Cemeteries are either fascinating monuments to social history, or eerie gardens populated by the dead. The decline in the popularity of burial and the relocation of post-death practices to undertakers rather than families has created an aura of mystery around death, particularly nowadays. Cemetery superstitions still hold sway, even now.
But earlier eras had a different relationship with death, particularly before the growth of secular beliefs within society. Many superstitions exist around graveyards and burial. Who hasn’t heard the saying “Someone walked over my grave” if they’ve randomly shivered for no reason?
I’ve talked about deathly folklore before – I pointed out in my post about corpse roads that the body should leave the home feet-first. Ideally, mourners should take the body on a meandering route. That stops the spirit finding its way back to their home to haunt the living. Some believe that carrying the corpse in your own car is bad luck. Though undertakers could have put that about to preserve their business.
But a whole host of cemetery superstitions governed how you should move around a graveyard, or how the grave diggers should behave. What cemetery superstitions should you be aware of? Hit play to listen to the podcast episode or keep reading!
The graves should be the right way around…
One of the biggest beliefs concerns the orientation of the graves themselves. After all, most graves lie east to west. The body should have its head to the west and its feet to the east. That way the body faces the rising sun, and the final Judgment in the east.
Ruth Richardson notes that burying people with their feet facing the sun actually pre-dates Christianity, and old churchyards preserve this custom (2000: 6).
Richardson also points out that the tradition seems to disappear with the massive 19th-century urban cemeteries. They “were planned on picturesque, utilitarian and socially stratified lines” and tradition counted for little (2000: 6). That could explain why the graves in Jesmond Old Cemetery run north to south. It didn’t stop the great and the good of Victorian Newcastle clamouring for graves there.
By contrast, in 2012, residents in the Welsh town of Aberystwyth lodged complaints that some of the graves in the Cefn Llan cemetery ran north to south (BBC). The council defended the decision based on the topography of the site. Their solution was to allow local people to request burial in a section that still ran east to west.
It seems odd to see cemetery superstitions in full sway in recent times.
But an Anglo-Saxon burial ground (as opposed to a cemetery) in East Sussex has portions that run north to south, and other graves running at other orientations. It dates between the mid-fifth and mid-sixth centuries AD so the east-west orientation appears to have a Christian origin.
Open graves are themselves ill omens
Graves shouldn’t be left open overnight or they would herald another death. This one is a bit sticky for me, because it doesn’t specify an open but as-yet-unoccupied grave, or one containing a coffin. If it’s the former, then I’m guessing the second death could be whoever fell into an empty hole. If it’s the latter, then diggers should close the grave to deter grave robbers.
Corpses shouldn’t be buried with their jewellery, or bad luck would befall the family. It’s more likely that jewellery wasn’t buried, again to deter grave robbers!
As with a lot of things, creating cemetery superstitions is the best way to maintain cautionary practices.
It’s not the only superstition around graves themselves. Some believe that gravediggers should leave their gravedigging tools at the site for a day or more. Moving them too soon is a bad luck omen. Personally, I think that dates to periods of epidemics. Having to move the tools quickly implies the need for several burials on one day, and the only reason I can think of that is during something like a cholera outbreak.
The mourners needed to be careful too
Leaving the side of a grave before the gravedigger lowers the coffin means another death will follow. Rain also plays a part and I’ve heard two cemetery superstitions around rain and open graves.
One saying states that bad luck will befall the deceased’s family if rain falls in an open grave.
The other believes the deceased will go to hell, and a relative will die within a year. It gets even more confusing when you consider the saying “Blessed are the dead that rain falls on”. It’s also considered good luck if rain falls on the corpse during its journey from the house to the cemetery.
Perhaps the superstitions surrounding rain date to a particularly wet area; if an epidemic followed a rainy spell, it would be easy to link the bad weather with the following deaths, and so a superstition was born.
Some of these superstitions are difficult to date. But one thing is common; many of them predict deaths to follow. The mortality rate was not the same as it is now. According to the Office for National Statistics, the life expectancy at birth for boys in 1841 was just 40, although the average age at death was closer to 45. For girls, the life expectancy at birth was 43, although the average age was 48. Compare that to 1981, when the average age had risen to 73 for men, and 80 for women.
