I've long had a fascination with cemeteries. And in recent
years, I’ve become an avid listener of podcasts. It turns out that a handful of
podcast have actually done episodes on cemeteries.
99% Invisible, episode 258, The Modern Necropolis
So, here they are. Click on the section title to be taken to the episode.
When I was a teenager, my friends and I often hung out in
a local cemetery. We’d eat candy, climb on the monuments, and horse around. As
an adult, I’ve spent countless hours jogging and walking in cemeteries,
sometimes with company, sometimes talking on a cell phone. Many people walk
their dogs in cemeteries, some people just park, and some people even feed
ducks or play guitar. And these are just the activities I’ve personally engaged
in or witnessed.
Are these appropriate activities for a burial ground?
Curious City is a podcast out of Chicago. This episode addresses
the question of the appropriateness of leisure and recreational
activities in cemeteries. It also looks at how attitudes on the matter have changed over time.
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| The Italian Cemetery, Colma California. Photograph by Claudev8. Used under a Creative Commons License. |
99% Invisible is ostensibly a podcast on design, a
subject defined so broadly by the podcast’s creators as to exclude nothing,
judging by the range of topics the podcast addresses. However, its virtues are
many. It avoids the pitfalls of many other podcasts, such as boring attempts at
humor or excessive sound effects and music. Its most salient distinction is the
novelty of the topics it covers.
In this episode, they look at Colma, California, a city in which almost three-quarters of the land is devoted to cemeteries, and where the dead outnumber the living.
In this episode, they look at Colma, California, a city in which almost three-quarters of the land is devoted to cemeteries, and where the dead outnumber the living.
Did you know that Americans release eight Olympic-sized swimming
pools worth of carcinogenic formaldehyde into the ground every year?
Terrestrial is a podcast based in Seattle. In this episode,
they explore a potentially more environmentally friendly alternative to modern burial practices: composting.
In 2012, NPR’s Morning Edition did a series on famous or
otherwise noteworthy burial sites. One installment looks at a dog cemetery in
Alabama that requires its deceased canine denizens to have been skilled racoon
hunters. Seriously.
Planet Money is a podcast on economics, and in this
episode they look at the business model of cemeteries. This is a
listeners’-questions episode, and the portion on cemeteries is only a few
minutes long. It’s the first question of the episode.
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