In the times of early jazz, musicians played upbeat music in a progression that was celebrating when someone passed. Wine was shared and the body was paraded in a funeral car around the neighborhood the deceased lived. Women of Muslim communities try to keep women separated, so as for them not shed tears around a dead person or in the presence of what is conceived as the dead person’s spirit or spiritual crossing. For most Eastern ways of life, death is perceived as a gateway to another form of life or even another life as another person. Life is considered to Buddhist for instance that a current life is simply one of many dependent on how the previous one was lived as to whether Karma will determine if it will be successful happy one or degraded.

No one alive knows the complete truth about what death may or may not be. Yet there seems to be a consensus that death is endless in one form or the other. One only dies once seems to be the most acceptable idea among humans. But does the human die in a life, once? The following poem is an excerpt taken from a longer piece and speech was written with the expression to not dispute the fact of death, to change one’s belief system or find reason for death or why death lives. It was written for the reader to reflect on if indeed death is only once and or final.

Death Lives was also re-released because of my personal connections with understanding the troubles Whitney Houston had to endure as a mate of an addict and being a thriving artist. I have always felt a deep emotional connection both on a psychic and numeric realm to Whitney Houston. I could have been in her shoes in many ways, but chose not to in part due to being leery of the entertainment business. These poem is from me to you who have recently lost loved ones and feel a heavy heart because you miss the physical connection of their beings. May it help with your heavy heart be lifted for a moment and help you reflect on the fact that when a spirit you have been close to lifts out of the body, it is as close to you as your own breath. Feel free to comment.

Complete article and poem

http://expertscolumn.com/content/death-lives

Poem Only

http://authspot.com/poetry/death-lives/

- Amelia Island Old Jail Museum (St. Augustine, Florida)
  ————————————–

 Located in one of the most haunted towns in America, The Amelia Island

Old Jail Museum is one of the many places located here that is haunted by

ghosts.
 The building is around one hundred years old and it is believed to be

haunted by more then one spirit. People have caught images of the

ghostly figures here on pictures taken in the building. Others have

reported feeling moving cold spots, and the feeling of being watched

while inside the old jail museum.
 One of the ghosts here, is rumored to be the spirit of a sherif who use to

work here. Sherif Perry was the first ever sherif to work at the old jail. He

was a large man who stood six and a half feet tall. Since his death, a very

tall ghostly figure has been seen throughout the building on a number of

occasions. Even today, tour guides and guests alike have reported seeing

the tall ghost of Sherif Perry dressed up in a plaid shirt like he use to wear

when he was alive and working here.
 Another spirit that people say haunts this building is a convict named Luc

Simone Aury. The bastard son of a Pirate, Aury was held here and

sentenced to death for the many crimes that he committed. A large crowd

came to see the famous criminal be hanged. But the night before, Aury

tried to commit suicide by slitting his neck with a knife. A doctor

managed to keep Aury alive, and his deep wound was stitched up. The

very next morning, a weak Aury was carried to the gallows for his

execution. While hanging, the stitches ripped open, and blood went flying

everywhere. Alot of the spectators that were standing close to the

gallows were soaked in blood. Nowadays Aury’s ghost can be heard

moaning near where the gallows use to stand. On a few occasions, he has

also been seen, all bloody with a wound on his neck still bleeding badly.
 The town of St. Augustine is a ghost hunters paradise. If your ever here

make sure to check out the old jail museum as it brings a piece of history

alive today.

- Cassadaga Hotel (Cassadaga, Florida)
  ———————-

 Called the Cassadaga Hotel and Psychic Center, this beautiful building

serves as a hotel for the living and a sanctuary for spirits who have

passed on. The Cassadaga has been called the phychic capital of the

world because of all the psychic people that come to the hotel everyday.

The hotel even offers spiritual development classes, meditation circles,

shamanic rituals, and informative lectures about spirits. The Cassadaga

Hotels main purpose seems to be a place where the living can contact the

dead.
 Since it first opened in 1927, the Cassadaga has stood as a hotel for

those who wanted to get away for a few days. Today that purpose has

been expanded to a place for the living and those long passsed to

congregate. The hotel is most famous for its paranormal activity that

takes place here. People have claimed there are many ghosts at this

location, and visitors are even advised to bring cameras with them and

take pictures as many orbs and spirits have been captured on

photographs taken here. The paranormal activity here is so active, that

the staff basically guarantees a paranormal experience to all of their

guests.
 For people who are interested in mediums, psychic abilities, and

paranormal activity, the Cassadaga hotel is a wonderful place to spend

some time in.

