A question of ethics - old abandoned graveyards

[DeepseekerADS]

I'm aware of a long abandoned graveyard, dating probably back to the early 1800's. There are as many as 50 grave sites featuring only ground stones as markers. Many of these are probably relatives of my family.

As a person of faith and ethics, I'm not a grave robber.

But then this is so very tempting.

Any thoughts on this?

 

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[Hillbilly Prince]

Well, I will add this: I was raised in th Church of Christ. The spirit is no longer in the body. The remains are an empty shell. But I understand the idea of respecting a grave. I would feel odd about digging in a grave, but then imagine the thrill of discovering an ancient tomb.
Also,I do not even want the graves of my departed dogs disturbed. Which may be odd I know.

 

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[gunsil]

The coins on the eyes of a dead person was not to keep them shut, they will not open on their own. The coins on the eyes goes way back to ancient Greece when coins were put on the eyes of dead people who were getting cremated, and the coins were meant as payment for the ferryman who rowed the spirit across the river Styx to the soul's final resting place.

Another thing about cemeteries, they are NOT forever. When I was in elementary school in the early 1950s they put in the first large housing development in our county on the site of an old farm. There was a cemetery there, maybe 80 graves, and we used to play army or cowboys and indians back in there and in the fields, the farm hadn't been in use for years and the buildings were falling down. When they put in the development they merely bulldozed the entire cemetery exposing bones and fragments of long rotted out coffins. Kids who lived the closest to the place even brought in human bones for show and tell. In this state all a developer had to do to bulldoze a cemetery on property that he purchased and now owned was to put a notice in the newspaper stating his intentions and if no relatives of those interred there came forth to claim any graves after a few notices the developer was allowed to destroy the cemetery. Progress must go on. Many towns have been built over native grave sites in this country for centuries, and in cities graveyards have been built right over. In Europe in many places people only get a grave for a time and then the bones are dug up and placed in catacombs so somebody else can be buried in the same spot since open land is so scarce. Like Hillbilly says, the Christian belief is that the soul leaves the body and the bones are a meaningless shell. After say 500 years I seriously doubt that many of our graves will still be intact as human expansion requires more space for living and growing food as has happened in areas of Europe. And as others have said, look at the thousands and thousands of graves built over or dug up in the name of science in Asia and Africa, and even here in the US. Is the grave of an ancient Chinese or Egyptian, or native American any less sacred than a modern Christian's resting place? Were these people heathens whose burial sites are not as "sacred" as modern people? For centuries many thousands of sailors have been buried at sea, does that mean people shouldn't detect in the ocean? The Zoroastrians, although not many remain have "air burials" where the remains of their dead are placed in towers for the vultures to devour, and even many folks in this country elect for cremation with their ashes spread to the wind or strewn in places they loved while alive. If your beliefs prevent you from detecting a cemetery, god bless you and follow your feelings, but please allow those who feel differently to detect old hidden and long forgotten sites in the woods without judging them, they are not really disturbing any souls or anybody.

 

[xr7ator]

Cheeseman Park in downtown Denver was a graveyard before it was a park.

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

My Dad and the other old folks I knew understood the coins on eyes to keep the lids closed. Those old time Christians would never dream of doing it to pay the ferry man. The tale's meaning apparently changed.
You made many excellent points. Disturbing an old grave? No. Disturbing the bones in a cave,grave, or even a crevice because of ancient artifacts somehow does seem different. I suppose each individual has to make up their own mind.

 

[No gold in NY]

If you have to ask, you know in your heart it is wrong. Have you no other places to detect?

 

[TooManyHobbies]

Just do it. If some bony fingers are wrapped around a shallow coin, let'em have it.

 

[cudamark]

I would have to say no. And in answer to those who say that you're not digging to the coffin but rather the top 6 to 12 inches... I say it really doesn't matter whether you're digging the surface or the depths... you're in a graveyard. Whether it's no longer in service or deliveries every day... it's a graveyard.

If you want to tidy the site then great... but as someone said I believe this shows your respect... (and then you detect away cause hey.... look at me... I showed respect for the dead before I desecrated their final resting site... yay me) if you're stooping to subterfuge to cloak your deeds then you should really be looking hard at your moral compass.

Just me... and yes I feel strongly about it. Too much of my history in the ground for me to want someone to come and poke around in it.

