Gavião Cemetery

Maranhão · Brazil · Cemetery

On Friday nights Ana Jansen's glowing carriage rolls out of the cemetery, drawn by headless horses – accept her candle and you are marked for death.

From the Cemitério do Gavião in São Luís departs Maranhão's most feared legend. Ana Jansen was a fabulously wealthy and ruthless nineteenth-century matriarch, infamous for her cruelty toward the enslaved people on her estates. As punishment, folk belief condemned her to ride for eternity through the old town's streets in a glowing phantom carriage, drawn by headless horses and driven by a bloodied enslaved coachman – and on Friday nights the carriage leaves the cemetery. It may halt at any street corner, where Ana Jansen asks the way to the Gavião and offers a lit candle in thanks. Whoever accepts it wakes at dawn holding a human bone – and is marked for death.

FAQ

Where is Gavião Cemetery located?

Gavião Cemetery is in Maranhão, Brazil.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.