Galilee Memorial Gardens Near Memphis TN still missing 200 bodies

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Published: Monday, 11 April 2016 09:36
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2 years after cemetery shutdown, families still seek answers

ADRIAN SAINZ,Associated Press  4 11 2016

       2 years after cemetery shutdown, families still seek answers 

 
 

BARTLETT, Tenn. (AP) — Jackie Hughes longs to grieve over her sister's death in simple ways: visit her grave, lay out flowers, and pour a can of Bud Light — her sister's favorite — on the spot. But three years after Tawana Hillard's death, Hughes hasn't been able to spill a drop.

Hillard is missing. Since her graveside service at Galilee Memorial Gardens near Memphis in 2012, her body has been lost, along with hundreds of others whose remains were entrusted to the cemetery.

"I want to be able to walk in, to put flowers down, to just kneel and talk with her, whatever," Hughes says. Instead she leafs through photo albums at home, smiling as she remembers Saturday mornings spent talking with her sister about their love of blues music.

Two years ago, state officials closed Galilee. Owner Jemar Lambert was accused of misplacing hundreds of bodies, burying multiple cadavers in the same grave, and crushing caskets to fit them into single plots. Lambert received 10 years' probation in a plea deal. He left behind disorganized records, an investigation that continues today, and families who don't know where their loved ones are buried.

Hughes says Lambert told her family that several burials were scheduled the day of her sister's ceremony, so he would put Hillard in her grave later. Other families say Lambert told them the same story. Hughes is among hundreds now suing Galilee and the funeral homes that sent bodies there. She says she would use any damages awarded to find her sister and relocate her body to another cemetery.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Hughes says. "I'm still in limbo."

What happened at Galilee is not all that rare. From Washington, D.C., to Chicago and elsewhere, lawsuits have been filed and charges pursued over mismanaged cemeteries, with accusations of unmarked graves, burial urns unearthed and dumped, plots resold, and vaults broken to make room for more remains.

Critics and families want more rigorous oversight nationwide, from small, family-run operations like Galilee to well-known national sites such as Arlington National Cemetery.

The federal government leaves cemetery regulation largely to states, which vary dramatically in approach, according to an Associated Press analysis of statutes, enforcement and lawsuits. Most states regulate cemeteries that are run as businesses, such as Galilee, but not religious, municipal or family cemeteries. State laws, however, are largely limited to licensing, establishing funeral director boards, developing a complaint process and providing financial protections for consumers who buy plots.

Many laws say officials reserve the right to inspect cemeteries, but that occurs only when regulators act on complaints. Few states — California is one, Florida another — require annual on-site inspections.

"Cemetery regulation is almost uniformly awful, where it exists at all," says Joshua Slocum, director of the nonprofit Funeral Consumers Alliance, which has pushed for more federal regulation.

A lack of oversight appears to have led to the malfeasance at Galilee, families and attorneys suing the cemetery say.

Tennessee law requires records inspections every two years at cemeteries, but not annual inspections of grounds. Aside from revoking or suspending a license, performing random or quarterly inspections, and issuing fines up to about $1,000, Tennessee has little power to punish cemetery owners.

In 2010, Jemar Lambert took over the tree-lined Galilee cemetery from his father, whose grave sits unperturbed near the entrance. It catered to working- and middle-class families, most of whom are black. But record-keeping became a problem, according to investigators' reports.

Galilee's registration certificate expired in December 2010. The state didn't renew it after auditors discovered Lambert's disorganized records. The state started investigating, but Lambert kept burying bodies at Galilee for three years as he appealed for a license renewal.

By 2013, investigators had accused Lambert of burying up to 200 bodies in land adjacent to Galilee that he didn't own. In 2014, he faced more charges. Relatives of three people buried at Galilee complained to him that they couldn't find the graves. Lambert and two funeral directors searched records, and disinterred and opened caskets — finding some that were crushed and stacked in single gravesites. They never found the bodies. The funeral directors informed the state. Investigators charged Lambert with abuse of a corpse and theft, and took over management of the cemetery.

In March 2015, Lambert accepted a plea deal. To Hughes, his punishment isn't enough. "Ten years' probation?" she says. "Well, hell. Go on fixin' to do what you was doin', because you're not going to get no time behind it."

Investigators have reviewed Galilee's slipshod paper records against the plots and inspected the adjacent land. Experts jabbed a 10-foot pole into the ground in front of grave markers — if it didn't go down as far as it should, they'd probably find another set of stacked coffins. Burial areas have been tightened to fit more bodies, some graves are marked occupied but appear empty, and many are too shallow, according to court records.

Through his lawyer, Lambert declined an interview. Attorney William J. Haynes III says in a statement that problems at Galilee existed before Lambert was born.

