Random graves outside an unusual abandoned church in southern Louisiana.

Post on the church w pics on my other tumblr

http://razetheroof.tumblr.com/post/14530911023/abandoned-church-in-the-woods

These graves are semi-hidden among the brush outside this church.  I’m not sure if they are original to the location but have no idea why anyone would want to move gravestones outside a church in the middle of a forest and cane fields.  I was able to find one name in research but no actual information on that person, just a name and the matching date of their death.

Interesting graves either way, I wish I couldve found more information on them.

We may or may not have snuck into St Louis Cemetery #1 at night, after they had locked the gates. Excuse the flash…I really really hate flash in pictures, but how else can you get shots at night?  This is the cemetery that supposedly holds the grave of Marie Laveau.

A few more shots from St. Louis Cemetery 3.

A few shots from one of the New Orleans cemeteries.  I *think* it was St. Louis #3.  It gets hard to remember, the shots are probably a year or so old, and I’ve been in quite a few cemeteries over the years.

This church was abandoned years ago.  A handful of graves (perhaps 5-10) still lie outside the structure.

Grace Episcopal Cemetery- Nov 2011- St Francisville, LA

Also in the Metairie Cemetery- the former grave of Josie Arlington, a brothel madame in New Orleans in the 1890’s in the Storyville (red-light) section of New Orleans.  She was actually moved from this grave because her family did not care for the fact that her grave became a tourist attraction.  Another family lies buried in this spot today.

This statue, however, is said to come alive at night and wander the cemetery grounds.

Someone has also left a bottle of wine at the grave, unopened at the foot of the statue, and hung up a large Christmas bow as well.

A friend caught me in one of her shots (all shots below are mine) reading an inscription on one of the graves.

These are a few photos from Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, LA.  The property used to be a race track, but was turned into a graveyard in the late 1800’s.  The graves in it are therefore not all that old (by New Orleans standards) but are quite lovely.  This likely wouldve been a burial ground for people with money, due to the nature of the grandiosity of most of the tombs. Most are very ornate, large and sometimes with stained-glass and/or statues or other interesting features. The cemetery is huge and we only were able to cover a small portion of it in the couple of hours we had.

razetheroof:

An abandoned tomb, with vented crypt (below ground- see bottom left corner of picture for the lip of the vented crypt).  The backdoor leads down into the crypt, the grave/coffin itself wouldve been in a part of the above ground (cracked) monument. 

The story goes that the widower of the woman once buried here used to sit in the vented crypt and rock in his rocking chair after his wife died.  Their children were horrified, and when he died, they removed her body and reburied them both together.

I have no idea if that is a true story, but I have not been able to find any other information.  I’m unsure if the grave was cracked so badly during the removal of a body or from other means.  It seems to make sense with the vented crypt at the bottom…I dont know why else you’d have a gravesite like that.