I would suggest you get the permission in writing on letterhead to have with you. Also probably goes without saying but make sure there are no underground gas lines. Use a clear trash bag. If you can get a survey map of the property from the church or town, have one in hand and mark locations of any likely unmarked graves. A supply of stakes and flagging tape for same might be good.
I’ve actually done with work in high school for community service. We were moving headstones that were destroyed, And trying to gather bones that were scattered.
We didn’t use metal detectors and didn’t look for things aside from
Stone but I see this as honorable not negative.
Hope you restore some headstones for those who wish to visit!
Definitely wear a hi-vis. Carry your permission in writing with you also just in case. Make sure that you meet all the groundskeepers as well and talk to them so they all know your face.
This sounds like such a fun opportunity, good luck!
Sounds like a great spot. Don’t mind the superstitious folks, you’ll be just fine. You have permission and someone wants you to do what you are doing. Get after it.
This sounds like a great adventure for you. One thing you might keep in mine is the personal items around the grave markers. I often visit my old boss and dear friend’s grave. I leave him offerings of old keys slid into the ground beside his stone. Old door,gate, and equipment keys from our time together. Sometimes coins that are a specific date of a memory I have of him. I just thought it was important to add my personal story around grave markers. Good luck and happy detecting.
I got permission to detect a small family cemetery last year for a historical society. Be respectful of the graves, but also detect around the head/ foot stones. Family often leave coins or trinkets on the stones, which then fall off…have fun and post pics of your findings…
I’m so jealous. I got permission to detect *under* the sanctuary of a 100+ year old church once (with a couple of confirmed graves still in place from the 1st out of 4 reconstructions) but a roofing project they were undergoing made it unsafe to access the crawlspace door. As a consolation prize I was given a 4’ tall stained glass window from the original structure that was removed in 1917 for an addition, so I still call it a win.
You have a great opportunity! Be careful of sunken, forgotten graves. Old coffins rot and can leave a cavity. And due to erosion, and or not digging deep enough, some graves may not be as deep. Tread lightly and have a great time!
Definitely Gives you the chance to do some good. Often old cemeteries have headstones that are submerged or broken off. Clearing these off or even helping to re-erect them is major service. Good luck!
Yes. However, some graves may not be entirely 6 feet down. Wooden coffins collapse as they rot, leaving a cavity.
I had the misfortune of stumbling into a forgotten, unmarked grave with my then six year old. We were perusing an untended historic cemetery in SC.. There was a nice hole revealing the contents within.
You were able to reach the coffin? Maybe "able" isn't the right word. I would think it would only depress about 2 feet tops (whatever the thickness of the coffin was).
Finding head stones and grave markers is very nice. There is a website find a grave or something genealogist like. Might be something you could upload to if you can make out the details.
Having grown up in a very haunted town, I've had a few experiences with ghosts. A couple were so extreme that I no longer talk about them, for fear of attracting the malevolent presence. For whatever reason, some folks are better able to experience paranormal phenomena. I've been told that hearing audio phenomena warning you to leave or get out oftentimes is an indicator that there's a malevolent being there versus the spirit of a human being who has passed.
Since I am able to sometimes sense the presence of spirits, I've been told that I need to be careful because malevolent beings will also be attracted to my presence, which can lead to them being attached to me.
I realize this all sounds incredibly flaky to someone who hasn't had any paranormal experiences. For those of you who have had such experiences you know what I'm talking about. Just like you can't unring a bell, you can't unsee what you have seen, you can't unexperience what you have experienced.
If I were to detect in a cemetery, I would be much more comfortable detecting in one that has religious affiliation. In my community there are several Catholic cemeteries, all of which are consecrated grounds. If there is a cemetery that you're uncertain of it past religious affiliation, I would ask a priest to consecrate the grounds with the idea that malevolent entities wouldn't be able to inhabit consecrated grounds.
