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Psychic Sarah Pays Her Respects
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| Added On: |
January 01, 1970 - 12:00 AM UTC |
| Last Modified: |
January 01, 1970 - 12:00 AM UTC |
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| 's Trip |
A Visit to Rod Serling's Grave
Recently I had a job interview in the hospital where Rod Serling died (Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY). The day prior to the interview my friend Curtis, who manages an arcade, offered me fortune telling machine that his business was disposing of. I couldn't see storing the entire machine (which had been mostly gutted for parts already) in my home. I just took the fortune teller mannequin out of it as a future Halloween prop. Her name, according to the machine she was pulled from, is "Psychic Sarah". I put her in the back of my car to take home. I forgot to take her out of the car that night and she was waiting in the backseat the next morning when I got in the car to make my three hour trip to Rochester for the interview.
I had decided that on the way back from the interview I was finally going to stop at the grave of Rod Serling in the village of Interlaken. For the past three years I've been driving within half a mile of his grave and had never stopped to see it. I followed the information provided on FindAGrave.com to find Serling's grave. The site had me looking for Skillet Road. As it turns out Skillet Road is called "County Road 150" on the street sign. Once I deduced this, finding the cemetery was easy.
As I pulled into the cemetery, with Psychic Sarah riding in the back of the car, the radio began playing The Doors song "People are Strange". I found it fitting atmosphere for a visit to The Twilight Zone creator's grave. I wondered if Mr. Serling would have got a kick out of it.
FindAGrave lists his grave as being in plot Two O. The lots were listed with alphabet rather than numbers. I searched for O. After not having any luck I went to the cemetery chapel and located a listing of the interred. It listed Rod Serling as being buried in plot 1044. I then referenced a cemetery map on the wall and found that 1044 was in lot G.
After locating lot G I began looking for a grave with veteran markers and an American flag, like I knew Rod's would have. While there were plenty of other vets buried there, it still cut a large number of memorials out of consideration. Not far from the edge of the cemetery I finally located Rod Serling's grave.
His memorial stone is pretty reserved in appearance for a celebrity. It only lists his military service beyond the usual information of name, birth date and death date. I noticed that there were a number of items left on Serling's grave, presumably by visiting fans. I had noticed similar tribute offerings in the past while visiting the graves of H.P. Lovecraft and James Dean. Unlike the items left at the graves of Lovecraft and Dean, Serling's tributes were mysterious and not as obvious as dark cosmic poetry or toy race cars.
The items included a severely worn baseball, a decrepit stuffed bunny, angels, Canadian coins, a tiny basket of Rottweiler figurines with what looked like an amethyst, fake flowers and some plain looking rocks. As curious as I was to the meaning behind these tributes, I did not disturb them from where they were lain.
After I finished, I felt like I hadn't completed the experience yet. So I went with what seemed the most logical thing to do in the situation. I fetched Psychic Sarah from the car and brought her over to visit Rod Serling. I was tempted to leave her as another tribute item, but I figured it would just result in her getting thrown in the trash quickly by the caretaker and possibly cause the cemetery to enforce policies that would spoil visits for other fans. She's a little too big to be left behind though I'm sure it would have given the caretaker a story to tell.
Once Sarah finished paying her respects we got back in the car. The radio began playing The Who's "I Can See for Miles" from the beginning of the song the moment I started the car. Psychic Sarah and I drove off together as the sun slowly set. At the time of this writing I still don't know if I got the job I interviewed for. Psychic Sarah might know, but she's not telling. |
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Psychic Sarah being chauffered to Lake View Cemetery.
From: Tom G |
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Fans leave gifts on Rod's gravestone.
From: Tom G |
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Mysterious items left in memorium to Rod Serling.
From: Tom G |
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Psychic Sarah pays her respects to the creator of The Twilight Zone.
From: Tom G |
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