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This Cemetery Makes People Laugh

Gossip from the grave, anyone?

Jenny Austria
4 min readDec 3, 2022

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Source: Whenonearth.net

When you die, how would you like your epitaph written?

Loving parent/child/husband/wife?
Amazing person?
Rest in peace?

How about doing it the “Merry Cemetery” way?

In the small town of Săpânţa, Romania, you’ll find a cheeky graveyard. 👻

At the Cimitirul Vesel or “Merry Cemetery,” people celebrate death with wit, dark humor, and dirty secrets.

I visited the place back in 2019, and it’s still one of the most interesting cemeteries I’d ever visited.

There, you’ll find ~800 carved crosses with colorful paint and funny poetry.

The poem is usually about one of three things:
1) the departed’s profession

2) how the person died (getting struck by lightning seems common) ⚡️

3) a silly personality trait (e.g. town drunk, village playboy, or the most popular one, the mother-in-law).

Intrigued? Here are some facts:

Who’s the talent behind the Merry Cemetery crosses in Romania?
🎨 Dumitru Pop, the protegé of the original artist, Ion Stan Patras.

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Jenny Austria
Jenny Austria

Written by Jenny Austria

France-based storyteller. I write about life lessons, self-growth, and la vie en France. Read unlimited stories: https://iamjennyaustria.medium.com/membership

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