"Many of the allegations surrounding Jemar's tenure at Galilee do not take these facts into account. That is highly unfair to Jemar and his family, who have cooperated with the Galilee receivership to the best of their ability," the statement says.

State Sen. Mark Norris, who represents the Memphis suburb Bartlett, home to Galilee, says the state needs to look further into what happened and says officials could consider reviewing cemetery records more frequently.

"Perhaps at the beginning of the next General Assembly we'll be able to make some changes that will give people comfort," he says. "It may be cold comfort and it's not going to be enough to really address the suffering of these particular families, but maybe ... because of this terrible experience they've had, others may not experience the same fate."

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance declined to provide an interview with Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak about Galilee and cemetery oversight. Instead, in an email, spokesman Kevin Walters placed blame on Lambert, accusing him of falsifying records to deceive auditors and customers.

"We empathize with the people who have been grievously affected by Mr. Lambert's reckless and criminal behavior," Walters wrote. "Today, it is easy for anyone to second guess."

Changes in oversight would be unfair to cemeteries "attempting to operate their businesses honorably," Walters wrote.

Many of those affected by Galilee think the state hasn't done enough. Wanda Chambers, whose mother and other relatives are buried there, filed a complaint in 2013 with the state, more than two years after Galilee's license expired. She says Lambert was still burying people and Galilee was poorly maintained. She's not satisfied with the state's response.

"They should have been able to move a little faster and do a better job to open the cemetery back up to let us go back in," Chambers says.

The state says no decision regarding Galilee's future will be made until investigators determine how many grave spaces are occupied.

Today at Galilee, friends and family can rarely visit loved ones. Last Memorial Day, the state reopened Galilee for a few hours — the only time the gates have opened to the public since February 2014.

Visitors navigated uneven grounds, broken headstones and trash. They tiptoed among ragged plots, searching for those they had lost once, and then again. A pastor stood on top of old graves and prayed. A man played "Amazing Grace" on his saxophone. One woman stepped in a hole and fell.

Hughes again searched for her sister's gravesite. She cried, holding flowers and balloons.

"I can't find my sister," she screamed.

Minutes later, she gave up, releasing the balloons toward the heavens.

___

Associated Press reporters Kristin M. Hall in Nashville and Johnny Clark in Bartlett contributed.

Medieval Muslim graves in France reveal a previously unseen history

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Published: Thursday, 03 March 2016 10:16
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Medieval Muslim graves in France reveal a previously unseen history

These 7th century graves offer a snapshot of cultural diversity during a tumultuous time

 
ARS Technica by - Feb 24, 2016
 
 
 
Today, the southern French city of Nimes is known for its beautiful waterways and well-preserved Roman architecture. But back in the seventh century, it was the prize in a battle between Roman soldiers, Gothic tribes, and the well-organized forces of a new political superpower known as Islam. Now, archaeologists have discovered the first evidence that Muslims lived in Nimes during this early phase in Islamic expansion across North Africa and Europe. Three newly discovered graves—the oldest Muslim graves in France—hint at what life was like in a medieval city whose residents were a mix of Christians from Rome, local indigenous tribes, and Muslims from Africa.
A team of French archaeologists describe the three graves in an article in PLoS One, explaining that they were found in an area that was once enclosed by a Roman-style wall from the days when Nimes was a key outpost in Septimania, on the western fringes of the Roman Empire. Taken by the Visigoths in the fifth century, the city remained under that tribe's control in a region called Narbonne until the early seventh century. But then things began to change, as the Umayyad Caliphate army worked its way north.
Though there were great battles during this time, far more common were migrations of people swept up by the cultural changes caused by shifting empires. As the Medieval POC project has been documenting for years, there were many people from Africa and the Middle East in Europe.
The three Muslims buried at Nimes were given the same treatment as other members of the community, at least in terms of where their graves were located. There were few formal graveyards, so most people just buried their dead outside town. The Muslim graves were close enough to the town center that the archaeologists believe these were not isolated or shunned people—indeed, they appear to have been three men who died of natural causes, who were buried by a community familiar with Islamic tradition.
All three bodies were interred lying on their right sides, facing Mecca. Two were buried al-lahd, their bodies placed in niches dug into the right side of the grave itself, their backs against brick. One was buried al-shaqq, directly in a trench that was lined and topped with stones taken from the Roman wall (this is the middle figure in the photo at the top of this article). Not only are these two burial practices still common today among Muslims, but similar kinds of burials have been found in medieval Muslim communities in Spain. None of the skeletons show any signs of combat trauma, and their bodies seem to have been treated with respect after death.
The researchers point out that these graves confirm what had been, until now, only known from historical writings about the period. Muslim writers such as the anonymous author of the Chronicle of Moissac describe a city called Niwmshû or Namûshû, which today we know as Nimes, where there was a Muslim presence in the mid-eighth century. In 724 or 725, the city surrendered to Anbasa b. Suhaym al-Kalb, governor of a region called Al-Andalus that later became part of Spain.
Based on this information, along with carbon dates of the bones in the graves, the researchers surmise that the individuals were soldiers who may have settled in Nimes after Anbasa's victory. Bolstering this interpretation is genetic analysis of the bones, which suggests that the soldiers had parentage hailing from North Africa. Many North African Berbers were converted to Islam during this time, joining the Caliphate's armies and spreading into Spain, France, and Italy.
In 752 the Visigoths took back Nimes from Anbasa, and handed the city off to a guy named Pepin the Short, a local Frankish tribal leader. It appears that during the tumultuous late seventh and early eighth centuries, this area was a rather calm oasis at the fringes of the battles between the Caliphate's imperial troops and European tribal peoples. As the researchers put it in their paper, these graves "support the complexity of the relationship between communities during this period, which cannot be summarized in a simple opposition between Christians and Muslims." People from many cultures lived and died in Nimes, among the ruins of a previous empire, leaving behind hints of what medieval diversity might have been like.

