Cemetaries And Caching.

[+-Phoenix-]

Can we try and keep "America knocking" out of this discussion please.

Hear Hear!

 

I work for a US organisation in the UK and was surprised to read this in the corporate mag recently... "I joined xxx recently, and have been getting a lot of calls from European colleagues, something I never used to get in my old jobs. I have had trouble relaing to their humor and attitude - it seems to be a bit 'out there.' How should I deal with this?" Well, it made me laugh

 

I guess what is 'right' and 'respectful' depends on your personal ethics.

 

Vive la difference!

I too work for a US organisation, to voice my opinion would be considered America Knocking!

 

So much for the free speach that Ameicans are so proud to say they stand for!

[+Cave Troll and Eeyore]

Can we try and keep "America knocking" out of this discussion please.

Hear Hear!

 

I work for a US organisation in the UK and was surprised to read this in the corporate mag recently... "I joined xxx recently, and have been getting a lot of calls from European colleagues, something I never used to get in my old jobs. I have had trouble relaing to their humor and attitude - it seems to be a bit 'out there.' How should I deal with this?" Well, it made me laugh

 

I guess what is 'right' and 'respectful' depends on your personal ethics.

 

Vive la difference!

I too work for a US organisation, to voice my opinion would be considered America Knocking!

 

So much for the free speach that Ameicans are so proud to say they stand for!

Please keep on topic or i will have to close the thread

[+littlejim]

I must admit to feeling uneasy about caching near a cemetary. I was recently looking for a site for one of several caches I was placing on a long walk. Although not on church land, the site was near enough to be able to see a lone figure, clearly upset, attending a newly sited grave. This was enough for me to decide this was not a site to use.

As it turned out, I moved a mile upstream (path is partially a riverside walk) and found a much better placement anyway.

[+rufty tufty boys]

As a student (many years ago), I used to do car Treasure Hunts and Navigational Scatters. We went through the same discussion on using cemetaries. This was bought about when one clue was abandoned almost universally as there were mourners in the cemetary. Different I know as these events would entail up to twenty teams arriving in a four hour period.

 

When I came across caches in cemetaries I felt the same unease, but I have enjoyed wandering arround after finding the answer to when did John Smith die. I also think that all the cachers I've met (virtually or really) would walk away from a sensitive situation rather than claim the cache.

[Team 'James W']

I also think that all the cachers I've met (virtually or really) would walk away from a sensitive situation rather than claim the cache.

We found one cache next to a spot where several floral tributes had been left, presumably following some kind of tradgedy at the spot. Guess the quote above is true - discression always applies!

[+kewfriend]

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE Manchester v Oxford - spell ( you guessed it ) cemetery.

 

Result - neither side could.

 

So on the whole this discussion is doing a little better than that - but only a little .....

 

[+klaus23]

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE Manchester v Oxford - spell ( you guessed it ) cemetery.

 

Result - neither side could.

See my post... I still use the word most commonly used in Britain and Ireland.

 

It's this mid-Atlantic accent thing that's leading to the use of words usually native to the continental US. Another good examples is the use of "cellphone", which is beginning to replace "mobile".

 

That's not american-bashing by the way, it's an observation of language use in the British Isles.

[+Stuey]

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE Manchester v Oxford - spell ( you guessed it ) cemetery.

 

Result - neither side could.

Good job we're not all graduates then eh?

[+Belplasca]

There's a series of caches in Sussex that are all based on cemeteries, but the actual caches are outside the burial ground itself.

 

I did several of them last month, and found them to be a particularly moving experience.

 

The Ancient Egyptians had a saying "Speak my name and I will live again" and I think there is a degree of truth in it. So, by doing these caches and reading the deceased peoples names, they have truly been remembered - and that's what a headstone is for, anyway, isn't it?

 

Bob Aldridge

[+bargee]

i'm working my way, slowly though, through the saint and sinner series in lancs,

the churches and churchyards that it has introduced me too have been peaceful, quiet and beautiful places, from a disused church in warburton at the end of a deadend lane to a church in worsley right next to the M60, all have been a haven of peace away from the rest of the world rushing around.

i'm glad they were set in the churchyards and have no qualms on grabbing the cache.

[+kbootb]

I've just walked a public footpath to a cache and the marked route both on the map and the signpost is directly through the churc/graveyard. Clearly no qualms there about the public walking through.