Avoid being buried first or last in a cemetery
Many considered it extremely bad luck to be the first burial in a cemetery. I’d consider it would be bad luck for the individual to need to be buried at all, but that’s how the superstition ran. I’m going to assume they meant it was bad luck for the family. So brand new cemeteries would often bury an animal, or a vagrant, as the first burial instead. This was the case even in Jesmond Old Cemetery, which opened in 1834.
I did hear a ghost tale that the spirit of the first burial remains to guard the cemetery. Perhaps that’s why it was considered unlucky. The other burials could pass into the next life, but you’d be stuck hanging around watching goths drink red wine and read Poe among the headstones.
That could explain why it was considered bad luck to visit a cemetery at night. You’d either encounter the guardian spirit – or the local youth contingent.
That said, I’ve also heard it that it’s the spirit of the last burial who has to remain to watch over the others. I don’t quite believe that one. No one would know how long a cemetery would be open until the authorities considered it closed.
Moving around a cemetery has its own problems
Yet it was also considered bad luck to be the first mourner to leave the cemetery. Apparently it could even invite death. A related superstition claimed that if a woman left the cemetery first, a woman would be the next to die. If a man left first, a man would die next. Naturally, people needed to leave the cemetery eventually, so perhaps families took servants along to leave the cemetery before the mourners did.
I’ve long remembered that you should hold your breath while passing a cemetery unless you want to inhale the spirit of the recently departed. Alternatively, you can tuck your thumbs into your fists if you pass a cemetery, in order to protect your parents.
The most famous of the cemetery superstitions is that it’s considered bad luck to step over a grave. I know I always apologise if I need to step over a grave, and I have no idea why I do that. I’ve also heard it said that he who walks over a grave will soon die.
That said, many cemeteries used the areas that are now under footpaths as the site of their unmarked graves for the poor, so plenty of people will have walked over them! Graves could collapse once the coffins decayed. Since families buried the poor in shrouds, collapses caused less concern. The superstition possibly results from that.
Doctors advised pregnant women not to walk on graves, or their children would be born with club feet. In earlier times, with poor medical advice, it would be easier to blame something the woman did than try to understand a disabled child.
Even pointing at a grave could bring bad luck. Given the proliferation of photos of graveyards, that means a lot of people have been willingly courting bad luck!
According to one website, collecting epitaphs means the collector will lose their memory.
That would explain a lot in my case…
Have you heard any of these cemetery superstitions? Let me know in the comments!
References
BBC (2012), ‘Bodies buried ‘wrong way’ at Aberystwyth cemetery’, BBC, available here.
Office for National Statistics (2012), ‘Mortality in England and Wales: Average Life Span, 2010’, Office for National Statistics, available here.
Richardson, Ruth (2000), Death, Dissection and the Destitute: The Politics of the Corpse in Pre-Victorian Britain, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nutty about folklore and want more?
Add your email below and get these posts in your inbox every week.
You'll also get my 5-step guide to protecting your home using folklore!
Beautifully shot! These photos are excellent, and I love the collection of superstitions.
Re: walking on graves, there’s a 19c farmer’s cemetery close to the house my parents had when I was a teen. It’s notable for a few things. It’s nowhere near the church it’s associated with, it’s very small — no more than 30 graves — and it’s on a hill. The land directly behind it has been developed into a plaza, and if you park at the back of the parking lot, your car’s bumper is about level with the closest row of bodies, with nothing but the retaining wall and about 30cm of dirt between. I do often think of the “don’t walk on graves” superstition when I’m there, because there is no mistaking where the graves are. The earth is depressed 3-5cm over each one — coffins rotting and collapsing plus the usual settling, I expect. The earth over the graves is always soft and muddy, even when the rest of the cemetery grounds are dry and firm.
That must have been freaky to see as a teen!