A mysterious skull adds new twist to old legend of Kabul’s ‘Cruel King’

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Published: Tuesday, 23 February 2016 13:29
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A mysterious skull adds new twist to old legend of Kabul’s ‘Cruel King’

KABUL — Nearly everyone here knows the legend. Kabulis recite it at random moments, whenever they catch sight of Sher Darwaza Mountain in the distance. Look closely, they tell visitors, and you will see an ancient wall running along the mountain’s edge like the teeth of a saw.

This is the Great Wall of Kabul. And according to local lore, it holds terrible secrets.

The legend is usually dated to the sixth or seventh centuries, when Kabul’s ruthless king allegedly forced his male subjects to build the Great Wall to protect the city from invaders. Those who would not work on the wall were sealed inside it.

“Maybe something like that happened,” said Aziz Ahmed Panjshiri, a historian. “We have many legends about the cruel king. But it belongs to history to make clear what was the reality.”

A few years ago, history got some help.

In April 2013, heavy rains caused a section of the wall to collapse. Amid the damp dirt shone something smooth and pale.

It was a human skull.

The discovery added some weight to what previously had been a tall but rather thin tale.

[Kabul’s car-bomb graveyard is a monument to years of bloodshed]

“This skull shows that the stories were true,” said Abdul Ahad Abassy, director of Afghanistan’s Department of Historical Monuments.

Science, however, has added another twist to the legend of Kabul’s cruel king.

Experts in Germany determined that the skull is not, in fact, 1,500 years old. Instead, it is about a third that age. The revelation has thrown the legend for a loop.

“They sent it back and said, ‘This is not old,’ ” Panjshiri said.

Only in a country like Afghanistan, which is so layered with history that it wears its invasions like rings on a tree, could a nearly 500-year-old skull be scoffed at.

“Afghanistan is a very ancient country,” Panjshiri said. “It was the citadel of central Asia, the center of the Silk Road.”

The city of Balkh, in northern Afghanistan, is almost 5,700 years old, he said proudly. Known as Bactra, it was once one of the greatest cities on Earth — the center of a vast empire stretching from Greece in the west to India in the east.

Kabul’s Great Wall has its own long history. It was once used to keep out Muslim invaders, then Muslims used it to thwart their own enemies. In 1879, during the second Afghan-Anglo war, British colonialists destroyed a fort, Bala Hissar, connected to the wall. A century later, Afghan mujaheddin backed by the United States and Britain used the wall in their efforts to resist Soviet occupiers. Today, only a fraction of the wall is still standing.

[Kabul’s blast walls protect a powerful few while causing misery for many]

Debate over the wall’s history has proved almost as intense as the history itself. Some scholars say it was built in the fifth century A.D. Most believe it was erected about 200 years later, but Panjshiri claims it is much older.

“This wall was a contemporary with the Great Wall of China,” he says, dating both structures to about 200 B.C. As evidence, he cites the ancient Greek geographer Strabo, who allegedly mentioned the wall in a book written 2,000 years ago.

Panjshiri’s research, however, is no match for the power of legend. In one popular parable, the wall was built in the sixth century by Zamburak Shah, a ruler so ruthless that his overworked subjects revolted, killing the king and burying him inside his own wall. Sometimes, the tale includes the flourish that it was a beautiful slave girl who fatally tricked the king.

The most common legend says the king entombed his tired or rebellious subjects in the wall with impunity. In true Afghan fashion, this version has no happy ending.

Three years ago, spring showers exposed the skull and other bones. In April 2013, Mohammad Younas Nawandish, then the mayor of Kabul, sent Panjshiri and a photographer to investigate.

Word spread around Kabul that the legend was true. But when German scientists analyzed the skull, and dated it to about A.D. 1550, a millennium after Zamburak Shah, it showed that at least that section of the wall had been built, or rebuilt, long after the rampart’s original construction, Panjshiri said.

