Why is everyone in the underworld so obsessed with Emily? Why do they all treat her as someone special. I mean, Victor, the first human to ever enter the underworld has Emily's story shoved down his throat from the minute he gets down there.

Immediately, what came to my mind was that her vow to wait for her true love to set her free unknowingly set a curse upon the land which caused all who died after her to inhabit the underworld. Her being the first, the dead saw her as a leader, with both her and the rest of the dead oblivious to her causing each of them to be there. As she awaited her true love, the rest of the underworld passed down her story.

I thought this would be easily debunked, however, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The movie takes place in the mid to late 1800s. Most of the historical references only date back to about Napoleon, who died in 1821. With lord Barkis being 41 when the movie takes place, and how early people would get married in the 1800s, 25 years could have easily past since Emily’s death, which lines up with our timeline.

The other thing that always confused me was why there were so few people in the underworld. With this theory, it makes sense, as the people who live in the underworld are only those who have died in the nearby area in the last 25 or so years. This also lines up with the woman who says her husband has been dead for 15 years.