|
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.
|
|
Inventor lets the dead have final word |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Thursday, 26 August 2004 |
Burlingame resident Richard Barrows is eagerly awaiting the approval of a patent for his "video tombstones." Though not yet available, Barrows says the specialized tombstones that would give people the opportunity to leave behind videotaped messages for cemetery visitors already is sparking interest worldwide. Coinciding with his invention, Barrows also has written "Cemetery of Lies," a series of short stories of confessions from the grave. He is waiting for the work to be published. Barrows talked recently with Times reporter Christine Morente.
Q. How did you come up with the idea for video tombstones?
A. I work in advertising, so I do television commercials all the time and I sculpt with stone, so I put it together and you have "video tombstone."
Q. How will it be designed?
A. There will be a protective screen in front of the monitor with speakers and a remote control. The difference primarily from mine and other (people's designs) is I create a hollow chamber within the tombstone. And there's a platform. It's a tombstone that is designed to accommodate audio, video and computer equipment.
Q. Is there a big demand for this?
A. Wow. I can tell you that there is an incredible worldwide interest because of the press this has been receiving just since early July. Cemeteries may be a little reticent to accept it, but it's additional revenue for them down the line. Each and every cemetery has its own regulations as to what it will allow.
Q. So the person who passed away can leave a message to anybody who is interested in listening? Like a confessional?
A. You can say anything you want, which will eventually raise some free-speech issues because you have no idea what people will say. Whether it's truth, or lies, or slanderous, racist, promoting the overthrow of the government. And do the dead have rights of free speech and how can you control it?
Q. So people don't need epithets anymore?
A. With an epithet, you can only write six to eight words or what you can carve on a stone. Now they can leave an epithet that is four hours long or as much you can leave on a disc or a multiple disk. You can say everything you never wanted to say while you were alive or didn't dare say when you were alive. Whatever you think might be interesting for generations to hear.
This will help examine your life in ways in which you haven't examined your life before. This will really change the way history is told, because now you'll be able to go to a cemetery and find out what a guy had to say about his own life and times, in his own words and hear his own inflections about them.
Q. It is morbid, yes?
A. It is morbid and a little bit scary and a little bit freaky, but it can also be very comforting because you never know what a person might say. It's not like they're talking to you from the beyond, they're talking to you when they were still alive.
Q. How much would this cost?
A. Well, tombstones can come in any shape or size. So my guess is it would cost maybe 20 to 30 percent more than a similar-shaped standard tombstone, plus the cost of any electronics you want to put in there.
Q. Is there someone from the past you wish had made a video?
A. Anyone from George Washington to Abe Lincoln, Julius Caeser to Moses, anybody.
Staff writer Christine Morente can be reached at (650) 348-4333 or at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~2353188,00.html |
|
Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“I have seen a thousand graves opened, and always perceived that whatever was gone, the teeth and hair remained of those who had died with them. Is not this odd? They go the very first things in youth and yet last the longest in the dust.” Lord Byron
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
|
