Corpse and Robbers

A first hand, eyewitness account of grave robbing

Photos and reporting by G&C Corpsepondant Talisa Brown

The evil and death that surrounds the mysterious Cementerio Puerto Rico is magical. The private cemetery has been there for over 200 years. The oldest grave that I found belongs to a little girl who died at the age of 4 in March 1801.

Legend has it that the original owner of the cemetery was a madman. He wanted to be in control of not only the living, but also the dead. He made a pact with a local voodoo witchdoctor and, according to locals, soon went insane. He then murdered his wife and, when the blackness of his voodoo possession cleared, panicked and killed himself. They’re both buried in the middle of the Cementario Puerto Rico. To this day, no one knows what deal the voodoo witch doctor and the cemetery owner made—but this ghostly madman is sometimes seen wandering the cemetery, searching for souls.

“Are you real or a ghost?” one of the startled workers said as he saw me perusing the gravestones.

“I think I’m real,” I told him. The worker, Rafi, was the only one who could speak English and so, for the next two weeks, he became my guide to the dead. I met up with Rafi every morning as he opened the wrought iron gates. As soon as I stepped into the cemetery, I felt embraced by a world of death and sadness. I asked Rafi how often he saw the dead walking and his answer startled me: “Every day.”

Read this chilling account with disturbing graver robbing photos in the new  issue of Girls and Corpses Magazine. Order now here