Moral Issues ? (cemetaries)???

I would ask that a sticky be put on this topic as it keeps recurring and each time it does I find myself getting annoyed.
This is my take on the issue - cemetaries are for the living to pay their respects and to keep their memories of the deceased alive, the dead are only buried there. That being the case, the living are liable to take great exception to finding some stranger digging around the tombstone of their dearly departed when they drop by the cemetary to deposit some flowers and relive a tender memory. It is just conceivable that the living might take so much of an exception to the indignity of someone digging around the gravesite of the beloved mother, father, son, daughter (you fill in the blank) that they would wrap the detector around the head of the miscreant that was ghoulishly digging up a gravesite.

This is hallowed ground, please stay out of graveyards, 99.99% of the planet is not hallowed ground, search there instead.

I might also add that grave sites are property owned by the family (in most cases), so it would be no different than MDing without permission on someones land. In the case of old graveyards no longer used/tended to and out of sight of the general public, let your conscience be your guide. We all have different thoughts on the matter. Archeologist rob old graves (tombs) all of the time in the name of science and history and no one seems to think anything of it. Where is the difference?

First, Welcome to TQ. Next.. well.. for me.. any burial ground is a " No Go",.. out side of that ground..sure..Mikey:icon_cool

Best not to Spratt. Lots of other spots. Welcome to TQ. Post your finds. It's fun to look at them all. Mark.

Well if you read his whole thread, he said OLD graveyards that haven't had ANY activity in over 100 years, he didn't say he was gonna hunt ON TOP of the graves, only the outsides, I personally see no problem with it. From now on people, if you see a place you want to hunt...JUST HUNT IT & don't worry about what someone else thinks!! No I'm not religious & no I have never put something in the ground at one of my relatives graves...for what???? It's pointless, they're never gonna see it or know it's there.

That's the beauty of a forum like TQ, you get to see all sorts of opinions from widely varying viewpoints. I am not a religious person either and I don't really care what happens to my body when I am dead, the rats can eat it for all I care - it's just an empty husk at that point. On the matter of remembering ones ancestors and preserving their memory - well that's another issue all together in my mind.
So people, please feel free to hunt around cemetaries, or in them for that matter. If you run into people that just don't care what you do then all will be well, perhaps they will even give you a pat on the back for cleaning up the grounds of old bits of metal. If you see me coming (or someone with a similar outlook on this topic), I hope you are packing heat because you are going to need it.
It really does add a new level of excitement to the hobby not knowing whether or not somebody is going to beat you senseless because you are hunting in a graveyard. To think I always thought hunting heavy surf and riptides was the most dangerous type of metal detecting, now I know of an even more dangerous style of hunting.

Good Luck,

I remember a story when a guy md at a cemetary and found a twenty bucks in change. The guy who died and whos money it was rose up from the grave. He went to the guy's house and left the md'er a check for twenty dollars and left a note saying "keep away and good luck on cashing the check"!

I find this topic funny and humorous....
Again he did say old cemeteries...
Next everyone has forgotten what we do.....
people are saying grave robbers and finding gold teeth and so fourth....
When was the last time you guys detected an object at 6 feet with your detector when I see people on here talking about finding a quarter at the most 15 inches.....
All the ground we hunt is somewhat sacred or possibly a burial ground...remember others were here before we were and buried their own without markers.....We walk and drive on ground that we really do not know what is beneath us until we dig....Everyday construction companies are finding more burial grounds cus we tend to grow in population....in other words, if it is old and no way of knowing if you would get in trouble, than hit it.....But I do agree that you should stay away from the ones that are being used still......
Remember people are dieing to get in the cemetery...Good luck and I think this is really your own judgment call.............Peace out...:wavey:
And welcome to TQ..........

I found a Gold tooth....

My opinion may not count seeing how I really haven't been out there doing it, newbie.

My opinion is that I don't want to do anything that will bring forth more laws, regulations, permits or a negitive lite on metal detecting. I guess if you think someone else is going to view it as negitive maybe you should think twice before attempting it.

Well said point. Mikey:icon_cool

I do not have any problems with the use of a detector in an old or new cemetary.
In the new cemetaries the remains are 6 feet under and usually in a cement vault so there is no "grave robbing" if you are just metal detecting.
In the old cemetaries where the remains maybe in a shallow hole and you happen upon bones just rebury them. After all they are just bones and yes I am religious.

