A cemetery is the final resting place for many people after they've passed away. There are cemeteries all over the world and although many of them are pretty normal with engraved tombstones marking the place where each person was laid to rest, some of them can be pretty unique and unusual.
While there are a lot of totally normal cemeteries that have a few unusual tombstones, there are also some cemeteries that are entirely weird. These cemeteries are located in strange places, are entirely made up of unusual tombstones, or feature some interesting inhabitants.
To see 10 of the strangest cemeteries around the world, keep reading!
10 Merry Cemetery
The tombstones at many cemeteries focus on the positive aspects of a person's life. They have their birth and death dates and a short note about how they were a beloved friend, spouse, or family member. But in Săpânţa, Romania, there are hundreds of wooden crosses that are decorated a little differently.
These crosses have a painted image of the person - sometimes depicting the way they lost their lives - with a humorous note or poem about their life. A book about the cemetery was released with images of each cross and the details of the decorations on it. These hilarious tombstones are unlike any others. Instead of hiding a person's flaws, they show them off in a funny way.
9 Crowley Mausoleum
The Crowley Mausoleum was a pretty ordinary mausoleum when it was first built. And if it weren't for the interesting location, there would really be nothing strange about this place at all. So, what is it about the Crowley Mausoleum that earned it a spot on this list of strange cemeteries? It's located in the parking lot of a Walmart in Decatur, Georgia. Seriously!
According to the Crowley family, it was once located in part of the farmland owned by their family in the 19th century. In the 1960s, the family had to sell the farm due to financial troubles and it was purchased so that a mall could be built there. Today, a Walmart is located just next to the Crowley Mausoleum where the Crowley family lies.
8 The Hanging Caskets
The Philippines is a really unique country with its own unique culture. One aspect of this super interesting culture involves the way that traditional burials are done in some parts of the country. In the northern part of the Philippines, the Igorot tribe of Mountain Province has been practicing this burial tradition for a long time.
Instead of burying the people of the tribe that have passed away in caskets under the Earth, their bodies are placed into coffins and then hung on the side of a mountain. This tradition comes from the belief that being lifted into the air will help people be closer to their ancestors and move on to the next life instead of being left underground where water and soil will get into their casket.
7 Chiesa Dei Morti
Chiesa dei Morti translates to Church of the Dead, which is a pretty fitting name for this location. It's located in Urbania, Italy and features over a dozen different mummies that stand guard inside this church.
The Brotherhood of Good Death was founded in the 16th century and takes care of the mummies and will give people tours, telling them all about each mummy and what happened to them. These mummies have been standing in their cases since the early 19th century and all stand in glass cases for viewers to take a look at.
6 Neptune Memorial Reef
The Neptune Memorial Reef is a large, man-made reef located just a few miles east of Key Biscayne, off the coast of Florida. It's located 40 feet under the sea and is currently being constructed to look like a forgotten city on the ocean floor. What makes this eco-friendly art installment a strange cemetery?
It earned a place on this list because the remains of people's loved ones are cremated, mxied with the concrete, and placed with a memorial in this reef. This cemetery is a mixture of a unique art installment, a way to memorialize people's loved ones, and a way to help the fish living in this area of the ocean have a habitat where they can thrive.
5 New Lucky Restaurant
Located in Ahmedabad, India, this cemetery gives visitors a really unique place to sit down and have a meal. This restaurant is one that's known for having delicious food, but that's really not what brings in the visitors. What really draws people in to the New Lucky Restaurant is the fact that there are exposed sarcophagi in the floor of the restaurant.
No one actually knows who these graves belong to, but many people believe that they likely belonged to someone in the 16th century. The owner of this restaurant had a serious choice to make when he was building his restaurant. Destroy the graves or make them part of the decor? It's obvious what he chose.
4 Burial Spirit Houses
Just outside of Anchroage, Alaska, there's a unique cemetery that blends a mix of different traditions from different cultures into one really interesting cemetery. The area was once home to the Danaina tribe, but after Russian Orthodox missionaries moved into the area, the two cultures blended together for the people living there.
Prior to the arrival of the Russian Orthodox missionaries, the Danaina tribe would cremate their loved ones after they passed away. But, as the traditions mixed, they started to bury them instead. First, a blanket would be placed over the grave. Then, 40 days later, a colorful house is built to protect their spirit and represent the person that was laid to rest there.
3 Plot E In The Oise Aisne American Cemetery
The Oise Aisne American Cemetery is located in France and houses thousands of bodies. These bodies belong to American soldiers that lost their lives while fighting in World War I in the northern part of France. While that's what's in plots A-D, there's also a lesser-known and much lesser-visited plot E.
Plot E is a cemetery that is dedicated to just under 100 bodies that were put here and mostly forgotten instead of being buried in the first four plots of this cemetery. These bodies belonged to soldiers that were convicted of war crimes during WWII and were buried here and the area is referred to as an anti-memorial.
2 Pere Lachaise Cemetery
Pere Lachaise Cemetery is located in Paris, France and isn't necessarily a strange cemetery in the way that the others in this list are. Instead, this cemetery is strange because of the iconic bodies that have been laid to rest in it. Along with its famous inhabitants, this is often visited and gifts for the most famous residents are often left by visitors.
Who has been laid to rest in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery? A ton of famous people throughout history, many of whom have tombs and markers that depict something about their lives. From Jim Morrison to Oscar Wilde and a ton of other famous names, there's a lot to see in Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
1 Greyfriars Kirkyard
This cemetery is located in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a really unique one that draws in a lot of visitors. The fact that this cemetery is huge and draws in tourists from all over doesn't necessarily make it a strange cemetery, though. The main thing that really makes this place interesting is the fact that it's home to graves that are protected by devices called mortsafes.
Mortsafes are cages that were placed over some of the graves in this cemetery. Although they look like they're there to stop zombies from rising from their graves, they're actually there for the exact opposite reason. They were placed over graves to stop people from digging them up and taking anything. Scary!