Graveyard detecting. Yea or Nay

[gunsil]

Ok, my two cents. No, Negative, Not even. When you pay for a cemetery plot you own the lot and pay for the upkeep of it. No body else has the right to give permission to dig on it.
As for the 6 ft. deep, a lot of people in past years were not buried that deep. I have a son that died when he was 4 1/2 years old and my mother is buried in the next lot at our church cemetery. We go pay our respects every Sunday after church. I also do some volunteer work in cemeteries. If I ever saw anyone metal detecting in our cemetery, the few coins would not be worth the whooping they would receive. There are plenty of places to detect without defiling graves.

Well sir, you sound like a fine Christian and I am sincerely sorry for your loss. What do you say when I went to a 1700s church that has been in continuous use and asked the pastor for permission to hunt the grounds for old coins and he told me that sounded like fun and that probably among the 1700s grave stones might be a good place for me to look since back in the 1700s and 1800s folks had picnics at the church and kids played among the old grave markers? Nobody still lives in the area whose forbears are interred there and the pastor himself suggested it might be a good place for me to hunt. I don't hunt modern cemeteries, likely little of interest there, but years ago I was told by pastors and ministers of 1700s churches that I could hunt the whole grounds which sometimes or often had 2-300 year old graves on the premises. Regarding personal injury to others, that is a felony and not a Christian thought. Much more gracious to simply inform somebody that their behavior is inappropriate and not allowed at your cemetery. Jesus taught grace and forgiveness, not vengeance. There ARE cemeteries that have allowed hunting.

 

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[Jason in Enid]

Speaking of property rights, are you SURE you are BUYING a plot of ground? You hold the deed? Is that deed passed on to your heirs? I assume that means you are paying the property taxes on the land then. Who pays the property taxes after you die? Most cemeteries are private property but they are sole property of the cemetery association, or the church, or board of directors in charge of the place.

 

[Noah_D]

Well sir, you sound like a fine Christian and I am sincerely sorry for your loss. What do you say when I went to a 1700s church that has been in continuous use and asked the pastor for permission to hunt the grounds for old coins and he told me that sounded like fun and that probably among the 1700s grave stones might be a good place for me to look since back in the 1700s and 1800s folks had picnics at the church and kids played among the old grave markers? Nobody still lives in the area whose forbears are interred there and the pastor himself suggested it might be a good place for me to hunt. I don't hunt modern cemeteries, likely little of interest there, but years ago I was told by pastors and ministers of 1700s churches that I could hunt the whole grounds which sometimes or often had 2-300 year old graves on the premises. Regarding personal injury to others, that is a felony and not a Christian thought. Much more gracious to simply inform somebody that their behavior is inappropriate and not allowed at your cemetery. Jesus taught grace and forgiveness, not vengeance. There ARE cemeteries that have allowed hunting.

A lot of people don't seem to be disagreeing with the legality of it. It seems to be an issue (1) with the morals of it and (2) with what an onlooker would see, and think, about metal detectorists.

I personally don't want to dig up graves, but I also agree with everyone just because I want onlookers to get a positive view of the hobby. Sort of how I want other people (and most already do, but the few that don't sometimes leave a bad rep) to fill their holes and not leave trash strewn about. If everyone thinks were a bunch of gravediggers, mess makers, and litterers, they generally won't be huge fans of the hobby.

 

[powrsurg]

When I first started detecting in the 80's, old cemetery's were known as some of the best places to go. I had permission from quite a few pastors to detect amongst the stones. I found a lot of coins this way. I was always told that you will be finding what people dropped there, not grave goods. Fast forward to present day, it's now looked down upon. Maybe the internet had something to do with that.

 

[Force_of_Iron]

I gotta say no as well, because you can never know if what you found was accidentally dropped, or deliberately left there. If what you find was deliberately left there, it wasn’t put there for you to find, it was left for someone else.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

That's a good point

 

[trdking]

Big Fat NAY

 

[Force_of_Iron]

There is a BIIIIIIIG difference between opening a tomb to find out more about a civilization we know little about..................................and digging up some guy your grandmother knew! LOL

Mike

Ok, the topic and your name made me think of this.



It's been on my mind but rereading the threads and seeing you there made it a must post.

 

[T.C.]

