A Fate Worse than Death: The Perils of Being a Famous Corpse

Even after death the famous are in high demand. Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest In Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses, offers a funny, tragic and true look at the threats famous bodies have faced through the ages: furta sacra (theft of saints’ bodies), relic collectors, phrenologists, and crazed fans. Come hear strange-but-true adventures of some of history’s most notable figures . . . after they kicked the bucket.

Lovejoy is a writer, researcher, and editor based in Seattle. She has worked on the Schott’s Almanac series and her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, The Boston Globe, The Stranger, and other publications.

When: Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 7 pm
Where: Washington Irving Chapel, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, 540 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591. Please note, the chapel is located at the cemetery’s main gate, 1/2 mile north of the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow.
Cost: Free!

Barnabas Collins Crypt in the House of Dark Shadows

Starring: Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall

The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Historical Board recently held a movie fundraising event at the Tarrytown Music Hall. We had a great turnout and plan to hold more great events in 2012.

House of Dark Shadows

House of Dark Shadows unleashes the 200-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins on his unsuspecting family and their neighbors. Released from his crypt by an inebriated groundskeeper, the undead Barnabas falls for a family governess who bears an uncanny resemblance to his long-lost love. Fangs flash and blood flows as the Collins family’s darkest secret are exposed in this 1970s cult classic based on the popular gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.

The movie was filmed on location in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. The Lyndhurst estate served as the fictional Collinwood mansion, ancestral home of the Collins family and its super- natural intruders. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery’s receiving vault appeared as the crypt of Barnabas Collins.