Strange Saturday - The Ghost Tree

Ok first allow me to apologize for my lack of activity here lately as I've been getting killed by work in the real world and it's hard to be creative when I'm so darn tired.

I was going through some pics today and came upon this pic which I've worked with in Photoshp before. I was taking a picture of the shadows because I found them interesting. Does anybody notice anything weird about this picture? I didn't at first either. But notice how all the shadows of the trees start from the base of the tree and branch out. Keep in mind this is an untouched photo. Look at the shadow on the bottom of the picture. I see a shadow but no tree to support the shadow. The way the picture looks the tree that once stood there is off to the right. Then why does it's shadow still remain? I'm not sure if that was the tree that once stood there. That's just speculation. But there is definitely no tree to support this shadow...hmm

Freaky Friday

Yes these are just normal benches to everyone else. But to me they seem to give off this strange vibe. Many people have sat on these benches to mourn the loss of a loved one. Unlike a regular grave where most people come to one individually. Many different people have sat here crying, reminiscing, etc. I don't know if it's just something in the back of my mind as I'm taking pictures but I'm always half expecting that I'll get home and see the picture I thought was an empty bench with someone sitting there. Ghosts to me are much like bugs. If I don't see them they probably won't bother me.

Aside from that, I'd just like to say that I love this picture....

Freaky Friday

Not much in a cemetery freaks me out more than having a picture on your grave stone. There's something about knowing who is buried there that makes it more personal. I don't want to have a personal relationship with the person buried nor do I need to know what they looked like before death. The newer ones don't bother me as much as the older ones for some reason. It seems that the old clothes and old styles they had back then are what does it for me. Nowadays the families seem to find the worst picture possible to put on the grave of a loved one whereas back then everyone looked so stern and serious. Following are a couple examples of the ones that kind of creep me out.

This one wasn't so bad but looking at it I think it's mostly their eyes.













Ok this one freaked me out just a little. It appeared to be almost painted on.













Pictures of kids are always scary to me. Any horror movie I've ever seen with a kid in it has freaked me out. The Shining, Pet Cemetery, The Grudge all little kids and all a little freaky.















I would like to give my girlfriend credit for all but one of these pictures here. It seems I don't have too many of them. We usually visit the cemetery together and when I compared our folders she has a lot more of these than I do. Matter of fact I only have that one up there that I said was painted. I think if I see a picture of someone I usually try to avoid it. I don't like my trip to be personal or to feel a personal relationship with the dead. That's not why I go. I have been learning lately that sometimes the marker tells the story itself or allows you to at least speculate what may have happened. I'll be doing a piece on that soon. These things sometimes take more time than I have to put together...Thanks for reading...

Freaky Friday

This picture was taken at the Santa Clara Mission Cemetery. When I first walked up I was more interested in the elevated casket you see toward the left. But as I looked a little closer I became interested in somebody's home made sleeping arrangements on the right. I thought to myself, hmm at least you'd mostly be blocked from the wind. But could I sleep in a cemetery? Next to someone's grave? I'm not too sure this is my cup of tea. I guess it's working for whoever has been sleeping there. I did feel a little bad that someone out there has reached such a low in their life that they'd have to sleep here. But many times I look at someone and say "Well they've made their own bed. Now they have to lie in it"

Freaky Friday

I generally try to stay away from the graves of little kids while it seems my girlfriend is drawn to them. My reason is little kids are scary. In every horror movie or ghost story I've ever seen, those that have a little kid are the scariest. Think about it. The Shining, Not only was the main little kid scary it also had those 2 chopped up twins in the hallway. Pet cemetery, Even though the little kid didn't get scary until the end he freaked me out almost as much as that lady in the bedroom with the weird back thing going on. The Grudge, creepy little, screaming like a cat, bad haircut Asian kid. So as I was digging for something to post today I happened to look in one of her folders and I see this picture of this little girl. Alive and well I might say cute kid but in a picture taken some 50-100 years ago I'm going to go with freaky...

Freaky Friday

Can I just say first that it's good to be back? I've spent the last 3 days of my life in a place called Redding California. The city of Redding isn't too bad and there were a few cemeteries I wanted to visit but it was for work and I had no time. All I wanted to do was get home. Speaking of home I'll be moving over the next couple weeks so my posts may be a little sporadic. Luckily I have a couple more authors that seem to be doing a great job of keeping everyone entertained.

So here is this week's Freaky Friday. I did think this was a beautiful statue despite the baby appearing as if it were flailing around trying to get out of it's mother's arms. I don't seem to have a shot of them but I also remember thinking the baby's eyes looked sort of surprised or like it was in shock. It was nice picture though. This was taken at my second favorite cemetery, well so far, which is Cypress Lawn in Colma, CA. It some of the most impressive statues in California. I'm going to have to go there again once all my affairs are in order because it was early in my interest in cemeteries and the pictures taken were more of the statues than anything else and sometimes I like to know who is buried beneath these wonderfully artistic creations.