I know people lose jewerly and coins at funerals and people have a right to retrieve those lost items through the use of a detector. Just refill your holes!

Nugget Hunter Smith

IT IS YOUR LAST SENTENCE THAT SCARES ME.

I know people lose jewerly and coins at funerals and people have a right to retrieve those lost items through the use of a detector. Just refill your holes!

The people that lose those items have the right to retrieve them, not you, or him. In many countries it is a tradition to toss coins in or on the grave to give travel money to thee deceased.

People do it due an ancient superstition that says that if you drop a coin and make a wish, the dead person can help you. It's the same superstition that makes people throw coins in fountains and wells. I presume it started in Antiquity, since Greeks and Romans made these things to invoke protection from their gods. Also, they usually buried their deads with coins inside the mouths because they believe deads must pay an Dead Oarman to cross a Deads River under the earth. So the money isn't lost your stealing from the dead.

Wow, what an ignorant post. To claim that someone is stealing from the dead for detecting suface coins.... rediculous.

Code of Ethics for Metal Detecting

Nice you attack the post, how about responding to the question? Just refill your holes?

Here is the "Code of Ethics."
Metal Detectorist's Code of Ethics
I WILL respect private property and do no metal detecting without the owner's permission.
I WILL fill all holes and excavations.
I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of natural resources, wildlife and private property.
I WILL use thoughtfulness, consideration and courtesy at all times.
I WILL build fires in designated or safe places only.
I WILL leave gates as found.
I WILL remove and properly dispose of any trash that I find.
I WILL NOT litter.
I WILL NOT destroy property, buildings or what is left of ghost towns and deserted structures.
I WILL NOT tamper with signs, structural facilities or equipment.

Old grave yards sounds deserted to me.

Man Caught Digging For Treasure In Cemetery

A man with a metal detector was caught searching for treasures on sacred ground in Nevada County, but was not arrested.

Georgie Coulter and her son noticed a man using a metal detector and shovel at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Grass Valley.

They say the man and his son were digging near a tree where they discovered a cast iron decoration which is most likely part of an old grave.

"He had been here for maybe an hour before my son said: 'We better call police, it just doesn't look right'," said Georgie Coulter.

"It's really kind of sacred ground," explained Matthew Coulter. "There are a lot of people...most of the graves you'll see in here are from Irel and, England, all over the world, and all died before 1900."

Police questioned the man with the metal detector and he told them he was just out looking for coins, which is not a crime. He was not arrested.

The cast iron decoration he found is going to be given to the Catholic church that oversees the cemetery.

I have to work lot's of funeral services...I have a great respect for the final resting place.... I will not even step on a grave if I can keep from it.... No mater what you believe the ground you would be hunting if it be a grave old or new it is not your ground....One day you will have grave of your own... Could be sooner than you wish if you deface a grave around here.....

I find it kinda interesting that this topic is brought up frequently, but I'll bet that VERY few diggers actually WILL dig in a cemetary. I think the motive behind alot posts on this subject is just that it's something to "talk about". I don't dig in cemetaries, and never have. Most of them are surveyed off and have visible markers to let folks know where it starts and where it ends(at least on the ones that are still being used). I'd say that it would be alright to hunt up near the cemetary, but definitely not in it. But as the old saying goes...."Let your conscience be your guide". This subject will go on forever. As a digger, when I die, I don't care if someone digs near me, as long as they don't dig me up:rofl:. I might ask them if they're finding anything. That ought to cure them from staying around....:smile:

Here's the problem. You are imposing your own subjective morals onto others. It is completely possible to hunt a cemetary and stay within the TH's code of ethics. All cemetaries are private property, and permission can be obtained to metal detect there.

Second, you act as if the ground over a dead body can never be touched. It's just dirt. Cemetaries all over the world, and especially here in the US have graveyards dug, and moved. Many, many, amny early graveyards are now housing developments, shopping centers, farm fields.

Noone is disturbing a body. A squirrel does more digging than a detectorist, are you pushing to have squirrel wiped out for this?

I agree that hunting a CURRENT cemetary might not be the best, but as I have said many times already (if you had bothered to actually read the thread) there are 10s of thousands of ghost town cemetaries, that haven't had a burial in a 100 years, and don't have visitors.

And for all the poeple threatening to kill someone for so much as stepping on a relatives' grave, grow up.