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Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
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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.

WCU Body Farm

Written by DeadGirl
Tuesday, 24 May 2005
Researchers have been studying how and why people die for decades. In Tennessee, what's been dubbed a "body farm" has been up and running since the early 1970's. Now, there's a similar site about to open in western North Carolina. It's in the Jackson County town of Culowhee, on property owned and operated by Western Carolina University. It's home to breathtaking mountain views, and the future location of a human decay study site. "We refer to this as a Forensic Anthropology Research Facility," says John Williams, director of WCU's Human Identification Laboratory. Part of his job is to put bodies outside and leave them to decay. He says the research helps police piece together death investigations. Williams says, "a timeframe. How long it takes for a body to go through a state of decomposition once death has taken place." Williams says the bodies will be brought to a remote mountain area that allows researchers to learn how a body decomposes in this kind of environment "to provide information about what happens here in the mountain habitat that would be different than other locations in the United States." The site will be 50-feet by 50-feet. Crews are already building a 10-foot high metal and barbed wire fence, as well as a wooden fence, to keep curious eyes out and any bad smells in. But no matter what the safeguards, not everyone's happy about it. "My children play here ... Our homes are here," says Gina Lusky. In early May, a letter was sent to some homeowners who live near the research site, detailing the educational and investigative benefits. Ella Mae Rogers says, "there's a lot of good I'm sure that can come out of it but we just wonder why it was put down in this community." Just one-tenth of a mile from Ella Mae's home is the entrance to the site. The actual research will be taking place more than half a mile past that, but Ella Mae and her daughter, Gina, say even that is too close. "I just think about disease and germ carrying insects. We have picnics, my children play here and I'm concerned about what effect have on our health," says Gina Lusky. Williams says once the bodies start to decay, more insects will make their way to the area . But, he says there aren't any environmental or health threats to the community. He says, "it is away from everything, there's nobody nearby. I don't imagine more than half a dozen bodies here at any one time." Only volunteered bodies will be used for the study. The research is expected to start later this summer. Do you have a news tip or story idea? Contact Tami Birckner at 864-213-2217 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.fox21.com/Global/story.asp?S=3382213&nav=2KPpaCbj

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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

Taphophiles Speak

Have you decided on eternal repose?

	earthen burial
	entombment
	cremation
	donation to science
	cyrogenically frozen
	you mean I'm still alive?

Quote Repository

“It is a time when one's spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death.”

Mark Twain