“The meaning of life is that it stops.” — Franz Kafka

I’ve always felt most grateful to be alive when I walk among the dead. That might sound strange, but bear with me!

Step through a lychgate into a church yard or descend a narrow stone stair into a catacomb or ossuary, and the pace and the noise of the world falls away. In these quiet spaces—graveyards beside ancient churches, sprawling Victorian cemeteries, underground chambers decorated with bones—I consider the shortness of life, memento mori, remember you will die, and it puts life into perspective. I can hear my own heartbeat more clearly, and the stories begin to rise.

<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_3364"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-3364">Paris catacombs, Photo licensed from Canva</figcaption></figure>

In this episode, I’ll take you with me to a handful of places that have shaped some of my stories and travel memoir. If you’ve read my ARKANE thrillers or the Brooke & Daniel series, you’ll recognise many of the names.

But whether you’re here for research, reverence, or simple curiosity, I hope you’ll find something to spark your imagination and, perhaps, shift your perspective on these places that so many stay away from.

• What’s the difference between a graveyard, a cemetery, and an ossuary?


• Why am I so fascinated with these places?


• Sedlec Ossuary, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic


• Paris Catacombs, France


• Kensal Green Cemetery, London, England


• Crossbones Graveyard, Southwark, London, England


• St Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans, USA


• Capuchin Catacombs, Palermo, Sicily


• Archbishop’s cadaver tomb, Canterbury Cathedral, England


• Mass grave in the Dohány Street Synagogue, Budapest, Hungary


• Graveyard of St Mary and All Saints, Boxley, Kent

First, some definitions.

What’s the difference between a graveyard, a cemetery, and an ossuary?

A graveyard is usually a burial ground attached to a church, whereas a cemetery is a stand-alone burial area, for example, found near a crematorium, or a public burial ground.

An ossuary, from the Latin ‘ossos’ for bone, is a container or chamber specifically to hold bones. It can be as small as a box, or as large as a chapel. In Europe, there are many ossuaries where the bones are used as decoration.

Why am I so fascinated with these places?

The Latin phrase memento mori—remember, you will die—has never felt morbid to me. It makes me grateful that I am alive on this day, to have the life I do, to love the people I love, and to be able to write and create. Life is indeed short, and I want to make the most of it.

I find myself drawn to these places not out of some macabre fascination but because they strip away illusion. In a world obsessed with preserving youth and denying mortality, there is something profoundly honest about these places that honour death.

The dates etched in stone. The names that no one remembers anymore, even this of the wealthy who thought they were important in life. The weathered gravestones, some leaning or sunken so deep they’re practically swallowed by the ground. All these make visible the brief span of our lives. This clarity energises me. I’m 50 as I write this, definitely middle-aged. If I am lucky to have decades left, how will I spend them? What stories will I tell? What experiences will I have? What challenges will I face?

This relationship with death might be unusual in the modern west, but for most generations, and for many cultures even right now, it is a completely normal part of life. As Franz Kafka said,

“The meaning of life is that it stops.”

Perhaps it is our modern sensibility to avoid discussing death that is the more unusual. I hope to change that a little today, so come with me on a journey of the dead.

Sedlec Ossuary, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

It was a freezing winters day back in 2015 when we took the train from Prague to visit the Sedlec Ossuary, also known as the Bone Church. I’d already spent hours researching it online and used it in my ARKANE thriller, Crypt of Bone, so I knew what to expect, but even so, it really is a macabre place.

You enter a low arch and enter the ossuary, where candlelight glints off thousands of bones arranged in different ways. Alternating skulls and femurs are strung like garlands between larger decorated sections, a chandelier of pelvises, skulls and long bones hangs down, a coat of arms made from smaller bones and vertebrae is nailed to one wall.

<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_670"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-670">Sedlec Ossuary, Kutna Hora. Photo by JFPenn</figcaption></figure>

It’s really quite a small place with human skeletal remains everywhere you look, estimated to be between 40,000 to 70,000 people.

Back in the 13th century, a monk brought back earth from the Holy Land and sprinkled it on the land here, which made people want to be buried at Sedlec. With the Black Death and many wars, thousands more were interred, and later the Gothic church was built and the bones moved to accommodate more dead.

In 1870, a local woodcarver, František Rint, organised the bones, arranging them into the artistic designs you can see today. He even signed his name in bone on one wall, with a flourish of femurs and rib bones. I’m not sure if they’re his own bones, but that would be fitting.

You can get to Sedlec on a day trip from Prague, either independently by train, or there are day trips through GetYourGuide.com and other providers.

Paris Catacombs, France

Paris above ground is the city of light and romance; Paris below is the empire of death. You need a ticket and when you enter in your time slot, you walk down a spiral staircase into cool darkness, and then along tunnels lit with bulbs before finally entering the catacombs themselves, probably the most famous of ossuaries with over six million dead in the network of underground tunnels and ancient quarries.

In the late 18th century, Paris faced a public health crisis as overflowing cemeteries threatened to contaminate the water supply. The city authorities decided to move the remains beneath the city, resulting in today’s catacombs.

There are markers in each section to denote which cemetery the remains came from, and at the first entrance, there is a warning on the stone: ‘Arrête! C’est ici l’empire de la mort.’ (“Stop! This is the empire of death.)

<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_3054" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-3054">Bone arch in the Paris Catacombs, Photo by JFPenn</figcaption></figure>

The bones are mostly neatly stacked and arranged, creating what feels like an infinite corridor of skulls and femurs, all illuminated by dim, flickering lights. There are some sections made into designs of shields and even a heart of skulls.

You need a ticket to enter The Paris Catacombs, situated near the Metro station of Denfert-Rochereau. There are lots of stairs and it’s quite a walk if you are not used to it. Book well in advance since they have limited time slots at www.catacombes.paris.fr

The exit, with its gothic-themed gift shop, pops you out at a different place and I found myself quite disorientated as I emerged into the sun once more.

Kensal Green Cemetery, London

If you enjoy a peaceful walk around a beautiful park with ornate tombs and memorials, Kensal Green Cemetery in London is definitely worth a visit. You don’t need a ticket and it’s free to access.

It was established in 1832, and is one of London’s Magnificent Seven cemeteries. These were conceived in the Victorian era as park-like burial grounds to alleviate overcrowded churchyards and combat health hazards.

But it’s a world away from what we might build as a public burial ground today, with beautiful memorials, tombs above ground similar to Père Lachaise in Paris, and statues of angels, broken columns, Egyptian obelisks, and other ‘memento mori’ markers. The Victorians understood that grief needs physical expression, tangible places to visit, stones to touch. When I walked there, I was inspired to use it as a setting in my crime thriller, <a href="https://jfpenn.com/deliriumcrime" rel="noopener" target=