20 of the Creepiest Things Witnessed by Cemetery Workers

Do you know what happens when a graveyard floods?
20 of the Creepiest Things Witnessed by Cemetery Workers

Cemeteries are obviously very creepy places to those who don’t spend a lot of time in them — the sounds of echoes or a creaky gate are exponentially more terrifying when you’re surrounded by a bunch of decomposing bodies. Generally speaking, though, people who work in these “final” resting places are less freaked out by them. Hearing an odd whisper here and there is chalked up to being an occupational hazard, and the wind whistling through the trees is just that — wind whistling through trees. But every now and then, even those who are used to the environment can get a little spooked — like the retired gravedigger who heard his dead grade-school teacher talking to him. 

To that end, Reddit’s gravediggers and cemetery workers have dug up some very ominous experiences they’ve had while on the job. A word to the wise: You might want to sleep with the light on after reading some of these spooky stories.

Pof_no Зу When I was in college I worked part time at a Jewish Cemetery in reception/office management. The cemetery was closed from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening for Sabbath. We sometimes stayed a bit later in the office on Friday afternoons to get bills out or checks processed. We heard a loud commotion by the cemetery entrance which was locked and only staff could get in and out. The office manager went to see what was going on and made me come with her. We went down to the gate to find an older woman (probably around 70) dressed
mother_of_nerd 3y I am a recreational genealogist. Much of my free time is spent in cemeteries in order to document headstones and mapping the area for records. I was taken by surprise when I was working late and the sun had gone down. I began seeing these lights across the cemetery. The cemetery was in the middle of nowhere, literally surrounded by miles of cornfields. At first I dismissed it as lightening bugs, but soon saw that they were too large and too steady. Shortly after, I started freaking out because I thought that maybe I wasn't alone and it
nkeene32 Зу i don't work in a cemetery, but i did go clean one up with my family. We cut down weeds planted flowers ect; so anyways i was wiping off graves when i seen three graves side by side and they didn't have the same last name so i asked my mom if they were related and she said no, but a women was married to them and they had all gotten into accidents within two years of being married to her. She buried them side by side and when she passed away she requested to be buried in
gaspandsaywhat . 3y One of my friend's has an aunt who owns a few morgues with grave yards. She said one of the worst things that happened was the yard flooded really bad which made body parts and bones come up to the surface. The staff had to gather the parts and bury them again. ... 12
MochaMeCrazy 5y My Mom loves going to old cemeteries and looking at the headstones. We have a little cemetery in our town that is pretty old. The back of the cemetery dates from the mid to late 1800s. We were out there looking around and my mom said she wanted to go back to the old part. As we are walking a crow dropped dead out of the sky at our feet. I have never left somewhere so fast in my life. We never went back. It still gives me this weird feeling whenever I drive by. ... 7
JacksonlsAGayName27 . 3 3y One time I was working the graveyard shift (I know, ironic) and strolled past 2 men digging a grave. This was not usually unusual however when I walked past about 15 minutes later the men were gone and the area they were digging was completely untouched, like grass was still growing and everything. Creepiest shit ever ... 130
5y Uncomfortable? Being trapped in the morgue alone during a hurricane, our morgue was basically in a basement type situation and the hospital was near a main waterway that flooded...I had to move all the bodies to the highest cabinets, pray the generators would keep everyone cold and was standing on my desk for about 2 hours when someone finally came for me. Bizarre would be drowned guy who was DOA and once locked up in the cabinet a tapping noise started coming from him..it was a crab that had made itself at home inside him and when it
PeaTearGriphon 3y I used to mow the lawn at a cemetery as part of my summer job. I always volunteered because it was the only place I could work with my shirt off and try to fight my farmer's tan. Anyway the only creepy thing is that coffins must break and fill with dirt over time because once and awhile you'll be walking and sink up to your knee in a small sink hole on top of a grave. Didn't really bother me unless I was walking at a good pace but some of the other people would get freaked
whiteclawlaw Зу My dad purchased a cemetery when I was in middle school, and I worked for him through high school graduation. I did yard work; mowing, weed eating, flower beds, ect. Aside from the occasional shadows seen out of the corner of my eye, seeing people who turned out to not be there, and hearing strange sounds, the cemetery was actually a quite peaceful place. BUT. The strangest is when you have a burial in the crypts. Basically, you dig down about 4 or 5 feet to expose giant cement doors. You pull the cement doors off and drop