The discovery of the skull has — disconcertingly to some — shifted attribution for the legendary act of cruelty to a line of popular mughal kings who ruled Kabul in the 16th century. The greatest of these kings, known as Babur, was a hard-drinking warrior poet who loved Kabul so much that he was buried here.

But Thomas Barfield, an anthropology professor at Boston University, warned against using the skull to assign blame ex post facto, especially until more research is completed.

“When skeletons or skulls come up, it’s easy to weave stories around them,” he said, adding that such stories can be more useful and interesting in what they reveal about the present than the past. “Often they are comments on what is happening now, sometimes directly, but sometimes it is almost subconscious.”

Painting past kings as either good or evil — when the reality is usually somewhere in between — may serve moral or political agendas in a country that continues to be racked by war, he said.

Or it may just make for a good yarn.

“Sometimes archaeologists are considered spoilsports because they figure out that the story doesn’t quite fit,” Barfield said with a laugh. “Once again, science ruins a really good story.”

Twin City Opera House Halloween Ghost Hunt Saturday October 31st 2015

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Published: Friday, 30 October 2015 09:13
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Twin City Opera House Halloween Ghost Hunt

www.twincityoperahouse.com  

Public Ghost Hunt October 31st 2015

9pm to 3 am 

www.twincityoperahouse.com/public-ghost-hunts.php

    Ever thought about spending the night in a haunted house? How about on Halloween Night? Good then the Twin City Opera House and the United Paranormal Project have a great deal for you. These hunts are designed for regular folks who are not members of a Paranormal Team but want to expeience something frightfull for themselves. After everyone is registered and divided into groups, guides will assist you in your exploration of this dark historic building. After a brief paranormal tour you will be with one of our experienced ghost hunting guides. Our guides are here to ensure that you have a positive and safe evening. Some equipment will be provided and you are welcome to bring your own. Everyone should bring a small flashlight for navigating in the dark.

Dogs Grave helps put School on Historic Register

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Published: Tuesday, 27 October 2015 11:43
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School on historic register boasts prominent pup's gravesite

AP 10/27/2015     http://news.yahoo.com/prominent-pups-grave-helps-put-hampshire-school-list-161046280.html

ROLLINSFORD, N.H. (AP) — A school named to the National Register of Historic Places has an unusual feature on its grounds: the gravesite of a dog considered to be the father of the American Cocker Spaniel.

The marble block at the edge of the Rollinsford Grade School's playground marks the remains of Obo II, who was born in the United States in 1882 and died in 1895. He was the offspring of two cocker spaniel show dogs from England. His owner, James Willey, owned part of the land now occupied by the school.

The designation by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior for the nearly 80-year-old Colonial Revival school was announced Monday. The school still has its copper-roof cupola, its chalkboards' frames and troughs and most of the original doors, woodwork and intercom system. It was the prototype of an architectural firm's design that was used on at least 14 other schools in New Hampshire and Maine.

The school's historic register application discusses the dog's gravesite, which predates the school's construction but serves as a gathering spot for schoolchildren during recess and after school, "even when this practice was discouraged by the school faculty."

It wasn't clear how much of an influence the gravesite had on the decision-making process.

"While a dog's grave would not normally contribute to a school's National Register eligibility, the grave of Obo II has long been a gathering spot (and still is) for the students of the school during recess, often used as a base for tag and other games," said Peter Michaud of the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, an alumnus of the school. "Because of its association of use by the children of the school, the gravesite was listed as a contributing object."

Obo II, who had a glossy black coat, was shown at several important dog shows and won many prizes. He won a silver cup for Best Cocker Spaniel at the New Haven Kennel Club in 1884.

An article in the American Kennel Register that year refers to him as a "nice, compactly built little fellow, perhaps a trifle short in the back ... His head is a little strong, but it is nicely carried; his coat is dense and flat, and his legs and feet first-class."

His offspring also became successful show dogs.

Paranormal Celebrities Mark and Debby Constantino Found Dead in Daughter's Apartment

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Published: Friday, 25 September 2015 09:56
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RIP Debby Constantino, may she find peace on the other side. it is truely a tragedy that domestic violence has taken such a turn and wiped out a family that many of us in the field held in high regard.

 

 

Ghost Adventures Couple, Mark, Debby Constantino Found Dead in Daughter's Apartment

sept 24th 2015  US

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/ghost-adventures-couple-mark-debby-constantino-found-dead-104500345-us-weekly.html

Paranormal investigators Mark and Debby Constantino, and a third unidentified man, were killed on Tuesday, Sept. 22, in Sparks, Nevada, in what appears to be a domestic violence incident turned deadly.

