I live in the cemetery and listen to advice from the dead

A lot of people are terrified just hearing about a cemetery. For this is where I have spent most of my life. I manage and live at Cemitério da Saudade, in Machado, and take care of two more cemeteries in nearby cities. I’m also a gravedigger, a gardener and, once a week, I check in with women who visit prisoners at the region’s police station.

Working with the dead is a legacy of my father, who came to Machado to work as a gravedigger in the 1940s. The cemetery manager died. So my father took over and raised our family here.

I live among the dead, I’ve seen spirits and I hear voices

I spent most of the day playing on top of a fenced tomb. It functioned as a cradle. I used the space to do the same with my children. I put the children in the “pen”, with blankets and pillows, and they played and slept. Meanwhile, I ran to tend to the tombs or bury someone.

In town, I was one of the few kids not afraid of the cemetery. I once came across a gypsy woman who was humming among the tombs. She approached and said that my life would not be easy: I would get married twice, have a bunch of children and be happy. Then, she disappeared.

Her words were confirmed: I had 15 adopted children and three biological ones, ten of which have already died. My two husbands died and were buried in the cemetery where I live.

On another occasion, I found a woman with long hair and red clothes in my room. I realized that it was Hortencia, a friend of mine who had recently died. She approached, smiled, fluttered her skirt and disappeared. I searched the cemetery with police, but we didn’t find the woman!

Sometimes I hear strange noises around the house, especially at night. It seems that there is someone watching my steps… I pray and manage to sleep. I am non-practicing Catholic and believe in life after death. Due to my sensitivity, I became a healer. I also read people’s palms and interpret dreams.

I don’t want to hear about sadness at my funeral

I say, in a joking tone, that if someone I know cries at my wake, I’ll come back to pull his feet! I turned 70 and I have health to give and sell!

I doubt that anyone in my family will continue this work and the lifestyle that I learned from my father. But I think people need to believe that the dead just need rest. In my opinion, what we have to be afraid of is the living!

My routine is very hectic

I wake up at 5am, say my prayers, shower and open the cemetery gates at 6am. I go to the other two cemeteries I take care of once a week. I have lunch at 11 am and work until 6:30 pm, when I have dinner. Sometimes I bury people at night, because several families cannot spend the entire night at the wake. I don’t sleep before midnight, because I like to stay at the window watching the movement of cars in the street in front of the cemetery.

See the photo gallery of Maria do Cemetery