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Archiver > PACE > 2007-02 > 1171723754


From: Janders 45 <>
Subject: Re: [PACE] Proofs for John of M ancestry - finding old graves
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:49:14 -0600


Lois,

While the instrument you describe might well detect gases given off by a recently dead body which is in the process of decomposition, I doubt that it would be effective on graves this old since the bodies no doubt finished all of the chemical reactions of the decay process long ago. Have you inspected the site yourself? Frequently, it is fairly easy to see the depressions in the ground that result from the collapse of the coffins, assuming that the burial site has been left undisturbed. One of my vivid memories as a youngster was helping my grandfather (then in his 90's) and father pour cement slabs to mark the graves of my g-grandfather and several other relatives. This was an old family burial ground in the midst of pure forest now owned by a large timber company. The graves were around 70 years old at the time that we poured the slabs but it was quite easy to see the perfectly rectangular depressions where each grave had sunk about 4 to 6 inches below the surrounding surface.

I visited the site about 3 years ago and was pleased to see that our slabs were still intact. The timber company had clear-cut the area, but they had left the cemetery completely undisturbed, which they might not have done had we not poured the slabs. I was about 10 years old at the time, and my job was to use a stick to write in the cement the names given to me by my grandfather. "What's his name, Grandpa?" I asked, when we came to the last and largest slab. "Same as yours, Joseph Anderson. That's your great-grandfather." I remember having a bit of an odd feeling as I scratched my own name into a tombstone.

Joe Anderson



> From: > To: > Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:51:02 -0500> Subject: Re: [PACE] Proofs for John of M ancestry
> Thank you, Joe Anderson , for your message.> I really don't think I want to disturb the graves.> I thought I had read or seen somewhere that> there was some sort of instrument which could> be passed over ground and it would emit some> sort of indication of human remains beneath.> This may be the same thing that is done today> when , such as the Oklahoma City Bombing> there were trying to locate bodies in the rubble.
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