Cemetery hunting

I was VERY surprised to see an article titled "How to Treasure Hunt Cemeteries", by Rich Goss, in the May 2009 issue of Lost Treasure magazine.   

Although I'm fairly new to the hobby, I was under the impression, from reading this forum, that cemeteries were pretty much "Off Limits".

Out of respect for the dead, I refuse to hunt them. I will hunt out side the fence but that's as far as I go.

I'll cover this one for Sherm...

Have a good un.


http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,61363.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,64213.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,71897.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,52824.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,35096.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,52327.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,6911.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,70182.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,89783.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=92594.0;topicseen
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=61363.0;topicseen
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,122835.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,142739.0.html
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index....739.msg1026367;topicseen#msg1026367
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index....p?topic=145539.msg1043734;topicseen
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index....564.msg1084239;topicseen#msg1084239
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index....hp/topic,153840.msg1109896.html#new

Well noted Trusty. This would be an interesting read if you (or someone) could find a link to this article. By the title it sounds like something easy to bash, but really I'd like to know what was said (for the sake of fairness). You're quite right that it is not within the morals of the hobby to to tread on one's final resting place. And how the heck is the May edition out already? Did I sleep too long?

I think this would just add a very bad image into anyone's head about people that metal detect. I would think this would be the last place we would want to be seen if we are all concerned about loosing location hunting privileges. We know our code of conduct but most other people don't. I know a lot of people think I am crazy for spends hours digging change out of the ground...... I would graduate to criminally insane in their eyes if they seen me hunting a cemetery. I could not believe the article when I read it and I do not see myself hunting one near or far away. Just my 2 cent piece  

although Cemeteries are Not necessarily all off Limits,
there are those who get upset.

The Magazines Normally will Not post Stories
like that.

They Don't even allow Stories
on Restoration Projects Because of those who
Would Tresspass getting Ideas.

The Title Must be Misleading

Did you read the Article ?

I Would guess it says "Stay Outside the Cemetery at all times"
or it's talking about Cemeteries that have been Relocated
 & Are now just Ground. although there are those who still
consider these Hallowed.

Yea, I'd sure like to hear the jist of the article, not just the title. Something don't sound kosher.

Al

Hey!!The best gold teeth I've found have come from an old cemetary!(just kidding)DBULL

I will not hunt a cemetary out of respect and I hope everyone considers them off limits.

I was having flashbacks to reading the Robert Marx original edition of his Buried Treasure of the United States book that had photos with captions stating, "pottery found in an indian burial." Haha!  I couldn't believe they posted that article.  I was expecting the author to say he metal detected in empty fields or something like that in cemeteries.  When he started talking about digging around headstones for rings that wives/husbands put there, I about dropped the magazine.  Talk about giving the hobby a black eye!  If the grounds keepers didn't call the cops on you, I would expect a mourning family member to give you a proper beatdown if you were detecting in the cemetery, especially around head stones.  Remember though, don't go more than a 1ft down when digging!

I myself feel Its very Wrong and I Agree Totally Agreree with T Net Member who Posted This
Out of respect for the dead, I refuse to hunt them. I will hunt out side the fence but that's as far as I go.

I happen to be a director for our local cemetery society and our constitution states that (besides the interred remains, the receptacle and the grave marker) anything left on cemetery grounds belongs to the society. That way dead flowers, broken vases, unsightly memorials and the like can be removed. While many cemeteries have different regulations I believe this policy is very common.

Here is the article.
===========





Sorry due to Copyrights

I Had to remove it
                         Jeff

Likely Guy,
What would be the response of your local cemetery if they say Joe Detector out in the cemetery with his trust metal detector?  I just find it hard to believe that the author of this article has detected in an active cemetery.  I could understand the lack of hassle he has received if he is going to cemeteries that are no longer active and off the beaten track, but otherwise, I just can't fathom him detecting in a cemetery without resistance.  I am far from being PC, but this article still amazes me.

Just breezing through the article, it looks like it was almost written to make md'ing look inconsiderate.

I picture a mournful widow or widower over a recently filled grave depositing a ring as a sign of an eternal bond, and sometime later someone doing the gold dance aftrer prying it up from the foot of the marker.

That said, have hunted a local former cemetery many times as it is now a schoolyard and park.  The graves having been moved in the 1940's after a hundred years of funerals and picnics there left plenty to be rediscovered.  Have taken a small pile of coffin handles to the local historical society for their disposition of these as well.

