Headstones Everywhere!!!

[N.J.THer]

Miser's graveyard post and cryptodaves reply made me think about the different places I've come across headstones and some places are rather strange.

The strangest has to be the one that was located in the flea market parking lot when I was a kid. Now the flea market is a movie theater but the headstone is still there. Rumor has it that the woman buried there inspired the song "Brandy" by the band Looking Glass.

Read more about it and see the pictures through this link.

http://www.weirdnj.com/stories/_cemetery04.asp

So where is the weirdest place you have come across a headstone?

NJ

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

Foot of the stairs of a second floor staircase that led into the backyard of a house I lived in from 1975 to 1980. It was inlaid as the sill at the foot of the stairs and covered a cistern where the porch roof gutter drained. No idea how it got there. It was face down and illegible but old. Still there I would imagine.

 

[cryptodave]

Just the other day I stopped by a new Lowes. There is a man made pond with a road running next to it thats about 1~2 feet lower than the ground (where they made the cut for the road). The area between the edge of the pond and the road is about 6~7 feet wide. There is 5 gravestones, one is a CW soldier's grave, that sit about 2 feet from the road, facing the road... So obviously the dead's feet are only about 6 feet from the bottom of the road.... Now I have to think about that every time I go there...

 

[Old Dog]

Next to the big Cemetery here in town there is a fellow who does engraving on headstones.
When he makes a big enough mistake to reclaim it he sells the stone to a local stone mason who will cut it up and use it in his work.
Several Large Stone Faced buildings come to mind as a place where the unsuspecting public walk past headstones and pieces of them everyday.

OD

 

[Noodle]

The landing stone at the bottom of my swimming pool ladder. ha! I think there's another one out by the tractor, too. We had a neighbor who used to make the headstones out of concrete for the poor folks around who couldn't afford any marble or granite. He didn't charge much, maybe $10-15, but even at that, sometimes the family wouldn't come and pay for the headstone and pick it up. So, he recycled them. There's a bunch on (in) his shop floor (concrete), and we got a couple for stepping stones. We put the name and date side down, of course. -Noodle

 

[bill gent]

have to drop a E mail to my best friend his brother bill was an original member of the group
I'll get back to you when i have an answer

 

[Parkerized]

We've got a Civil war soldier buried in the Plane parking area of our airport. It's got a 1' tall, little picket fence around the area.
Parkerized

 

[MEinWV]

There are some random headstones out there that are not marking graves. Some were bought and paid for by relatives and for whatever reason, were just put in the cellar or under a crawlspace. Some are actually misspelled and scrapped, to be used in odd projects here and there. Still others were practice stones for student carvers and even display stones for headstone companies and salesmen.

It can still give one the heebie geebies when a stone is discovered in a non traditional location, such as the in the floor of a cellar.

 

[LadyDigger]

When I was first stationed at NAS Oceana in 1978...I was told about a grave on the runway (or at the end of it)....it belongs to a person that lived in the house that is (or was) used by the CO of the base on Oceana Blvd. (The house is still standing and in use). When I first heard this story, I was told it was called the BELL HOUSE....but I think they have a different name for it now....I live here, but haven't been in that area in so long!

I have not been on the runway to see this grave marking...but I have seen pictures others have taken....can't remember who it was...but it's a female....

 

[Arakronn]

In 2001 we were building a bridge over a set of RR tracks (running through town). The paper mill nearby had a large plot of land we were excavating for fill for the bridge approaches. One morning, one of the trucks dumped a large, cut stone. Rolled it over and it was a head stone. Everyone started to panic and look around for more possible headstones (and found some). First thought...we were digging up an old cemetery that had been buried years ago. We had to suspend construction, call the local officials, call the state archies...yada, yada, yada. I was wondering what we would have dug up next?
Turns out, that plot of land was used by the local monument shop as a dumping ground for their mistakes.

Found an old headstone in a river under a rural bridge in 2004. We were never able to track down the "owner's residence" or any next of kin. The stone was left at the town hall for further investigation.

Dug up human remains while we were laying storm sewer in 2003. Found several 100 yr. old coffin nails (age based on style of nail), wood shards, but no rough-box. Found all the bones except the skull and pelvis (the two primary bones the archies use to determine gender and ethnicity). After about a week of combing the area (I found one shoe intact and the heel from the other), it was determined that it could have been a case of "let's bury grandpa near the creek under his favorite tree at the back of the yard".

 

[miser]

Years ago in West Virginia. I was walking through the mountains, about three miles from any road, house, or field, and near a small waterfall, and found a standing headstone sunk deep in the earth. I couldn't make out a name but it had been there a looong time. I couldn't find any others.

 

[artemis moon]

My significant other's family went to visit a great aunt who lived in a retirement home for nuns. This place was very old. On the outskirts of the property, there was a cemetery where they buried the "fallen sisters"..those who couldn't make it into the official burial ground for the nuns, which was located behind the chapel. In any event, during this visit, "dad" noticed a pile of dirt with some headstones mixed in next to the "bad nun" burial area. For some reason, he felt compelled to return in the middle of the night and take a headstone. This was 25 years ago. The stone (unmarked) is now in the backyard. The funny part of this story is that on and off over the last 25 years, they have complained of an odor of cigarette smoke in the house, even though no one smokes. I'm sure that the "bad nun" must be responsible.