PHOTOS: Stars we've lost recently

The couple, who starred in the Travel Channel reality show Ghost Adventures, were both found dead in their adult daughter's apartment after a standoff with police. The couple, who were estranged, were tracked to the address after another unidentified man was found dead at Debby's home.

According to Nevada’s KTVN, police eventually discovered that she was being held hostage by Mark in their daughter's apartment. Attempts at negotiating with the husband failed, and eventually a S.W.A.T. team broke down the apartment door and found they were both already dead.

The couple, who were electronic voice phenomena (EVP) experts, have had numerous recent run-ins with the law due to domestic violence complaints, KTVN also reports. In August, Mark was charged with kidnapping, domestic battery by strangulation, and domestic battery against Debby, after which she obtained a restraining order against him. Their daughter was also charged as an accomplice in the incident.

Police say Mark was a suspect in the death of the unidentified man found in the apartment Debby had been living in.

Despite being estranged, the couple appeared to share a Facebook page which showcased much of their work as paranormal experts. Fans and former colleagues have flocked to the page to pay tribute to the couple they describe as "the nicest people," and to share memories of ghost hunting with them.

Old Licking County Jail Public Ghost Hunt Sat July 18th 2015

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Published: Friday, 17 July 2015 09:48
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Old Licking County Jail  Public Ghost Hunt Sat July 18th 2015

 

The United Paranormal Project is hosting another Public Ghost Hunt of the Old Haunted Licking County Jail www.parajail.com this Saturday July 18th 2015 check in is 7:45 and the event runs from 8pm to 3 am. order tickets online at http://www.parajail.com/public-ghost-hunts.php to be sure of a spot or take your chances buying them at the door the night of the event but be warned they can sell out.


Decades after the last inmate walked out of the old Licking County jail, echoes of the lives spent within its walls and the deaths that have occurred here still resonate among the empty cells.

The Old Jail has had far more than its share of horror. It was built in an age where punishment was deemed more important than correction and in a place where corruption was as likely an outcome as justice. The Imposing structure was designed to look more like an ancient castle and has more in common with the Tower of London than with any modern correctional facility. The Jailor/Sherriff and his family lived within these glum walls as well as the inmates and within the walls of this Castle like structure 4 of the Sheriff's died, along with over a dozen inmates. Infamous murderers including "The Hand Saw Slayer", "The 22 Caliber Serial Killers", "The Proposal Day Murderer" and many more were housed here, but the most infamous death/killing here at the old jail was so shocking it made national news., that of Carl Etherington, a Dry-Agent Detective being held at the jail for protection from an angry mob of over a thousand people who had gathered demanding he be turned over to them to face their lynch mob justice. They stormed the jail and rammed the North entrance of the jail door down before finally gaining entry. They rushed up to the second floor cell block where Etherinton was being held and beat him to death with a hammer. The mob then drug him out of the jail and up to the Southeast side of the Town Square where they lynched him to a telegraph pole. It is said that nearly 5,000 people including women and children all came to take a peak at the hanging agent.

Then there is the case of "Laura Devlin" a 72 year old women who went mad and killed her husband then cut his arms and legs off with a hand saw and placed his arms and head in her oven and cooked them who also called the old jail her temporary home for awhile.

 Alot of paranormal phenomina has been witnessed and even recorded at the jail during investigations and as renovation of the historic building continues activity seems to be on the rise. An apparition has been caught on video stalking behind an investigator in the matrons/women's section on the 4th floor. Another apparition has been caught in photographs standing in the basement/ dungeon under the jail. And an astounding photograph of David, a dark spirit up in the matrons quarters has been captured as well as evps and ghost box clips of this spirit communicating with our own investigators and others.

Nosferatu director's skull believed stolen from Grave

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Published: Thursday, 16 July 2015 08:27
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'Nosferatu' Director's Skull Stolen From German Grave

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/nosferatu-directors-skull-stolen-from-german-124159290977.html

The Hollywood Reporter  7/16/2015 By Georg Szalai

The skull of director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, best known for vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), has disappeared from his grave in Stahnsdorf, outside of Berlin, German media reports said citing authorities.

The skull was found missing on Monday and was believed stolen due to slight damage to the grave. The theft is thought to have taken place between July 4 and July 12, according to the reports. Police opened a probe and called on possible witnesses to come forward.

Murnau died in a car accident in Santa Barbara in 1931 at the age of 42. His Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans won a couple of Oscars at the first-ever Academy Awards in 1929.

Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker’s family won a court case. All copies of the movies were ordered to be destroyed, but some prints survived and helped make the film a cult classic.

_________________________

Nosferatu director's skull believed stolen

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33534109

 

The skull of Friedrich Wilhelm  Murnau, the director of 1920s silent vampire classic Nosferatu, has been removed from his grave, according to authorities in Germany.

