Cemetery

A cemetery is a tract of land utilized specifically for the purposes of burial and interrment of the dead; also known as a graveyard. Traditionally, the deceased are placed inside of a coffin and lowered six feet into the ground, which is then covered by layers of dirt. A stone marker called a tombstone is placed over the foot of the grave commemorating the individual who has died, usually with an inscription bearing their name, their date of birth and their date of death. Some may choose to have themselves and/or their loved ones interred in above ground tombs called crypts or mausoleums. In the ancient world, it was not entirely uncommon to find massive plots of land filled with structural tombs for the upper caste members of society. Such city-wide mass graves were also known as necropoleis.

In television fiction, cemeteries appear most often in the horror and crime drama genres. In crime procedurals, funeral services are used as a stepping stone for the overall plot, which usually involves the untimely death of an individual, which in turn, governs the actions of the show's main protagonist(s). In such cases, Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies as well as forensics science teams investigate the cause of death, sometimes even to the point of filing a court order to have a body disinterred.

In horror fiction, cemeteries are good settings for plots involving vampires, ghosts and zombies. On the WB Network television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the fictional town of Sunnydale, California boasted numerous cemeteries, in which young, recently-turned vampires would crop up with great abundance. Because of this, the show's eponymous protagonist, Buffy Summers, would patrol these graveyards as a matter of course.