In a small cemetery beside a Baptist church in Florida, Massachusetts, a lone parking meter stands among the rows of stones and flowers.

This parking meter marks the final resting place of Gordon “Gordy” Burdick, who passed away in January 2003. The unconventional headstone was chosen by Gordy before his death. His wife, Joyce Burdick (d. 2011), is also buried there and commemorated by the…

Set into the red-brick exterior of Gumlösa Church—one of Scandinavia’s oldest surviving stone churches—this weathered relief is both an artifact of ambition and an accident of history.

Carved in the mid-16th century, the monument was intended as an elaborate tomb slab for the Swedish nobleman Birger Nilsson Grip, a powerful regional lord and governor, and his wife Brita Joakimsdotter Brahe,…

At a cemetery in Malmö, a knee-high rounded rock marks one grave. Its Swedish inscription states that a stonemason was “killed by this stone” on 22 June 1880 and ends simply: “Friends raised the stone.”

Sven Peter Andersson was 46 when he died while helping move a heavy block from a barge at Malmö’s harbor. When a crane chain snapped, the stone fell back and killed him instantly. His coworkers…

Visitors to the Arlington National Cemetery looking to visit the gravesite of Admiral Peary will appropriately find themselves at the farthest edge of the complex. Unexpectedly, however, one must walk to the far southwest end to reach the memorial for the famous North Pole explorer.

Robert E. Peary's ambitious expeditions to be the first documented person to reach the North Pole were deemed a…

Annie Springthorpe was born on the 26th of January 1867, married on the 26th of January 1887 and then died on the 26th of January 1897. So records the monumental Springthorpe memorial at Kew Cemetery, erected by Annie's grieving husband following her death ten years into their short-lived marriage.

Dr. John Springthorpe was professionally accomplished and utterly devoted to his young wife before…

Tucked inside Magnolia Cemetery—Katy’s historic burial ground dating back to 1900—sits one grave that has inspired more shivers, dares, and late-night detours than any other place in town. The cemetery itself reads like a map of Katy’s early history, with headstones belonging to founding families and Civil War soldiers lined up beneath old trees. But it’s the resting place of Barbara Snyder, a…

In the shadow of a Victorian church lies an 11th-century Norse grave marker, the last tangible whisper of Viking raiders who once terrorised the bonnie banks.

Tucked among the weathered headstones of Luss Parish Church, this peculiar hump-backed boulder is easy to mistake for an eroded rock or forgotten grave. But look closer at its curved silhouette and you're gazing at a miniature Viking…