Is There a Depression in the Ground?

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Underneath washington square park in manhattan are 20 thousand unmoved bodies from what was once a potter's field or a graveyard for the impoverished. In more modern cemeteries, we don't see that same like type of depression because there's all these rules about having con lined graveshaft. "i hope that those people turned into fungus and worms and frogs and leaves," he says.

Bidding farewell to the sweetest and spookiest month, we traipse past graves with archeologist, conservator and Taphologist Robyn Lacy. What’s the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery? Is it wrong to picnic in one? And can tombstone scrubbing help the world and soothe your living soul? Plus, font trends on headstones, old-timey gravestone emojis, a coffin-within-a-coffin, the best epitaphs and knowing the difference between slate, marble, and granite monuments. To celebrate Halloween, stop by the cemetery gates to do zinckies with your best ghosties. (That will make sense later.)

Robyn S. Lacy’s website: spadeandthegrave.com

Follow her @graveyard_arch on Twitter and Instagram

Gravestone conservation info: blackcatcemeterypreservation.wordpress.com

A donation went to UNICEF Canada's COVID-19 vaccine initiative: https://www.unicef.ca/en/what-we-do/donate-to-coronavirus?fbclid=IwAR2df-h92Svs5lURmjea4qsq-8P6xbeieDajBFbQPfkHvQYjNGHhPzOePJk

Halloween Scavenger Hunt info: https://www.talkdeath.com/talkdeath-halloween-cemetery-scavenger-hunt/