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

~ (Author) "Sometimes finding a story means being in the right place at the right time, and one day I came across a rare sight..." (more)
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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.

Product Description

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: It Books; 1 edition (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006018518X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060185183
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #159,562 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 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

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.

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NOT FOR CHILDREN......, July 15, 2003

By	D. Klevorn (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a former Death care worker, and I bought this hoping to hear some of the same tales we all told. Well, all of us in death care know there are creeps out there that mistreat corpses, but to write about all of it in the open market where kids could read it is too much. Some of the people in this book that Katherine wrote about should have been prosecuted. Necrophilia of the most physical kind...not the witchy talking to the dead....is a most mature subject matter,objectionable even. The people that participate in corpse abuse, mutilation or sexual acts, are mentally ill or evil or both. If you buy this book, and it has some interesting tales and some fact, don't leave it around for young people. Thanks, Dawn.

9 of 9 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 "black_magic_7" (Metropolis, IL USA) - See all my reviews

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!