Whenever Friday the 13th rolls around, questions arise surrounding one of the more ominous sites on campus: the Foss Hill graveyard. Erected in 1837, the cemetery has inspired many of the University’s commonly-held myths and misconceptions.

Nestled between Foss Hill and the West College (WestCo) dormitories, students have always been intrigued by the graveyard. Some take photographs, others find the area a perfect spot to study, and some avoid the spot all together.

Originally called “Wesleyan’s God’s Acre” when the University was a Methodist institution, the cemetery was created as a space where students could reflect about nature, the future and their role in the University’s history.

In the August 1925 issue of “The Wesleyan University Alumnus”, Charles Collard Adams, class of 1859, published an article on the graveyard.

“Here might wind wide, graveled walks; the favorite resort of the solitary student, as he cons the dire problem, or traces out the difficult sense, or indulges his imagination with scenes of future bliss,” he wrote. “An emotion of pathos is experienced as one discovers that twelve Wesleyan students lie buried in the college cemetery.”

According to David B. Pott’s book “Wesleyan University, 1831-1910. Collegiate Enterprise in New England”, “Gods Acre” was originally intended to be a verdant path for students to study. In 1832, the plot held a collection of partridge trees; it was not until 1838 that the woodland was converted to a cemetery. The cemetery was intended to be a place of solace in life and in death. In addition to students, the cemetery also holds presidents, faculty and their families, according to a plan of the Foss Hill Cemetery, written in March 1981.

Of the students buried there, about half were international students hailing from Canada, Nova Scotia and China. Fu-Sheng Chang ’20 and Diu Gieng Wong ’21, both from China, died as undergraduates at the University.

Their deaths struck a chord with Chinese Professor Xiaomao Zhu, who also made the move from China to attend Wesleyan as a graduate student in Anthropology. Recently, Zhu’s friend Yuan Mao P’83 traveled to campus to visit Chang’s grave. Mao became interested in the grave after he discovered that Chang had attended his own high school, Tsinghua University in Beijing, albeit during a very different time. Curious about his fellow alumnus, Mao wanted to document Chang’s interment for the Tsinghua alumni magazine.

There are few details mentioned about the lives and deaths of Chang and Wong in past yearbooks. Zhu guessed that the bodies were buried on campus, because it would have been too great of a challenge to ship the bodies back to China.

“I would think that Chinese people on campus were very special,” Zhu said. “They were very different from the other students. It was probably very hard for them to mingle. Their deaths really should be memorized in a special way, maybe that’s why they are buried on campus.”

Zhu makes an effort to ensure her students are aware of the University’s Chinese legacy.

“There are so many Chinese students on campus right now, but probably very few realize that there were Chinese connections with Wesleyan long ago,” she said. “There has been a history that Wesleyan has educated Chinese students, and Chinese students have contributed to Wesleyan in many ways.

The graveyard is also the source of many of the University’s most widely circulated myths. One popular myth claims that the cemetery inspired Joss Whedon ’87 to create “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” While Whedon himself has since debunked the myth, the story continues to be told on campus tours.

“We say that Joss Whedon lived in the WestCo Up- Four dorm,” said Georgia Flaum ’11. “Although it’s just a rumor that the cemetery was the inspiration for “Buffy,” we like to pretend it is true anyway, even though we know that it’s not. I’m sure on some subconscious level it influenced him in some way.”

The myth obviously appeals not only to prospective students, but also to current students, who relish in the idea that they lived next to what served as inspiration for Buffy’s creator.

“I’m a Joss Whedon fan,” said Tamar Glatman-Zaretsky ’12. “Even though it’s a fable, I like telling the story anyway. It’s a part of Wesleyan history.”

The most recently buried is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Philip B. Brown ’44. While it is still possible to be interred in the graveyard, the University now requires an elaborate petition process. Permission must first be granted by the University president, who then submits a request to the Board of Trustees to make the final decision.

Many students question whether there are still bodies buried beneath the tombstones at all, since rumor has it that in the 1960s, a group of students dug up the graves. Director of Physical Plant Clifford Ashton seriously doubted the possibility.

“I assume that people are still buried there,” Ashton said. “I have not heard any story that students had unearthed bodies in the sixties.”

Ashton further explained the importance the area held for the school, emphasizing that it was a place to be respected.

“The graveyard is part of the history of Foss Hill.”