Dark Travel Archives - Books And Travel

Cross Bones Graveyard, Southwark, London

Southwark is a diverse area, with the upmarket foodie destination of Borough Market, the historic grandeur of Southwark Cathedral, the towering wealth of The Shard, and the memorial garden for the Outcast Dead, Cross Bones.

Crossbones garden London Photo by JFPenn — Crossbones Garden within sight of The Shard, London. Photo by JFPenn

In medieval times, the Bishops of Winchester licensed sex work in Southwark, known then as The Liberty of the Clink. The women were known as Winchester Geese, and even though the church took funds from the sex trade, they didn’t allow the women and their illegitimate children to be buried in consecrated ground.

Instead, they were buried in Cross Bones Graveyard.

Life Obsessed. Cemeteries, Graveyards And Ossuaries With Loren Rhoads

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“All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” William Shakespeare, Hamlet

If you enjoy walking in cemeteries, exploring graveyards, and discovering the artistic bone structures of ossuaries, then you’ll love this interview with Loren Rhoads. We discuss our mutual love of these places where nature often reigns in peace and beauty, and share our favorite places in Europe and North America.

Loren Rhoads is the author of 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die, and Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel, as well as paranormal romance novels, short stories, and essays.

Show notes

Memento mori. We are life-obsessed, not death-obsessed!
Why we both love cemeteries and graveyards and some of our favorite places to visit
Graves that change the landscape
The difference in burial rituals and death culture between Europe and North America
Is there something more than just physical remains in a graveyard?
Recommended books on cemeteries and graveyards

You can find Loren Rhoads at cemeterytravel.com and LorenRhoads.com

15 Unusual Crypts, Catacombs And Ossuaries

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Visiting the dead might seem like a macabre thing to do, yet few things make you appreciate life more than seeing thousands of skeletons in one place.

If you want to consider memento mori in quieter places, you need to get off the beaten track, so here are 15 beautiful yet unusual crypts, catacombs, and ossuaries you need to visit.

(1) Sedlec Ossuary, Kutna Hora, near Prague, Czech Republic

Sedlec is definitely one of the weirdest places in Europe. The Ossuary attracts around 200,000 visitors every year, who come to see the bones of 40,000-70,000 people.

The skeletal remains have been transformed into astonishing works of art, including a chandelier, coats of arms, and even the name of the artist himself. It takes a special kind of person to immortalize themselves using the remains of the dead!

Sedlec Ossuary, Kutna Hora. Photo by JFPenn

Click here to view more of my photos from Sedlec on Flickr.

But the Ossuary wasn’t planned to look the way it does. When the cemetery was remodeled in the 16th century, the bones of the exhumed skeletons were simply stacked in the chapel. In 1870, a local woodcarver was employed to make sense of the bones.

Memento Mori. How Travel Can Help Us Deal With Death And Grief With Dr Karen Wyatt

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Sometimes we need to get away in order to heal, to take ourselves out of the routine and recognize how short life is, and how precious.

In this episode, Dr Karen Wyatt explains how travel helped her face grief and embrace living well in the face of death.

Dr Karen Wyatt is a hospice physician and best-selling author of books about death, loss, and grief. She’s the host of the End-of-Life University podcast and an inspirational speaker who teaches how to live a life that really matters, by embracing our mortality. Today, we’re talking about how travel, in particular, can help with grief and reflection on our mortality.

Show notes

The personal loss that inspired Karen’s grief travels to Italy, Spain and France
How traveling can help you realize that you are not alone in grief
Why Herculaneum in Italy is such a powerful place
Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris
The difference between cemeteries and death culture in Europe vs the USA
Depictions of death in places of faith, and the European tradition of ossuaries and displaying bones publicly
Why memento mori and being aware of the shortness of life helps us to live more joyfully
Book recommendations for grief travel

You can find Karen at www.karenwyattmd.com and her podcast at www.eoluniversity.com, and on Instagram @kwyattmd

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(1) Sedlec Ossuary, Kutna Hora, near Prague, Czech Republic

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