caged graves

[Reverend Conehead]

This is really bizarre. There are these graves that have cages around them. You can see them here:

(A little morbid)
http://www.highspiritsbook.com/caged_graves.htm

The purpose of the cages are unknown. I wondered if maybe they thought the person buried would come back as a vampire, but the dates on the tombstones pre-date the release of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. Another thought is maybe they just didn't want people walking on the graves. Or maybe they thought there was an animal that could dig the person up. Perhaps it was protection against human grave robbers.

 

[CashMan]

This is really bizarre. There are these graves that have cages around them. You can see them here:

(A little morbid)
http://www.highspiritsbook.com/caged_graves.htm

The purpose of the cages are unknown. I wondered if maybe they thought the person buried would come back as a vampire, but the dates on the tombstones pre-date the release of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. Another thought is maybe they just didn't want people walking on the graves. Or maybe they thought there was an animal that could dig the person up. Perhaps it was protection against human grave robbers.

I do not know what is more odd, that these exist, or you found them...

 

[Shunpike]

Maybe they don't want anyone to step on their loved ones grave. How did you find this anyway?

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Maybe they don't want anyone to step on their loved ones grave. How did you find this anyway?

There was an article about them in one of the online newspapers, either the Huffington Post or NBC News, I forget which. Some writer is researching this for a book.

 

[CashMan]

There was an article about them in one of the online newspapers, either the Huffington Post or NBC News, I forget which. Some writer is researching this for a book.

I am going to assume, it is some weird thing, where the person did something "evil" and the cage keeps the soul from entering heaven by trapping it. I think another one, I've heard is leaving the window open when a person dies in a room, so the soul can escape. Something like that, I think.

 

[blindzebra]

Not all that rare.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cag...QGCqoGwDA&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=767

 

[CashMan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortsafe

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Could just as easily be a deal that is there to try and prevent others from messing with the graves. There used to be big business in digging up corpses and selling them off. I'd guess that it still happens.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

There used to be big business in digging up corpses and selling them off. I'd guess that it still happens.

"NO IT DOESN'T!!"
​

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Could just as easily be a deal that is there to try and prevent others from messing with the graves. There used to be big business in digging up corpses and selling them off. I'd guess that it still happens.

Yeah, I checked out that link that CashMan posted and it talked about that. There's no longer a market for stolen corpses thanks to the modern system of donating your body to science. There is a black market for organs, but by the time a body has been embalmed and buried, those organs are no longer any good. Those are all old graves, so my guess is the cages are specifically for that -- to prevent robbery.