According to tradition, only good Christians were buried in a churchyard; those damned to go to hell were buried elsewhere, typically alongside a road, a "crossway." Included among the damned was anyone who had taken their own life since that was considered a mortal sin. A common method of suicide in Shakespeare’s time was drowning oneself in a river, which would then serve as the grave when the body was not recovered. The spirits of the damned were particularly careful to get back to their graves before dawn because they would have been ashamed to be exposed in the light of day.