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Cemetery at Westholme safe from rising waters

Written by DeadGirl
Sunday, 07 January 2007
By Michelle Thompson News Leader Pictorial, Briish Columbia, Canada Jan 06 2007 remains unaffected: Unlikely event of a flooded ground shouldn’t be a concern for those with loved ones buried there In the unlikely event that a local cemetery should become flooded, the remains of loved ones would remain unaffected, say experts. Bill Buckley, owner and director of C.A.R.E. Funeral Services in Victoria, said flooding would do no more damage to a graveyard than a torrential downpour might. “The water is just going to flow by it,” he said. The only real concern, Buckley noted, would arise if a water table should rise. This would never happen in Cowichan Valley, of course, since none of the burial grounds here are located above water. “If the water table rises, the casket is going to lift it out of the ground,” he said. Although most graveyards in Cowichan Valley are far removed from bodies of water, the historical Westholme Cemetery is not far from it. The graveyard neigbours the Chemainus River but Sue Pauls, who keeps records for the cemetery, said it is highly unlikely that the land would become flooded. There is a piece of property separating the cemetery from the river, she noted, and the land is elevated from the water. When the water does rise, the fields on the opposite side of the river have flooded. But Pauls said that doesn’t happen on the south side of the land because of the direction the water flows. “It seems impossible,” she said. “It seems ridiculous. As far as I can remember — and I’m 76 or 77 — it has never flooded on the cemetery.” Some people have their loved ones buried in metal, hermetically-sealed caskets, hoping to keep them immune from the elements. They’re billed as being completely waterproof, unlike wooden caskets. An experience Buckley had with a metal casket indicated to him that they might not be as waterproof as they seem. “I did an exhumation on a metal casket and it took us an hour-and-a-half to take the water out of it,” he said. “That would suggest to me that they’re not watertight.” Even so, he noted, the repercussions of leaking caskets would not be made worse by potential flooding. While some embalming fluid is not environmentally friendly or biodegradable, there are newer chemicals available that aren’t damaging to the ecosystem. Not all bodies are embalmed, of course, and Buckley only embalms about one corpse per year. Even in the highly unlikely event of a flood at the Westholme Cemetery. Pauls said there’s not a chance embalming fluid entering the environment. It isn’t known if any of the people buried there were even embalmed. Only a few people have been buried there in the past 15 years, she said, and she doesn’t believe any of them were embalmed. http://www.cowichannewsleader.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=9&cat=43&id=806907&more=

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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