It’s often said that you can tell a lot about a place and its people by the way they bury their dead, and Vermont is no exception. In fact, it’s exemplary. The cemeteries of the Green Mountain State and the legends that surround them prove that beautiful landscapes and quirky tales can coexist.

It’s a state deeply tethered to its past, a place that’s at once sparsely populated, statistically non-religious, and historically hesitant to over-develop. In other words, Vermont has had ample time and space to bury heaps of folks in famously unorthodox fashion, within cemeteries that have gone untouched for centuries. 

As the graveyards age, tales of the deceased spill over the cemetery walls into Vermont’s very architecture. From covered bridges, to watch towers, to farmhouse windows, the buildings themselves retain eerie tales of state specters. Up here in the vast wilderness, there’s none to judge—but there’s plenty to fear (Wampahoofus included). Welcome to Vermont.