The Unsavory Grave-Diggers

[Gwydion]

THE UNSAVORY GRAVE-DIGGERS
"The great thing is not to be afraid. Now, between you and me, I don't want to hang--that's practical; but for all cant, Macfarlane, I was born with a contempt. Hell, God, Devil, right, wrong, sin, crime, and all the old gallery of curiosities --they may frighten boys, but men of the world, like you and me, despise them. Here's to the memory of Gray!"

It was by this time growing somewhat late. The gig, according to order, was brought round to the door with both lamps brightly shining, and the young men had to pay their bill and take the road. They announced that they were bound for Peebles, and drove in that direction till they were clear of the last houses of the town; then, extinguishing the lamps, returned upon their course, and followed a by-road toward Glencorse. There was no sound but that of their own passage, and the incessant, strident pouring of the rain. It was pitch dark; here and there a white gate or a white stone in the wall guided them for a short space across the night; but for the most part it was at a foot pace, and almost groping, that they picked their way through that resonant blackness to their solemn and isolated destination. In the sunken woods that traverse the neighbourhood of the burying-ground the last glimmer failed them, and it became necessary to kindle a match and reillumine one of the lanterns of the gig. Thus, under the dripping trees, and environed by huge and moving shadows, they reached the scene of their unhallowed labours.

They were both experienced in such affairs, and powerful with the spade; and they had scarce been twenty minutes at their task before they were rewarded by a dull rattle on the coffin lid. At the same moment Macfarlane, having hurt his hand upon a stone, flung it carelessly above his head. The grave, in which they now stood almost to the shoulders, was close to the edge of the plateau of the graveyard; and the gig lamp had been propped, the better to illuminate their labours, against a tree, and on the immediate verge of the steep bank descending to the stream. Chance had taken a sure aim with the stone. Then came a clang of broken glass; night fell upon them; sounds alternately dull and ringing announced the bounding of the lantern down the bank, and its occasional collision with the trees. A stone or two, which it had dislodged in its descent, rattled behind it into the profundities of the glen; and then silence, like night, resumed its sway; and they might bend their hearing to its utmost pitch, but naught was to be heard except the rain, now marching to the wind, now steadily falling over miles of open country.

They were so nearly at an end of their abhorred task that they judged it wisest to complete it in the dark. The coffin was exhumed and broken open; the body inserted in the dripping sack and carried between them to the gig; one mounted to keep it in its place, and the other, taking the horse by the mouth, groped along by wall and bush until they reached the wider road by the Fisher's Tryst. Here was a faint, diffused radiancy, which they hailed like daylight; by that they pushed the horse to a good pace and began to rattle along merrily in the direction of the town.

They had both been wetted to the skin during their operations, and now, as the gig jumped among the deep ruts, the thing that stood propped between them fell now upon one and now upon the other. At every repetition of the horrid contact each instinctively repelled it with the greater haste; and the process, natural although it was, began to tell upon the nerves of the companions. Macfarlane made some ill-favoured jest about the farmer's wife, but it came hollowly from his lips, and was allowed to drop in silence. Still their unnatural burden bumped from side to side; and now the head would be laid, as if in confidence, upon their shoulders, and now the drenching sackcloth would flap icily about their faces. A creeping chill began to possess the soul of Fettes. He peered at the bundle, and it seemed somehow larger than at first. All over the countryside, and from every degree of distance, the farm dogs accompanied their passage with tragic ululations; and it grew and grew upon his mind that some unnatural miracle had been accomplished, that some nameless change had befallen the dead body, and that it was in fear of their unholy burden that the dogs were howling.

"For God's sake," said he, making a great effort to arrive at speech, "for God's sake, let's have a light!"

Seemingly Macfarlane was affected in the same direction; for, though he made no reply, he stopped the horse, passed the reins to his companion, got down, and proceeded to kindle the remaining lamp. They had by that time got no farther than the cross-road down to Auchenclinny. The rain still poured as though the deluge were returning, and it was no easy matter to make a light in such a world of wet and darkness. When at last the flickering blue flame had been transferred to the wick and began to expand and clarify, and shed a wide circle of misty brightness round the gig, it became possible for the two young men to see each other and the thing they had along with them. The rain had moulded the rough sacking to the outlines of the body underneath; the head was distinct from the trunk, the shoulders plainly modelled; something at once spectral and human riveted their eyes upon the ghastly comrade of their drive.
—The Body-Snatchers, RL Stevenson

An unearthed oakwood coffin, cemetery weeds, and a hint of booze.