There is a BIIIIIIIG difference between opening a tomb to find out more about a civilization we know little about..................................and digging up some guy your grandmother knew! LOL

Mike

No difference at all. It's still legalized grave robbing. The same applies to Native American "digs."
To claify "Native American digs," I mean known burials and cremation sites. If you are digging and come across human remains, personally, I would stop and rebury what was dug up.

 

[T.C.]

BTW, if you folks are willing to metal detect a cemetary, what other low-life things would you do for a few silver coins? Have some respect...

 

[Force_of_Iron]

BTW, if you folks are willing to metal detect a cemetary, what other low-life things would you do for a few silver coins? Have some respect...

I wouldn't go to the cemetary but I would try my hand at exotic dancing (strictly for women of course) I draw the line there. Now that I think about it, only young women.

 

[trdking]

I wouldn't go to the cemetary but I would try my hand at exotic dancing (strictly for women of course) I draw the line there. Now that I think about it, only young women.

I guess that would qualify as a low life thing for a few coins....VERY FEW

 

[fistfulladirt]

Hunt where ya wanna hunt, don't let others' morals affect your judgement, it is up to you. There are plenty of folks who detect in old cemeteries and plenty who don't. It is illegal to hunt most historical sites but permission can be had for hunting cemeteries, there are no laws against it. I have watched a couple of old cemeteries get bulldozed for housing developments, bones all over the place, nobody cared they did that. In Europe where there are more people than land they lease gravesites and when the lease is up, the bones get exhumed and put helter skelter in catacombs and a new body is buried in the same hole. These folks are also Christian for the most part and it is just normal for them. Y'all are welcome to come detect over my burial site anytime you like. Maybe I'll even get my sister to bury a few silver coins a few inches deep.

Yep, before this issue was ever discussed on web forums, hunting cemeteries was more common than not.

 

[fistfulladirt]

BTW, if you folks are willing to metal detect a cemetary, what other low-life things would you do for a few silver coins? Have some respect...

Hunt a Coinstar machine?

 

[Force_of_Iron]

Hunt a Coinstar machine?

In my experience you are more likely to witness a zombie in the graveyard than find anything of worth in a coinstar machine.

 

[gollum]

Ok, the topic and your name made me think of this.

View attachment 1765538

It's been on my mind but rereading the threads and seeing you there made it a must post.

...............a Balrog. LOL

TC,

Sorry, but you are wrong again. There are still members of almost every native tribe that can inform us about their culture and history. There is no extant member of any sort of PreDynastic Egyptian Culture. That culture and language were entirely lost until we were able to read the hieroglyphics thanks to the Rosetta Stone and many items found in tombs. Also, taking items from tombs and placing them in museums prevents tomb robbers from stealing them and selling them on the black market into private collections. A lot of information about long dead civilizations has been found when black market collections have been found out and examined.

A great example of that would be the "Calendar Stone" from Hieroglyphic Canyon in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. In the 1920s, the Sacaton Pima Tribe showed this stone to a Mormon named James Lesueur. Lesueur had some professionals look at it, and they agreed that the large glyph on the stone was exactly like the Mayan Calendar.



Some people had already started using the stone for target practice, so the Mormons moved the 8860 pound stone to the Mormon Temple in Mesa, Az. It is safe and can be viewed by anyone.


So in essence......go ahead and detect in graveyards. No hair off my chin. You would have to live with it, not me.

Mike

 

[fistfulladirt]

In my experience you are more likely to witness a zombie in the graveyard than find anything of worth in a coinstar machine.

you must have missed my 30-silver Coinstar haul from last January, so I confess. I’m a low life.

 

[Force_of_Iron]

No I didn't miss it but I remember seeing pictures of the jackalope and Santa growing up as well and I gave up on those being real also. I had less disappointments with those than I did the local coinstar machine.

 

[CreakyDigger]

Yes, with permission if possible. Often the grass in a graveyard is the oldest untouched land in the area. But get permission first, and offer to leave anything related to the graveyard, such as GAR emblems, of which I've found many.

 

[fistfulladirt]

No I didn't miss it but I remember seeing pictures of the jackalope and Santa growing up as well and I gave up on those being real also. I had less disappointments with those than I did the local coinstar machine.

You’ve never seen a real jackalope? My grandpa had one on the wall of his den!

 

[Force_of_Iron]

You’ve never seen a real jackalope? My grandpa had one on the wall of his den!

Just the postcard. I also had to one with the cowboy riding the giant rabbit.