- Castillo de San Marcos Masonry Fort (St. Augustine, Florida)
  ———————————————–

 The oldest masonry fort in the United States, Castillo de San Marcos was

first built in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was still a Spanish territory.

Despite being in a number of conflicts, the fort has never been taken by

force by anyone. Today it stands as a reminder of our history and it is also

believed to be haunted by ghosts.
 Apparitions, floating orbs, strange shadows, and weird lights have all

been seen here by witnesses throughout the years. People have also

reported hearing screams, chants, and soldiers marching in the distance

coming from areas that were currently unoccupied. Many videos and

pictures of ghostly activity has been caught here. The TV show Ghost

Adventures did an all night investigation here in 2009, and they caught

alot of paranormal activity happening here on that occasion.
 Tours are offered inside the old fort daily. It is an awesome big place that

has got that haunted feeling to it as soon as you walk in.

- Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse (Gasparilla Island, Gulf of Mexico,

Florida)
   ——————————————————-
 Built in 1890, this lighthouse might have two ghosts. The first is the

young daughter of one of the lighthouse’s keepers, who died in the

building, perhaps of diphtheria or whooping cough. Tour guides say that

she can be heard playing in one of the rooms of the building’s upper floor.

The second ghost is reputed to be the headless spectre of a Spanish

princess named Josefa. According to the legend, when Josefa rejected

the love of the Spanish pirate Gasparilla, so then he lopped off her head

with his sword. Her headless spirit has allegedly been seen wandering the

beach, possibly looking for her head.

- St. Augustine Lighthouse (St. Augustine, Florida)

   ——————————-

 Originaly built in 1824, this place is very paranormally active. Several

ghosts are said to haunt this lighthouse. The voice of the 12-year-old

daughter of the lighthouse’s builder, who drowned near the building, can

sometimes be heard. Footsteps from some unseen presence can be heard

shuffling on the gravel and on the steps outside and inside of the

lighthouse. A large, dark male looking figure also has been seen in the

basement area, possibly the spirit of a former caretaker who hung himself

in the lighthouse.   From shadows being captured on video, to voices

being heard on evp’s, St. Augustine has been a great place to capture

evidence of the paranormal.

“You’ve got to get yourself together,

You’ve got stuck in a moment

And now you can’t get out of it.

Don’t say that later will be better…”

                                                            -U2

“Nothing fades as fast as the future,

Nothing clings like the past.”

                                                            -Peter Gabriel

                                                            “More Than This”

What really happens to us when we die? It almost seems like a foolish question to ask because we will only get to find out when we depart this mortal coil, and we won’t be able to tell anyone what it’s like. The only thing people can seem to agree on is that they move towards a “bright light,” but that only tells us so much. Nevertheless, we still look for an answer to this question mainly because it will confirm the things we are led to believe. At the same time, thinking about the future this deeply is not much different from being stuck in the past.

Movies like “Flatliners,” “The Sixth Sense,” and even “Ghost” have explored this subject in various ways, but David Spaltro’s “Things I Don’t Understand” is one of the more thoughtful I have seen on in recent years. It’s not interested in coming up with some supernatural answer to this question, but instead in how our curiosity can somehow rob us of what meaning our lives have. Here we meet a variety of characters whose mind and thoughts are broken as their present lives seem unfulfilling because of physical and emotional scars, and their futures all seem relentlessly bleak.

Molly Ryman stars as Violet Kubelick, a graduate student who is working on a thesis of what becomes of us after death. Over time she has emotionally detached from the world and those around her after surviving a failed suicide attempt and has since developed a pessimistic attitude about life and what it has to offer. She lives to avoid every customer who enters the bookstore she works at and freely embraces a life of drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex as though she is daring death to take her away from this cruel world.

