Baumblog EST 1968 - A blog for the Baumbachs who originated in Syracuse, NY

You probably don't give this much thought, unless you just finished watching Poltergeist, as I did last week, followed by coming across this article. Here's the question: how important is it that once buried, a body is never disturbed? Should cemeteries be a permanent place of rest? Or, after some period of time, can we reuse the land, possibly to bury more dead, or develop the land in some fashion?

Mathematically speaking, we'll eventually run out of room to bury folks indefinitely, but that's not really what is causing the problem in the article. That issue is more related to the fact that few older cemeteries are properly documented in order to even try to preserve them. In general, a cemetery needs tending in order to prevent the wild from reclaiming the land--and over several generations, it's not hard to see how people can forget all about cemeteries.

I'm not entirely talking our of my butt here--Abby and I have been laying flags on veterans' graves for the past few years for Memorial Day. Trying to track down veterans from the earlier wars (WWI and earlier) are downright difficult, and many of them are buried in small, semi-private lots. Years ago, there weren't meany large church-based or town-based cemeteries, and instead in rural areas folks just buried their dead on their land.

Anyhow--it's just one of those interesting questions. What do we do with the dead? Why do we do what we do with the dead? I'm not looking for a religious flamewar here, I'm just curious to see what you all think.

As for me, I'm partial to the recycling program for bodies. Take what they want from my body, then feed me to the worms. :)

Marc said about 1 hour later

I just spent the weekend in Charleston, where Laura and I went on ghost tours and visiting cemeteries (We did a lot of other cool things, but this was one of the most interesting parts of the trip). They seemed to have most things in order in terms of documented burials and history of the people, although many of the tombstones themselves were unreadable. I found a tombstone for a revolutionary soldier, civil war soldier, Harriet Mackie, as well as many other interesting people.

While I agree there's just no way we could keep every gravestone, they certainly serve a purpose for quite some time. Perhaps the right way to do things would be to "archive" the gravestones into a combined gravestone of people from a similar time or family. I'm not sure what to do with those caskets and bodies though. :)

To me, it's the history behind the people that is important, I can't say it would be too smart to continue to grow cemeteries indefinitely.
GJ said about 2 hours later

I totally agree about the history portion--that's really all that's left of folks that matter, for the most part. Whether you believe in a deity or not, what happens to your physical body after you die really shouldn't matter, but I get the idea that it's nice to have a place to come to remember your loved ones. Cemeteries are incredible sources of history, and fascinating. I so could get into becoming a town historian--it's just neat seeing how people lived and died years ago.

Plus, if you believe in ghosts, there's nothing like playing hide and seek in one at night. It's not nearly so much fun for me these days. :)
GJ said about 2 hours later

Oh, and yes, my experience with cemeteries is pretty much limited to New York. We have a LOT of undocumented cemeteries in these parts.
Geoff said about 2 hours later

Can you bury the dead on your own property? I'd like to be sealed up in my walls for extra insulation.

Seriously though, I could care less where I'm buried, but I think you need some sort of memorial for at least your 2nd generation to mourn. After that, your plan is up unless you buy more minutes!
GJ said about 5 hours later

Laws have changed over the years, and it is something (at least here in NY) is governed by local municipalities. In cities and most larger suburbs, I'm guessing the answer is no. Outside of those areas, where much of NY is still farmland, I'd say it's probably yes.

Burying people on your own properly in the burbs and cities would likely contribute to increased scavenger activity and with it, an uptick in disease breakouts. I'd recommend against it. :)
Steve said 1 day later

you guys will love Parsla's response to this question...."why even bury people? burn them and use the heat to create electricity!"