Cold Weather Memories and Melancholy…

cemetary1

The last vestiges of fall at River Rest Cemetery…

I’m in Flint, Michigan; it’s the Halloween season – my absolute favorite; and I write a blog called Waking Up the Ghost. So sue me for taking photos in the River Rest Cemetery (where all my dead relatives reside) and for my macabre desire to embrace things melancholy and autumnal this morning.

The Bahamians call this kind of weather “the drinking days” but they don’t really understand the uncertain anticipation Michigander’s feel when the weather portends the coming of the long, dismal winter…

cemetary

There is something about the crispness of the wind and the dried leaves fluttering onto the hard ground like the hint of the snow that will come and come and come, I miss when I’m in a temperate clime…

And I don’t feel like getting drunk, but the smell of hot apple cider reminds me of mulled wine and that memory is warming. Very warming…

Today I’m not drinking because I am visiting dead relatives.

How come you’re not drinking?

 

 

From 5 Most Haunted Place in Flint and Genesee County | http://wcrz.com/top-five-haunted-places-in-flint-our-top-five/?trackback=tsmclip

We’re sure most people from Flint know the story of the hauntings at River Rest & Sunset Hills Cemetery and all the bronze statues that reside on the premises. The life-like statues will creep you out in broad daylight — so imagine seeing them in the moonlight (which is illegal, so don’t try it.)

The statue with the best story shows a group of kids playing “crack the whip” (as seen in the picture below), which was also adopted as a nickname for the location. It is said that if put your foot in the little girl’s sandal something bad — even death — will happen to you in the near future. I’m not sure how this story came about — just another one of Flint’s urban legends I suppose — but I placed my foot in the statue’s sandal many years ago and I’m still alright.

Crack the Whip (Inset - The Sandel)

There’s like $7 zillion worth of J Seward Johnson statues at River Rest…