In this installment of Creepy Month we're going to talk about the premise of many a death metal song.
Like these happy go lucky gentlemen, singing about dead cities and ruining a game of bowling, We're talking about Necropolises. Dead cities, Secrets, eeriness, It's got the makings of a damn creepy subject.
Necropolises, or cities of the dead, appear throughout the world from ancient times to the modern day. Some sprawled due to overcrowding while others were meticulously planned. In some cases, they are exact replicas of the world of the living. Where we choose to be buried, with whom, and with which objects reveals our hopes, fears, and desires.
Real Cities, Dead People
One of the most interesting facts about Necropolises is that they replicate the world of the living, Grave stones lined and plotted like the cities that they once roamed, it's almost like a testament to the belief of cyclical existence. Even more interesting is most people's reasoning behind doing this. Many people believed that giving the dead a city kept the dead from disturbing the living, allowing those who's lives have stopped to continue existing in another form. After all, they do say that we attach ourselves in death to the things we were attached to in life, so why not cling your old life? Most of these cities were based on this idea.
The Bitter End
Our fear of death, or rather, the unknown has been the basis of many of the strange idiosyncrasies we have as human beings, religion, our beliefs, all the way down to our moral system. It's extremely interesting to sit down really think that, because of our most basic and prevalent instincts as humans, we've had war, peace, built cities for the dead, created fantastic stories and ideas of how it will eventually end. Although this is Creepy month, I think that one of the main points here is clear: Although we see these things as disturbing, and creepy, and our fear is one of our main driving functions, the macabre is beautiful. The unknown is beautiful. As much as we fear it, look past it, and understand how much the unknown has fueled us in other ways.