My take besides Roads, water Pumps, Outside Moseliums
 he only does mid 19th Century
Stones where both Husband & Wife
are Buried.

Still Surprises Me he Got it Published.

I Have seen Detectorists searching the Cemetery
in the middle of Tower City, never talked to
them to see if they got permission
or were ever thrown off though.

     

Likely Guy,
What would be the response of your local cemetery if they say Joe Detector out in the cemetery with his trust metal detector?  I just find it hard to believe that the author of this article has detected in an active cemetery.  I could understand the lack of hassle he has received if he is going to cemeteries that are no longer active and off the beaten track, but otherwise, I just can't fathom him detecting in a cemetery without resistance.  I am far from being PC, but this article still amazes me.

As we can't forcibly remove them and the local RCMP is over an hour away about all we could do is write down a licence number and description. Not sure what the penalty is though. I had a chance to read the article before it was pulled and it sounded like the cemetery was active. He also mentioned that he doesn't go below 1 foot, but our cemetery only requires ash remains to be buried at that level. If I caught him I guess I'd just throw rocks at his car until he got the hint.

The article I read was in May 2008 Lost Treasure.
It was on out of the way places to hunt.
It says to hunt along the roads to the
cemeteries or outside the fences and boundries.
It also says that what you would find wouldn't
be worth the time spent on it. 

The article was in May 2008 Lost Treasure.
It was on out of the way places to hunt.
It says to hunt along the roads to the
cemeteries or outside the fences and boundries.
It also says that what you would find wouldn't
be worth the time spent on it. 

Sorry to disagree, but the article is in the May 2009 issue that came in the mail yesterday.

If I had your email I would send it to you

I changed my post to say there was also one in May of 2008.

This is my feelings on this subject...it is WRONG!

There are so many other places to metal detect out there, why a cementary?  I have heard alot of people burying rings and necklaces in the dirt near the tombstone that were lost before their loved one was buried.  They put it there thinking it should be safe and it is near their loved one.  That is also where it should stay, in the dirt near their loved one. 

Sue

Personally it doesn't bother me since I know what we are looking for was dropped by the living but if you took a poll I bet you'd find that most people who don't detect would find it real offensive.  Good ol horse sense tells me it would be bad for both me and the detecting community as a whole to have people see me dig in cemeteries so I would never do it.

The article I read was in May 2008 Lost Treasure.
It was on out of the way places to hunt.
It says to hunt along the roads to the
cemeteries or outside the fences and boundries.
It also says that what you would find wouldn't
be worth the time spent on it. 

Yes the latest one Goes Fruther.

He even says at one Stone he got a signal
and was Imagening finding a Wedding ring
Placed there by a Loved one in her Grief
over a hundred years ago,
but was Disappointed when it turned
out to be a nail.

I would NEVER hunt a cemetery looking for finds!  Not cool.
I did go through a 'lost" cemetary for a genealogy society last year though.
They were trying to find the graves but the original wooden crosses and markers were long gone.  The site was grown over with brush and small trees.
I managed to find old nails around some slight depressions.  When they added up the spots I marked they had the right number of sites.

Felt kinda odd even doing that!  I even helped them put in a civil war memorial for a  wounded civil war soldier burried there.

We even burried the hand cut nails that were found while tracking down the graves.

Cemeteries should be treated with respect.

Good Luck,
Mark

I have also read the article in Lost Treasure May 2009 it is title How to Treasure Hunt Cemeteries. I am another that do not hunt them out of respect.

IF anyone would like to see the article you can go to www.LostTreasure.com and you can see the magizine and read all the articles from their website.

Matt

MORALS, ETHICS,,,,  I heard that described as,,, Obedience, to the un-inforceable.   pretty good definition in my book.  I do not think I could looka  person in the eye, after going tekin in a cemetary  ,  but to each there own, some women like 14 year old boys,  who am I to judge.

Ok Eldorado,
The real question is this:  Where were these women when we were 14?  LOL.

I agree completely on detecting in a cemetary.  The other person I need to look in the eye is that guy in the mirror in the morning.

Good Luck,
Mark

[If so, I hope the owner goes home with them to reclaim it.]

