A Raccoon’s Hidey-Hole in a Stately Mausoleum

Raccoon resting in the gable vent of a mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

When I was walking past this mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery last month–a mausoleum that I had passed many times over the past two years–I did a double take, because I thought there was a sculpture in the gable vent that I hadn’t noticed before. What I thought was a stone carving was instead a cute creature–a rascally raccoon enjoying the sun on a mild day from the safety of his hidey-hole in a stone structure, lacking context, is akin to a wee mammal’s mansion. Or, repurposing William Gibson’s aphorism, the raccoon “finds its own use for things.”

Raccoon resting in the gable vent of a mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York