Tons of people have been buried at sea, both whole and cremated ashes......including my parents. I still detect there without any feeling of regret or desecration. It actually makes me think of them with fond memories. Same goes for parks, golf courses, and ball fields. People ashes have been spread everywhere you can think of. Who of us that detect the beaches often hasn't found a cremation tag? I've found several through the years. Just because I detect where someone's remains might be close by doesn't automatically mean disrespect. I'm not breaking into coffins or pulling rings off fingers.

 

[Nitric]

Just do it. If some bony fingers are wrapped around a shallow coin, let'em have it.

No...."get your rotten fingers off my coin!!!!!!" "By the way? Do you have any gold teeth that your not using anymore?"

yes, I'm jkg...And a little twisted.

 

[CASPER-2]

DO NOT - be afraid to hit around them especially at there entrances
I have found many a nice old coin near the entrances of very old cemeteries
you have to think of this - people gathered out side on foot - on horse back
or buggy or carriage back then - they pulled hankies from purses and pockets back then
they may have paid grave diggers or hearse drivers out front and probably number of other reasons
to lose coins or other objects - if it was muddy or snow on the ground - coins would be lost
if dropped even more so -
I will tell you I know of a woman that hit a small one out in the woods
with colonial stones and she found a rare Spanish gold coin from like the 1600s that had gold
wire bent around it and made into a stick pin - coin was very valuable and was like 4-5 ins deep
so not like she was "grave digging" - this was back in the 70s though

 

[rickn1715]

Of course it is taboo to knowingly dig up a grave. That being said, a grave of a union officer was found close to my neighborhood by some kids making a bmx bike track. It was a glass coffin, very close to the surface. His grave site was lost before and upon finding it the county gave him a reburial at the same site. They erected a monument for him too. I wouldn't say to dig up graves, but if you can find markers, you could be doing a service to the dead.

 

[Nitric]

Also, In small towns, people were buried in the back or outside of the grave yard in unmarked graves, for a few reasons depending on time and area. You will never know where any of those are until you actually dig into one, if it's shallow. My Grandfather worked for a township and any direction they went to extend the graveyard or clean up the surrounding area, they occasionally dug into shallow graves from what I remember him telling me(can't remember exact reason why they were finding them). They would pick up the bones, put them into a bucket or container, put them in a shed, and wait till they had a hole somewhere else to put them in. I've also heard "rumors" that some of those bones would even be put on top of other new burials when everyone left.

And i'm sure this wasn't the only place out of all the small towns in America that have done this. It just wasn't talked about a lot of times when they were found. The expansion of a lot of areas, probably ran into similar situations. We have no idea where every grave site is. If you were broke,a certain color, criminal, etc.....You may have been covered up in the back or behind in the woods unmarked or with little marking, depending on the time period.

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

But your a ghost so your opinion is suspect
Off topic but Tea(?) Leoni once asked on a sitcom the big question: How did Casper pass?

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I'd not looked back at this thread for pushing a week or so. And I've not gone to that site yet.

I WILL go there in the next week or so. I'll have my personal faith and not hit a grave. But I just have to go there now. Mom tells me that one of the graves = 79 of them, was a former Virginia governor.

 

[Nitric]

I'd not looked back at this thread for pushing a week or so. And I've not gone to that site yet.

I WILL go there in the next week or so. I'll have my personal faith and not hit a grave. But I just have to go there now. Mom tells me that one of the graves = 79 of them, was a former Virginia governor.

The history may just be the real treasure. Don't need a detector for that!

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I'll take my detector, and I'll also carry my camera for pictures I WILL post here! This is real history and it should be documented.

 

[Nitric]

I'll take my detector, and I'll also carry my camera for pictures I WILL post here! This is real history and it should be documented.

on a side subject....
At first I had a dislike for the youtube explorers. Trespassing, using drones over private property, etc.... But right now I'm starting to have mixed feelings on that. Some of the stuff that has been documented has already been lost to decay or whatever else. If some of those guys didn't bend the rules a little we would never have been able to see some things before lost to history.

A lot different than what your doing. But did remind me of the same idea. If someone doesn't show interest? It's lost.

 

[Truth]

One of my best gold ring days was in a cemetery.

 

[nagant]

This happened in my town so if you got a degree in anthropology your untouchable. But if you ran a detector there you'd be an untouchable. https://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/9781609383213/dubuques-forgotten-cemetery

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

This is something which bothers me. Someone finds something on their property or on public land and it is commandeered by people with degrees. How many places are off limits to ordinary folks who are driven by that innate curiousity to see and know.
At any rate the earth is our cemetery.

 

[tokameel]

Hey Deepseeker, You sure opened up a can of worms! But it is a good question. Look at the activity. Thanks