Things come to a head for Violet as she and her obsessively artistic roommates, bi-sexual musician Remy (Hugo Dillon) and hypersensitive artist Gabby (Melissa Hampton), face eviction from their home in Brooklyn and have to quickly come up with the money to save it. While this is happening, Violent comes to interview Sara (Grace Folsom), a girl with end stage cancer who approaches the end with a sardonic sense of humor, and she forms a friendship with lonely bartender Parker McNeil (Aaron Mathias) who is trapped by a tragic past that won’t leave him be. All these relationships bring about a much needed catharsis for everyone as they need to break free of what holds them back.

What I really liked about “Things I Don’t Understand” is that doesn’t come to us with easy answers about the afterlife and is far more interested in raising questions about it. To define what happens when you die in a movie is tricky because you threaten to lose half your audience with your interpretation. Spaltro avoids this trap and examines how our questions about life after death come to define how we live life day by day. For these characters, it has seemingly robbed them of a positive outlook on life or frozen their emotions at a moment in time to where they may never fully thaw.

The acting all around is very good, and Spaltro has given each actor a challenging role regardless of how big or small it is. Ryman has the tough job of portraying a character that is not altogether likable, and she simultaneously (without words mind you) has to indicate that psychological trauma that has come to define her life. As Spaltro has us guessing as to what that is, Ryman gives us a deeply felt complex portrait of a woman we might easily (and thoughtlessly) dismiss as damaged goods, but who is fighting a battle within herself to find a reason to keep on living.

The best performance in “Things I Don’t Understand” however belongs to Grace Folsom as Sara. The role of a terminally ill person can be a thankless one as we have seen it so many times to where it becomes shamelessly manipulative and full of overused clichés. But Folsom fully inhabits this character with a hard won dignity and a biting sense of humor that keeps what’s left of her spirits up. Everything Folsom does here feels genuine and real, and her emotions never ever appear faked or are manipulated by the director.

Aaron Mathias also has a tough role of a man whose happiness came to an abrupt stop years ago, and the shadow of his past hovers over everything he does. As Parker, he comes across as genuinely nice but also struggling with guilt he won’t put to rest. He succeeds in capturing the complexities of his role in giving us a good natured guy whose eyes betray a deep sadness that still overwhelms him. I could have done without his line of how being a bartender is like being a psychiatrist spiel, but that’s probably because I have heard it so many times.

As for the supporting performances, they at first seem too broad for a movie like this, but in retrospect they feel just about right. Hugo Dillon and Melissa Hampton play artists so dedicated to their art that they have foolishly denied other outlets that could very well add to it. Their characters strive not just for artistic truth but for acceptance from others which they feel they completely lack. In a world which can be so cold and unfeeling to their desires, they have forgotten to respect themselves. As much as these two go over the top, they both inhabit their characters fully and are more than willing to experience their longings and horrific embarrassments (wait until you see Gaby’s play!) in order to reach a new level of understanding about themselves.

Other performances worth noting include Eleanor Wilson’s as Darla, the new to town actress who looks and sounds dumb, but who turns out to have a positive view of life by choice and not necessarily a victim of blissful ignorance. Lisa Eichhorn takes what could have been a throwaway roll as Violet’s psychiatrist and gives it a nice edge you don’t always see in characters like hers. And let’s not forget Mike Britt who gives great comic support as Parker’s good friend, Big Felix.

“Things I Don’t Understand” is one of those movies wandering around in the overcrowded world of independent film which I hope finds the audience it deserves. While it looks like yet another movie wondering about what happens when we die, it takes that question and uses it to define how we can live for today. The more I think about this film, the more it reminds me of the lyrics of one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs:

“You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, or you can come to terms and realize you’re the only one who can’t forgive yourself. Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.”

* * * ½ out of * * * *

See also:

“…Around”

“Stan” – Love Hurts, But Should It Burn?

“Stan” Gets Its World Premiere at the Dances With Films Festival

I would have to disagree in science their is no such thing as proof. So the best you can get is strong evidence that points to the high probability of an afterlife. But with just those nine lines of evidence in his book it still doesn’t amount to strong evidence for an afterlife. It’s until you look at all the evidence for an afterlife together then you can say their is very strong evidence for an afterlife. 