Well, it is interesting that I read this message board. I just so happened to visit a very nice cemetery, in the Coeur d’Alene area, yesterday morning. I was looking for the grave of a slain officer but was unable to locate it. I think I was in the right ballpark, just not the exact place. This officer is well known and even my city that he worked in, as an officer, has the whole city center lit up blue for him. Last night, I went in the haunted graveyard, at the top of the hill, behind the church, just after 8pm at night. Felt pretty peaceful but I could feel something did not want us there. A few years ago, I visited this same cemetery, and tripped on a grave but didn’t apologize and something followed me home. It haunted the place my family lived in, from then on out, it was the spirit of a child that often cried, “Mommy”, in our hallway. Last night, I got the chance to say I was sorry for tripping on the grave, without apologizing. Prior to my friend and myself, going into the cemetery to try to get some headstone shots, I told everyone buried there, we come in peace and we mean you know harm. I was very respectful and sorry I’d tripped on that grave, without apologizing, in the past. My thing with visiting a cemetery, is always try to show respect. I’ve been in many a cemetery but this one, is by far one of the most creepy I have ever stood in. With regard to being at a funeral, I am usually one of the last to leave but not the very last and have a special connection with the other side. I am very spiritual.
Reported in 1896: Many will not go through a graveyard on the way to call on friends, for fear of bringing death into the house.
Massachusetts.
If you point towards a grave-yard, your finger will drop off.
It causes bad luck to take anything away from a cemetery.
To bury a corpse with the feet toward the sunset is a sign that the soul will be lost at the Resurrection.
1920s Kentucky
Ooh they’re fascinating – thanks for those!
Its bad luck to dig a grave in a day. So my grandpa said. Everytime we dig a grave for someone in the family, someone still go’s back the next day to finish it even if it’s just a shovel full.
why is it bad luck i’ve done it before
What about taken something from a “graveyard” Let me explain… This was a civil war burial ground. In the 50/60’s, some guy supposedly would bring children there to rape and kill them. The town was up in a roar, and tore down all headstones so he had no where to go. Now only sits a large memorial stone. So, say someone took what they believed to be an old piece of headstone home? Then their life started falling apart. Should they return the piece of stone?
It’s difficult because I’m not sure how much I believe in the idea of things becoming ‘attached’ to a material, but at the same time, it wouldn’t hurt to get rid of it. Perhaps return the stone, tell the ‘spirits’ you’ve returned it, and then perform a cleansing of the house to shift any residual energy.
Thank you for the great article
I went to the cemetery and three random dogs were lying on my Dad’s and Grandpa’s grave. What could that mean? It is also where my burial plot is ( right next to them). When the finally moved, one of the dogs just stood there staring at me.
Hm. I’ve never heard of that before. It could be something as simple as the ground being slightly warmer, or one them chose to lie down and the others followed. What kind of dogs were they?
Query.
Is it bad omen if an occupied grave has an unmarked headstone?
Oh I’d have to look into that – I’ve never come across it before! How weird!
I have a question. My school is built on a graveyard. I have heard a lot of rumors about death of some people in the school because the school was haunted . But nothing has clearly happened with me or my friends till today. Also no one has personally encountered a ghost. So do u think it is a danger for all of us in that school as it is built on a graveyard? Is it necessarily haunted? Or is just our imagination ?
I wouldn’t worry too much. If no one has encountered anything then you’re probably fine. I’ve also read theories that graveyards are the least likely places to be haunted since spirits haunted places they spent time in life, not where they rest.
I would love to interview you on my radio show. We can do a phone interview, since I am in upstate Roxbury Ny WIOX FM 91.3 we also stream wioxradio.org. I am a Producer at WIOX- Melody DiGregorio please contact me I love your folklore. Email me at mdigregorio@wioxradio.org
I need help really insanely bad I took a photo of a graveyard and I think I caught a spirit on camera. It started out as just an image, but upon closer inspection you could see a figure in the distance. I cropped the photo a bit to be closer to the figure. A day later the picture changed, and instead of the figures back being to the camera, you can see it’s face. I can’t go back to the graveyard for another week. I don’t know what to do can someone please please please please please please help me? My email is: Littlebabykitten7705@gmail.com or even replying to this comments I’m sorry for disturbing you but please help
I always apologise too for walking over a grave and like you, I’m not sure why I started doing so. I was also told that you should never be photographed standing next to a grave because it brings bad luck. I’m not an outrageously superstitious person but I will never be photographed next to a grave.
