Scottish Haunts

In Scotland, and most of Europe, cemeteries battle with the issue of space. It's finite, but the number of people being buried is not. So many cemeteries are cramped or must engineer ingenious ways to display headstones. Other methods, like mass burial and burying over old parts of the cemetery are not uncommon, though Americans usually find the idea appalling. 

Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh uses church walls for headstone display. 

The older headstones are often spooky. Invoking the spirits of the dead and haunted to dance upon the dead's grave. They are not unlike older headstones in America as they also often have a religious or superstitious undertone.

A rather frightening but all to typical headstone from days gone by. This was taken at Greyfriars Kirk as well.

We visited Grayfriars Kirk in Edinburgh which is famous for a little Skye terrier named Bobby. He faithfully sat at his dead owners grave until his death years later. Bobby was then buried close to his owner's headstone and several monuments have been built in his honor.

Another tightly packed cemetery.