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Grave Goings-On

Not a police case, not even what I would consider a valid reason, a member of the family was moving to Israel and wanted his parents to come with him.

I'm assuming it involved digging up a coffin then transporting that & am wondering what sort of condition a 30 year old coffin & it's inhabitant would be in..
 
I'm assuming it involved digging up a coffin then transporting that & am wondering what sort of condition a 30 year old coffin & it's inhabitant would be in..
I'm sure @titch knows much more about this than I do! but my understanding is that there is another coffin ready to receive the original.

No chances are taken with rotting wood or bones falling out.
That's why a tent is erected around the grave.
 
I'm sure @titch knows much more about this than I do! but my understanding is that there is another coffin ready to receive the original.

No chances are taken with rotting wood or bones falling out.
That's why a tent is erected around the grave.

Yes I'm sure the remains are decanted into another coffin rather than gaffer taping the original one together. Just wanted to hear the full gory details from our man on the spot.

I'm thinking some sort of medical person fully kitted out for the job would have to be present do the actual transferring rather than titch getting lumbered..
 
Yes I'm sure the remains are decanted into another coffin rather than gaffer taping the original one together. Just wanted to hear the full gory details from our man on the spot.

I'm thinking some sort of medical person fully kitted out for the job would have to be present do the actual transferring rather than titch getting lumbered..
there was the young lad i work with, he done the first coffin, myself, i done the second, my boss who got the same payment as us for standing up top, taking bones from us and handing them to the funeral directors, who put the bones in body bags, also present were three rabbis, one officially and two because they hadn't seen an exhumation before. Sometimes a home office official will attend, but not in my case.

The coffins where in very good condition to look at, the lids had bowed under the weight of earth, but were still intact and needed wrenched open in the best horror movie style, but they where almost up to the lids in water so i doubt they would have withstood any attempt at lifting them out, so it was a case of groping about in muddy water till you got a bone, when all the major bones had been collected you fished the small bones that where floating on the surface of the water out (finger and foot bones i assume) then we had to scoop globules of white stuff (fat?) that was also on the surface out and pick up a few bits of coffin, the bits of coffin also went into the body bags.

it was a bit creepy, when i picked up the skull i sort of went into auto pilot, my brain was thinking "you are holding a skull, you are holding a skull" while my body kept working on its own, i registered someone saying "mind the jaw" but i didn't mind the jaw as i was busy thinking "you are holding a skull"

We started at 7am and by 10am the three of us where having tea and doughnuts in the kitchen, having a nervous laugh and getting ready to go home, our work for the day done.

I heard unofficially today there is an exhumation for next month, but we hear that every so often and it has never came too fruition, and i hope next months one is the same, as its a burial we done last year, bones i do not mind, you can try to convince yourself it wasn't a real person, i am not sure how i would react to a still runny corpse.
 
I'm sure @titch knows much more about this than I do! but my understanding is that there is another coffin ready to receive the original.

No chances are taken with rotting wood or bones falling out.
That's why a tent is erected around the grave.
 
there was the young lad i work with, he done the first coffin, myself, i done the second, my boss who got the same payment as us for standing up top, taking bones from us and handing them to the funeral directors, who put the bones in body bags, also present were three rabbis, one officially and two because they hadn't seen an exhumation before. Sometimes a home office official will attend, but not in my case.

The coffins where in very good condition to look at, the lids had bowed under the weight of earth, but were still intact and needed wrenched open in the best horror movie style, but they where almost up to the lids in water so i doubt they would have withstood any attempt at lifting them out, so it was a case of groping about in muddy water till you got a bone, when all the major bones had been collected you fished the small bones that where floating on the surface of the water out (finger and foot bones i assume) then we had to scoop globules of white stuff (fat?) that was also on the surface out and pick up a few bits of coffin, the bits of coffin also went into the body bags.

it was a bit creepy, when i picked up the skull i sort of went into auto pilot, my brain was thinking "you are holding a skull, you are holding a skull" while my body kept working on its own, i registered someone saying "mind the jaw" but i didn't mind the jaw as i was busy thinking "you are holding a skull"

We started at 7am and by 10am the three of us where having tea and doughnuts in the kitchen, having a nervous laugh and getting ready to go home, our work for the day done.

I heard unofficially today there is an exhumation for next month, but we hear that every so often and it has never came too fruition, and i hope next months one is the same, as its a burial we done last year, bones i do not mind, you can try to convince yourself it wasn't a real person, i am not sure how i would react to a still runny corpse.
Kudos to you for handling it so well.
 
there was the young lad i work with, he done the first coffin, myself, i done the second, my boss who got the same payment as us for standing up top, taking bones from us and handing them to the funeral directors, who put the bones in body bags, also present were three rabbis, one officially and two because they hadn't seen an exhumation before. Sometimes a home office official will attend, but not in my case.

