The Storybrooke Graveyard is a Storybrooke location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the seventh episode of the first season.
History
After Regina casts a curse, she and many Enchanted Forest residents are taken away to Storybrooke. Near the town graveyard, inside a mausoleum, the tomb of Regina's father rests. In truth, it serves as a decoy to cover a set of stairs beneath the tomb, which she uses to access her vault. ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," "Welcome to Storybrooke")
Eighteen years later, Regina goes on to adopt a baby boy who she names Henry. Despite learning that he is the child of the curse savior, she grows to love the boy as her own. Ever fearful of his biological mother taking him away, Regina passes by the graveyard into her vault and drinks a potion to forget everything she previously learned. ("Save Henry")
Following Emma's arrival to town, the curse begins to weaken, and Sheriff Graham regains some memories from his prior life, in which he lost his heart. When he consults Henry about it, the boy gives him information about the vault, where the Evil Queen stores the hearts she took from people. Although skeptical about Graham's story, Emma teams up with him after they both recognize a wolf and chase it to the graveyard. Breaking into the mausoleum, the pair search for his heart, but do not find it. Regina, arriving to pay respects to her father, angrily confronts them about trespassing. Outside, Graham rejects Regina's offer to take him home, and he permanently breaks off their relationship, which has been sexually motivated. Regina blames his sudden rejection on Emma, who smugly reveals Graham kissed her. As the two women get into an altercation, he stops them and leaves with Emma. Realizing Graham is no longer under her control, Regina goes into the vault and ends his life by crushing his heart. ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter")Wishing to rescue Emma and Mary Margaret after they fell into a portal, Henry tricks Regina into meeting him at the diner for lunch, but once she leaves her office, he enters to grab her keys. Passing through the graveyard, he goes into Henry's mausoleum, unveiling the hidden stairs, and goes down to the vault room. Regina, realizing Henry was lying, calls David to check up on the boy. David gets to the vault in time to save him from a box of vipers. ("Lady of the Lake")
Upset at Regina's inability to send him home, Dr. Whale gets revenge by breaking into her vault, stealing a heart as well as Daniel's preserved corpse, and resurrects the man. Following a therapy session with Dr. Hopper, a perplexed Regina sees Daniel. Unsure if it's a hallucination, she cuts past the cemetery and into the vault; discovering Daniel's body missing. ("The Doctor")
Cora, intending to ruin her daughter's reputation, masquerades as her and glamours a deceased person to give the impression that Regina killed Archie. With the whole town believing she murdered him, Regina disappears to her vault. The next day, at the graveyard, the townspeople gather for Archie's funeral as Mary Margaret delivers a eulogy to honor him in death. Unknown to them, the deceased person they laid to rest was magically glamoured by Cora to look like Archie. ("The Cricket Game," "The Outsider")
After striking a deal with Mr. Gold to help locate his son, Cora obtains information from him about Regina's house, which she snoops through. Finding an arts and craft hand-print that Regina's son Henry made, Cora uses it to take on the boy's appearance. She then walks into the cemetery and enters the vault calling for Regina, who naively believes her son has come looking for her. ("In the Name of the Brother")
In a struggle to obtain the Dark One's dagger, Mary Margaret forfeits the weapon to Cora and Regina to protect Johanna, but her friend is still killed in the aftermath. Heartbroken, Mary Margaret buries her in the graveyard and adorns her tombstone with snowdrop flowers. Considering Cora a menace that must be stopped, she vows to kill her, as a dismayed David looks on. ("The Queen Is Dead")