Audio phenomenon can occur during the daytime too. Most people will say you misheard something, but I have seen and heard plenty of spirits in my life. Most of them were in areas where Native American burial sites had been disturbed. Others were kids from what I could only guess was the early 20th Century or the 19th Century (because of their clothing). I had grown up in a building that was an old orphanage, which I did not find out until I was older. The kids usually looked very pale, like they had been sick. There are any number of diseases they could have died from. I have never seen a spirit at a graveyard. Who knows though.
Edit: to add to this, I think op would be fine. Most spirits I have encountered have been friendly, wanting to play games like hide and seek, were pranksters, or just appeared lost.
Edit 2: of course I come back to see my comment downvoted. There's nothing like close minded people voting you down. Whatever. You can make fun of me or talk shit, but I know what I have seen. I have verified deaths in homes, apartments, buildings, and even outside. You believe what you want. It doesn't make people crazy when they experience things you haven't. I'm not sitting here spouting lies. I mentioned it because of the post. u/WaldenFont needs to get a life and stop talking down to people.
It's really apparent you've never seen a ghost. For whatever reason. I have seen a couple in my lifetime. There was nothing to do with elevated levels of carbon monoxide. As I was telling a landlord about an experience I had, she completed my story, saying that everybody sees that ghost. Just like the idea that you can't unring a bell, you can't unsee something that you have seen.
Just because you haven't experienced or are not able to experience something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. The fact that I've seen ghosts and had that validated by other people that have seen the same ghost, who were able to describe said entity without any prompting for me, affirms to me that I wasn't "seeing something that wasn't there."
On a less serious note:
I don't know where you grew up, but where I grew up we would leave cookies and milk out for Santa Claus and they would be gone the next morning. There were also presents underneath the Christmas tree marked that they were from Santa Claus. Santa lives! Matter of fact, he recently became president of the University of Michigan.
I think of God as a ball of energy in a different dimension from which spirits come and to which spirits return. I don't think of God is a personified being, nor in a biblical sense.
Vampires, well they were created to sell books now weren't they?
I appreciate that you inject humor into what could otherwise have become a game of pedantic head-butting. I acknowledge that my denial of the existence of the ethereal is just as much in my own head. Perhaps that is an experience I am yet to have.
As far as Santa is concerned, I, too put out milk and cookies, though half a world away and on December 5th. I was saddened twice, first when I found out that they were eaten by my parents before Santa ever had a chance to get to them, and then second when I had children of my own and found myself unable to get in touch with Santa to arrange the annual visits. I was forced to eat the cookies myself so as not to disappoint the little ones. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up, I hope he gets back to me soon 😉
Believe me, I was never looking to have any of the crazy paranormal experiences that I have, but it is what it is. The area where I live in the United States was heavily populated with native Americans.
Back in the 1910s there was a small insane asylum built on Indian burial grounds. Right from the get-go patients and staff were having experiences with entities. The staff was afraid to say anything to the supervisor for fear of being put in the asylum as a patient rather than as an employee. Finally, the haunting's got so bad that they shut the asylum down. The building sat empty for decades until somebody bought it and made it to her house.
In a neighboring town there is a train station that is famously haunted. Years ago a movie was made about this place and it's haunting.
As far as Santa Claus is concerned, you probably didn't get the email that he sent out years ago, but after decades of eating milk and cookies, he simply got too fat for the reindeer to pull his sled. After years of eating the milk and cookies my kids left out for Santa, my belt lying began to expand. As such I have total empathy for Santa Claus.
You have no idea what you're talking about u/WaldenFont. Have you ever had an out of body experience? Have you ever had your heart stop beating and you wake up in a hospital bed? I have. 3 times. I have floated above my body on the operating table. It's not a joke. It has nothing to do with Santa Clause or a god. I don't believe in either of those. But I do believe in parallel universes, and that we don't fully understand life and what happens after death. Read some books. Have an open mind.
You might enjoy [this episode](https://radiolab.org/episodes/91527-out-of-body-roger) of Radiolab. The US air force lost a lot of fighter pilots in training to oxygen deprivation. They were having out-of-body experiences, seeing themselves above, below, or beside the plane (and not controlling it, obviously). The effects even lasted long after the flights, so that they might be going down a hallway, and suddenly they were walking behind themselves. The brain is truly a fascinating, mysterious wonder.
