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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.
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Majority of Dead Katrina Victims Nameless |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Sunday, 09 October 2005 |
Friday, October 7, 2005; 7:15 AM
NEW ORLEANS -- Within weeks of the attack on the World Trade Center, the public knew a lot about many of the Sept. 11 victims _ their families, their jobs, their commute, even some of the intimate details of their final moments. The victims' families mobilized with remarkable effectiveness to make sure their loved ones were found and their stories told.
More than a month after Hurricane Katrina, the vast majority of the nearly 1,000 dead in Louisiana lie anonymously in a morgue _ largely because authorities have released only a few dozen names, but also, perhaps, because many of the victims' families were scattered by the storm and are still picking up the pieces of their lives.
There has been no clamor from the victims' loved ones, little public pressure on officials to release the names of the dead or at least try harder to identify them.
Most of the 988 dead in a St. Gabriel morgue remain unidentified, awaiting release to relatives. Hamstrung by lost dental records and the decomposition of bodies that floated in floodwaters and lay in searing heat for days or weeks, officials say an accurate catalog of the dead may be weeks away, or longer.
"We know families must be frantic," said Department of Health and Hospitals spokesman Christina Stephens. "We completely understand and are trying to have it move efficiently and quickly, but we have no margin for error. We have to be 100 percent sure before we tell someone a body is their loved one."
Dr. Michael Doberson, an Arapahoe County, Colo., coroner who helped identify victims at the World Trade Center and in Louisiana, said one difference here is that "things are so much more scattered."
"It happened over such a great area so it's hard to get an idea where or who the people are," he said. "In 9-11 it was all at one site. There was a place for people to gather and present their plight. You aren't seeing that now probably because families are scattered and because there's not just one central place people can go to."
He added: "Something else to consider is that in some cases whole families may have been wiped out and there's no one left to look for them."
The Sept. 11 victims included many stockbrokers and traders, and their families tended to be well-off and well-connected, with the means to put pressure on public officials and get their story out. They also had the backing of their loved ones' employers. A large number of the victims in New Orleans were poor and black.
Dr. Silas Lee, a New Orleans political analyst and pollster, said that may help explain the lack of pressure to speed up the identification.
"Being black and poor may be a part of it, but it may not be exclusively that," said Lee, who is black. He said he, too, believes the main reason is that everyone has been dispersed all over the country by the storm.
As of Thursday in Louisiana, only 73 bodies had been released from the morgue, and the names of only 32 victims had been made public. Up to 60 more bodies were to be released by Friday. Officials said they are having trouble finding relatives to whom they can release the bodies.
At least 267 victims have been tentatively identified, but officials at the morgue are insisting on DNA, fingerprints or dental records before making a positive match, authorities said.
"I don't know if it's slow or if it's being done in a deliberate manner, but I know it's slower than we want," said Dr. Louis Cataldie, who is heading the body recovery in the region. He said more
Frank Minyard, the Orleans Parish coroner, said his staff working in St. Gabriel is able to do 12-15 autopsies a day.
"I would estimate we will be here for at least a year," he said.
Both he and Cataldie said the majority of people died of natural causes such as strokes and heart attacks, and far fewer from drowning. Eight people had gunshot wounds, but Minyard said those would not be classified as homicides because the circumstances of the deaths were not known.
Minyard said he believes more people committed suicide than many realized, and cited as an example "a guy I know very well" who drank Freon refrigerant after seeing his storm-damaged property.
Officials said they have taken nearly 250 DNA samples from family members. But many dental records were ruined by the flood. The identifying of the dead was also slowed for days by Hurricane Rita. And because of criminal investigations, all of the more than 100 bodies recovered from nursing homes and hospitals had to be autopsied.
In Mississippi, 196 of the 221 known victims of Katrina have been identified. But tattoos, driver's licenses and physical characteristics have been used there _ means of identification that Louisiana officials say are insufficient by themselves.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco regards the identification of the dead as a top priority but does not want the process rushed and someone misidentified, spokeswoman Denise Bottcher said. "That is something you do not want to get wrong," she said.
Bottcher also said it is unfair to compare Louisiana to Mississippi, because Mississippi did not have the sustained flooding and advanced decomposition that have complicated the process of identifying the dead in Louisiana.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100700384.html
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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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According to the National Funeral Directors Association, about 27 percent of Americans opt for cremation.
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Quote Repository
“Fear not death, for the sooner we die the longer we shall be immortal.” Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Grave Epigrams
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The memory of ye Just is Blessed.
Oh! what is frail and Mortal Man
Or any of his Dying race,
That God should think to entertain
And freely save him by his Grace. 1775 |
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Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
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