Merry Cemetery offers visitors grave art, dark humor

SAPANTA, Romania - Death isn't always tragic, at least not in this Romanian cemetery, where the dead beguile visitors with tales of their lives.

The Merry Cemetery in the northwestern village of Sapanta is a collection of more than 1,000 elaborate wooden Orthodox crosses etched with colorful epitaphs and childlike drawings.

There are few secrets in this small community and whatever flaws someone had when they were alive are turned into "grave art" when they die.