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Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
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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.
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Respect for the dead: Cemetery laws and etiquette |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Saturday, 19 August 2006 |
By Kendall S. Cable
August 12, 2006
To violate the sanctity of by diverting from sacred purpose, by contaminating or by defiling,” is the definition of “desecrate” in Webster’s New International Dictionary.
It can be argued cemeteries in the area, such as Greenlawn Cemetery in Clinton Township and Fountain Cemetery in Fostoria, are desecrated every day when visitors deposit such items as beer cans and bottles on the sacred ground.
Sometimes the desecration graduates to an apparent worse degree, such as what occurred in Greenlawn Cemetery July 4.
Cemetery Superintendent Thomas Bridinger said he finished digging a grave close to 7:30 p.m. and went home.
“During the day, I already put some signs up and barricades along CR 13, which is Greenlawn Drive — no parking — thinking that no one would go back onto the cemetery property,” Bridinger said.
Bridinger decided to go back to the cemetery to see whether anyone had parked along the site.
“So within an hour’s time, there must have been at least 35, 40 cars parked along the drive,” Bridinger said. “They did not go back into the cemetery, but they crossed over the barriers and took their blankets and their coolers, their lawn chairs, children, their fireworks and had a good old time celebrating July 4.”
Tempering how upset he was, Bridinger said he allowed people to remain on the cemetery property but asked them to clean up after themselves and not to return to the site next year.
“Most of the people were very understanding, although some people said, ‘We are not on any graves.’
“A lot of people think that if there is not a tombstone, then there is not a burial there. That is not necessarily true. Everybody does not have a tombstone identifying their grave spaces,” he said.
Rain during the day left the ground pliable.
“So I said to a couple of the people, ‘When you pull away, please be careful because you are going to leave some divots in the ground,’ Bridinger said. “One lady said to me, ‘Well, isn’t that your job to fix it?’”
On the other side of CR 13, a number of pickup trucks were backed up almost to the tombstones, Bridinger said. Some had convened at the site for years to watch the fireworks.
“Probably a couple hundred of yards into the cemetery at one of the curves, there is a beautiful mausoleum. There was a family there with a van and a couple of young kids, and they were cooking out. You can imagine what is going through my mind at this time,” he said.
Bridinger rode his bike to the west side of the cemetery and found a woman and four children who were shooting fireworks. He said he noticed sandwich bags and asked the trash be thrown away before they left. The next day, trash remained.
Next year, firework observers are not to come to Greenlawn Cemetery for the event, Bridinger said.
“Yes, they were allowed to park there in the past, but I just have a strong respect for the cemetery, and I don’t think that they should be parking there anymore,” he said.
Outside of July 4 celebrations, the cemetery also has lent itself to couples “enjoying the atmosphere,” Bridinger said.
He said the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office patrols curtail activity, although sometimes people still steal flowers from graves.
Fostoria Cemetery and Parks Supervisor Felix Gonzales said he actually has witnessed people taking flowers from graves at Fountain Cemetery.
“I have witnessed a couple of people, and we have to ask if these are yours,” Gonzales said.
One of the most prominent times for this to occur surrounds the cemetery’s clean-up day in April. From graves, old flowers are taken and new flowers are placed on grave sites. Sometimes, it is not the loved ones who remove the flowers.
“It is like a hawk going after a piece of meat,” he said. “All of these people come out of nowhere.”
Gonzales said because the cemetery rules often are not passed down to the next generation, people are found in violation of them. Breakable items make their way into the cemetery. Stepping stones, a large carved dog and an item resembling a clothes line also violate the rules and can be found at Fountain Cemetery. Furthermore, living foliage also is taken to the cemetery, and people assume the department should maintain the items.
“We have rules and regulations in the cemetery,” he said. “We have it posted as you come into the cemetery and on the chapel windows.”
These rules are to make the cemetery look uniform, Gonzales said. He said they also help people understand what side of the tombstone to place items. The head faces west and feet face east. Sometimes, people decorate other loved ones’ feet in front of their loved one’s tombstones instead of behind the stone, he said.
More serious, Fountain Cemetery experiences vandalism throughout the school year because it is located closed to a school, Gonzales said. This takes place although children under 16 years old are not allowed in the cemetery unsupervised.
“The kids seem to think the cemetery is a shortcut to and from school,” he said. He added he has seen them jump from one grave to another.
Money, cigarettes, beer containers and “weird pictures” also are left behind. A 6-yard dumpster is filled each week with items, he said.
“We will find computers, microwave ovens, blacktop, roofing, paint,” Gonzales said. “You name it, we find it.”
He said trash barrels are pulled from the cemetery in winter because people dump items not relating to the cemetery in them.
He said the city has pressed charges several times against people who violate the law.
“If it is not yours, don’t take it,” he said. “We need to all respect each other when we come to the cemetery.”
Perhaps the words of Bridinger resonate what may sit at the core of the problem.
“For some reason, people divorce the dead from the living. I have always been a firm believer — my dad always brought me up — that the more you respect the dead, the more you will appreciate life itself,” he said.
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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
Quote Repository
“Death is a Dialogue between The Spirit and the Dust.” Emily Dickinson
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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