Downunder Diaries

Now that it is summer here in Ireland it doesn't rain every day. Just most days. But luckily while my Viennese guest was here it was mostly not-rainy. Just cloudy. With luck though you can wait for patches of blue before taking the photo, so that looking back on things we can at least pretend that the weather was nice. And the thing about living in a country that has been settled for so very long, unlike in NZ, is that you can go anywhere and see really old falling down stuff. So right near where I live is what remains of a little old graveyard. And last Sunday we went and had a picnic in a field and then found this other little graveyard.


The graves here generally have just a plain tombstone or a celtic cross on them. None of the angels and cupids that you might see elsewhere. There were buildings that we assummed where the ruins of a church but it turned out that they were big old family tombs.


They had gates with names on and inscriptions in the walls. Surprisingly it was all in English. And below you can see what we assume is an old crypt that has fallen in somewhat and so is open. There is only a small space inside, just full of broken mossy rocks.


But then we kept on wandering and exploring, and it seems that while there were these little buildings that may have been tombs there were also family plots and one big concrete block with many names on the sides. We walked around it and there on one side were no names, just some writing saying that it was erected in 1811 and a square in the middle with a handle and padlock. So we figured, they must have opened it up there, so as to put more bodies in. And there was a corner at the top that was broken. So as you do, we put the camera in with the flash on and took a picture. And writing it down now it does not seem like a very nice or respectful thing to do. But I will assure you that it is quite normal, everybody does it I'm sure. But anyway, I held my camera through the hole and pointed it downward, took a photo, pulled the camera out and had a look at it.

And I honestly nearly had a heart attack! I got the most horrible fright, and I just handed the camera over all freaked out and feeling ill because this is what I saw when I looked at that photo:


Now has anybody else just got the most awful fright? Probably not. For all that walking through and old cemetary is interesting and not at all scary, things like this do freak you out a lot more when you are actually there. And I was not the only one who freaked. I mean, even when I looked at it first and got such a fright I could see that the hand is not real, but you can't help but think what-if. Looking now I can still see how I got a fright, I mean it is quite realistic. But at the same time it is fresh and skin coloured and there is not wound, it is just a disembodied hand. So not real. Lying amongst a pile of rubble. Which, if you go back and have a look, includes many bones. Most obvious being the large skull in the bottom of the image. There are many more but I do not think it really needs to be discussed and pointed out. You might notice though that many of the bones are all dark brown and the walls are darker in places - looks like that hole was not a case of weathering but perhaps some kids broke it, chucked in sticks and stuff and set them on fire, and then threw in a mannequin's hand. Horrible. So lets just end with a nice peaceful picture. And everybody can laugh at me for being so silly to take a photo of inside a crypt and then be freaked out by some stupid kids' idea of a joke.