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Archiver > TX-CEMETERY-PRESERVATION > 2006-06 > 1149687200


From:
Subject: Re: [TX-CEMETERY-PRESERVATION] Dowsing
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:33:20 +0000


Hi Everyone,
I have been heartsick about the happenings of the last 2 weeks, but decided Id better write with the events of the last few days. Then if you want to kick me off the list I will understand.
I had notified you about a grave dowsing demonstration in central Texas 2 weeks ago. At the same time, my sister had put the same article in 16 area newspapers. 36-40 people showed up during the 3-day event. Most were beginners, and most had a particular little cemetery they were working to preserve. Only one that we know of was unable to get any response with the dowsing, and one other got small electric shocks in her thumbs instead of getting her wires to cross. 2 water dowsers were especially good at it. One of our visitors was Fain McDaniel, head of the Comanche County Historical Commission and a grave dowser of 20 years experience.
4 of our visitors were from the media. We got nice articles in the De Leon Free Press and the Dublin Progress, and half of the front page of the Abilene Reporter.
The Cemetery Association met on Saturday morning after we finished dowsing the entire cemetery and finding over 400 unmarked graves. There were about 200 people who were blissfully ignorant of the legal problems the association was facing, because the trustees had never told them anything was going on. A big part of the problem was running into these lost graves when new graves were being dug. This time there were 5 speakers. First the lawyer told them the problems and really got their attention. Then Fain explained dowsing and confirmed our finds. I spoke next about finding solutions, both for all of us in general and for a few families with more specific problems. I stressed that these graves are for the pioneers of our community, the ones who made it a great place for the rest of us to grow up in. I was the only one to receive applause. Then my sister spoke on doing what was best for our cemetery and association. Then the head trustee stood and blasted the rest !
of us,
ending by yelling he didnt believe a word we had said and challenging us to prove it by digging one up, and immediately adjourning the meeting.
We had already located a grave outside of the cemetery, so I checked with the lawyer to see if it would be legal to dig outside the cemetery. She couldnt see why not, so I accepted the challenge. My hope was that by showing that dowsing worked, we could protect the other 400 inside the fence. That was the only reason I agreed.
We started mapping the cemetery. 3 days later the gravedigger arrived with a backhoe, but refused to dig outside the cemetery, as his insurance wouldnt cover it. So the trustees picked another grave inside in an area they all swore had never had graves. We had no doubt that there had been a burial there, but werent sure there would be anything left, especially since it would have been more than 100 years old. A dozen people watched, but none of us saw anything. Afterwards the gravedigger pushed the dirt back in, then 2 helpers raked the ground smooth with standard garden rakes.
Meantime the head trustee was trying to persuade me to dig up another grave in another area. I was nauseated from disturbing one grave and could not agree to do it again.
We went back to mapping. Although the association desperately needed the map, not a single one of the trustees would stay and help us.
It rained the next afternoon, and when we returned to the cemetery early the next morning to continue the mapping, my mother asked me to show her where they had dug. We walked over and as I was pointing out the edges of the hole, I stared hard at something lying on top of the ground. It was a bone, a vertebra. There were several other pieces scattered around. It took me 2 days to figure out that it was the raking that had pulled those pieces out of the dirt and left them laying completely on top of the ground. Then the rain washed enough dirt off them to make them show up. There were also 2 arrow heads with the bones.
My husband rushed home for the camera, while my sister drove over to get the trustees. They actually accused me of planting the bones. Then they said it wasnt human bones and ended up ordering me to find out if they were human or not. I took them to a local mortician, and then to the biology department of Tarleton State University. No conclusive results.
It actually got worse after that, with one of the trustees saying 7 or 8 people called him to complain of us practicing witchcraft. Then I heard that a couple of people had asked my mother why no one had dowsed for those lost graves a long time ago. All we seem to have accomplished was to stir up a controversy.
For me the worst part has been hearing peoples attitude about these lost graves. Some people are trying to move their reserved gravesites to areas that do not include an earlier burial site. But some said that if their families did not care enough to put up a permanent grave stone, why should anyone else care about them. Others say to push their bones aside so we can have the burial site we want.
By law, a gravedigger discovering signs of an earlier burial is required to immediately return everything including the dirt to that site and move to another. In practice, a man standing there demanding to bury his father (or whoever) there, is a lot louder than a few bones and wood slivers lying in the dirt.
I ran into the head trustee again before I left the area (I live 1000 miles away). He asked me if I was going to allow them to bury in those areas, like I had any say in it at all. I looked him in the eye and told him that he was the one who agreed to be the head trustee, and that he was responsible for ALL the graves in our cemetery.
I did the best I could, but I dont know if it was enough.
--
Elayne Pair Gibbons
www.PairPlace.net


-------------- Original message from : --------------


> Elayne.
> I would like to try my hand at dowsing at our cemetery, since there are so
> many
> rocks, (Just rocks ) at different places in the cemetery. About 3 or 4 of the
> graves
> are just inside the gate to the right and each one is covered with slabs of
> concrete.
> Two large ones and two small ones. they are about 2 feet above the ground and
> have
> names on each one. Their las name is "lawrence" scratched on the head stones.
> Some of the slabs on top are broken in two parts but at least the graves are
> protected by the slabs of concrete on each other. The graves are old and have
> been there for a long time. I don't remember the date on the stones or
> the first name on them.
> They were there as long as I can remember and when our old school was still
> being taught they were there then.
> ew
>
>
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> Column at:
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>

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