Thundersalmon45 1y Friend of mine is a mortician. Her scariest incident happened very early in her career. She was alone and had music going, and was walking past the drawers when one of the bodies kicked the door and popped the drawer open just a crack. For context, she knew all about bodies hissing and moaning and having minor twitches as the nervous system starts to settle and degrade, but this was a rare and extreme case where the major muscles in the leg gave a large twitch causing a full kick. She had a panic attack and took the
MoreTorqueSteve . Зу I dug graves for six months. One afternoon we had to hand dig a hole in a older cemetery b/c we couldn't run any heavy equipment over any of the older plots. It was super tough and took us a lot longer than usual. When we were finally close to be done, it was dark and hard to see. I remember my shovel hitting a brick of the neighboring plot (before cement casks), and a it coming loose. I swear to god I saw something move inside the small hole and practically jumped out of the grave.
xohnnytee 5y A friend of mine told me that they had luck going to a cemetery with a tape recorder and talking to the graves. The idea is that you play the tape back later at high volume and you can hear responses. Unfortunately, the only thing they heard was a shrill scream in the background starting midway thru the recording and lasting until the end. Thinking this would be interesting, some friends and I got together and tried this ourselves. The recording scared us all so badly that we actually threw away the tape and recorder. What was on
BrutalBob1384 3y I worked for a county cemetery department years ago. We would go to all the cemeteries in the county and mow or just do basic upkeep. Occasionally people (mainly farmers) would stumble upon some headstones in a field or a stand of trees and we would come out and prod the ground with dowel rods to find more headstones and reestablish the cemetery. Soon after I started working there we got a tip about some headstones a farmer found while clearing out a path through some trees for easier access to his field. It turned out to be
sillysadass . Зу Ive found countless teeth and a few jaw bones. Best one tho is a thigh bone my boss found. His name is George (the bone) The weirdest thing that happened was when me and my boss were shoveling the dirt back into the grave after the funeral and the coffin broke. Now that in itself isnt uncommon and they do break after some time but this happened when we only had like 3 shovels worth of dirt in there. I looked at the face of the old man as i sealed his grave, eerie ... 7
GraveDigger1017 . 3y I work at a national cemetery and I have been in the break room eating lunch alone and saw someone standing at the sink out of the corner of my eye. When I turned and looked no one was there. I've also seen my what I thought was my boss standing by his truck when I was driving into the yard, but when I parked he was gone. I talked to him about it later and he was in a building away from where I thought I saw him. ... 73
BoredCop Зу I used to do some odd jobs at the 12th century graveyard in my hometown. 12th century, as in the church and its surrounding graveyard had been in continuous use for at least that long. When you keep burying bodies in the same small patch of ground for that many centuries, eventually the soil has been turned over dozens of times and consists mainly of bone fragments. You can't even plant flowers there without accidentally uncovering some teeth or finger bones or something, it's nothing but fragmented skeletons all the way down under the thin turf. The soil
kittenmcmuffenz . 3y Former funeral director here. One of our workers cleaned up after everyone had left from a visitation/ viewing/wake. It was about 9pm or later and he saw one last guest walking around in the visitation room. Не went to help escort the gentleman out when he discover no one was in there. When he came back in and told us the story and described the visitor. Не identified the man in a photo we had at the funeral home, it was my grandfather (family business) who had recently passed. ... 807
. 3y I am retired now, but the strangest thing I witnessed and learned at the same time, it was kind of On-the-job training is the fact that when you cremate someone, you have to open the furnace and stir them half way through the process. Let me tell you it was very hot and very strange the first time you see it and do it. ... 2
AlcoholicSpaceEater 3y Former Funeral director here. My partner and I had just gotten back to the funeral home from a house call for a 31 year old woman who died of cancer. As we were moving her body from the cot to embalming table we heard an audible click and the radio across the room turned on full volume of static. It's one of those old radios you turn the volume dial until it clicks to turn it on. We both looked at each other. Не was an extremely religious man and this event visibly shook him and he left
ullabr 3y I work at a graveyard, and I just have one thing to say. Plastic. Here in Norway graves are protected by law for 20 years, but after that the spots can be reused. Usually a grave is fine to reopen after 20 years - the body is supposed to be decomposed and pretty much gone. Now back to plastic: Between the 50s and 80s it was common here to be buried in plastic, to minimise smell and leakage. I'm sure they thought it was a good idea back then, but once we started reusing graves in Norway we realised it
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