I'm pretty sure I spent hours of my childhood holding my breath. Each time I spotted a cemetery on the horizon, I'd quickly suck in a deep breath of air, filling my cheeks like a chipmunk loading up on nuts before the winter. 

Slowly the pressure would build as I kept my lips tightly sealed, willing the air in my lungs to stay in place until our car had safely passed the tombstones and I let it all out in a violent gust of warm breath. 

For this I blame my older cousins who had — in the sort of trick older cousins play on younger cousins — convinced a young and impressionable me that breathing in and around a cemetery increased your risk of sucking a ghost right down your throat. 

Was it ridiculous?

Of course. 

Whether you believe in other worldly beings or not, I think we can all agree that they've got better things to do than take up residence in the lungs of prepubescent girls. 

My gullibility aside, there is something all those years of holding my breath outside the walls of local cemeteries taught me: The resting places of our dead are not to be treated like any old place in town. 

This is particularly true in the month of October when cemeteries seem to draw out folks looking for a little holiday-themed fun. 

Living near one, I can certainly see the appeal of a graveyard. Cemeteries can be the perfect places to sit with one’s thoughts, something my own child has been known to do over the years. They're filled with the sort of people who will not judge or interrupt your musings. Walking through the cemetery near my home tends to soothe my soul, and I've been known to wander among the grave markers, wondering at the lives lead by the people represented by each. Who were they? What did they do? What were their fondest wishes and biggest dreams? 

Some religions even incorporate cemeteries into their Halloween-timed ceremonies, taking congregants into graveyards to mark the days of Allhallowtide. They worship among those who have gone before, honoring those who have left us. 

Cemeteries are special places filled with special people. 

They're unlike any other places in the community.

The stories they hold could take your breath away.