The theft from the Stahnsdorf cemetery outside Berlin is thought to have taken place between 4 and 12 July.

It is not known whether the grave, which sits beside those of Murnau's two brothers, was targeted specifically.

Born in 1888 in Germany, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau died in a car accident in California in 1931.

His best-known film remains 1922's Nosferatu, an unauthorised adaptation of the Dracula story starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.

Murnau moved to Hollywood in 1926, where he directed the Oscar-winning silent drama Sunrise among other films.

The making of Nosferatu was dramatised in 2000's Shadow of the Vampire, in which Murnau was played by John Malkovich and Shreck by Willem Dafoe.

Police have called for witnesses who may have seen anything suspicious at the cemetery in recent weeks to come forward with information.

Cape Canaveral National Cemetery could open in December

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Published: Friday, 10 July 2015 08:14
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Cape Canaveral National Cemetery could open in December

by R Norman Moody in Florida Today June 18th 2015
 
 
 
Burials in the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery could begin in December.
While that date could be off by a month or two, construction of the long-awaited VA cemetery just north of Mims is moving at a fast pace.
Cemetery director Don Murphy said construction is moving at a pace that it is possible that the first burial could take place there by the end of the year.
"We plan on opening the scheduling process in about a month or so," he said. "It's one thing to hear about it coming, but it is another to look out the window and see it. A lot of families are going to be pleased."
Murphy was in the process of setting up his temporary office in a trailer near the entrance to the cemetery site.
When it opens in a few months, the initial phase will provide about 19,000 grave sites and accommodate both casket and cremation urn interments. The 318-acre cemetery is expected to serve the burial needs of Central Florida veterans for the next 100 years.
The cemetery will include a public information center with electronic grave-site locator, restrooms, an administration building, a maintenance building, an open assembly area with flagpoles, a memorial wall and walkway, and shelters for interment services away from the grave site.
"It's been a story long in the rumor stage," said Donn Weaver, chairman of the Brevard Veterans Council, a coalition of about 70 veterans' organizations in Brevard County. "There is great interest in this. It's going to be a very, very important thing."
Weaver said the Brevard Veterans Center has received inquiries about the cemetery. Families of veterans have cremation urns they want interred in the closest national cemetery.
"It's a welcome thing for many veterans in the area," Weaver said.
Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, about 120 miles from Melbourne, is the closest national cemetery to Brevard.
The Department of Veterans Affairs purchased the land for the cemetery in July 2012 for $2.1 million. It is about two miles south of Interstate 95's Exit 231. The front entrance will be on U.S. 1.
There were delays in getting started with construction after a protest of the awarding of the contract. Then, 55 gopher tortoises had to be removed from the site and relocated.
Murphy said there is a lot of work being done at the front of the property and at the entrance gate.
He said he will seek out more veterans' groups in coming weeks to give them updates on the construction.
Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces and veterans who have met minimum active-duty service requirements and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.
Their spouse, widow or widower, minor children, and, under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities, also may be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the veteran.
Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.
Burial in a VA national cemetery is a benefit. VA provides the grave site, opening and closing of the grave, government headstone or marker, U.S. burial flag, Presidential Memorial Certificate and perpetual care of the grave site at no cost to the family.
"A lot of families are going to be pleased," Murphy said. "They'll be proud of this facility. It's going to be beautiful."
Contact Moody at 321-242-3651 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow on Twitter
At a glance
Cape Canaveral National Cemetery
5525 U.S. 1, Mims
Phone: 321-383-2638
Note: The listed telephone will be operational beginning Monday.
By the Numbers
19,000 / number of grave sites in the initial phase
163,000 / number of grave sites over 100 years.
318 / number of acres

Bees in the Graveyard

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Published: Wednesday, 08 July 2015 09:24
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today we have an interesting little article about an alternative but double use of a graveyard. Also I wanted to say that Tom and I are still working behind the scenes to return Lost and Found Ohio's picture galleries and other odds and ends back into shape after our current software update has had some more bugs to work out and we apologise to our long time fans for the inconvienience of the galleries being down/incomplete currently.

 

Bees in the Graveyard

 

 

from New York Today, by Andy Newman, June 18th 2015

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/new-york-today-bees-in-the-graveyard/?_r=0

 

In a distant corner of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, beneath a willow tree, beside a pond called Dell Water, something stirs to life.

Bees, by the hundreds of thousands.

The city’s largest cemetery is in the honey business.

In April, a beekeeper installed six hives not far from the cemetery’s southern wall.

It is an oddly good fit. Green-Wood, a 478-acre greensward, has been trying to make a name for itself as a nature spot, not just as a pretty graveyard.

Besides, what could be sweeter than honey from daisies pushed up by departed Brooklynites?

The beekeeper, Davin Larson, got the idea last fall during a concert at the cemetery’s chapel.

