Ghost tours, while often gimmicky, can be a fun and fascinating way to get to the guts of a place. Although spiritual encounters may be few and far between, the historical picture painted by these figures from the dim and distant past can be very real. A Jack the Ripper tour in London, for example, will transport you to the gritty streets of Victorian East London fearing for your life. A tour of the former quarantine station in Sydney will leave you feeling the tainted breath of Australia’s dying immigrants on your skin.
Then there are the rites and rituals of a place that incorporate its dead. Perhaps the most well known of these is Mexico’s Day of the Dead – a surprisingly upbeat celebration of those that have passed on and return for the three day festival, welcomed by family and friends with their favourite snacks and music. This colourful fiesta coincides with Halloween, celebrated around the world in a variety of ways, but most famously with pumpkins, bright green witches and vampires with fangs dripping with blood.
But perhaps the most concrete places for a glimpse into a destination’s past are its cemeteries. Rich in history, cemeteries are filled with stories of the lives of people that once lived in a destination. Sometimes it can be the lives of famous people that bring a place to life, other times it can be the stories of the ordinary people that can truly illuminate a destination and its past.
Here, we round up five of the world’s cemeteries that are well worth a look:
1. Highgate Cemetery, London, UK

Perhaps the most famous person to be laid to rest at Highgate Cemetery is philosopher Karl Marx who died in 1883, but there are many other reasons to visit this fascinating slice of London.
2. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France

Here you’ll also find memorials commemorating the deaths of those who fell in battle as well as those of the insurgents that rose against the government in 1871 only to meet a bloody end.
3. Cementerio de la Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

4. Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, Australia

Opened in 1877, the cemetery is home to a number of largely intact Victorian and Edwardian monuments including the graves of many significant Australians including poet Henry Lawson and first ever Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Edmund Barton.
The cemetery was also used in the filming of 1979 film Tim which starred Mel Gibson.
5. South Park Street Cemetery, Kolkata, India

Opened in 1767 and actively used until the 1830s, the eight-acre site is home to 1900 graves which vary significantly in architectural styles ranging from European gothic to classical.
Wander among the tombs and you’ll come across some important figures from those colonial days. For example, Sir William Jones who founded the Asiatic Society and whose memorial obelisk is the tallest structure to be found among the haunting tropical undergrowth.
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