Pumpkins In The Cemetery

Back in November, I successfully completed my second annual Pumpkin Dump. That is, instead of simply throwing all of my jack-o-lanterns away after Halloween, I decided to do something a bit more creative with them.

I found a unique, visible location in my area to quickly and secretly set up all my jack-o-lanterns! My reasoning was twofold: first, it was a fun and innocent way to extend the Halloween season by a little bit and share it with everyone who discovered the set up, and two, after removing all wax and other contaminants, it provided a natural snack for the local deer, raccoon, chipmunk and squirrel population.

My second pumpkin dump was a great success, staying up at the front of a cemetery on a highly-traveled road for the better part of three weeks. Plenty of time to be seen by many, many people...

Fast forward to this week when I receive an email from a friend, showcasing his latest collection of photography. Amongst the collection of amazing rusty industrial photos and beautiful shots of local wildlife is a photo that caught me completely off-guard...

Photo courtesy of David Fitzgibbons.

Boom! There it was! A totally awesome photo of my last pumpkin dump! It was a bigger success than I had anticipated. I don't think he even knew the story behind this or who set it up (although he may have been able to guess)!

In my quick setup and getaway, I only snapped a couple of quick daytime photos before slipping away undetected. But he obviously had more time to capture the setup in a detailed way. The selective orange coloring only amplifies the utter coolness of this photo. It is, without a doubt, the best photo of my "work"...

I was so excited when I saw it, I immediately revealed the backstory and asked his permission to post it here, so thank you Dave! You have captured the eerie fun in a way that I couldn't, and provided a most unexpected surprise!

I see a freelance photography gig in your future, say next October? Amazing shot, sir!!

  

Northfield Macedonia Cemetery - Northfield, Ohio

Time for one last trip through a local cemetery and our last installment of Cemetery Sundays for this season. This week I tour Northfield Macedonia Cemetery in Northfield, Ohio. It's a cemetery that has been on the list for a few years after driving past it on a random trip. I happened to be out that way again yesterday, so I brought the camera, braved the cold, endless rain, and finally got my photos. It wasn't easy, but it seems to be a fitting end for a season plagued by bad weather...

Northfield Macedonia Cemetery was founded in 1847, although the first recorded grave on the land dates all the way back to 1812. It's a large cemetery, with over 4,900 burials recorded, but I was only interested in documenting the earliest graves from the early to mid-1800s. These graves were all located at the back of the cemetery, so I only had to walk that section within the entire sprawling grounds. And there are some really wonderful old tombstones with amazingly-preserved epitaphs here!

As I quickly toured the older section photographing the ornate tombstones, I noticed that many of them had been damaged and were leaning against other stones or simply laying in pieces. And with the stones being streaked with rain, it gave an added sense of eeriness. Even during the middle of the day.

I took as many photos as I could before retreating from the cold and wet weather to the warmth of my dry car, quickly calling it a day. I would have loved to have stayed longer and gotten some more photos, but Mother Nature just wasn't having it this day.

I'm still quite happy with what I did shoot, so sit back, relax, and enjoy a quick tour of Northfield Macedonia Cemetery...

This last photo proved to be somewhat interesting. As I was finishing my tour, I went to get one last photo of this mausoleum. As I got closer, I noticed that the doors seemed to have been replaced and a small sign saying "Office" was attached to the one door. I peeked in the window, only to notice that it was indeed some sort of office. Desk. Chair. Papers. And a spinning ceiling fan. How strange. If this was a mausoleum, what did they do with the original bodies that were interred there?

And as I was driving home, I thought about how cool it would be to have an office inside of a former mausoleum. It would be right up my alley!

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I hope everyone enjoyed the photos from this year's cemetery tours. I still really enjoy taking the time to go through each one and document the ornate stones and epitaphs from a bygone era. In a hectic month filled with Halloween planning, it's nice to hit the pause button and take a relaxing trip through a quiet old cemetery. And the great thing is that there are still quite a few local cemeteries on my list to visit, so I'll definitely be doing Cemetery Sundays next year!