The nine lines of evidence he mentions such as blind people from birth that are able to see during cardiac arrest and clinical death. He also mentions accurate veridical out of body perceptions that are collaborated by doctors and nurses and staff. I would say Near death experiences and out of body experiences evidence does provide a lot of good evidence for an afterlife. However, just from that phenomenon it would be hard to come to any preliminary conclusions on rather their is an afterlife or not.

Being so desperate and devastated over this incident and watching the elder in our family come crushing down, and considering that death is the ultimate thing that is coming his way, I have resort into trying to explain that “it is okay” for him to go for as long as we remember and loves him he will never be truly gone. The effort was in vain… After all, how can anybody accept that “death” is okay! Love is gone, he is gone!

Desperate for an answer, I looked everywhere to find the concept of life after death hoping to find something less frustrating. What we have commonly learn from our religion does not provide a good enough answer. The thought of getting parted is simply overwhelmingly devastating. And I found Victor’s research. Please visit my website www.nashfunvacation.com for the link to Victor’s scientific findings

Here reading into his work it somehow provides a new perspective and horizon and provides new meaning to death itself. Victor’s writing is not a theological one but instead uses scientific approach. This is what makes it even more captivating. Despite of his claim that he is nowhere near any theological influence, his finding is only inline with Afterlife (especially in Muslim faith) in which there are 3 stages of life after death.

The first stage is death itself – a person dies and he or she is then prepared in accordance to his or her religion belief. The second stage is what happens after the burial or cremation or the funeral as we may call it and the final stage is the Day of Judgement or Qiamat.

Victor’s work touches on the second stage. Please enter to the following pages to read more about these interesting scientific findings. By the way, Victor is not a GURU of some kind of cult or religious teaching. He is a lawyer by profession, a skeptic himself prior to his studies findings. I will end the introduction here and please do visit the following pages in http://www.nashfunvacation.com/afterlife-discussion/ for a more in depth understanding of the concept of Afterlife – Life After Death. Get a free book download of Victor’s 4th Edition.  

Leave your comments there and I will moderate no matter what your opinios are.

From Wikipedia, death is defined as “Death is the termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. The word refers both to the particular processes of life’s cessation as well as to the condition or state of a formerly living body.” 

From MedicineNet.com, the definition of Death is as follows: “Death: 1. The end of life. The cessation of life. (These common definitions of death ultimately depend upon the definition of life, upon which there is no consensus.) 2.The permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions. (This definition depends upon the definition of “vital bodily functions.”) See: Vital bodily functions. 3. The common law standard for determining death is the cessation of all vital functions, traditionally demonstrated by “an absence of spontaneous respiratory and cardiac functions.” 4.The uniform determination of death. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1980 formulated the Uniform Determination of Death Act. It states that: “An individual who has sustained either (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem is dead. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards.” This definition was approved by the American Medical Association in 1980 and by the American Bar Association in 1981.

Either way, “Death” to most of us is defined as the end of life, departure of a loved one, the final stop to this earthly life. What then? Do we just turn to dust or is there another life after death? If all that happens is simply turn into dust and that is all, then all the sorrows and sadness can be justified, because it is one way or the other defines death as the end of everything. But what if this is not the case? What if it is just a beginning of another journey?

Different religions and beliefs tells us of different path which will be taken after death. They also describe the final destinations and more often than not it is either Heaven or Hell in different names. While some say there is such a thing as eternal punishment in Hell, others say that this is never the case. As after punishments are done, Heaven awaits.

Either ways, all of the writing above still spells discomfort when thinking or talking about the subject of death. There have been different opinions about death. What if death simply marks a new beginning? Until today, most of understanding of life after death can only be obtained from the “Good Books”. Does not matter which religion and all has their own path and destination. There have been very few recordings and scientific or empirical experiments on life after death.

One of it by far is my favorite is by Victor James Zammit who is a lawyer by profession. His writing about life after death is somewhat overwhelming and truly positive. His writing can be found at http://www.victorzammit.com/. His site aims to provide an up to date comprehensive overview of the empirical and scientific evidence for the afterlife. It focuses on areas of evidence which are objective and repeatable and which can be supported by experiments and empirical observations.

