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A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
What's New at Arcadia
Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!
Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca
Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the 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.
Announcements
Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok
An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!
Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.
A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.
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!
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 with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman
Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture 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.
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Ill. cemetery's jumbled bones will be hard to ID |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Friday, 17 July 2009 |
CHICAGO - Human remains strewn amid overgrown weeds have deteriorated into jumbled bones. Paper records in a rusted metal cabinet have dissolved into dust. Days after horrified relatives learned that former workers at a historic black cemetery near Chicago allegedly dug up hundreds of bodies in a scheme to resell grave plots, relatives are learning that DNA likely won't help them find their loved ones. The piles of bones and deteriorated records may make identifying many remains impossible.
"Identifying everyone would be a tremendous long shot," John Howard, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said this weekOfficials estimate that at least 300 of 100,000 graves were tampered with at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., which is the burial place several famous Americans including civil rights-era lynching victim Emmett Till.
Four former workers are charged with dumping exhumed bodies in a deserted field the size of four square blocks in order to resell grave plots. Till's grave was not disturbed. In the weeks since authorities announced the graveyard scheme thousands of relatives have flooded the cemetery looking for answers. Some, who knew exactly where their family member was buried, reported missing gravestones or unkempt plots — but many others couldn't figure out where the relatives were buried because the cemetery's records were in such disarray.
Relatives would need test, too
Forensic experts say it's possible to extract enough viable DNA from many of the skulls, teeth and large bones. But investigators warn that it may not do much good because in order to find matches, scientists would then also have to test relatives from all of those buried at Burr Oak. "We would theoretically have to get families of all 100,000 people that are buried there (to provide DNA samples)," said FBI spokesman Ross Rice. "It's insurmountable almost." But even if all families were tested, many of those buried were from the same family and the DNA collected may not clearly identify exactly which relatives the bones belong to. There's also another wrinkle. Thousands of bones may be mixed together.
Investigators say it may be impossible to sift through them to match them to specific people and return complete remains to a single grave."The family might want to know they have their Uncle Joe back in the ground in one place," said former New York City chief medical examiner Michael Baden, who helped identify the bodies of more than 1,000 people killed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. "But if families think that every single bone can be identified, that's unrealistic."
No list of missing
Some experts believe the situation at Burr Oak is so unique that there are few comparable cases.Investigators sifted through rubble only to find tiny bits of remains after the Sept. 11 attacks, but like a deadly plane crash, scientists could compare DNA results with a definite list of victims. Baden said the situation at Burr Oak is reminiscent of the mass graves found from the civil war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But in that case, investigators were able to identify many victims because remains were held together by clothing that family members recognized. Some experts point to a case in Georgia seven years ago as similar to Burr Oak. A former crematory operator was accused of leaving more than 300 bodies to rot in piles. Even though the bodies were largely intact, at least a few were never identified. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said that in some ways the challenges of identifying people after a plane crash pale in comparison to what investigators are facing at Burr Oak. "We have no idea who was on this plane," said Dart. Authorities have found record books with missing or moldy pages, disintegrated file cards stuffed in rusty cabinets. In one drawer, investigators found an animal nest, woven together with tufts of gray fur and shreds of paper records.
Another looming issue is whether crime labs in Illinois and elsewhere have the capacity to handle such a glut of DNA tests. Many labs in the U.S. already have huge backlogs, often related to murder, rape and other pressing criminal cases. "How many people in a DNA lab can be diverted (to the Burr Oak case) is the question," Baden said. "Three weeks from now, when medical examiners start asking, 'What about my homicide case?' priorities could become an issue."
DNA deterioration
Scientists are also worried that some of the remains may not have enough viable DNA, especially because the chemicals in embalming fluid can damage the genetic blueprint, Howard said.Dozens of officers have been slowly walking Burr Oak's grounds, scouring for signs that would reveal a tampered grave. On Wednesday, Dart joined them and stumbled over a hole in the ground. Officers dug it up and found a simple grave marker for Veda Kaufman, who died in 1971. "My God, we have tried everything humanly possible to give people answers," the sheriff said. "But when you deal with things like this are you ever going to be able to get complete answers and complete closure? No way." Ralph Thompson Jr., whose mother, father and son are among six generations of family members buried at Burr Oak, is one of those relatives hoping for answers. But the self-described junkie for TV crime shows says he knows this is a case where the mysteries won't be solved so easily, and families may have to settle for a mass burial for their loved ones. "TV is TV. We're always looking for a good ending," said Thompson, 41, of the Chicago suburb of Elgin. "But in real life this is a whole different ball game."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31950712/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/page/2/> >
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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
Taphophilia Facts
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California is home to two Presidential gravesites, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.
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Quote Repository
“But cypresses and cedars, the zephyrs impregnate by pure fragrances, perennial green leaning over the urns for eternal memory, and precious vases to collect the votive tears.” from 'Sepolcri' by Ugo Foscolo
Grave Epigrams
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Depart my friends
wipe off your tears,
I must lie here
till Christ appears |
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Taphophilia Thanks
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.
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