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Another question about ethics (cemetaries)


CachinSpree

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I enjoy visiting cemetery caches. The older the cemetery the better. You can see some interesting headstones at some of them. :)

 

There's no cemetery cache hidden in HK. Since the graves in HK's cemeteries usually attached with a photo of the dead persons. It's horrible to focus on their photos when u r searching for the cache. :rolleyes:

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It is absolutely in no way disrespectful to place caches in cemeteries. I have been visiting cemeteries all my life. There are thousands of cemeteries in travel brochures. They are marked on every topo map I have ever seen. Just because there is no one famous in the cemetery, does in no way mean it is not meant to be visited by anyone who chooses. I have meet people at Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, that because of the old cemeteries, was the only reason they visited the area. Since I have been Geocaching, and it hasn’t been that long, I have found a few caches placed in cemeteries and my travels have taken me past several that I have visited with no cache hidden in them at all.

 

Since I started this hobby, I have found my wife’s 5 or 6 times Great Grandfather. She had no idea where he was buried. Let me tell you about him. His name is Captain Henry Rhodes. He is known as the grandfather of Muhlenberg County, KY. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and a Kentucky Senator. I have no idea what the place looked like in his time, but it is in fair condition today. If not for this hobby, I probably never would have found his resting place. I will be placing a cache there as soon as I get one ready.

 

At another cemetery, I meet a man who new my wife’s father. We talked for several minuets and he told me some things I did not know about him. He died in 1986 and I knew him for less than a year. I cannot tell you how pleased I am to have stopped in this cemetery, and I would never have found it, or crossed paths with this person in not for Geocaching. Also, it turns out that this same man, at one time many years ago, farmed the land where I now live.

 

I could tell you a few more stories, and I may at another time, but if takes placing a cache in these old cemeteries to get people to visit them then I think we, as Geocachers, are doing a great service. So please do not post negative posts about these types of caches. Nothing good could come from keeping people from placing caches is these old and sometimes forgotten cemeteries.

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I feel that there is no disrespect in caching in a cemetary as long as the cacher and hider stays respectful. Actually, if done properly, it is beneficial. CITO can be practiced, damaged headstones can be reported, and taking time to read some of the headstones (which I usually do) actually is what they are there for. They are there for the people to be remembered and even if you don't know them, there are interesting things such as dates or names, that in a way is honoring that person's life. Otherwise, they are a bunch of stones sitting in a field.

 

I haven't seen this yet in person, but there has been more than one cacher that has talked about a cache near us that has a headstone on a grave of a cacher who had taken ill and knew he faced death. He set up a multi with a caching friend and one of the stages actually has the co-ords engraved on his tombstone. Really kinda neat when you think about it.

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How does the general geocaching public feel about walking around in cemetaries looking for caches? It just don't seem right to me. If it were one of my loved ones, I am not too sure that I would like someone planting caches on them. I looked at a cache today, and it was somewhere about 250' out into the cemetary from where I was parked. The hint is "hanging over headstone". I don't mind walking around the edge of it, but not on someones grave. How do ya'll feel? Thanks - 69rrvert

 

It depends on the cache!

 

One of the best caches I ever went to was a cache placed by relatives of a young man who had enjoyed caching but had passed away. The cache page was a tribute to this person and was very clear that the cache was right near the headstone so you knew approximately where to look and didn't feel as if you were defacing anything. The cache page said that the family would be comforted by reading the stories of people who had taken the time to visit this memorial cache and record their thoughts. It was done in a completely respectful manner, and when I went there, I got a real sense of this person... there was an extra layer of enjoyment in finding this cache that I had never expected.

 

Likewise, caches near old cemeteries are chances to view history that other means would never bring to you... as long as the caches are placed with respect and care, do not deface the resting place and take pains to preserve the location, I have no problem with these. It is always interesting visiting these types of caches.

 

An uninspired nano on a random headstone, however, with no backstory or placed in a way that seems disrespectful to the people resting there.... forget it. Trust your judgement when searching, and you'll be OK.

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Without caching in cemetaries I would have never come to know this sport. I was at the Danville Cemetary looking at the duck pond and found a geocache by accident. I didnt know what the camo bottle in the fork of a tree was. At first I thought Id found someones dope stash- All there was in it was weird names and dates... I came home and got on google and found this site. Course Im all for cemetary caches and if I was dead Id love one on my grave. At least that way my resting place would be visited :( -Loraine Haley

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I often wonder where this concept of absolutel sanctity of burial plots comes from. In our not-so-distant past, cemetaries were used as parks. People would have picnic lunches and play with thier kids there. There was nothing macabre or disrespectful thought about it. A little farther back in time, and burial space (crypts, tombs) was a premium. You had to pay to remain there. As soon as family stopped paying for that spot, they hauled YOUR bones out and a new paying "customer" was put it.

 

And now people think it's wrong to walk through a cemetary becuase you might step on the ground that someone is buried 6 feet under. In some of my research I have found entire cemetaries that were forgotten and then turned into farm fields. It's just ground after all.

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