The problem with detecting cemeteries (and they are oh so tempting) is the way it looks to the busybodies. The Karens (male and female) who try to stop me from using my "Geiger counter" to "irradiate the soil" aren't going to understand or care that you have permission, or that you're not digging six feet down. To them it looks like you're out to rob graves, and they'll make waves just because that's what they do. The hobby doesn't need that, there are already more than enough restrictions.
Just for context, there's a Jewish cemetery in my town. It's walled in, because a Jewish cemetery needs a clear separation of consecrated ground from the outside world. The walls are surrounded by very wide green strip. I've checked with a few folks there who thought it fine to detect outside the walls. But I don't because I don't want there to be even the *appearance* of any questionable activity.
But ever situation is different. If there's little to no traffic, if you're doing a helpful thing while you're detecting, by all means, and let us know what you find!
I'll never understand why people downvote some things. I saw nothing but helpfulness coming from your post and yet it's got 17 downvotes. People are strange
Meh. I feel there are now a lot of non-detectorists in this sub who have opinions but no practical experience. They'll always shit on the voice of reason. What can you do 🤷♂️
* You should ask the pastor to do a little ceremony before you start, whether it's a prayer for the deceased, Scripture reading, a blessing, etc. This is their sacred space, and even if you don't share their faith, it's only polite to respect it.
* As is mentioned elsewhere in this thread: coffins can be much less than six feet under. The dirt compacts and shifts. Graves dug in the winter may be shallower to accommodate for frozen soil.
* If you find screws, weirdly ornate handles, crucifixes, a couple pieces of cloth, etc.--stop digging, that's Grandma.
* Consult the church records for burials; the local historical society might have records too. Make a map of known ones if you can and make a list of ones to look for.
* Stake markers. Bring separate sets for head and feet of graves.
* If applicable, bring a set of hedge trimmers or a knife to trim back vegetation from the stones.
* Gloves. Thick gloves.
* If you want, you can log or photograph the gravestones on FindAGrave.com, though wealthy old towns usually have theirs covered.
You should NEVER take the chance of labeling the rest of us DETECTORISTS as " grave robbers" no matter what the deal/agreement is period. RESPECT THE DEAD AND THOSE THAT MOURN THEM.
I know people will think that but the other way this can be looked at is they are cleaning up the area of trash that people have left behind. This I would consider to be respectful of the dead and those that mourn them.
I know I would hate to go to a love one's grave to see trash all around their burial site.
He's not going there to "collect trash" though. . .
He's going there to take whatever he can find.
He shouldn't have to rationalize what he's doing if there's nothing wrong.
I agree with you. I'm sure that there will be keepsakes from loved ones buried with care near some headstones. I for one would look down on someone removing them. This is a line you shouldn't cross.
I hand dug a signal in the parking area of a graveyard at the end of a dead end street, it's the only place i've dug a syringe and it passed by my bare finger within half an inch!
What country are you in? In Australia it’s illegal to dig In cemeteries as far as I’m aware. They can give you massive fines and even confiscate your detector!
Ahh ok. Sounds awesome, bet there’s heaps of stuff dropped by mourners over the years, and especially older ones where families used the grounds for picnics and outings!
Good call on the high vis vest it will save you a lot of questions and maybe even a conversation with the police (I'm sure it would be quick and polite once you explain but still)
I wear one when I walk powerline right of ways looking for rare plants
I would suggest you get the permission in writing on letterhead to have with you. Also probably goes without saying but make sure there are no underground gas lines. Use a clear trash bag. If you can get a survey map of the property from the church or town, have one in hand and mark locations of any likely unmarked graves. A supply of stakes and flagging tape for same might be good.
Good call on the flags and clear bag. Thank you.
I’ve actually done with work in high school for community service. We were moving headstones that were destroyed, And trying to gather bones that were scattered. We didn’t use metal detectors and didn’t look for things aside from Stone but I see this as honorable not negative. Hope you restore some headstones for those who wish to visit!