...does someone stoop so low as to remove a ring or necklass from the finger or neck of someone buried without coffin?   If so, I hope the owner goes home with them to reclaim it.

HA HA HA! 
Best line in the thread!

I'd NEVER hunt a cemetary.
I'd hunt a church out FRONT if it had a cemetary out back......but I wouldn't go near that cemetary.  It's a respect thing.

However I DO enjoy walking through cemetaries and reading the headstones.
I'm often left wondering "What's your story.....?"


-

     I am not very superstitious but hunting and digging around graves and headstones would only bring bad karma. I have enough of that already. I also agree that it's disrespectful, not only to the deceased but for the living family. I don't want someone coming up to me and ask what I am doing to their Grandmas grave. There are plenty of other places to hunt and I have enough problems in my life without asking for more.

HH Charlie

After rereading the article, where the author talks about hunting the "empty plot" next to a deceased spouse, I wonder what my reaction would be in seeing someone MDing next to my wife's resting spot.    Next time I visit, I'm going to see if anyone has been there.  It would probably Pi$$ me off!!!

Don't forget your detector Trusty

Just jokin

I had a friend that had no problem with this....Not my taste, I feel its a bad image.

I have no problem with hunting the surrounding areas of a cemetery (by the way, for those interested, there is no "A" in cemetery), but cannot hunt the cemetery grounds themselves because people have always placed items on the tops of graves that are loved and special to them with the loved one buried there.  That is just ... wrong.  Of course, people rob convenience stores all the time, too.

Our little church was built on the site of the (surrounding) cemetery about 140 years ago.  I wouldn't hesitate to hunt the grounds of the church, but not the cemetery.  I keep threatening to do that, but haven't, for some reason...

Noodle

people who hunt graveyards should never leave them.... 

I've detected church yards, but not cemeteries/grave sites.

As long as permission has been optained I'm not sure I follow/understand what the moral issue is about? Most likely you'll dig 6" not 6'.

[I'm not sure I follow/understand what the moral issue is about?]

As long as permission has been optained I'm not sure I follow/understand what the moral issue is about? Most likely you'll dig 6" not 6'.

Sigh......


Apparently, you didn't read the thread.
You ought to.

-

 I have detected a cemetery, by request from a care taker trying to locate graves and markers. Seems some kids or seemingly adults decided to destroy all the headstones w/ a ak47 or 30-30 rifle.What they didn't shoot, they ran over w/ a 4-wheeler. I helped find metal markers in the ground or metal vases and cans placed there to hold flowers.We also found 2 graves he didn't know was there. When it drys out some I'm going back to see if we can find some of the headstones that was thrown off a 100ft drop-off.
 The oldest headstones here were before 1846.This is before our county even had a name. I was glad to help the man find the graves.I think its a shame that even after these people are dead that a few drunks and kids won't let them R.I.P.
 I was detecting the road and surrounding woods when I found one of the graves....When I found out what it was I started asking questions about who was taking care of the cemetery. I happen to know the man doing it.So hubby and I went the next day and showed him the grave I found. It may be a person buried in UN-hallowed ground.Because they aren't in the cemetery proper.Or they be 2 of the very few slaves that were brought to our small town.Either way they deserve our respect.
 No I would not detect in a cemetery if I knew it.Unless it was to help locate markers and such for public records and for family members to to locate loved ones.That is the only way.  zztop

Yea, I'd sure like to hear the jist of the article, not just the title. Something don't sound kosher.

Al

I have read the article and the author is all in favor of hunting cemeteries. 
The title of the article is: "How to hunt Old Cemeteries."  He advocates starting with the roads leading in, the around the areas where the water sources are found.  THEN, he suggests hunting around the entrances to the vaults and head stones.  He has hopes of finding old rings near the headstones.  His one sensible piece of advise is don't dig deep.
I had to check and see if this was the April 1st edition of the magazine, but it is the May issue.
While the thought of hunting cemeteries is interesting, I would really have to think about before firing up the detector.

zztop357 wrote: "So hubby and I went the next day and showed him the grave I found. It may be a person buried in UN-hallowed ground.Because they aren't in the cemetery proper.Or they be 2 of the very few slaves that were brought to our small town.Either way they deserve our respect."

They could have been slaves, or of another religion (usually Jewish) but most often when someone was buried outside the cemetery proper it was due to suicide. But like you said, "Either way they deserve our respect."