graveyards

[chuncho]

Are they taboo? Legal to md on? just poor taste? i have one 125 yrs old by my house. I remember someone mentioning it wasn't good to hunt them. -Ty

 

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[Subchaser]

Everything I've read says it's VERY illegal to detect/dig in any graveyard, if they're not Federally owned then they're privately owned....plus I think it's just bad juju anyway.

 

[ihatedirtbikes]

yea my family has a graveyard thats very old. ive dug around the fence line, but i just wouldnt feel right detecting over that actual resting places

 

[Dr. Syn]

Funny if an Archie does it it's science, but if someone here did it, it would be considered grave robbing.
I've got a trio of cemeteries on my farm, going back to the early 1700's and by the condition of the headstones further back. I'm probably the only living member of my family that knows they exist. Some of them are children.

I'd say leave em alone, they deserve the rest and respect.

 

[geezerdb]

Back in the very early '70's I went to work for a funeral home in a small town in SW Idaho one June. I figured to become an undertaker and make it big financially- this was before the reality set it that the big bucks for me would be many years away. One of my jobs was to drive the hearse, or coach as we called it in the trade. So I would be there when the casket was closed for the last time, and then guide the pall bearers as we usually rolled the casket out to the coach to be loaded as the pall bearers walked along side. Then the officiating minister or rabbi would ride with me to the cemetary. The point is, I usually was one of the last to see the dearly departed before we shut and locked down the lid. One very elderly lady died that summer, and when we had picked her up from her home where she had passed away, she was loaded with very expensive rings and a necklace or two. A few days later, after the service when it was time to close the lid, the daughters of the departed had a lively discussion about removing thier mom's jewelery before burial. One commented that there was easily $20K worth of rings, ear rings and necklace on dear mother and they should keep the goods. But they all soon came to the conclusion that they would just bury mom with her treasures and call it a day. So I shut the lid, wheeled the dear old grandma out to the coach and away we went to the cemetary. I suspected that when we arrived for the graveside service the daughters would have a change of heart about all the gold and all those jewels being buried for good and ask for me to re-open the lid so they could retrieve the goods.
But no, they stuck to thier plan and to this day there lies buried a considerable chunk of change in just that one grave.
A friend of mine was the grounds keeper and grave digger for a large municiple cemetary in a medium size town in NE Oregon. One day they went to open a grave for an incoming and dug into an unmarked grave of a Civil War veteren that had been forgotten. Buried with the old timer were his old Colt pistol, and his calvary sabre. He had what remained of a sash around his neck with medals from the Civil War, this is how it was surmised that he was a vet.
My point? Many old timers where buried with interesting things, valuable things. Now it is considered bad taste to rob graves of the recently departed, but if they have been gone long enough- then it is just archeology!

 

[Sandman]

Either way you look at it you are stealing from the dead. Definitely bad to detect cemeteries or remove things from caskets. Archie's are no better for doing this no matter how many years went by.

 

[jeff of pa]

add yawn gif here

 

[surf]

 

[Winter]

I do not agree with a lot of what said.
The dead is dead, and they wouldn't mind for their stuff to be taken away. I won't take anything from a recently buried body, of course, but if you find something of value to history, you might as well retrieve the goods and place it in a museum. I think that helping preserve the history is very important for the next generations.
However, many cemeteries are closed to this, for whatever reason they have, which is a shame. I can't imagine how many artifacts you could find in the grounds, whether buried with the body, or got there by chance.

 

[dieselram94]

I do not agree with a lot of what said.
The dead is dead, and they wouldn't mind for their stuff to be taken away. I won't take anything from a recently buried body, of course, but if you find something of value to history, you might as well retrieve the goods and place it in a museum. I think that helping preserve the history is very important for the next generations.
However, many cemeteries are closed to this, for whatever reason they have, which is a shame. I can't imagine how many artifacts you could find in the grounds, whether buried with the body, or got there by chance.

I seriously disagree with what you said "The dead is dead, and they wouldn't mind for their stuff to be taken away. I won't take anything from a recently buried body, of course, but if you find something of value to history, you might as well retrieve the goods and place it in a museum." REALLY BAD TASTE! I do agree however history should be preserved for all future generations. But this can be done without grave robbing...