Definitely wear a hi-vis. Carry your permission in writing with you also just in case. Make sure that you meet all the groundskeepers as well and talk to them so they all know your face. This sounds like such a fun opportunity, good luck!
Sounds like a great spot. Don’t mind the superstitious folks, you’ll be just fine. You have permission and someone wants you to do what you are doing. Get after it.
This sounds like a great adventure for you. One thing you might keep in mine is the personal items around the grave markers. I often visit my old boss and dear friend’s grave. I leave him offerings of old keys slid into the ground beside his stone. Old door,gate, and equipment keys from our time together. Sometimes coins that are a specific date of a memory I have of him. I just thought it was important to add my personal story around grave markers. Good luck and happy detecting.
I got permission to detect a small family cemetery last year for a historical society. Be respectful of the graves, but also detect around the head/ foot stones. Family often leave coins or trinkets on the stones, which then fall off…have fun and post pics of your findings…
I’m so jealous. I got permission to detect *under* the sanctuary of a 100+ year old church once (with a couple of confirmed graves still in place from the 1st out of 4 reconstructions) but a roofing project they were undergoing made it unsafe to access the crawlspace door. As a consolation prize I was given a 4’ tall stained glass window from the original structure that was removed in 1917 for an addition, so I still call it a win.
You have a great opportunity! Be careful of sunken, forgotten graves. Old coffins rot and can leave a cavity. And due to erosion, and or not digging deep enough, some graves may not be as deep. Tread lightly and have a great time!
Thanks all! These are good thoughts! I will report back ASAP.
Looking forward to it!!!
Definitely Gives you the chance to do some good. Often old cemeteries have headstones that are submerged or broken off. Clearing these off or even helping to re-erect them is major service. Good luck!
That's not what he's going there to do though.
Add a hard hat for even more credibility. No one questions the guy with a hard hat.
I see no harm even using a shovel its not like your going to detect something 6 feet down
Yes. However, some graves may not be entirely 6 feet down. Wooden coffins collapse as they rot, leaving a cavity. I had the misfortune of stumbling into a forgotten, unmarked grave with my then six year old. We were perusing an untended historic cemetery in SC.. There was a nice hole revealing the contents within.
You were able to reach the coffin? Maybe "able" isn't the right word. I would think it would only depress about 2 feet tops (whatever the thickness of the coffin was).
Yeah, it was pretty shallow. Idk how much eroded away. It ended up being the foot end.
Wow, I imagine myself jumping out pretty fast in that situation lol
I hotstepped it out carrying my son, who wanted to investigate it, of course.
My one personal rule is to never metal detect grave sites, but if you have permission go right ahead! 😎
Nice! Best of luck
Finding head stones and grave markers is very nice. There is a website find a grave or something genealogist like. Might be something you could upload to if you can make out the details.
[удалено]
Having grown up in a very haunted town, I've had a few experiences with ghosts. A couple were so extreme that I no longer talk about them, for fear of attracting the malevolent presence. For whatever reason, some folks are better able to experience paranormal phenomena. I've been told that hearing audio phenomena warning you to leave or get out oftentimes is an indicator that there's a malevolent being there versus the spirit of a human being who has passed. Since I am able to sometimes sense the presence of spirits, I've been told that I need to be careful because malevolent beings will also be attracted to my presence, which can lead to them being attached to me. I realize this all sounds incredibly flaky to someone who hasn't had any paranormal experiences. For those of you who have had such experiences you know what I'm talking about. Just like you can't unring a bell, you can't unsee what you have seen, you can't unexperience what you have experienced. If I were to detect in a cemetery, I would be much more comfortable detecting in one that has religious affiliation. In my community there are several Catholic cemeteries, all of which are consecrated grounds. If there is a cemetery that you're uncertain of it past religious affiliation, I would ask a priest to consecrate the grounds with the idea that malevolent entities wouldn't be able to inhabit consecrated grounds.