 

I guess there is a difference between a churchyard, particularly one that is not have new graves used, and active cemeteries with recent graves and the chance of new ones being opened.

[+bargee]

all the churchyards have been in use, even St werburghs in warburton where the church building is out of regular use but the churchyard is still concerated ground.

 

Respect is the best policy

 

looking at most maps, public footpaths usually radiate from a church showing how the church use to be the centre of a community in earlier times, not just paid lip service to as is mostly the case now, for births, weddings and deaths.

 

carry on setting caches in them

[Dave from Glanton]

I'm not sure I'd be too comfortable about looking for a traditional or micro cache, but something like a 'get info on headstones' type thing seems OK. Really old churchyards have some intriguing (and often quite witty) inscriptions.

 

Old cemetaries can be fascinating places. Away from caching I often take a wander around old country churchyards with my camera and have gotten some pretty nice photos.

 

Common sense needs to come into play. Obviously, treat the place with some respect - no hollering full volume at your mate on the other side of the cemetary, and if there is a service or something going on, then just take a hike and come back another time.

[+Craig_and_Aoife]

Well personally, being completely areligious (sic), I have no qualms whatsoever about caches in Graveyards.

 

I believe that graveyards are public places, and should be utilised, with the proviso that respect be shown, and if grieving families are present then the best choice would be to walk away and come back later if you are going to be observed by them.

 

In summation, be considerate of others, but feel free to look at gravestones and the surrounding area.

 

I recall school trips to our local graveyard to take details and rubbings of headstones.

 

Finally, I agree with the earlier poster - When I am dead, if I end up in a graveyard (hopefully not), but if I do, then please feel free to place ANYTHING you want in, on or around my grave - I don't mind at all, and I'll make sure that my family are aware that this is to be allowed to continue.

[+derrylynne]

I have to agree after reading the comments that caches themselves should never be placed in a graveyard. I don't find any problem with obtaining information from headstones however. Old graves can and do teach you a lot about history. I did one not far from where i live in Llantrisant and it was only when walking around the very old graveyard that it struck me that in them days everyone in wales spoke welsh. All the gravestones were inscripted in Welsh. It also gives an indication of how long life expectancy was then too. As already said, the important thing is to have respect when in a graveyard. The main thing is not too give the sport a bad name. I can't see how geocaching could ever be outlawed though - after all if that happened we would well and truly be in a big brother state.

[+sTeamTraen]

Another good examples is the use of "cellphone", which is beginning to replace "mobile".

 

And of course it's particularly inappropriate, since "cellphone" was coined when the technology was truly "cellular".

 

In French people call a mobile phone a "portable". And a laptop computer is, once everyone knows (or thinks) that you're talking about computers and not phones, also a "portable". This leads to a lot of "fun". I manage all the PCs and mobile phones for my organisation, and I have banned the word "portable"; we say "un GSM" or "un laptop"...

Edited April 16, 2005 by sTeamTraen

[+klaus23]

In French people call a mobile phone a "portable". And a laptop computer is, once everyone knows (or thinks) that you're talking about computers and not phones, also a "portable". This leads to a lot of "fun". I manage all the PCs and mobile phones for my organisation, and I have banned the word "portable"; we say "un GSM" or "un laptop"...

 

Another oddity is that in the french-speaking part of Switzerland, a mobile phone is referred to as a "natel". This is similar to a vacuum cleaner being called a hoover, where a brand name has become the accepted word for an item. Natel was a pre-paid calling card from Swisscom.

[Leoness]

My sister-in-law (who is German) calls her mobile 'phone a "handy"!

[+Learned Gerbil]

In Finland they are called "Pocket Phone". They must have had big pockets in the 80's!

Edited April 17, 2005 by Learned Gerbil

[+Cave Troll and Eeyore]

Please keep on topic

I have found some cemetary/graveyard caches myself and agree with the general consensus of opinion in that I would consider using information off interesting headstones but would place the actual cache outside the boundary

[+Learned Gerbil]

I agree with that principle. Yesterday I did 'trisant tour which included a very interesting abandoned non-conformist cemetery as one of the multis. The cache experience would have been deminished by not allowing cemeteries in caching at all.

[+Dead Poet's Society]

The whole point of a headstone is that someone takes the time to read it every once in a while. What if when you are dead and buried nobody takes that time, how would you feel? (dead of course)

 

If treated with respect I think there is no problem with looking for clues in a graveyard that will lead you to a cache. The cache itself however should be hidden somewhere else.