 

[Winter]

I would not open a recently buried grave, but some stuff should not be lost. yet, history can be preserved in other ways, but in order to really what what was there, just a fragment, it would be best in my opinion. I also believe it serves the family, as that person could be remembered for long with their things preserved for ages to come. However, this is my opinion only :P

 

[dieselram94]

I would not open a recently buried grave, but some stuff should not be lost. yet, history can be preserved in other ways, but in order to really what what was there, just a fragment, it would be best in my opinion. I also believe it serves the family, as that person could be remembered for long with their things preserved for ages to come. However, this is my opinion only :P

Yup, your opinion. I think it is very disrespectful to the dead as they were buried with those items as they were significant to them and or their loved ones...

 

[jeff of pa]

in the case of Very old graves, don't ya think if the dead have a problem,
they have the Option of Haunting the person who took something ?

Sorry couldn't resist the sarcasm considering this type of post gets re asked
the day after the last thread about it stops getting responses.

and the answer always suggests the dead get upset.

 

[dieselram94]

in the case of Very old graves, don't ya think if the dead have a problem,
they have the Option of Haunting the person who took something ?

Sorry couldn't resist the sarcasm considering this type of post gets re asked
the day after the last thread about it stops getting responses.

and the answer always suggests the dead get upset.

A lot of times the living get pretty upset as well...

 

[Bum Luck]

I do not agree with a lot of what said.
The dead is dead, and they wouldn't mind for their stuff to be taken away. I won't take anything from a recently buried body, of course, but if you find something of value to history, you might as well retrieve the goods and place it in a museum. I think that helping preserve the history is very important for the next generations.
However, many cemeteries are closed to this, for whatever reason they have, which is a shame. I can't imagine how many artifacts you could find in the grounds, whether buried with the body, or got there by chance.

You can't make ANY assumptions for the dead. Period. Maybe you could start your own poll, and ask folks in the nursing home if they mind you digging them up for their valuables. Maybe you could hang around funerals, asking the next of kin for permission to dig up their mother or father "to preserve their rings for history".

I think that the rest of your statement is a slippery slope of rationalization leading to the pawn shop. JMHO.

I once asked my Danish cousin if anyone dug into the barrow mounds there. He said, "Oh, no! That is disrespectful."

Of course, they're a thousand years old, and a few have been dug into by archies, and more by grave robbers (like the name?), but for the most part have been unmolested.

There is little. if anything, buried in graves. And a lot less of "historic value".

Nothing will shut down MDing faster than some bonehead digging up caskets, or even digging in graveyards.

 

[dieselram94]

You can't make ANY assumptions for the dead. Period. Maybe you could start your own poll, and ask folks in the nursing home if they mind you digging them up for their valuables. Maybe you could hang around funerals, asking the next of kin for permission to dig up their mother or father "to preserve their rings for history".

I think that the rest of your statement is a slippery slope of rationalization leading to the pawn shop. JMHO.

I once asked my Danish cousin if anyone dug into the barrow mounds there. He said, "Oh, no! That is disrespectful."

Of course, they're a thousand years old, and a few have been dug into by archies, and more by grave robbers (like the name?), but for the most part have been unmolested.

There is little. if anything, buried in graves. And a lot less of "historic value".

Nothing will shut down MDing faster than some bonehead digging up caskets, or even digging in graveyards.

I agree completely...
Well said!!

 

[Dr. Syn]

I just want to hear the explanation you give the authorities when they catch you in the act.

 

[DiggItUp]

Look, if the graveyard is on private property, and your your property or you have permission, I guess you could do it. I wouldn't exhume bodies but I mean if the graves are very old I guess you could MD on it... I mean you probably wouldn't give anything good because for people to drop things, there had to be a lot of people traffic, so a cemetery probably wouldn't have any good stuff on it.

 

[ChrisNJ]

Arent dead people typically buried several feet underground? Uncle buried last week certainly was. Isnt the original poster not talking about typical detecting in the top 8 inches or so of top soil? I know I would not be digging down several feet anywhere, but in particular around graves. Anywho having said that there is a local graveyard that has a long grassy area void of any tombstones outside the fenced graveyard which I detected with good results, actually had the Pastor of the church wave at me :-P

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Not sure what part of it puts out hobby in a bad light and gives it a bad name is so hard for some to understand.....

Every time this topic is brought up it does not end well which is why it usually gets locked...

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