“I was thinking about this amazing huge beautiful green space in the middle of Brooklyn and they have 24/7 security,” he said. “I just thought, ‘This is the ideal place to keep bees in the city.’ ”

Green-Wood’s superintendent of grounds, Art Presson, said the bees were plentifully supplied.

Fragrant linden trees are in riotous blossom right now.

“There’s clover,” Mr. Presson said. “Not a lot of it because of lawn treatments, but as we go toward organic treatments there will be more in the near future.”

If all goes well, the honey — possibly this fall, more likely next — will be sold at the cemetery’s welcome center.

It will be called the Sweet Hereafter.

The bees’ new neighbors have not complained about their presence, Mr. Larson said. Nor have their relatives.

“One guy told me, ‘I have 27 family members buried within 10 feet of here and I think it’s great.’ ”

Jewish Cemetery Survives within GM Plant

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Category: Marty's Blog
Published: Tuesday, 19 May 2015 07:21
Written by Marty
Hits: 1900

Good morning everyone! I am glad to get back to regular blogging here at Lost and Found Ohio now that we have our updated site/software up and running. Tom and I are continuing to work on getting everything back in order and new content added to the galleries, blog and many other sections of the website the next couple months. In the mean time, please pardon us if you come accross anything missing, temporarily offline or incomplete.

Thanks  

Now, on to today's blog artitle...

In Detroit, Jewish cemetery survives within GM auto plant

AP 
5/12/2015 
By: Jeff Karoub

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) — Beth Olem Cemetery is like many aging, final resting places, with assorted tombstones in varying condition, sizes and styles, surrounded by a brick wall and iron gate.

Yet surrounding it on all sides is an unusual neighbor: a massive automotive plant.

The serene, green oasis is enveloped by the steel and concrete structures and grounds of General Motors Co.'s Detroit Hamtramck Plant, which makes Chevrolet Volts, Cadillacs and other cars. To maintain plant security, public access to the cemetery is limited to a couple days a year — typically Sundays nearest to the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Passover — and some special requests. This year, the opening around Passover was postponed a month until this past Sunday, when a couple dozen people showed up.

Read more: Jewish Cemetery Survives within GM Plant

Chilean Mummies Turning Into Black Ooze

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Category: Marty's Blog
Published: Sunday, 15 March 2015 15:37
Written by Administrator
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In todays blog article we find that after surviving for over 7 thousand years the Chinchorro Mummies time may finally be up due to changing enviormental conditions.

Ancient Chilean Mummies Now Turning into Black Ooze: Here's Why

By: Laura Geggel Life Science 3/10/2015

http://news.yahoo.com/ancient-chilean-mummies-now-turning-black-ooze-heres-124727350.html

The famous Chinchorro mummies, which have remained preserved in Chile for more than 7,000 years, are now under threat from increased levels of moisture.

Humid air is allowing bacteria to grow, causing the mummies' skin "to go black and become gelatinous," said Ralph Mitchell, a professor emeritus of applied biology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who examined the rotting mummies.

The rapid deterioration began within the past 10 years, and has affected some of the 120 mummies that are housed at the University of Tarapacá’s archeological museum in the northern port city of Arica, the researchers said.

Read more: Chilean Mummies Turning Into Black Ooze

Excavated Records Show The Perilous Past of 17th Century Londoners

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Category: Marty's Blog
Published: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 12:10
Written by Administrator
Hits: 906

by Sam Wilkin Reuters Feb 9th 2015

http://news.yahoo.com/excavated-records-show-perilous-past-17th-century-londoners-133109012.html

LONDON (Reuters) - Londoners in the 17th century were never far from danger as plague, infant mortality and angry mobs menaced the capital, burial records dug up by the Crossrail construction project showed on Monday.

Crossrail, a 15 billion pound ($23 billion) railway link connecting east and west London due to open in 2018, is conducting a marathon digging operation for the 42 km (26 miles) of new tunnels under the British capital.

Sixteen volunteers working with Crossrail did a different sort of digging, combing through parish records to provide the names of more than 3,000 people at the Bedlam Burial Ground under Liverpool Street Station.

Read more: Excavated Records Show The Perilous Past of 17th Century Londoners

Fort Jefferson & Dry Tortugas Pics Are Up!

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Category: Tom's Blog
Published: Friday, 12 August 2016 17:35
Written by Tom
Hits: 1550

Good News - I was finally able to get all of the photos taken during my trip to Dry Tortugas National Park and Fort Jefferson formatted and uploaded! 

Dry Tortugas National Park is made up of an archipelago (a group of multiple coral islands) located about 68 miles West of Key West Florida in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Fort Jefferson, the largest masonry structure in the Western hemisphere, is located within the park on the largest island. The park and fort are only accessible by boat or seaplane and there are no permanent residents. The park is a very popular tourist destination for snorkling, camping, swimming and bird watching. 

