NEW YORK (AP) – Even if you don't believe in ghosts, walking through a graveyard can be a little spooky – especially in autumn as the trees lose their leaves, flowers wither away and light fades in the late afternoon.

But cemeteries can make fascinating destinations. Sometimes a few words on a tombstone can suggest a whole life story; sometimes you can find a famous name, a beautiful work of art, or landscaping worthy of a botanical garden.

"Many people find great peace and solace in visiting cemeteries even if their own relatives are not buried there," said Janet Heywood, trustee for the Association for Gravestone Studies. "Others come to cemeteries to enjoy the history and beauty of the monuments and gravestones and/or to experience the outdoors, the plantings, the landscapes of the garden cemeteries of the nation."

Here is some information about interesting cemeteries in Boston, New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Paris. Some host tours about their history or landscapes, and some offer themed events around Halloween.

BOSTON: The Old Granary Burying Ground was established in 1660, but it is most famous for its connections to the War of Independence over a century later. Here you'll find the graves of Paul Revere, who famously rode a horse in 1775 to deliver warnings about the British Army; victims of the 1770 Boston Massacre, including Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave believed to the be the first African-American killed in the war; and Declaration of Independence signers John Hancock and Samuel Adams.

NEW YORK: Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery dates to 1838 and was named a National Historic Landmark for its art, architecture, landscaping and history. Its scenic winding paths are lined with trees and ponds, and its stone gates house a colony of green monk parakeets. The more than 560,000 permanent residents include Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Louis Comfort Tiffany, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, along with many ordinary Americans, from Civil War soldiers to victims of the September 11th attacks. From Green-Wood's highest point, you can see the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan across New York Harbour and even spot the Statue of Liberty. The cemetery offers tours on a regular basis but also has Halloween events with tales of murder and mayhem on October 31 and November 1 at 1 p.m. Located on Fifth Avenue and 25th Street in Brooklyn; R subway train to 25th Street; http://www.green-wood.com.

NEW ORLEANS: If you're visiting St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans, you may want to bring an offering for the famous voodoo queen Marie Laveau. Visitors often leave cigarettes, Mardi Gras beads, flowers, candles and even money on her white Greek Revival tomb. St. Louis Cemetery is one of New Orleans' unique "Cities of the Dead", which boast remarkable architecture, history and traditions, including above-ground tombs to ensure that the graves are not be disturbed by floods. Other notable graveyards here include the spectacular Lake Lawn Cemetery and in the Garden District, Lafayette Cemetery. The website http://www.nolacemeteries.com has links and information on three dozen cemeteries around the city, and tour information is available at http://www.tourneworleans.com and http://www.saveourcemeteries.org.

LOS ANGELES: Star power is the ticket to immortality here. At Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery (1218 Glendon Ave.), you can pay your respects to Marilyn Monroe, Burt Lancaster, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, Dean Martin, Billy Wilder, Frank Zappa, Rodney Dangerfield and Truman Capote. Those spending eternity at the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills cemetery (6300 Forest Lawn Drive) include Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Buster Keaton, Liberace, Stan Laurel, Gene Autry and David Carradine.

Of course the most recent celebrity burial to grab headlines took place just outside LA, when Michael Jackson was buried in the Great Mausoleum at the Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale (1712 S. Glendale Ave.). You can enter the mausoleum, but you can't see Jackson's tomb. Instead, you watch a 10-minute show about the mausoleum's stained glass replica of Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Last Supper'. Another LA graveyard, Hollywood Forever (6000 Santa Monica Blvd. next to Paramount Studios), is more tourist-friendly: They sell maps to the stars' graves and sometimes even show movies. Hollywood Forever's denizens include Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. DeMille and Johnny Ramone.

PARIS: Phantoms of famed souls, some doomed to early death, fill Pere Lachaise cemetery, in a quiet, shady neighbourhood on the eastern edge of Paris: Frederic Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and Edith Piaf – and of course Jim Morrison. Mystery still shrouds the death of the lead singer of The Doors, who was just 27 when he died in Paris in 1971. Some speculate he overdosed in a nightclub, others say he was found dead in his apartment bathtub. Although teenage girls no longer sing and dance while downing bottles of wine by his gravesite, it still attracts numerous tourists. They have to visit by day, though; overnight surveillance officers have replaced unruly nighttime visitors.