fear," those with weak stomachs might want to skip the graphic description of autopsy procedures, botched reinterments and adipocere ("body cheese"). A bibliography and list of Web sites provide further resources. (Oct.)Forecast: This should see a brief spike in sales at Halloween (aided by promotion at Grim Rides, an elegant online bookstore specializing in death-related volumes [www.geocities.com/grimrides].

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Katherine Ramsland has written a dozen books and numerous articles and short stories. In the past year she has been editing Vampyre Magazine. After publishing two books in psychology, Engaging the Immediate and The Art of Learning, she wrote Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice. At the same time she had a cover story in Psychology Today on our culture's fascination with vampires. She followed the biography with several guide books to Anne Rice's fictional worlds including The Vampire Companion: The Official Guide to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and The Anne Rice Reader. Her last book before Piercing the Darkness was a biography of Dean Koontz called Dean Koontz: A Writer's Biography. She has also written for The New York Times Book Review, The Writer, The Horror Show, The Newark Star Ledger, The Trenton Times, and Publishers Weekly. Ramsland has a master's degree in clinical psychology and a Ph.D. in philosophy. She has been a professor at Rutgers University, a therapist, and a psycho-educator specializing in the psyche's shadow side, and is currently at work on another master's degree--this one in forensic psychology. She lives in Princeton, NJ. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Fusion Press (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904132022
• ISBN-13: 978-1904132028
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,179,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Katherine Ramsland began her career as a writer with Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice. She had a bestseller with The Vampire Companion. Since then, she has published 40 books and over 1,000 articles, reviews and short stories. From ghosts to vampires to serial killers, she has taken on a variety of dark subjects. She holds graduate degrees in forensic psychology, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and philosophy. Currently, she teaches forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University. Her books include The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds, The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation, Inside the Minds of Serial Killers, Inside the Minds of Sexual Predators, and Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers. Her background in forensic studies positioned her to assist former FBI profiler John Douglas on his book, The Cases that Haunt Us, and to co-write a book with former FBI profiler, Gregg McCrary, The Unknown Darkness, as well as The Real Life of a Forensic Scientist with Henry C. Lee and A Voice for the Dead with James Starrs. She speaks internationally about forensic psychology, forensic science, and serial murder, and has appeared on numerous documentaries, as well as such programs as The Today Show, 20/20, 48 Hours, NPR, Coast to Coast, Montel Williams, Larry King Live and E! True Hollywood.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ramsland's Forte is fun, not facts, November 5, 2002

By 

Lisby "[e-mail]" (Myersville, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cemetery Stories: Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death (Paperback)

Cemetery Stories is a ghoulishly fun read but scattershot of focus. Ramsland is very good at wandering about, talking to people whom she encounters, but not so good at in-depth research. There are no real facts in this book about the handling of bodies, decomposition, or the funeral industry that couldn't be found online or in reference books. There are no historic cases mentioned that haven't been trotted out on TV or in print a dozen times before. The bulk of the new material in the book is "I have this friend who said..." stories that may be true, but mostly sound like urban legends.

The upshot: if you know nothing about the topic, you'll definitely have your eyes opened and probably a good giggle, too. If you are looking for anything other than a romp, this isn't the book to choose.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fell way too short to be credible, October 1, 2004

By 

Amanda R. (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cemetery Stories: Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death (Paperback)

I'm very interested in books about funeral practices and cemeteries in general, but this book fell way too short to be worth while. Any technical information presented was glossed over by the author. Most of her interviews with people in the death care business remained annonomous, which to me means that its not a credible account unless you can prove it came from a credible source. In fact, almost all of her "ghost stories" came from unidentified people, lacking in either the location of the cemetery or time period, which does make for good fiction, but I was hoping for something more substantial. Its evident throughout the book that there wasn't enough research done on the topics presented and broad generalizations and unreliable accounts are used to fill in the gaps. The one topic the author seems to take too much time with is Necrophilia. The accounts presented in this section border on pornographic. There is no need for the detail the author went into on this subject. Overall, it apperars that the author began her research hoping to find twisted stories and individuals that would confirm her immage of the death care business as it is portrayed in The Comedy of Terrors. And when she finds that needle in the haystack, she grasps on to it as if it confirms all her misguided beliefs. My suggestion is, if your interested in these topics, skip this book and grab Stiff, by Mary Roach. You'll find no twisted deliusions there, just a well researched, well writen book on the life of a human cadaver. I've read both books, and I could have definately done without this one. -Amanda R.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating look about the business of death, October 24, 2001

By 

Kelly J. Barnett - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cemetery Stories: Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death (Paperback)

Though not a book for the squeamish, it is a nonetheless engrossing work on the business of death. Ms. Ramsland wanted to know about a subject that no one really likes to think about, so she went to the experts, from morticians to funeral directors to cemetery caretakers. She touched on everything from buying the "right" coffin, to whether or not to creamate, to tracing the writings on gravestones. Being a ghosthunter, I especially enjoyed her sharing the experience she had in a allegedly haunted cemetery, and I was touched as well by the story of how her and some friends celebrated the Day of The Dead in Mexico.
I'm sure there are people who would read this book with a cocked eyebrow, but those people would be finishing it perhaps a little more informed. I know I learned quite a bit from it!