In preparation of Halloween....spooky places

I love Halloween! I love the fall season, the slightly spooky air, the colorful leaves, the pumkins, the costumes, the cool weather, and the energy it gives me. I was a November baby, so maybe that is just natural for me.

For this year, I'm going to take up my ramblings about fascinating, and a little spooky, places that I'd like to see.

The first, in no particular order, is the Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo Italy. 

The Catacombs were used by the local community of religious monks who discovered that the bodies the were left there were being preserved into natural mummies. The catacombs were established in 1599, and after the monk's discovery, became the resting place for many Sicilians, over 8000 in fact.

The place became the burial ground for famous people as well. Many wealthy people wanted to be buried there, richly garbed, almost to be on display!

During the war, the bombing of the monastery destroyed the building and many of the bodies. However, the monastery was rebuilt over what remained of the original site.

In present day, on a visit to the catacombs, someone can walk among the bodies of the long dead, observing their once magnificant clothing and gradually decaying corpses. Some are in better condition than others, but the bodies are separated in categories according to who they were in life, Priests, Monks, men, women, professors, and sadly, children.

The last person laid to rest there was a child, Rosalia Lombaro, who was placed in 1920 and has been called Sleeping Beauty.

In my opinion, this would be a fascinating place to visit, say, in the bright light of day. I have a healthy respect for the afterlife, so I'm not one to ever declare that I don't believe in any supernatural occurances. I like to know that the spirits of the dead go on, that death is just a doorway into a new and better life.

That being said, I would not want to have this discussion next to an empty shell of a person, the mummy that the person used to be. That, I think, is trying my luck. I mean, after I die, I'd like my organs donated and my body neatly entombed. But what if the other guy doesn't feel that way and wants to keep his body a little closer to him?

So what about you? Would you want to go? Would you add it to your European adventure? And would you ever brave the visit at night?

Many thanks to the site:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/palermo-capuchin-catacombs