This site is the work of researchers Victor and Wendy Zammit who have been researching the objective, scientific evidence for the afterlife for almost 20 years. In fact, they (Victor & Wendy) have even put up a sponsored One Million Dollars Challenge since 2001 to anyone in the world who could show that the afterlife evidence is not valid. Eight years later, no scientist, no physicist, no biologist, no psychologist, no empiricist, no skeptical debunker – no one has been able to beat the challenge from anywhere around the world. The million dollars sponsorship will lapse in the year 2025.

Reading through his book titled “A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife” provides a new perspective on the concept of death and afterlife. At least, it is definitely new to me and the first time ever not associated with sadness, sorrows and disappointments but somewhat, an interesting concept filled with sense freedom…

My belief is that these “ghosts” that every person hears or “sees” in real life or television are spirits. Where do these spirits come from? Maybe its from the spirit every person has and we call a soul. I think these spirits or “lost souls” have entered into a realm that we can’t think about, imagine about, or even wish to know about.

I think these spirits escaped from this so called lair and try to embark back into the human world. The world of 3d imagination. I do believe that these spirits miss being human, miss doing the fun stuff, but where they are at now, they know the true answers to all of the world. They may start to disbelieving in it and start to rebel making these spirits into something angry. The spirits turn spiteful, distasteful, or even violent. They enter back into the human world angry at all that they have gained in knowledge. This may occur to some but not to all.

Those tragic events can “haunt” certain areas and create genuine impressions so they can relieve what they want to relieve. They can relieve their past through these answers they have found in the spirit world. They will enjoy their time, but soon a bald fat man and a skinny cape crusader will endulge into their new found life. They will see flashes of light, screams of “SPEAK TO ME”, and even bad dialogues about how they describe to use certain type of machines over and over again.

Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in spirits? Do you believe in Life after death?

While in countries like Mexico, death is easily discussed and is even celebrated on a national fest holiday, called the Day of the Dead (DeSpelder & Strickland, 1983), in modern western societies, people try to push the knowledge of their life coming to an end at some point, to the most remote corner of their brain and do whatever they can to avoid thinking about it.  They prefer to live in denial since they can’t come to terms with it. Though death anxiety is reduced for devotees of religion and people with a personal philosophy about death.

Personally, I have always been wondering about death as early as I can remember. As a child, the idea of disappearing and never coming back again, was simply terrifying. As an adult all I could argue with myself was : If consciousness doesn’t survive physical death, what was the point of evolving into consciousness?

And then I would think, death is another one of those big mysteries (like how did everything start) human mind cannot grasp completely the big question: Is there life after death? And if yes, what is it like?

The most interesting information I ran into, apart from the amazing accounts on near death experiences and recalling of past lives, was that on Frederic Myers, a professor of classics at Cambridge university, in England.

The following paragraphs are excerpts of the book “You cannot die: The Incredible Findings by Ian Currie.

“Myers had a  passionate curiosity about the meaning of human life. He devoted most of his adult years to trying to satisfy this curiosity, but he did it in a rather unusual way. He did not pore over theological writings and philosophical speculation. He felt that if human life did have a purpose, then it could be discovered in only one way: through the study of human experiences. This conviction led him, in 1882, to found the first Society for Psychical Research with some of his Cambridge colleagues.

Myers was a man of enormous energy and great intellectual ability. After twenty years of intensive investigation, he concluded that he had answered this question. He wrote a book about what he had learned that became a classic – probably the most important work ever written in this strange field – called “Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death”.

Within a few weeks of Myers’s death in 1901, some very strange communications began to be received by psychics in England, the United States and India. They came through automatic writing to a total of a dozen psychics and continued for a period of thirty years and then later by his fellow leaders of the Society for Psychical Research, Professor Henry Sidgwick and Edmund Gurney as they too died. What was strangest about them was that they made no sense. Or perhaps they did – for they were so mysteriously worded that it almost seemed their meaning was being deliberately concealed. And most of them were signed, “Myers.” In all more than three thousand scripts were transmitted over thirty years. Some of them were more than forty typed pages long.