Freaky Friday - Or Me

Many of you may be wondering "Who is this guy?" "What does he look like?" So I decided to post a few pics of myself and as I was digging for something that didn't make me look like a goon I realized. I don't have many that don't make me look like a goon. Fact is I hate taking pictures of myself. The only ones that seem to come out right are when I wasn't really expecting something to be taken or didn't know that I was being photographed. Something about being aware makes the inner goon come out. So anyway here is the guy we all know as Deez...Of course my real name is just plain ol' Joe. I didn't realize until it was too late that I still had that old pseudonym set up on my account. But whatever too late to change it now. So here he is in all his glory or lack thereof...
This one is what I like to refer to as my Calvin Klein ad. Of course I never modeled for Calvin but if I did I'd imagine it to look like this. It's actually a pic I didn't know was being taken. I was out hiking and somebody randomly snapped it. Of course I did some editing by basically making it black and white.














I'd also like to present the pic I call the Wolf Man. I decided to grow my beard out because I was on vacation at the time and had no reason to shave. I think all guys go through the phases of the wolfman. My hair is naturally curly so I tried to grow it out once but like most guys, or should I say cool guys, I figured out real quick that when you have naturally curly hair it's best to just cut it off.












This is the pic I call the Afro pic. This is the longest I've had my hair in about 18 years. Everyone kept bugging me to grow it out and I kept telling them I hated it. As you can see it was hot that day and it made me extra sweaty. So shortly after this pic was taken I shaved my hair back off. Needless to say...hate my hair...








So here I am...my name is Joe and I'm addicted to cemeteries. Please disregard that last picture. One of those that I knew was being taken because I took it myself, I look like a goon and have I mentioned I hate my hair?

Freaky Friday - Oak Hill Cemetery San Jose, CA

Ok so I'll let you decide on the level of freakyness here. But from this perspective this crypt seemed perfectly normal to me. Nothing out of the ordinary anyway. I have this obsession with having to peer in and see how many people are in there and as I got close I noticed some strange writing on the steps just before the door. I couldn't quite make it out with my eyes but I've found that if I hold my camera up to things sometimes it helps me to read them. In the next picture you'll see what I saw.


It looked to me like it said "Salara". I looked inside and I didn't see anyone with that name buried inside. I could still be way off on what it said. And it could just be someone decided to scratch their name at the steps. I'm always a skeptic when it comes to ghosts and all that stuff so I think I'm going to need some more convincing. I just found this one more strange than anything. Like the saying goes "Guess you had to be there"

Freaky Friday

Something here is not quite right. I just can't seem to put my finger on it. Hmm...what could it be? Oh I know. Maybe somebody decided to make an attempt at restoring this statue. But instead let's get a head that doesn't quite match. I think they would have been better off leaving it headless.

Too Slow Saturday/Freaky Friday

This image was originally meant for "Freaky Friday" but since I was busy with that thing that gets in the way of all things fun a.k.a. work. I didn't get a chance to post it. There is nothing particularly freaky about it. I just found it a little strange that two days after I took mine Cheryl at GYR of South Alameda posted it as her Wordless Wednesday. And now it becomes a little freakier as I look at her picture(Click here) then again at mine you notice that in hers the grave seems clean other than a couple cacti. Then back at my picture and you see that there's a ball and a broken jewelry box lying on top. Her picture was taken May 10, 2009 and mine on August 17, 2009. I also took a picture of the jewelry box that was there as well. It looked old and weathered but I never touch anything that families leave on graves with the exception of standing up some windblown flowers. I'm not sure who is buried here because the grave is unmarked.I'm hoping maybe Cheryl can provide me with some insight on this one. I can only speculate that the family had no money for a marker but still comes to visit the grave site of a lost little girl. I don't know why but it seems as if this one turned out to be a little more freaky and interesting than I had imagined when I first started this post.

Freaky Friday

Most likely a victim of vandalism. This statue had 1 arm, 1 wing and no head. The pic was taken at St Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Oakland, CA. This is a beautiful cemetery which is dwarfed by the massive Mountain View Memorial right next door.

Freaky Friday

I wish I could take credit for this pic but I can't. It was taken by Void of Silence my absent author who is currently busy with school. The photo was taken at Melaten Cemetery in Cologne, Germany. I hope to one day visit because this is only one of many interesting statues contained here. I was trying to hold off on using any of these pics but I couldn't help but share at least one. I'm hoping one day she'll do a write up when she's not so busy with school. Either way the pics she gave me of Melaten are amazing...

Freaky Friday

I have several pictures with either the heads fully missing or partially missing. I'm told it's because it's really difficult to find a piece of stone that isn't flawed. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with vandalism as well.

Freaky Friday

This is from Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Oakland, CA. This has to be the scariest kid statue I've seen so far. Sometimes I feel like these statues are looking back at me. I snapped a quick pic and left this one in a hurry.

Freaky Friday

So I decided I'm going to create my own thing for Fridays and call it "Freaky Friday". I seem to come across some strange statues now and then. This gem was found at Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose, CA. I'm sure the hand used to point up and the bird just happened to land there just as I took the picture.