Tuesday, November 23, 2010

El Panteon de Belen - ghost stories

A couple of weeks ago I visited one of the local attractions here in Guadalajara with one of my friends.  You could call it "el centro de muerte".  (You know that old joke, I visted the dead centre of town!!).  Actually the correct name for this "dead centre" is El Panteon de Belen .  We paid our entry fee of 11 pesos plus an extra 25 pesos that allowed us to take photos while we were on the tour.  This wonderful old crumbling cemetry dates back to the 17th century.  On each side is lined by an arched walkway that contains crypts of the early settlers of Guadalajara. 

Our guide entertained us with  a number of spooky stories, as he showed us around the graveyard.  The one that I found most interesting was about a young boy who was claustrophobic and afraid of the dark.  He died when he was very young, and the day after he was buried, the groundsman found his coffin sitting on top of the cement slab.  Ten times they reburied the coffin and when they came back the next day it was back on top of the slab. One the parents explained that the boy was afraid of the dark, it was decided to leave his coffin above ground.

To this day people bring toys to put around his coffin.  There were a number of people in the group we were with that had toys for him, which they gave to the guide at the end of the tour.  For some more of the ghost stories check out this site: http://www.explore-guadalajara.com/hauntedcemetery.html

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