One of my Halloween posts from California in 2011.

WARNING SENSITIVE CONTENT

The city of Colma just outside of San Francisco has always been known to everyone as The City of the Dead. With an area of only 2.2 square miles; Colma holds some kind of record with 17 cemeteries. In 1900 San Francisco made a decision that no more burials were to be allowed as it was taking up space where people could pay rent. The city decided hands down that the non-rent paying dead could be shipped to Colma.

In 2010 two human hearts contained in jars were found partially buried in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery. There were two pictures of a young couple in their 20’s pinned to each heart in the jars buried side-by-side. The coroner’s office examined the hearts and agreed they had been surgically removed from dead bodies, autopsied, and also contained traces of embalming fluid.

There was residue from candles and cigars and so it was thought that it might have been some kind of ritual that might be connected with Santeria. Where is Ted Danson and Gary Sinise of CSI when you need them? Having read a lot about Santeria I knew it had nothing to do with the religion. Sometimes the media like to play spin-the bottle with the reading public.

They had been placed near the graves of children that had died way too young. A horrible fire had claimed the lives of those two children years ago as they had been trapped in a home built on hills too steep for firetrucks to reach them. The last time that anyone had seen them they were in the upper window waving frantically. Help did not come fast enough, and they tragically perished in the fire. The parents had been rescued but they survived with a heavy price. The had to live with the fact that they could just not reach the rest of their family in time.

The two families rebuilt their home, but things were never the same. Both longed for the sounds and sights of the children that would never return. In the years to follow they expanded their family. One family had a boy, and the other a girl.The young children told their parents they used to hear giggling in the dark of night on both sides of the duplex. Everyone was positive their deceased children were still with them in spirit.

Years passed and their precious young additions grew into adults. Both the grown children had taken a fancy to each other and married. In their vows they promised never to forget their sisters that had died in the fire. A few months ago the now elderly couple had a car accident and both did not make it. True to their marriage vows they were cremated and their hearts were removed and put in jars.

So late one night when these jars were found no one quite understood. They thought it was a crime, or a Santerian love spell, that maybe gone bad. No one knew that the family was finally together. The mothers, the fathers, the daughters, and the son. Two happy families finally together again. Sometimes in the gloom of the night you can see them all sipping tea and singing grand songs. For in their own world they are all one again.