Cities Of The Dead

Day Of The Dead: New Orleans, Louisiana

The wind whined through the cemetery, rounding out the sharp corners of the tombs. We were among the burial plots known as 'Cities of the Dead' at the Cementerio de San Luis (St. Louis Cemetery) in New Orleans.

Where rows and rows of sun-bleached tombs resemble streets.

Where rusty, decorative ironwork, crosses, and statues cast mysterious shadows.

And where the dead are buried above ground. 

Umm... Did you just ask what the deal was about being 'buried above ground?'

I'm glad you did.

And did you just say out loud that this was counter intuitive to the accepted practice of being 'six feet under'?

Good that you said that, too. I love questions. Like questions with more questions and commentaries sprinkled on top. 

Here's the thing.

Because of the extremely high water table in New Orleans, graves become soggy, easily filling with water. Frequent flooding once caused corpses to surface. Yikes! You just can't keep a good, dead person down, can you? LOL.

Early settlers tried placing stones in and on top of funerary boxes to weigh down and keep them underground. Unfortunately, after a rainstorm... Again - pop! they went out of the ground. Can you picture a casket sticking up out of the water or literally floating? Boring holes in the coffin didn't work either.

So, no more shallow plots. 

Above ground vaults are the answer. The dead are tucked away in economical chambers stacked on top of one another.

Or in larger, ornate catacombs with crypts.

Or even in family burial chambers that look like miniature houses, complete with iron fences.

As for me? My choice is none of the above. I'd much rather float through space and time like a speck.

Free.

And alone.