In bottle: Mmmmm….the dark liquor and old wood combination is strong, rich, and heady,. This is exactly what I hoped for. The sharpness of the weeds, gives this lovely blend teeth. I’m in love already and it hasn’t touched my skin. Wet: it’s not quite as lovely as in the bottle, but close. I can’t think of a blend with wood this wonderful, and the booze is softer here, but still adds a key sweetness to balance the plants. It’s wonderful, androgynous, and strangely sexy. I can’t stop sniffing it. I want to roll around in it. Dry: Mmmmm… I swear it’s even better. The plants come into their own, adding a real autumnal feel. I can almost swear I smell nitre too, though I think that’s a fungus, so it likely isn’t. The woods only get richer and more lovely and the booze smoothes everything out. Sheer brilliance!

[edenssixthday]

This opens up with a heavy blast of warm, beautiful oak and a bit of earth and sweetness, which must be the booze. As it dries down on my skin, the earth note fades a lot and the wood note gets stronger and is given depth by that gorgeous booze scent. I have no idea what booze this is, but I would guess it's not scotch or whiskey, as they don't smell good on me at all, and it's definitely not gin, wine, or champagne. Beyond that, I have no idea what booze could be. There's a bit of greenery in the scent from the "cemetary weeds" note. It's fairly faint and gives the scent an even greater sense of earthiness. Overall, it's a really, really pretty, organic scent full of woods, sweet booze, and a nice bit of earthiness to boot. I'll definitely be wearing this one again.

[zankoku_zen]

Dark liqour, a blast of oak and hint of earth. It's very masculine. Hint of green on drydown - smells dark, mysterious, potent.

[strahlend]

When I sniff this on my skin I smell pine, I mean pine wood as opposed to pine cleaner. I'm getting a similar feeling from this as I do from Nocnitsa in the GC. After some dry down time the pine impression has faded and now it's sort of blended together and gives me a general sense of aged wood and slightly menthol-esque green herbs. Unfortunately I never get the smell of booze. My overall impression is very much Dark Green, I think it will be a great scent for winter.

 

*review above was from testing a decant, now I have a bottle and my impressions are pretty much the same except for that now I notice in the drydown I get an almost soapy sort of feeling. The only booze I can imagine being associated with this scent might be gin because juniper might be part of the weeds and forest greenery. It's kind of weird to smell soapy after putting on a scent called unsavory grave diggers.... not at all what I expected. This must be a personal chemistry issue though.

 

*another edit: My interpretation of this scent has changed dramatically. I don't know if it's a matter of the scent aging, chemistry, or my nose perceiving things differently after being exposed to more scents.

 

Most recent testing experience: it goes on kind reminding me of wood and chocolate (of all things) and almost goes into metallic/soapy dirt territory but then shifts wildly into a different direction and becomes a gorgeous slightly sweet evergreen resin blend, frankincense? I'm still not good at identifying specific resins, but that's what this is. Like Midnight Mass out in the forest. There's a warm and familiar spice in the dry down too, maybe the booze was bay rum?

Edited January 16, 2012 by strahlend

[femmefatale]

So I got this for dh but since he's busy with his video game and I want to smell it on someone dammit, I'm trying it myself.

Everytime I smell it I can't get over how realistic is smells! It really does smell like your outdoors, surrounded by dark winter greenery, getting your booze on. Something like brandy maybe? The booze seems to balance out the woods and greenery nicely and actually helps it to be a touch more wearable, without smelling like you've been starting the holiday parties early.

I'm surprised at how much I like this and I would love to see if I could track down a partial bottle.

 

 

[SophieCedar]

Wow.

In imp: dirt note.. booze. I'm intrigued... tell me more.

Wet: dirt, oakwood, dark booze with a slight vodka top note, and wet weeds. This is awesome and very realistic. Debating a bottle, as this simulates all the nights I've wandered around graveyards...

Drydown: wet weeds and a brandy note. Warm rich oakwood. Color impression brown red with dark starry skies.

 

**Amazing**

[MCS4096]

Ok, there has GOT to be a note here shared with Strangler Fig, a recently found GC love of mine. This blend goes on true to the idea-- wood and weedy, astringent greens and a hint of sweet booze (almost chocolatey?). I almost get a sense of chocolate/dirt which makes me want to experiment.. maybe combining Death Cap and Velvet? As time passes the biting green note swells... then turns into this beautiful, sweet and soft scent-- just like in Strangler Fig! Anyone else experience this similarity?! Eventually this is completely different from it's beginnings: a soft girly comforting scent. I enjoy both stages and the transition between the two so I'll no doubt pick up a bottle

[whisperstilled]

As a caveat on this review, I have a cold at the moment, but I am going to do my best with the nose resources I do have!

 

In decant: Earth, wood, and booze. Great so far!

 

Wet: Surprisingly soft. I was expecting something with a little more of a punch, but it's still really nice. I definitely get the weeds, the wood, and the dirt in the background, with the booze warming it up.

 

Dry: Rum, dirt, and wood. I'm not a huge fan of dirt scents, but the rum and the wood stay stronger than the dirt in the background and make a paradoxically clean and slightly boozy scent. This is definitely Halloween, but understated as far as spooky scents go. Really nice! 4/5

[angelicruin]

Boozy, woody, and just a little earthy. This is strangely working well with my skin chemistry.