During a battle with Cora and Regina in the pawnshop, Mary Margaret sneaks off to the vault. There, she uses a candle to curse Cora's heart and then tricks Regina into returning the heart to its rightful owner. In doing so, the candle curse will cause Cora to die while Mr. Gold's life is saved. After manipulating Regina into taking the heart to Cora, Mary Margaret sits outside in regret over her actions. Finding her, David learns what she did, to which both rush back to the pawnshop to stop Regina. ("The Miller's Daughter")
Since trading bodies with Henry, Peter Pan plots to make Storybrooke the new Neverland. Going home with Regina for the evening, he examines the storybook and sees a photo of the vault in the graveyard. During the night, he unleashes his Shadow, who wreaks havoc upon town by killing a resident. Using Regina's love for Henry to his advantage, Pan begs her to protect him. She then barricades herself and Henry inside the vault while the others deal with the shadow. However, Pan succeeds in knocking out Regina and making off with the curse scroll. The real Henry, in Pan's body, proves his true identity to Emma. With her, Belle, David, Mary Margaret and Mr. Gold, they rejoin Hook, Neal and Tinker Bell, who are waiting outside the vault. Unable to open the door, Mr. Gold works his magic to unseal the entrance. While they wait, David and Mary Margaret advise Emma about moving on with life and not worrying too much, though she is tired of never catching a break from magical problems. Once the door is open, they discover an unconscious Regina with the curse scroll missing. ("The New Neverland")
In the graveyard, the group listen to Mr. Gold's plan to stop Pan from enacting the curse. Since Regina is the original curse caster, she must undo Pan's curse by destroying the scroll. To accomplish this, Mr. Gold proposes they switch Henry and Pan to their rightful bodies so Henry can give the scroll to Regina. A strong magic outlet is necessary for the spell, so Tinker Bell mentions the Black Fairy's wand could work. She, David, Hook and Neal go to retrieve it from the nuns as everyone disperses. The shadow, having heard the entire conversation, flies off to report everything to Pan. ("Going Home")Visitors
Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- There are headstones in the graveyard with inscriptions that date at least as back as 1837,[1] although the graveyard was created by the Dark Curse in 1983. ("The Queen Is Dead")
Props Notes
- There are grass carvings on Archie's headstone,[2] fitting for a former cricket. ("The Outsider")
Set Dressing
- Some of the gravestones say:
In Loving Memory of Norman Crane |
[image begins]atherine Fox Born |
Knut Helmut Schmidt 1914 - 1945 |
Remembered Always CYRIL HARGROVE |
- Another gravestone says "Olson," "Anthony."[5] ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter")
- One of the headstones is engraved with the name "Jack Sylvane,"[6] a character from the show Alcatraz, which Once Upon a Time producer Robert Hull also worked on. ("A Tale of Two Sisters")
- One of the headstones in the graveyard says Berryl Dendrus.[7] The same prop was used in the Underworld cemetery in "Labor of Love."[8] ("The Savior")
- One of the angel statues in the graveyard[10] can also be seen in Eudora's garden in "Greenbacks."[11] ("The Savior")
Filming Locations
- For the episodes "A Tale of Two Sisters" and "Breaking Glass," the scenes in the graveyard were filmed in a real graveyard, located at North Vancouver.[12]
- Vancouver's Stanley Park doubles as the Storybrooke graveyard for the episode "Shattered Sight."[13]
- Robert Burnaby Park in East Burnaby doubles as the graveyard for the scene outside the heart vault in "The Bear and the Bow."[14]
- The funeral scenes in "Last Rites" were filmed on an outdoor cemetery set built at the Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, British Columbia.[15]
- A park in Steveston Village doubles as the graveyard for the episode "The Savior."[16]
- Burnaby's Central Park doubles as the graveyard in "Heartless"[17] and "Wish You Were Here."[18]
Goofs
- The location of the heart vault changes throughout the series. For example, in "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,"[19] "The New Neverland"[20] and "Kansas,"[21] there is a slope on the left-hand side of the building, but in "The Queen Is Dead,"[22] a different shot from "Kansas,"[23] "The Apprentice"[24] and "Shattered Sight,"[25] this terrain is flat. The trees around the vault, also differ between these episodes.
