Music In The Cemetery

[kevjohn]

A tourist in Vienna is going through a graveyard and suddenly he hears some music.

No one is around, so he starts searching for the source. He finally locates the origin and finds it is coming

from a grave with a headstone that reads "Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827".

Then he realizes that the music is the Ninth Symphony and it is being played backwards!

Puzzled, he leaves the graveyard and persuades a friend to return with him. By the time they arrive back at the grave, the music has changed. This time it is the Seventh Symphony, and like the previous piece, it is also being played backwards.

Curious, the men agree to consult a music scholar. When they return with the expert, the Fifth Symphony is playing, again backwards. The expert notices that the symphonies are being played in the reverse order in which they were composed, the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th.

By the next day the word has spread and a crowd have gathered around the grave. They are all listening to the Second Symphony being played backwards. Just then the graveyard's caretaker ambles up to the group.

Someone in the group asks him if he has any explanation for the music.

"I would have thought it was obvious" the caretaker says incredulously.

"He's decomposing."