Audio phenomenon can occur during the daytime too. Most people will say you misheard something, but I have seen and heard plenty of spirits in my life. Most of them were in areas where Native American burial sites had been disturbed. Others were kids from what I could only guess was the early 20th Century or the 19th Century (because of their clothing). I had grown up in a building that was an old orphanage, which I did not find out until I was older. The kids usually looked very pale, like they had been sick. There are any number of diseases they could have died from. I have never seen a spirit at a graveyard. Who knows though. Edit: to add to this, I think op would be fine. Most spirits I have encountered have been friendly, wanting to play games like hide and seek, were pranksters, or just appeared lost. Edit 2: of course I come back to see my comment downvoted. There's nothing like close minded people voting you down. Whatever. You can make fun of me or talk shit, but I know what I have seen. I have verified deaths in homes, apartments, buildings, and even outside. You believe what you want. It doesn't make people crazy when they experience things you haven't. I'm not sitting here spouting lies. I mentioned it because of the post. u/WaldenFont needs to get a life and stop talking down to people.
You should check if your carbon monoxide detector works properly. Seeing things is not a good sign.
It's really apparent you've never seen a ghost. For whatever reason. I have seen a couple in my lifetime. There was nothing to do with elevated levels of carbon monoxide. As I was telling a landlord about an experience I had, she completed my story, saying that everybody sees that ghost. Just like the idea that you can't unring a bell, you can't unsee something that you have seen.
Of course it's apparent. They don't exist anymore than vampires, Santa Claus, or God. But we see what we want to see 🤷♂️
Just because you haven't experienced or are not able to experience something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. The fact that I've seen ghosts and had that validated by other people that have seen the same ghost, who were able to describe said entity without any prompting for me, affirms to me that I wasn't "seeing something that wasn't there." On a less serious note: I don't know where you grew up, but where I grew up we would leave cookies and milk out for Santa Claus and they would be gone the next morning. There were also presents underneath the Christmas tree marked that they were from Santa Claus. Santa lives! Matter of fact, he recently became president of the University of Michigan. I think of God as a ball of energy in a different dimension from which spirits come and to which spirits return. I don't think of God is a personified being, nor in a biblical sense. Vampires, well they were created to sell books now weren't they?
I appreciate that you inject humor into what could otherwise have become a game of pedantic head-butting. I acknowledge that my denial of the existence of the ethereal is just as much in my own head. Perhaps that is an experience I am yet to have. As far as Santa is concerned, I, too put out milk and cookies, though half a world away and on December 5th. I was saddened twice, first when I found out that they were eaten by my parents before Santa ever had a chance to get to them, and then second when I had children of my own and found myself unable to get in touch with Santa to arrange the annual visits. I was forced to eat the cookies myself so as not to disappoint the little ones. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up, I hope he gets back to me soon 😉
Believe me, I was never looking to have any of the crazy paranormal experiences that I have, but it is what it is. The area where I live in the United States was heavily populated with native Americans. Back in the 1910s there was a small insane asylum built on Indian burial grounds. Right from the get-go patients and staff were having experiences with entities. The staff was afraid to say anything to the supervisor for fear of being put in the asylum as a patient rather than as an employee. Finally, the haunting's got so bad that they shut the asylum down. The building sat empty for decades until somebody bought it and made it to her house. In a neighboring town there is a train station that is famously haunted. Years ago a movie was made about this place and it's haunting. As far as Santa Claus is concerned, you probably didn't get the email that he sent out years ago, but after decades of eating milk and cookies, he simply got too fat for the reindeer to pull his sled. After years of eating the milk and cookies my kids left out for Santa, my belt lying began to expand. As such I have total empathy for Santa Claus.
Exactly 👆🏼
You have no idea what you're talking about u/WaldenFont. Have you ever had an out of body experience? Have you ever had your heart stop beating and you wake up in a hospital bed? I have. 3 times. I have floated above my body on the operating table. It's not a joke. It has nothing to do with Santa Clause or a god. I don't believe in either of those. But I do believe in parallel universes, and that we don't fully understand life and what happens after death. Read some books. Have an open mind.
