A pointing angel statue in All Saints Churchyard, West Yorkshire, England

Graveyard Guardians

Welcome to Weird Wednesday! Today we’re strolling through a graveyard looking for guardians made of stone.

From angels to crosses to lambs, grief and art combine in fascinating ways in cemeteries. Today we’re going to talk about a subset of memorial statues that are said to represent guardians of the deceased (though interpretations of course vary).

But before we get started, let’s note that statues aren’t the only guardians in graveyards. Legends and folklore tell of humans or dogs buried alive at the opening of a new cemetery, tasked with becoming a ghostly guardian to all the souls interred there. Dogs with this task are called church grims. And you can listen to my horror story Kirkegrim on the podcast Creepy.

But statues make more concrete (sorry) guardians, and fall into a few types.

Lions

Whether the type you’d see in a zoo, or Chinese lion/dog hybrids, lion statues are often used as greeters and guardians, tasked with protecting both the living and the dead. The Chinese lions are often a male and female pair.

Photo: a stone lion at the grave of General Robert Patterson, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia

Angels

Angels are ubiquitous in cemeteries. When we’re talking about guardian angels specifically, we mean those holding a sword and/or pointing up. The sword gives quite a clear message, while an angel pointing up indicates they’re the guard of a soul on the way to heaven. The gaze of guardian angels may also point up to their destination, or down at the grave.

Photo: an angel with a sword at Cimetière de Sermentizon, Puy-de-Dôme, France

Soldiers

Soldiers make obvious guardians, and are often found not just on individual graves but monuments to a group of fallen service members. Usually a guardian soldier will face outward, watching for an enemy.

Photo: A soldier atop the King’s Royal Rifle Corps War Memorial, Winchester, England

Hooded Figures

These statues can be ambiguous. Sometimes thought to represent grief, they may also be intended as guardians. Certainly they have a mysterious and possibly frightening aura. Who knows what they may be hiding beneath their cloaks?

Photo: a hooded figure in Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

And now for some guarded writing prompts!

Watch our sleeping, guard our waking. Having a guardian in a graveyard begs the question: who or what are they guarding against? What enemy does the soldier or angel face? As a speculative writer, the question is wide open to anything that might creep into a graveyard: monsters, vampires, zombies, the devil, ghosts of the other deceased. But just what could those creatures do to a soul that’s already passed on, or the body they left behind? Obviously, there are various types of monsters made of reanimated bodies. Could a graveyard statue somehow protect against a zombie plague?

Fold thy wings round me. If we’re asking who?, we may as well ask where?. As in, does the guardian protect the body in the grave or the soul in heaven? Does a soul need protection in heaven? Is the guardian just for the journey between earth and sky? You could write a story where graveyard guardians are imbued with magic to help them protect the soul on its way to the afterlife. What kind of perilous journey would that be?

My guardian dear. What happens if a graveyard guardian statue is damaged? It could be vandalism, a hurricane, or just the ravages of time. Does the guardian become less effective? On a related note, what happens if the grave itself is damaged? Does the guardian know who they’re supposed to be guarding if the name on the headstone is no longer legible? And what if a grave is moved, but the statue is left behind?

Weeping angel. For a more literary story, the practice of putting a guardian at a grave is obviously an outpouring of grief. The person is gone, and nothing can be done about that. You could have a story where a bereaved loved one attempts to ease their own mind by putting a guardian at the grave. Perhaps the death was their fault, a failure to guard, or maybe they’re just trying to belatedly protect the deceased from something they couldn’t fight in life, like disease or accident.

Night at the Mausoleum. Obviously, we can’t ignore the horror story possibilities with statues of living creatures in a graveyard. Urban legends already exist for such statues, claiming that you shouldn’t look them in the eye, speak to them, or visit in the night, lest you see them walking around. How would your character react to the different types of statue coming to life? An angel with a sword or a soldier with a gun are frightening enough. But a lion? Or a mysterious figure in a hood?

Thanks for spending your Weird Wednesday here! Wherever you go next, be sure to guard your step.

Want to chat about the blog? Did you use one of the prompts? Hit me up on social media.

If you like folkloric ghost stories, feel free to check out my story The Train Ticket: A man finds himself holding a ticket to Hell after accidentally robbing a ghost train. You can read it in the anthology Queer Weird West Tales or listen to it on the podcast Tales to Terrify.

Sources & further reading:

Guardians of the Dead: A Grave Interest

Cemetery Angels: History, symbolism, and lore: Cemetery Insights and Beyond

Sword-bearing Angels: Gravely Speaking

Pointing Angels: Gravely Speaking

Cave Hill Cemetery Guide to Cemetery Symbols [pdf]