- The headstones around the heart vault, change dramatically throughout the series.[26] In addition, sometimes there is a statue on the right hand side of the vault,[27] sometimes there is a statue on both sides of the vault,[28] and other times, there are no statues there whatsoever.[20][21]
Appearances
Once Upon a Time: Season One | ||||||||||
"Pilot": | "The Thing You Love Most": | "Snow Falls": | "The Price of Gold": | "That Still Small Voice": | "The Shepherd": | "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter": | "Desperate Souls": | "True North": | "7:15 A.M.": | "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Skin Deep": | "What Happened to Frederick": | "Dreamy": | "Red-Handed": | "Heart of Darkness": | "Hat Trick": | "The Stable Boy": | "The Return": | "The Stranger": | "An Apple Red as Blood": | "A Land Without Magic": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Two | ||||||||||
"Broken": | "We Are Both": | "Lady of the Lake": | "The Crocodile": | "The Doctor": | "Tallahassee": | "Child of the Moon": | "Into the Deep": | "Queen of Hearts": | "The Cricket Game": | "The Outsider": |
Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
"In the Name of the Brother": | "Tiny": | "Manhattan": | "The Queen Is Dead": | "The Miller's Daughter": | "Welcome to Storybrooke": | "Selfless, Brave and True": | "Lacey": | "The Evil Queen": | "Second Star to the Right": | "And Straight On 'Til Morning": |
Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Three | ||||||||||
"The Heart of the Truest Believer": | "Lost Girl": | "Quite a Common Fairy": | "Nasty Habits": | "Good Form": | "Ariel": | "Dark Hollow": | "Think Lovely Thoughts": | "Save Henry": | "The New Neverland": | "Going Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears |
"New York City Serenade": | "Witch Hunt": | "The Tower": | "Quiet Minds": | "It's Not Easy Being Green": | "The Jolly Roger": | "Bleeding Through": | "A Curious Thing": | "Kansas": | "Snow Drifts": | "There's No Place Like Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Four | ||||||||||
"A Tale of Two Sisters": |
"White Out": |
"Rocky Road": |
"The Apprentice": |
"Breaking Glass": |
"Family Business": | "The Snow Queen": |
"Smash the Mirror": |
"Fall": | "Shattered Sight": |
"Heroes and Villains": |
Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears |
"Darkness on the Edge of Town": |
"Unforgiven": | "Enter the Dragon": | "Poor Unfortunate Soul": |
"Best Laid Plans": | "Heart of Gold": | "Sympathy for the De Vil": |
"Lily": | "Mother": | "Operation Mongoose Part 1": |
"Operation Mongoose Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Five | |||||||||||
"The Dark Swan": | "The Price": | "Siege Perilous": | "The Broken Kingdom": | "Dreamcatcher": | "The Bear and the Bow": | "Nimue": | "Birth": | "The Bear King": | "Broken Heart": | "Swan Song": | |
Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | |
"Souls of the Departed": | "Labor of Love": | "Devil's Due": | "The Brothers Jones": | "Our Decay": | "Her Handsome Hero": | "Ruby Slippers": | "Sisters": | "Firebird": | "Last Rites": | "Only You": | "An Untold Story": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Six | ||||||||||
"The Savior": | "A Bitter Draught": | "The Other Shoe": | "Strange Case": | "Street Rats": | "Dark Waters": | "Heartless": | "I'll Be Your Mirror": | "Changelings": | "Wish You Were Here": | "Tougher Than the Rest": |
Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Absent |
"Murder Most Foul": | "Ill-Boding Patterns": | "Page 23": | "A Wondrous Place": | "Mother's Little Helper": | "Awake": | "Where Bluebirds Fly": | "The Black Fairy": | "The Song in Your Heart": | "The Final Battle Part 1": | "The Final Battle Part 2": |
Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
"Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Archive | Appears |
"A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Archive | Archive |
Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
"Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
Archive | Archive | Archive | Archive | Absent | ||||||
"Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
Absent | Archive | Archive | Absent |
Other Appearances | ||||||||||
|
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.