[milo]

Wet, there is a definite dirt note here, along with what I thought was fresh floral, but is most likely fresh cut grass. The dirt note fades pretty fast, and its pretty much fresh grass on me now. I get no wood or booze to speak of. Still, I am surprised at how much I like this scent, it is fresh, airy and nothing at all fall-like or unsavory. This would be lovely in the spring, and I am contemplating a bottle.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This shouldn't work on me, but it does. Earthy usually means fail for me. In this regard, where an earthy or foresty blend that doesn't work actually smells amazing on my skin, I compare this to Incantation.

 

It's got this subtle sweetness to it. Perhaps the booze. Maybe it's the "weeds".

 

This does indeed come across as clean dirt.

Edited October 7, 2010 by Heavenlyrabbit

[Little Bird]

The Unsavory Grave-Diggers smells a lot like a darker version of Golden Priapus to me at first. It has a similar hint of misty pine and sweetness on my skin. The drydown is a little dustier and warmer, but not in a bad or too-dry way. And something about this smells masculine (but not musky or cologne-like) and rugged, but also very smooth and cozy. It makes me think of a sexy mountain-man coming into an old cabin and dusting the snow off his boots and pine needles off of his jacket as he settles down for a drink.

 

ETA: This has not aged well for me *at all*

The booze has a sour quality that reminds me of vomit, and then there's a mix of dry dirt and cedar... like throwing up alcohol in a forest preserve :/ it's a scrubber now.

Edited March 5, 2012 by Little Bird

[patina]

At first sniff, I get green bananas.

 

Applied, it's the cousin of Black Forest, Hemlock and other bpal forest scents. The trees aren't sharp, though. They're a medium intensity and sweetened by the booze. There's some dirt thrown in too. I like this, but a decant's probably enough.

[ami226]

On the skin:

 

Definitely smelling green weeds as well as something kind of sharp. Is that the booze? Very green and strong. Maybe a slight hint of dirt, but it isn't prominent at all to my nose.

 

Not my thing, but this is quite a nature/green scent.

[Schmoozy]

Wood, dirt and weeds. Earthy and a little airy. Pretty straightforward.

[aquazoo]

Woody and boozy. It ends up a bit fruity.

[Suu4LC]

Hmm...in the imp this is sort of a sour, dirt-y earth and greens scent. Kind of sharp. Yerghh.

 

Yeah on my skin this is like a sharp rotting woody scent and dirt and dying greenery. I don't really smell booze, but like some other reviews, I get sort of a sweet/sour fruity note instead. The more it dries, I get more of that fruity note O_o Very weird.

 

This faded INSANELY fast. All I was left with was like, a whiff that wood/fruit scent-but SO so faint. What a weird blend. Definitely not something I need a bottle of.

[surf-tormented]

It reminds me of Death of the Grave Digger from BPAL's Salon series, except a bit more boozy and a hint of something that smells minty on my skin. Then it fades into a weedy earth scent. Just like you went outside on a cool day and your clothes sucked in the smells of the house's gardens in your neighborhood.

 

It's a winner and could be worn during Halloween and well into winter.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

I would have never tried this unless it was frimped to me. In the imp, it's a dark green woody scent, like pine or balsam. Very masculine. This stays true on my skin, but now I smell a lovely brandy. There is something almost sparkling about this, and I kind of love it.

[filigree_shadow]

Oak and booze, and a hint of dirt. Some kind of greenery in there. It's very sweet. This is not my kind of scent at all, but I sorta can't stop sniffing it. I'm really surprised at how much I like it. Hunh. I can't really see myself wearing it, but I most definitely do like it. I think it's the sort of thing I'd really like as a room scent rather than a perfume.

[Kuba]

Oh well.

When I first got it in the mail I could smell dirt and weeds but then I let it sit for a couple of days. Now I'm left with pretty much boozy weeds. I was really hoping for that dirt or oakwood note to show up but to no avail.

The boozy note is not very alcoholic. It's sort of sweet like in Devil's Night. The weeds are nice, not too green but quite juicy.

 

Overall it's a pleasant scent but I was hoping for something more dirty and graveyard appropriate and not so... lively?

[ObliqueRed]

It really does smell like weeds on me! Super evocative of the intended image, but not my favorite for everyday wear.

[rayvn1]

I like the comparison to Nocnitsa (one of my favs). There's a chilly quality to this one for me, with sweet sweet booze in there as well. Booze on a cold night underneath a pine tree is what I get from this, and it's fabulous!

[Lucchesa]

The Unsavory Gravediggers is surprisingly wearable.  It's a boozy earth scent -- dirt and woods and something akin to bourbon.  I quite like dirt and graveyard scents, and the booze adds some sweetness and a little warmth to what is essentially a chilly blend.  Unfortunately, I don't get much wear length with this at all.