There are a lot of legends surrounding the area, including reports of paranormal activity. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who helped John Wilkes Booth, the man who assisinated Abraham Lincoln, during his attempted escape was inprisoned in a section of the fort. I have a picture of a plaque in the album related to that.

There are also numerous ship wrecks in the area dating all the way back to the 1400's. We actually passed by the still active treasure recovery operation at the site of the Atocha, a Spanish galleon that sunk in a hurricane in the 1500's, on the way to the Dry Tortugas from Key West. That wreck was discovered by treasur hunter Mel Fisher in the 1980's and there is an interesting museum in Key West with artifacts from the wreck (look up "Mel Fisher Key West Museum" on Google to find information about that).

I, of course, went to a few of the famous bars (Sloppy Joe's, Captain Tony's, etc.) but Key West is also full of history and ghostly legends so don't forget to check that aspect of the island out if you get a chance to visit! 

You can find the pictures here: http://www.lostandfoundohio.com/gallery/index.php?/category/643

Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas NP

Photo Backlog & Summer Trip

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Category: Tom's Blog
Published: Wednesday, 23 March 2016 13:51
Written by Tom
Hits: 1716

Dry Tortugas National ParkWe have a very large backlog of photos taken from a number of different locations that need to be uploaded to the site. Be on the lookout for those updates in the coming months.

I also have a trip to Dry Tortugas National Park and Fort Jefferson in the works. If you're not familiar with Dry Tortugas National Park or Fort Jefferson, you can learn more here: 

http://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm

Dry Tortugas National Park is an island about 2 hours west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The only ways to get there are by boat or seaplane. While there, I plan to take a lot of photos that will be posted here at Lost & Found Ohio when I get back home. 

- Tom

Cleveland's Franklin Castle Featured on Destination America's "Paranormal Lockdown"

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Category: Tom's Blog
Published: Friday, 18 March 2016 14:41
Written by Tom
Hits: 1710

If you'd like to take a look inside Cleveland's legendary Franklin Castle, you'll have a chance tonight. Located in the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland and long-rumored to be haunted, the home will be featured in an episode of "Paranormal Lockdown" on the Destination America channel tonight (Friday, March 18th) at 10:00pm. The show is co-hosted by former "Ghost Adventures" investigator Nick Groff and Katrina Weidman, who has appeared on several paranormal shows including A&E's "Paranormal State". This episode also includes special guest investigator John E.L. Tenney.  The three will check out what is rumored to be Ohio's most haunted residence.

The house was built in the 1800's and has been sitting empty for years. There are many legends surrounding the property including claims of unusual electrical system malfunctions, the sounds of a baby crying and various apparitions being seen within the home.

Learn more about tonights episode here: 

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/cleveland/haunting-of-franklin-castle-investigated-on-tv-for-first-time-ever/88628593

Find out more about the show "Paranormal Lockdown" here: 

http://www.destinationamerica.com/tv-shows/paranormal-lockdown/paranormal-lockdown-episodes/

The show always includes at least one special guest per episode. 

- Tom

First New Website Blog Post

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Category: Tom's Blog
Published: Tuesday, 15 March 2016 13:07
Written by Tom
Hits: 5121

Welcome to my first blog post on our new website. For the past couple of years Marty and I have been working to improve the website. The old site had become "buggy" and a challenge to maintain. It also hadn't been updated since before the onsluaght of mobile devices, and the resulting requirement by Google that sites be mobile-friendly to rank high in search results, so it was in sesrious need of a facelift. 

The upgrade was a massive undertaking that required moving nearly 13,000 images, upgrading the server and building a responsive design that would create a pleasant user experience and be compatible with mobile devices. We wanted everything to be easy to use on mobile devices from the homepage to galleries. 

Here is a list of some of the improvements: 

  • Fully-responsive design that reformats for easy use on computers, tablets, phones and other mobile devices
  • Responsive photo galleries that will reformat for easy use on computers, tablets, phones and other mobile devices
  • Addition of a video gallery that is also responsive and will reformat for easy use on computers, tablets, phones and other mobile devices
  • Advanced security features behind the scenes to protect our site and our visitors from viruses, adware and spyware
  • Simplified photo upload process so Marty and I can add new photos quicly
  • Three times as much server spice and additional bandwidth to improve overall site performance and allow for future growth
  • Scalable software that can grow with the site
  • Dual, multi-location, back-up feature to clone two copies of our site that can be used for restoration in the event of a problem 

The upgrade process was anything but smooth. I ran into a number of challenges that delayed things and frustrated me. This was supposed to only take 3 months originally! I'm glad it is finally done and we can start adding new content. I know Marty has a couple of years of backlogged content ready to post so look for that in the coming months. We hope you like the improvements and thank you for sticking with us all of these years!

- Tom

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