|
Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Announcements
Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
|
|
Cemetery workers say finding human bones is spooky, not uncommon |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Monday, 01 November 2004 |
Cemetery workers say finding human bones is spooky, not uncommon
October 29, 2004
VICKSBURG (AP) - Susan Mims of Vicksburg just wanted some photographs of headstones for her son's school project. The human bones she found in Cedar Hill Cemetery were more than she had bargained for.
"I just happened to look down and at first I didn't think it was anything, but then I looked a little closer and I realized it was definitely a leg bone," Mims said.
The bone was in fresh dirt placed over a grave from 1963 as part of routine leveling and maintenance work. Nearby, more fresh dirt on a grave from 1867 contained other, smaller bones.
"It just really scared me," Mims said.
Lee Anthony Moore, a 15-year employee at the cemetery and supervisor there, said the bones must have been in soil moved from elsewhere in the cemetery.
He said that's not unusual in the 167-year-old municipal graveyard.
"The first time I ran across that, it spooked me. But after years of being here and running across it a couple more times, I got to the point where it doesn't bother me," Moore said. "I just put them back."
Charles Riles, owner of Riles Funeral Home and author of a book about the cemetery, said it's not uncommon for grave diggers to run into older remains because there are thousands of unmarked graves at Cedar Hill. He said the cemetery has mass graves from a yellow fever epidemic in the late 1800s. In the early years, burials were held without authorization and no records were kept or markers placed.
"In a lot of that cemetery, and I mean a lot, there were numerous burials from yellow fever," Riles said.
He said when the city was quarantined in 1878, undertakers went from house to house once a week collecting the dead and taking them to the cemetery. They were then buried in large, unmarked graves. If there were caskets at all, they were wood and have long since decomposed.
After Mims found the bones Tuesday, Moore gathered them and said he planned to find out where that soil came from so he can put the bones back in the same area.
Moore said if he couldn't find out where the dirt came from he would find "a quiet corner in the cemetery" to rebury the remains.
The chance of a marked grave being disturbed is remote and modern graves have burial containers of hardwood or metal, often enclosed in concrete or metal vaults.
http://www.picayuneitem.com/articles/2004/10/29/news/17bones.txt |
|
