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

by Katherine Ramsland (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Fusion Press (21 Feb 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1904132022
  • ISBN-13: 978-1904132028
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.6 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 480,165 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

A unique collection of anecdotes and oral histories about death. Beginning with the story of the death of her grandfather, the author weaves an intriguing history of death and its accompanying rituals. Among the anecdotes recounted in the book is the night Jim Morrison (supposedly) died, and why there is speculation that he lives. Famous death rituals including the Odon Festival of the Dead are to be found here as well as tales of mysterious graveside visitors, the stories of gravediggers and even reported sightings of so-called Hellhounds. Packed with engrossing, eerie and overwhelmingly fascinating tales, the strange and macabre are featured too - from the man who slept with his dead wife for five years before burying her, to tales of more organised necrophilia parties! The facts, practises, history and folklore collected in Cemetery Stories will appease the most curious among us who yearn to learn about this biological certainty.


About the Author

Katherine Ramsland is the author of 13 books including the bestseller, The Vampire Companion.

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "what will happen when we die", 7 Sep 2003
By Mr. R. S. Clancy "deejayclancy" (GUERNSEY CHANNEL ISLANDS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
this was a really good book, if you ever wondered what happens from the moment you die to the moment of burial,this is the book for you,stories from embalming to grave diggers and everything involved with death and the burial, including a spooky graveyard section,well worth a read.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars 'Dad's going to be cold and lonely.', 19 Jun 2003
By A Customer
I'm not a creepy; I'd describe myself as an average woman on the street.
But I was so happy when I found this book following my father's unexpected death . I felt that at last I would have the answers to what happened to him that afternoon after we left the graveside. I stayed up late every night reading it and continued first thing in the morning usually at breakfast.
Thankfully I did learn about the process of how the body breaks down after death, but also many funny and strange stories about undertakers, unusual and terrifying behaviour with corpses and much more. It was gripping - a bit like seeing ALL the gorey bits in a horror film minus the edits. At one stage I threw the book across the room and took a two-week break.
I recommend this title to you as a starter but be warned, you'll be enthralled in an oddly addictive way.
There is unfortunately one drawback , the author focuses on the rituals and practices of the USA. Are there any English writers willing to expose the rituals and practices of death and its associated industry of our green and pleasant land? I'm due my next fix.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting anecdotes, lacking in focus, 1 Mar 2007
By S. Bailey "will work for books" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
"Admit it:" says the blurb on the back, "you're fascinated by cemeteries." And I am. This is a book for true obsessives, as Ramsland has collected an enormous number of anecdotes from those involved with the death business.

The book is divided into three sections, concerned with the preparers of bodies, funeral directors and morticians, with burial, burial grounds and memorials, and with the supernatural, necromancy and necrophilia. There is no doubt that enormous effort has gone in to collecting all this evidence, but I can't help feeling that the book lacks any focus or central thesis. Most of the stories are cited without editorial comment; the few comments she does make are not much above the level of "yuck". It seems a shame to miss this unique opportunity to draw some conclusions about America's attitude to its dead.

While Ramsland's enthusiasm for her subject and energy in collecting her material must be lauded, it's impossible to let some of the factual inaccuracies in this book go. "In 1604 King Henry made it a felony in England to steal a corpse for the practice of witchcraft" [p. 204]; the 1604 Witchcraft Act was of course passed by James I, our last Henry (the Eighth of that name) having died in 1547. And on page 83, we read that "archaeologists assume that the first burial efforts were to protect the dead from spirits". Hardly; the first burial efforts were almost certainly to protect the dead from consumption by scavenging predators. And when you've collected oral evidence, this kind of niggling inaccuracy is very damaging.

This aside, for the taphophiles out there, this is an inevitable and highly entertaining addition to your book collection.
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5.0 out of 5 stars An informative and creepy read!
I am never spooked and I never really let too much get to me but this book...it plagued me with thoughts and dreams that thankfully have now subsided! Read more
Published 23 months ago by Scorpio Witch

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