Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cemetery

How to sell/market cemetery plots?

dorgla — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:13:17 -0800

Trying to sell four adjacent cemetery plots. Funeral home suggested Craigslist ads, which I am currently running with pictures and *very* competitive pricing. No nibbles. Unconvinced that people in the market for such things actually read Craigslist. Need brilliant ideas on how and where to reach potential customers for cemetery plots in greater Seattle area. (Skywriting is out.)

Cemeteries: What does PWI stand for?

SRMorris — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:31:13 -0800

What does P.W.I stand for at a cemetery? Whenever I go to the cemetery (UK), I see empty areas between graves with a plaque initialled P.W.I but have no idea what it could mean! Any googling turns up with wrestling terms.

Do you know where this is?

nuala — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:04:28 -0800

Does anyone recognize this photo? It looks like a cemetary to me but I can't identify which one. See here. I've been searching to no avail for some time. Any ideas? I'm looking for the location and name.

What is this Jewish cemetery in Eastern Berlin?

craichead — Sat, 19 May 2007 10:24:45 -0800

Help me find a Jewish cemetery in Berlin. (No, it's not the one you're thinking of.) About fifteen years ago, I participated in one of those international volunteer camp things. Our project was to clean up a Jewish cemetery in Berlin, and I can't remember what the cemetery was called or where it was located. I'm pretty sure it was not the Weissensee cemetery, which we also visited, and which was much, much bigger than this one. Do we have any Jewish-cemeteries-in-Berlin experts here?

I only remember a few things about it. I'm pretty sure it was in Eastern Berlin. I don't think it was particularly ancient: maybe from the late 19th century. Also, I seem to remember that most of the people who were buried there were immigrants from points further east (or their children or grandchildren), not people from old German Jewish families. The cemetery was definitely in bad shape, but there were lots of original tombstones, and it wasn't something that had been destroyed in the war and recreated. Also, it was pretty small, and I think it was on a residential street.

Any tips would be very helpful!

Cemetery Gardening Ideas Wanted

terrapin — Tue, 01 May 2007 08:54:46 -0800

I am looking for ideas for planting around grave sites. I don't get to visit my mother and father's grave sites as often as I would like because they are buried in western Pennsylvania and I am in Vermont. When I do visit the sites I usually bring potted flowers, but I would like to consider planting something that will live longer and not require someone having to pick up the pot. When I am not around my family cleans the stones and trims the grass, etc.

I will be visiting the sites in a few weeks. I plan to ask the people who maintain the cemetery if there are any limitations or rules. Baring such things, I'd like to plant something or at least get some ideas for planting for next year.

The cemetery is in zone 5b. I am thinking bulbs of some sort, but I'd appreciate any ideas and advise. Thanks.

Are people afraid of ghosts?

elquien — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 07:32:37 -0800

How much will my home's location across from a cemetery affect resale? I'm in the process of buying a home, and I found one that fits all of my criteria as far as price, size, etc. The only hangup is that it's across the street from a large, urban cemetery. This fact does not bother me at all - in fact, I think it's desirable (it's pretty to look at, and you know your neighbors will be quiet!). But everyone I know keeps warning me about the effect of the cemetery on resale value. I know that I'm not going to get a definitive answer from anyone about whether it's going to be a huge factor, but I thought I would query the hive mind:

-Do you live across from a cemetery, and/or have you tried to sell a home near a cemetery? What was your experience?

-Would you be averse to living across from a cemetery? Why? How much would it affect your decisionmaking process?

Like something out of Scooby Doo...

cowbellemoo — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 07:11:46 -0800

Help me find a detailed spooky graveyard silhouette! I'm looking for a large-ish (~600px wide) silhouette of a spooky graveyard which I will be backlighting and modifying for a website title banner. Special points for extra-jagged and upended tombstones, and grassy mounds of dirt. I'd prefer the transparency be built into the image, but if not I can cut it out myself.

I've tried every keyword I can think of on google images, but nothing really impressive has come up. I could sally forth with what I have, but this is by far the weakest element in my design concept so I'd love to get it right.

How did the New Orleans cemeteries fare through Hurricane Katrina?

Jazznoisehere — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 19:44:21 -0800

Amid the original concerns about a Cat 3 or higher hurricane hitting New Orleans was the above-ground cemetery circumstances in the city. I'm not sure this thread could be any more ghoulish than what the status quo is but, has anyone heard anything about the status of the cemeteries in New Orleans?

Anthony, wife of Henry?

Robot Johnny — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:46:32 -0800

Wandering a cemetery, I came across this gravestone. "Anthony, beloved wife of Henry"? I'm pretty sure there wasn't a lot of gay marriage up in northern Ontario during the late 19th Century, but I've never heard of Anthony being a woman's name... what gives?

How do cemeteries make money?

Steve Simpson — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 13:58:04 -0800

How do cemeteries make money? When I go to a cemetary to look up where someone is buried, there is a person there to help me look up the name. There are also presumably many other daily maintenance chores (outside of the actual burials). So the question is, do they just keep making money on new funerals? Because eventually, they're just going to run out of land, and therefore money, right? Or do the "memorial" memberships pay enough to maintain the property and the funeral expenses themselves just pay for the individual funerals?

What is this statue at the Hollywood Forever cemetary?

mragreeable — Sat, 03 Apr 2004 11:15:10 -0800

Is there a sculpture of a "winged man sexually assaulting a woman" at the Hollywood Forever cemetary? [More inside] I was reading Expiration Date by Tim Powers, and towards the end noticed this:

Even before they parked Bradshaw's goofy car, while they were still hardly past the office, they saw semi-transparent figures clustered around the big white sculpture of a winged man sexually assaulting a woman. The smoky figures might have been attempting to stop the man, or help him subdue him, or just conceal the atrocity from the street.

The book's account of hollywood seems meticulously researched, so I would have to guess that the statue isn't entirely invented. I can find lots of pictures of the cemetery online, here, for instance, but I can't find a picture or description of whatever he's referring to here.