But although the text of the messages seemed indecipherable, the instructions which often accompanied them were clear. These instructions repeated a number of themes. The script should be sent to a particular person, who would turn out to be one of the other psychics involved. Or it should be sent to the Society for Psychical Research. And that although its content may seem to be senseless, it was in reality anything but: it was an attempt by the deceased communicator to prove his continued existence. These instructions and explanations were, in fact, frequent and explicit. “Record the bits,” wrote Myers, “and when fitted they will make the whole.” And again, “I will give the words between you that neither alone can read but together they will give the clue.”  It was some time, however, before the people involved fully realized what was happening. When they did, they gathered the fragments together and found that they had communications which were clear, coherent and continuous.

 Most of these scripts consisted of references to and quotations from both classical and modern literature. Some were so obscure that only a scholar, and a specialized one at that, would recognize them. The intention was to make these scripts seem random and pointless to the individual psychics, in order to avoid giving clues to the train of thought behind them. They would only become meaningful and show evidence of design when pieced together by an independent investigator. The interest lies in the question: Who selected them to convey a train a thought which could not be deduced from any one person’s script? The answer was the dead communicator. “

Of course there will always be the ones who think there is more beyond this life and those who think death ends it all. But at this point, everything comes to choosing what you want to believe, until the time comes and we “see” (or not……) for ourselves. I have found out my anxiety related to the topic has diminished considerably the more in touch I have learnt to be with my spirituality. 

I held her as she passed away.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

I cried the rest of that day and much of the next.  I felt so guilty!  It was a few degrees below zero on the day I had to put her to sleep.  I had let her outside for a little while to do her business.  When I went to call her in – she was limping.  I had to pull her up the porch steps to get her into the house.  Did I injure her by pulling her into the house?   Did I have a choice?  I couldn’t leave her out in the cold; she was too old and fragile to survive weather that harsh.  Maybe I could have been gentler with her and maybe she would still be around.

About a week after her death, she visited me in a dream.  I heard scratching on the back door and thinking it was our other dog, Candy, I went to let her in.  I was surprised to see that it wasn’t Candy at the back door, it was Pepper. 

I said, “Pepper!  You’re dead.  You’re not supposed to be here.” 

She looked up at me and pushed her way in through the open doorway.  I followed her into the living room and sat down on the floor with her.  She crawled into my lap and I stroked her fur.  I noticed that she looked wonderful!  She was well toned and had a healthy, shiny coat.  She looked like she did in the prime of her life.  She looked happy. 

I cried and told her how sorry I was that I put her to sleep.  After a little while she started talking to me.  I was shocked!  Her voice was high-pitched and rough, like a voice that hasn’t been used for a very long time.

I said, “Pepper!  You’re talking?” 

“Yes,” she said.  “I need to tell you something.  You did the right thing.  I was in so much pain.  I am happy now.  Stop blaming yourself – you helped me.”

Still crying, I said, “I love you.  I miss you so much.” 

“I love you too,” she replied.

At that point, I awoke from the dream and heard the sound of paws walking across my kitchen floor.  I was completely spooked.  I sprang out of my bed to go see her, but it wasn’t her – it was Candy.

Did she really come to visit me?  Was it just a dream?  It really doesn’t matter.  After that dream, I stopped feeling guilty.  I did do the right thing.  She is out of pain and in a better place.        

=================

Located in Southwestern Illinois, the Eldred House is a

two story stone building that was built over 200 years

ago. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the house was in complete

ruins, but in 1999 it was placed on the National Historic

Places list, and a slow restoration process began.

Today it is known as one of America’s most haunted

houses, and every year dozens of ghost hunts are held

here.
  Four deaths have occured in the house over the years,

and also a Native American Indian’s bones were found

buried here on the property. Near where the bones were

found, an Indian mans ghost has been seen on a few

occasions. Cold spots and other weird sensations have

been felt in this area as well.
  Inside the house, two areas get the most paranormal

activity, the cellar and the attic. In the attic, a little

girls spirit has been seen and heard. In the cellar,

another very active spirit resides, this one believed to

be an older man.
  Alot of evidence has been captured here including

voices on evp’s, apparitions caught on video, and

strange shapes and figures caught on photographs.
  The site is private so please if you want to investigate

it, make reservations. They usually charge about $40.00

per person for 1 night on the property, and this gives

you access to the inside of the house, the entire

property, and the nearby cemetery.