Walking through Granary Burying Ground in January was a memorable experience in a way I can’t really define. It’s just one of those places that you feel.

The burying ground doesn’t look like it did when it was established in 1660. The neat(ish) rows of headstones were much more haphazardly placed, but thanks to the morbid Victorian era obsession with death, they spent a lot of money and time organizing the dead.   

Many of our most influential colonial figures rest here, including John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and the parents of Benjamin Franklin.  Paul Revere and Mother Goose (Elizabeth Goose) are also here. 

Boston has its fair share of haunted buildings and locations and the Granary Burying Ground is probably one of the most popular for claimed paranormal activity. One such entity is the ghost of James Otis Jr. His claim to fame is that he coined the phrase “Taxation without representation is tyranny!” He is also a good lesson in why you should take cover during thunderstorms because he died from a lightning strike while watching a storm from his friend’s home. 

Another notable reason for the belief in the paranormal and negative energy associated with this cemetery is that there are mass graves on the premises. One contains the victims of the Boston Massacre, including the body of Crispus Attucks, who was the first to be killed in the attack, along with five others.