The coffins where in very good condition to look at, the lids had bowed under the weight of earth, but were still intact and needed wrenched open in the best horror movie style, but they where almost up to the lids in water so i doubt they would have withstood any attempt at lifting them out, so it was a case of groping about in muddy water till you got a bone, when all the major bones had been collected you fished the small bones that where floating on the surface of the water out (finger and foot bones i assume) then we had to scoop globules of white stuff (fat?) that was also on the surface out and pick up a few bits of coffin, the bits of coffin also went into the body bags.

it was a bit creepy, when i picked up the skull i sort of went into auto pilot, my brain was thinking "you are holding a skull, you are holding a skull" while my body kept working on its own, i registered someone saying "mind the jaw" but i didn't mind the jaw as i was busy thinking "you are holding a skull"

We started at 7am and by 10am the three of us where having tea and doughnuts in the kitchen, having a nervous laugh and getting ready to go home, our work for the day done.

I heard unofficially today there is an exhumation for next month, but we hear that every so often and it has never came too fruition, and i hope next months one is the same, as its a burial we done last year, bones i do not mind, you can try to convince yourself it wasn't a real person, i am not sure how i would react to a still runny corpse.

Bloody hell you certainly earned your money there!
 
The headline pretty much sums it up ...
Man attempting to ‘resurrect’ grandmother accused of causing $30k in damages to Knoxville cemetery

Knoxville officials said a man was arrested after causing nearly $30,000 in damages at a Knoxville cemetery.

Knoxville authorities responded to reports of vandalism at a church cemetery on Huckleberry Springs Road around 2:30 on Monday.

When officers arrived on the scene, they noticed extensive damage to the cemetery, including dug up spots in the ground and broken headstones.

A witness told officers a homeless man had stayed around the property and been damaging the cemetery. ...

Officers identified the suspect as Danny Frazier, 34, who told officers he did destroy some of the property in an effort to “resurrect” his dead grandmother who is buried at the cemetery.

Officials said the cost to repair the damages would be roughly $30,000.

Frazier was arrested and charged with vandalism and criminal trespassing.

SOURCE: https://www.wvlt.tv/2020/10/07/man-...causing-30k-in-damages-to-knoxville-cemetery/
 
A pernickety priest.

A funeral was delayed for two hours because of a dispute about the size of the grave.

Peter Worby said his father William was due to be buried, but a priest at Old Hall Green in Hertfordshire said the grave was not deep enough. After an agreement was reached, the priest allowed the 98-year-old's burial to go ahead, but Mr Worby said his family were "robbed of grief". A senior Catholic bishop apologised for "the added distress".

The dispute arose in the lead up to Wednesday's service, but Mr Worby said the family believed it had been resolved in advance. Mr Worby, 62, said he arrived at the Church of St Edmund and the English Martyrs on the day of the funeral, could not find the priest and was informed he was at the burial plot but there was a "problem" and the dispute was continuing.

"I got on my hands and knees and measured the grave which was 46in (117cm)," said Mr Worby. "In sandy soil the minimum recommended is 24in (61cm) and when my father's coffin went in it measured 30in (76cm)."

According to the Natural Death Society, there is no legal minimum depth for a burial but the Ministry of Justice recommends a minimum of 24in (61cm) of soil between the coffin lid and ground level. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-54747075
 
I've seen were the grave was a little narrow and some difficulty was had getting the box down,
and once when it was raining so hard water pouring into the grave was floating the box back up,
but I have never heard of a priest holding up the internment for any reason.
 
I attended a family funeral and one of the pallbearers almost fell in. Without thinking I said "oh no!" and the lady next to me said "Not the worst I've seen. Went to one where they'd dug the grave too small and couldn't get the coffin in. Worst thing was, he was a shoe salesman."
 

Highway Project Unearths Post-Medieval Burial Ground in [Hull]​


(Note: l post this purely because it includes a photograph of a mortsafe.)

“Twelve months after a massive archaeological dig at the Trinity Burial Ground in Hull in northern England, the burial ground project is drawing to a close. The rich haul of material excavated from the post-medieval burial ground in Hull provides a fascinating peek into life in the 18th and 19th centuries in the port town.

Project Manager Stephen Rowland told Hull Daily Mail that the graveyard was consecrated in 1785 as an emergency measure as space in the Holy Trinity Church burial ground in Hull’s Old Town began running out. This was the result of a population expansion driven by increasing commercial and industrial activity in Georgian and Victorian England. The Trinity Burial Ground was used until 1861 and in that time the parish register recorded 43,000 burials.

Burial_3.jpg


A mortsafe

Most intriguingly some of the coffins were secured with devices that have been identified as “mortsafes,” installed to prevent body snatching , a common practice of the time! While most of these were simple iron straps around the coffin, in one instance a coffin was encased in a complete iron cage. Rowland said that while such structures had been found in other parts of England, they had hardly ever been seen in the northern part of the country.”

