silver dollars over eyelids of a deceased person

[stgauden]

I heard that back in the 19th century, it was common for people to be buried with a silver dollar over their eyelids. Has anyone heard of this?

 

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[jeff of pa]

Yes I'v heard of it.

As a Child my father used to tell me of the Practice.

I Don't know exactly what era it was most popular.

If it wasn't an Urban Legend.



This Dosn't Mean you should Even Consider going after them Though

 

[Heavy Chevy]

Hi Gang,
The practice of placing coins over a dead persons eyes probably goes back to the ancient Greeks placing coins with the dead, so that that the deceased could pay the ferryman (Charon) to take them across the River Styx to the underworld.
Those who didn't have payment were not allowed to go cross the river and were condemned to a limbo type state between the different underworlds.( In other words they could not get to the heavenly place.)

I dont know if this was ever a common practice here in the US.
Hope this helps,

Mike in SC

 

[Monty]

I've heard of it and it is no legend. Ofttimes a corpse will have it's eyes open which looks pretty spooky to some folks. The coin over the eyelids keeps the eyes closed and doesn't give people the creeps. This wasn't needed with an embalmed body, but on the early frontier or more remote areas an undertaker wasn't always available and the eyes wouldn't always stay shut by themselves. (Or so my Grandmother who lived to be 103 told me). I guess a dollar was used as it was heavy enough to keep 'em closed? Monty
Oh, and they usually removed the coins just before they were lowered into the grave. I guess poor folks figured they needed the dollars more than the dead!

 

[neilo]

Talking about money on dead bodies, I remember a story of a detectorist on holiday in the tropics around Bali area, detecting this beach and finding heaps of coins but couldnt figure out why the local people were getting upset. It was the custom for the poor people to bury their dead on the beach and sprinkle what coins they could afford around to pay for their journey to the afterlife. I dont know the out come, but it would be interesting to find out. seeya Neilo

 

[Michigan Badger]

I've never heard of the eyelid thing but the placing of coins and general possessions on graves was very common up to about the 1920's.

I know of a grave even today that has silver dollars all over it. I'm not into grave robbing so I haven't touched a thing. In fact, I may try to drive that way and get a picture of the site (without showing the name on the stone). The last I heard from a grounds keeper some of the coins are still sitting on the base of the marker.

 

[Waco Kid]

I think this was also commonly done in England in the old days. They used pennies, which were bigger and heavier than our pennies, of course. This practice is even referred to in the Beatles song "Taxman," which has a line that says "Now my advice for those who die -
Declare the pennies on your eyes."

 

[Pimp Lenin]

I believe that when Abraham Lincoln died, silver dollars were placed over his eyes. So I know of at least case of this happening for sure in the U.S.!

 

[warthog steve]

There is a law that was passed-I believe it was called the American Grave Protection Act;that make it illegal for a grave to be touched for any reason;besides legal exhumations;medical(crime) investigations;etc...

 

[Mighty AP]

I was told when I was a kid that when someone died they layed the body out in the house for a few days until the funeral. People were very superstitious & from time to time someone they thought were dead would wake up. These stories spread so people would put dimes over their eyes so that if they blinked or opened their eyes the coin would move or fall to the floor, thus preventing the family from burying someone who was alive. This was a big fear back in the 19th century, look how many patents there were on crazy sytems, bells etc so the freshly buried could let the living know if they werent realy dead when they miraculously woke up under 6 feet of dirt. Thats the story I heard as a child.

 

[rvbvetter]

Yep AP'S right. About the body being in the house. Several days though, I doubt. Without refridgeration. The body would start to go through some strange transformations by then. If it was the male that was the deceased, the wife herself would often clean the body of her dead husband for the services and ultimate burial.

 

[jeff of pa]

I was told when I was a kid that when someone died they layed the body out in the house for a few days until the funeral. People were very superstitious & from time to time someone they thought were dead would wake up. These stories spread so people would put dimes over their eyes so that if they blinked or opened their eyes the coin would move or fall to the floor, thus preventing the family from burying someone who was alive. This was a big fear back in the 19th century, look how many patents there were on crazy sytems, bells etc so the freshly buried could let the living know if they werent realy dead when they miraculously woke up under 6 feet of dirt. Thats the story I heard as a child.

I beleave this was the real reason for Embalming,
not to prevent Decay. they wanted to make sure the dead stayed dead.

 

[PBK]

Fear of burial while still alive was once widespread. In fact, in 1868 Franz Vester patented a device which allowed someone who revived after burial to sound an alarm from his coffin, alerting others to rescue him. You can see the patent drawings at:

http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid...&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page

 

[mojjax]

PBK - I think that's where the term ''saved by the bell'' came from .

mojjax

 

[PBK]

PBK - I think that's where the term ''saved by the bell'' came from .

mojjax

Many people believe that, all right. However, others say that the expression has its origins in boxing— rather than being boxed up!

 

[Celtic Crusader]

I guess no one has ever watched Boondock Saints then? (my favorite movie)

-CC

 

[Spitfire Reddie]

I've heard of it and it is no legend. Ofttimes a corpse will have it's eyes open which looks pretty spooky to some folks. The coin over the eyelids keeps the eyes closed and doesn't give people the creeps. This wasn't needed with an embalmed body, but on the early frontier or more remote areas an undertaker wasn't always available and the eyes wouldn't always stay shut by themselves. (Or so my Grandmother who lived to be 103 told me). I guess a dollar was used as it was heavy enough to keep 'em closed? Monty
Oh, and they usually removed the coins just before they were lowered into the grave. I guess poor folks figured they needed the dollars more than the dead!

Monty is correct . I have been told by my grandma that happen at the deep country mountain funeral of my great grandma.The coins are placed over the eyes because they will not stay shut.They buried her non embalmed and in a family plot on the mountain.Very traditional.

 

[mojjax]

I think the Shroud of Turin had forensic evidence of coins being over His eyes .

mojjax

 

[digman]

Mike in SC is right, in ancient Greece they were placing coins on the eyes of the deceased, so that that he/she could pay the ferryman (Charos) to take him/her to the underworld.
It is also common practice elsewhere, but I do not recall where exactly.
Digman.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Grew up in Michigan and have been to plenty of small forgotten graves....plenty of silver lying all over them...Look...no take.
My grandma grew up in Arkansas and plenty of her kin were laid out in the parlor. My mom remembers her deceased infant brother being in his basinet in the parlor for three days unembalmed in 1940 in Arkansas. Coins on the eyes.