I so enjoy Icy’s posts!
I’m so glad!
What a fascinating article, Icy. You always have lots of original knowledge and nuggets of information. . .
Thank you!
I was at my family cemetary today and my daughter who is 5 was asking me about our family monuments and who they were. She placed her hand on a granite headstone of my great uncle and to my horror and surprise the top part of the monument fell off the base.
It took everything for my hubby and I to place this massively weighted headstone back in place. I don’t understand why it fell it was so heavy it wouldn’t be possible for a 5 year old to push it off.
Any folklore, superstition, meanings related to this happening?
I can’t say I’ve come across anything like that! I know a lot of cemeteries in the UK manually push over headstones to stop this from happening. Come to think of it, I’ve never come across any superstitions about headstones falling over. I’m just glad she’s okay!
2 guys were digging a grave and an old man kept telling them not to let the shovels hit together or one of them would die soon, 3 weeks later 1 of them died.
When I was a young child,I went with my father to the local church as he was cutting the grass there that. day i was on my pedal tractor with trailer collecting the cuttings for him. He warned me not to ride over any graves as this was disrespectful. I set off on my tractor with grass cuttings in my trailer, as I approached a large cross headstone something compelled me to stop right in frount of it. As I stopped and looked up at the large cross it feel towards me knocking me off my pedal tractor and smashing my collar bone and pinning me to the ground. Dose this have any meaning?. And ever since i have had a sixth sense, and have felt very in tune. And since the passing of my parents owls have become a very significant sign to me,and of late it seems like my senses are becoming stronger.
I’m not sure that a cross falling on you has any meaning – though I’m sorry you had that! It’s more likely that you’ve always had abilities and perhaps it’s the passing of your parents’ that helped it to become clearer.
my dad bought home a gravestone made out of rose quartz and shattered it so we could have pieces and I’ve had a piece in my room just to have some quartz because why not but I was wondering if it was bad to do that because I’ve always had a feeling it was wrong. I’m on a college campus right now so when I get home I’m going to probably cleanse it with incense, but I’ve kept it in the window sill to try to keep it safe and charged.
I’m not sure I’d say it was ‘wrong’, though I guess it’s unfortunate for whoever’s gravestone it was.
Find a grave member . Always say sorry for walking over graves . Do try not to. Say bless you once taken photo. One night after visiting and taken pics in my local cemetery. Me and my partner get big thuds from under the bed as though some one was under there and had punched the bed . We both got a punch each . I must have upset some one that day over the cemetery . Fair enough i did say sorry plenty of times and told them who ever they are thay got us back good . As i took picture of there resting place thay waiting till i was in mine . Lol Be warned things can go bump under your bed at night.
There is an old sign at the cemetery in Porlock, Somerset which says no carrying wood through the cemetery. Añy idea what this is about ?
That is unusual. I’ve never heard that one before!
A cherub I put on my Sisters grave was removed by her son, my nephew. He put it on my Mums grave, his Grandmas. In the same cemetery. The cherub has SISTER on it. Is that bad luck
I don’t think it’s bad luck, but that’s a bit of a strange thing to do, unless your mum was also a sister?
relate so much! my grandparents used to tell me this all the time
https://www.forestlakeparks.com/parks/luzon/binan/chapels/
A friend of mine has been having frequent panic attacks and chest pains ever since she had the headstone installed for her dead husband that she included her picture and name on the stone. She is only 39 years old. I told her the timing is not a coincidence. Let him have his own headstone. She already re-married.
That is a very odd thing to do! I do think she should get that checked out though.
This post explores various superstitions surrounding cemeteries. The author provides a detailed overview of these beliefs, including the history and cultural context. The writing is well-researched and well-written, and the author provides valuable information for those interested in folklore and superstitions.