I see dead people......

I've had an obsession with cemeteries for years, ever since I was a little kid. My childhood home was within close proximity (i.e. walking distance) to three cemeteries. There was a crematorium two blocks away from where we lived and we called the black ashes that sometimes fell on the sidewalk "black snow". Such an ideal goth childhood, no?

As a teenager and young adult I hung out in cemeteries a few times at night, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes (or cloves) and listening to Sisters of Mercy. No joke. Such an ideal goth adolescence, no?

Once I was able to travel one of my favorite places to visit was....wait for it...cemeteries. I've seen Highgate Cemetery in London, Old Calton Cemetery in Edinburgh, The Necropolis in Glasgow, Pere Lachaise, Montparnasse, and Montmarte (all in Paris). Such an ideal goth adulthood, no?

I'm not the only person in the cemeteries taking pictures of gravestones and memorials. There is definitely a sub-culture of us folk who like walking around the dead. I spent several hours in Montmarte,  having ditched my map, just exploring and hanging out with the scores of strays who lived amongst the tombstones and mausoleums.

My first trip to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was in August of 2009. I made a return visit in October 2009. My main goal was to find one crypt: that of Rudolph Valentino, the most famous lover of the silent film era. Valentino died at the age of 31 in 1926. I've read books about his life and watched his movies. But I wasn't able to find him...until today.

It turns out I was looking in the wrong part of the cemetery. All I had to do was ask one of the groundskeepers "Donde esta Valentino?" and he pointed at the other mausoleum at the other side of the cemetery. The ones I had passed both times I had been there previously.

Knowing that I was about to face one of my idols I prepared myself appropriately; I brushed my hair and made sure my makeup was OK. It was pouring rain but I had to look good for Rudy.

Sure enough, there he was in plot 1205, waiting for me:

It was a pretty poignant moment for me, finally being able to see the resting place of one of my icons. I paid my respects,  and then like any good nerd/lover of the dead started snapping away to capture the best photo of Rudy and I. Unfortunately, his plot is six feet above ground and it was hard for me to squeeze both of us in the photo.

This is the best I could do:

I found one new friend on the way out of the mausoleum:

A beloved psychic...couldn't pass this up.

Call me strange, call me weird. Tell me your hobbies.