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/burial-ground-hull-0015876

maximus otter
 
Some years back they were having a new path put in to the front door
of a cottage near were we lived, digging up the old path they found 2
lead coffins, I don't know how much investigation went on but no one
could find out anything about them, they were put back and the new
path made on top, which seemed a bit odd to me but the thinking was
likely to leave them as undisturbed as possible.
 
Some years back they were having a new path put in to the front door
of a cottage near were we lived, digging up the old path they found 2
lead coffins, I don't know how much investigation went on but no one
could find out anything about them, they were put back and the new
path made on top, which seemed a bit odd to me but the thinking was
likely to leave them as undisturbed as possible.
That is sooo cool and spooky.
 
I seem to remember the house owners were given the choice,
put back or we will take away they chose to put back.
 
I heard about something similar during my time in Cambridge. A long-standing fellow of one of the older colleges told me that during building works the coffin of a Fellow or Master from the distant past was unexpectedly uncovered. There was a hasty consultation, and they decided not to inform any authorities but just wall him back up and pretend it never happened.
 
Former York City football pitch dug up to retrieve fans ashes.

"A pitch at a former football ground is being dug up in an effort to find caskets containing the ashes of several of the club's fans buried there.

York City's Bootham Crescent was sold for redevelopment when the club moved to a new stadium earlier this year.

Archaeologists are now searching for 15 small caskets buried underneath the pitch so they can be relocated before houses are built on the ground.

Seven have so far been located, but the others have yet to be found."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-58966626
 
The thing with this is, these fans wanted their ashes placed somewhere they went regularly to watch their favourite team, if they move them to the new stadium, where these fans have never been, well that is asking for your new ground to be haunted by disgruntled, confused, football loving ghosts.
 
The thing with this is, these fans wanted their ashes placed somewhere they went regularly to watch their favourite team, if they move them to the new stadium, where these fans have never been, well that is asking for your new ground to be haunted by disgruntled, confused, football loving ghosts.

I think most ghosts appear disgruntled and confused but they're not always football fans.
 
In the early 2000s I was working in a 1920s house which had wood suspended floors downstairs and, as it was on a hill, there was quite a bit of height beneath the floors. I had to run some pipework under the floors and, when I had taken up a few boards so I could drop down, I found it was about 4-5 feet high and tapered towards the back of the house. It didn't look like it had been disturbed since the war at least.
I got some light down and saw there was a big mound of building rubble, broken bricks, tiles etc. When I got closer I noticed there was an old umbrella, a ladies 1920s style short boot and some other bits of cloth so I just had to have a dig around once I had finished running the pipework.
I poked around it with a screwdriver and found an old empty handbag and then saw a bone sticking out of the rubble :omg: . I pulled it out and it looked like part of a pelvis to me. I thought at this point I had better call the police in and within a few minutes there were about 5 police cars outside. They taped up all around the house and I showed them the bits and the bone. The policeman in charge rang someone to describe it and he said they were like Mary Poppins style things and he tactfully asked me to put the bone on the floor and he bagged it up to have it taken to a hospital for identification. I had to hang around for an hour or so whilst they took pictures and so on, he said he would call me later with the result and that I could relay the boards and carpet etc until the result was known.
I had a call later that evening to say the bone was a young cow or pig!!! I don't know how it must have got there unless it was on the original site before the house was built and at least I didn't feel too much of a fool as the police, by their reactions must have thought it looked human too. The house belonged to an elderly regular customer and the police didn't go back and didn't really disturb the rubble much more than I did when they first came so I often wonder if there was anything more lurking in the pile as I couldn't really imagine how the handbag, shoe and so on could have got there!
 

Are those nails sticking out of the upright section of grave marker?

WTF are those about? Has some overlaying piece been removed from that side of the marker? Or has someone been attempting to drive nails into the marker?
 
Are those nails sticking out of the upright section of grave marker?

WTF are those about? Has some overlaying piece been removed from that side of the marker? Or has someone been attempting to drive nails into the marker?
Festive lights.
 
This is outrageous, the memorial should be demolished. He was a bare-knuckle boxer whose source of income was unclear. The memorial cost approx £200k. His estate should be investigated for unexplained sources of income. It's an insult to the Irish flag to have it flown over this crooks grave.

A huge marble memorial featuring a solar-powered jukebox has been built in a city cemetery without permission.

The monument honouring William Collins, who died in Spain in 2020, is thought to have been erected about a week ago at Sheffield's Shiregreen Cemetery.
It is adorned with four Irish flags, boasts CCTV and is flanked by two life-sized statues of the 49-year-old.
Sheffield City Council said it was considering its next steps in light of its rules around memorials.
Videos of the monument, which also includes a stone seat engraved with the word "king" in gold block capitals, have amassed more than five million views on TikTok.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-60838880
 
Surely someone should have noticed as it was being built?

Or did it spring into sudden existence like a mushroom?
 
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