I just started writing up a Pathfinder scenario tentatively titled 'Dead Man Sitting'.

What would you do with such a title?

I will admit that part of my own inspiration was Manly Wade Wellman's stories of John the Balladeer. (Available as a free download or as Who Fears the Devil from Paizo in a print volume. Worth reading either way. ) Set in my Elf & Orc War setting.

The Auld Grump

Hmmmm, nothin?

Here's one of the images that inspired the scenario -

Captain 'Devil' Anse Hatfield.

Oh Devil Anse, oh Devil Anse, I know you mighty well,
You're six foot four of Satan, two hundred pounds of hell....

In history he becomes famous about a hundred years after the time the scenario is set - when one of his boys went to court Ran'l McCoy's girl.... It does not end well, not for more than fifteen years.

In this case though it is more the look of him. Now picture him dead, sittin' in a chair, gun still lyin' 'cross his knees, and his eyes slowly opening....

The Auld Grump, always give the PCs a chance to get themselves dead.

OK, I'll bite, based on the title only. (Fun challenge BTW)

Low level version: A large village suffering from hauntings; dead people are seen sitting on top of their graves a couple of days after they are buried. This is bad enough, but when the dead start turning up in town sitting in places they used to spend time, the villages call desperately for help. Of course, the unexplained disappearances that seem to be associated with these hauntings only compound the problems.

Higher level version: As above except the setting is a town or city and each recently deceased is found sitting on the freshly killed corpse. The sitting dead never show any signs of injury, other those associated with their original cause of death.

p.s. I do have separate backgrounds for each of these scenarios sorted out, just don't want to give away the plot.

One other:
Small town photographer is starting to act a little strange. She's the one that everyone goes to for graduation pictures, wedding pictures, portraits, everything. But it seems that she's gotten skittish about taking pictures, and won't deliver any of the prints that she has promised. She's also taken to doing research at the local historical society, especially looking through old pictures.

It turns out that every picture she has taken recently has someone sitting in the background. Not always the same person, but always sitting as for a formal portrait from 100 years ago.

The first pictures were just worrisome -- she obviously can't deliver the prints to anyone. But more recently the background figures have started looking more menacing, and occasionally appearing with weapons.

Most of the figures who appear can be found in the local archives. Many died violent deaths, some are associated with later hauntings...the backstory is something is threatening the local dead population, and they are looking for help before they are wiped out. The only way that they have found to bridge the gap is to communicate with the photographer through exposures.

Steve

There we go! I knew folks could take it in different directions!

Rederanging my schedule after a week of insomnia, less coherent right now than I would care to be.

The Auld Grump

Hmn on second thought I could craft my idea into a mini story from one of my fantasy sets.

Damn, Grump's "Rederanging" comment tripped a few neurons down a (very) different track:

In a truly equal-opportunity world, someone is trying to set up a photographic business catering to the post-mortal market named ... [you guessed it].
But someone/something is sabotaging their equipment and now the life threats have started to arrive.