wash wild: What a Crypt

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

What a Crypt

We liked to scare ourselves silly.

A few neighbor kids and myself. This time of year. Halloween.

There was this small, all but forgotten graveyard. Just a few half toppled stones on a knoll near my house. We would hang out there on dark nights when the moon was scudding in and out of clouds. Soon enough someone would say,

"Did you hear that?"

"Over there!"

"I think I saw something move."

Then one of the younger boys would say his mom wanted him home for supper. Another would claim he had homework to do and all of a sudden the rest of us were hightailing it back to warm, bright living rooms and an evening of boring black and white TV.

Last stone standing

All that's left of my childhood spook spot

I'm sure others smarter than myself (and with more time on their hands) have analyzed our fascination (and fear) of death and graveyards. More power to them. I'm not going that deep. It's a pop cultural thing this time of year and I just take in all the skeleton and tombstone lawn decorations with a smile.

But I do still find myself attracted to graveyards. I like the variety of trees and shrubs, the grain of rock used for memorials (mostly marble, granite and occasional slate), the inscriptions and the history told by the stones. Lately another feature has caught my attention. Call them vaults, mausoleums or crypts. Most larger cemeteries have one and their architecture ranges from simple to ornate. They're a unique part of the landscape by day and good for a chill after dark. Here's a gallery of a few from Washington County. You might want to visit some on your own. Preferably on a night when the wind is rattling leaves and you've got a few easily spooked friends by your side.

GREENWICH...