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The following are just a few of the very Gothic inscriptions on headstones at the Blood Cemetery (aka Pine Hill Cemetery) on Nartoff Road in Hollis, NH.
From the headstone of Mrs. Rebecca Alexanders, died 24 Nov 1799:
Behold my friends as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now you soon must be
Prepare for death and follow me
From the headstone of Caleb Farley, Jun., died 17 Jul 1810:
Friends and Physicians could not save
My mortal body from the grave
Nor can the grave confine me here
When Christ shall call me to appear
From the headstone of Caleb Farley’s wife, Abigail, died 14 Dec 1819:
What though our in bred sins require
Our flesh to see the dust
Yet as the Lord our Savior rose
So all his followers must
These are just a few of the eerie inscriptions which appear on about one-third of the ancient headstones in this cemetery.
There were even more wonderful headstones with inscriptions, but those stones have been stolen.
Several, such as the Farley sisters’ headstones, have disappeared in recent years, and were replaced by plain markers without the flowery inscriptions.
That’s such a senseless loss.
(Also, the commercial market for stolen gravestones is one reason why the police are so watchful of cemeteries after dark.)
If you go ghost hunting in cemeteries, be sure to read the gravestone inscriptions. They provide helpful insights related to the era and the family of the person in that grave. Those ideas and sentiments may also give you a good idea why he or she haunts the cemetery.
As I reported in my article about the Haunted ‘Old Burying Yard’ of York, Maine, if someone’s headstone says, “I must lie here till Christ appears,” it’s likely that a spirit is near that grave, waiting.