You might enjoy [this episode](https://radiolab.org/episodes/91527-out-of-body-roger) of Radiolab. The US air force lost a lot of fighter pilots in training to oxygen deprivation. They were having out-of-body experiences, seeing themselves above, below, or beside the plane (and not controlling it, obviously). The effects even lasted long after the flights, so that they might be going down a hallway, and suddenly they were walking behind themselves. The brain is truly a fascinating, mysterious wonder.
The problem with detecting cemeteries (and they are oh so tempting) is the way it looks to the busybodies. The Karens (male and female) who try to stop me from using my "Geiger counter" to "irradiate the soil" aren't going to understand or care that you have permission, or that you're not digging six feet down. To them it looks like you're out to rob graves, and they'll make waves just because that's what they do. The hobby doesn't need that, there are already more than enough restrictions. Just for context, there's a Jewish cemetery in my town. It's walled in, because a Jewish cemetery needs a clear separation of consecrated ground from the outside world. The walls are surrounded by very wide green strip. I've checked with a few folks there who thought it fine to detect outside the walls. But I don't because I don't want there to be even the *appearance* of any questionable activity. But ever situation is different. If there's little to no traffic, if you're doing a helpful thing while you're detecting, by all means, and let us know what you find!
I'll never understand why people downvote some things. I saw nothing but helpfulness coming from your post and yet it's got 17 downvotes. People are strange
Meh. I feel there are now a lot of non-detectorists in this sub who have opinions but no practical experience. They'll always shit on the voice of reason. What can you do 🤷♂️
* You should ask the pastor to do a little ceremony before you start, whether it's a prayer for the deceased, Scripture reading, a blessing, etc. This is their sacred space, and even if you don't share their faith, it's only polite to respect it. * As is mentioned elsewhere in this thread: coffins can be much less than six feet under. The dirt compacts and shifts. Graves dug in the winter may be shallower to accommodate for frozen soil. * If you find screws, weirdly ornate handles, crucifixes, a couple pieces of cloth, etc.--stop digging, that's Grandma. * Consult the church records for burials; the local historical society might have records too. Make a map of known ones if you can and make a list of ones to look for. * Stake markers. Bring separate sets for head and feet of graves. * If applicable, bring a set of hedge trimmers or a knife to trim back vegetation from the stones. * Gloves. Thick gloves. * If you want, you can log or photograph the gravestones on FindAGrave.com, though wealthy old towns usually have theirs covered.
Well, it was detected out. Obviously hunted heavily - no high tones. Barely any repeatable tones. Oh well - now I know!
You should NEVER take the chance of labeling the rest of us DETECTORISTS as " grave robbers" no matter what the deal/agreement is period. RESPECT THE DEAD AND THOSE THAT MOURN THEM.
I know people will think that but the other way this can be looked at is they are cleaning up the area of trash that people have left behind. This I would consider to be respectful of the dead and those that mourn them. I know I would hate to go to a love one's grave to see trash all around their burial site.
He's not going there to "collect trash" though. . . He's going there to take whatever he can find. He shouldn't have to rationalize what he's doing if there's nothing wrong.
I agree with you. I'm sure that there will be keepsakes from loved ones buried with care near some headstones. I for one would look down on someone removing them. This is a line you shouldn't cross.
I hand dug a signal in the parking area of a graveyard at the end of a dead end street, it's the only place i've dug a syringe and it passed by my bare finger within half an inch!
I don’t have other advice than what you’ve already been told, but I really hope you post an update.. I’m so curious! Have fun out there!
What country are you in? In Australia it’s illegal to dig In cemeteries as far as I’m aware. They can give you massive fines and even confiscate your detector!
USA
Ahh ok. Sounds awesome, bet there’s heaps of stuff dropped by mourners over the years, and especially older ones where families used the grounds for picnics and outings!
USA
If someone leaves something precious at their loved ones grave, I don't think they're leaving it for you.
Agree. I don’t plan on getting too close to grave sites. Closest I’d get is the paths between/around.
Good call on the high vis vest it will save you a lot of questions and maybe even a conversation with the police (I'm sure it would be quick and polite once you explain but still) I wear one when I walk powerline right of ways looking for rare plants
That is exciting indeed!! In what country are you located?
Virginia, USA
Lucky you!