Cemetery Security

Cemeteries are appealing targets for vandals, thieves, and general hooligans who want to conduct their mischief away from prying eyes. Dead men tell no tales, and so the dearly departed are often victims of crimes from grave robbing to vandalism. This is not a new problem. Medical students in 1770 formed the “Spunker Club” to compete against rival schools in body snatching for dissection (Click here to read more about medical body snatching). Graverobbing dates back as far as grave goods, with many an ancient tomb protected with curses against thieves. In modern times, vandalism remains a serious issue, especially against minority groups. For all the horror movies and TV dramas about zombies and vengeful ghosts, it seems that the dead are the ones who need protection from the living.

“I’m not afraid of the dead people-it’s the live ones that are a problem”
-Bobby Padillo, cemetery security guard, former NYPD sergeant.

Supernatural Protection

In a previous article, I described the rituals and superstitions the living use to protect themselves from the dead. Luckily for our local corpses, forces of magic and mystery can benefit them, too. Grave curses date back to ancient times. An inscription over a Jewish tomb in Jerusalem reads “Cursed be he who opens this grave”. Similar warnings were common throughout the ancient and medieval world.

“Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.”
Inscription above William Shakespeare’s grave in Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford-Upon-Avon

Possibly the most famous ancient tomb curse is accredited to the boy king, King Tutankhamun. Newspaper articles from Howard Carter’s discovery of the sealed tomb in 1922 reported an ominous warning carved into the door of the tomb, “They who enter this tomb shall be visited by wings of death.” George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the financier of the expedition, died a year after the opening of the tomb from a mysterious illness. His death seemed to seal the fates of the others involved in disturbing the tomb, and to this day conspiracy theories point to it as the beginning of the pharaoh’s revenge. As a matter of fact, death came to all of those who disturbed King Tut’s tomb. Unfortunately for curse aficionados, it came on average one year later than the projected life expectancy for the time and demographics of those involved.

The unbroken seal on King Tutankhamen’s tomb, sans curses. 1922.

The debunking of one ancient curse has not been a comfort to modern graveyard thieves. According to Candace Wheeler, a caretaker of a historic but neglected Nevada cemetery, stolen objects often make their way home after culprits find themselves cursed. In the past 20 years over one hundred grave artifacts, from headstones to flower holders, have been returned with notes claiming curses followed the robbers. Many even included contact information, so that they could be notified when the objects were back where they belonged. Candace reached out to the would-be thieves and a third of them agreed to be interviewed anonymously. According to Candace, the thieves described horrible luck that had followed them since the theft, from illness to divorce to death. They were desperate that the objects be returned to their rightful place to reverse their horrible luck.

Defenses

Curses are fine, but as we have seen their effectiveness is shoddy and relies too much on the psychology of guilt. After all, isn’t the best offense a good defense? To this end, cemetery planners and designers have sought to prevent crimes before they can happen. This is why most cemeteries have some sort of border wall or fence with a gate that can be locked. No, it isn‘t because people are dying to get in. Even in the ‘cursed’ Nevada cemetery, thefts and vandalism dropped 80% when a high perimeter fence was installed.

In the days of body snatching, a popular and effective device for keeping everybody in their place was the Mortsafe, a wrought iron cage that was placed over fresh graves. It was heavy enough to deter even the most determined grave robber and could be moved and reused once enough time had passed that the would-be dissection cadaver in the ground would no longer be of interest to grave robbers. Medical schools would only buy bodies that had not begun to purify. The diary of a real body snatcher, whose name has been lost to history, called these corpses simply “thing bad.”

Today, modern technology offers solutions to troublesome tomb trespassers. Electronic alarm systems can detect and alert police about after-hours visitors, even blasting their ears with a recorded voice warning about the incoming police presence. Motion-detecting cameras are another option for catching them red-handed. Unfortunately, running electricity out to remote sites can cost around $23,000 without factoring in equipment and maintenance. A cheaper solution can be ‘activity support’, which is the practice of hosting community events in the cemetery at irregular times. Thus, criminals cannot be sure that they won’t be interrupted in their evildoing by the local birdwatching group or history society tour. Ironically, opening up the cemetery can be more beneficial in protecting it than locking it up!

Offense

For all the sensibility that defensive systems offer, isn’t it satisfying when criminals get their comeuppance? As the saying goes, if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. This is the mindset behind some unique inventions from the early days of cemetery security.

One invention designed to thwart a nocturnal trespasser was the cemetery gun. A modified ‘set-gun’, the cemetery gun was positioned at the grave with trip wires so that anyone sneaking around in the dark would set off the trigger. One drawback was grave robbers would easily check which graves were protected during daylight visiting hours and then simply avoid them later. Cemetery guns were outlawed in Britain in 1827, so it was back to the drawing board for inventors.

An authentic cemetery gun on display at the Museum of Mourning Art in Arlington Cemetery

Fifty years later, two new devices would be invented to keep body snatchers on their toes. The coffin torpedo, invented by Phil Clover from Ohio, was essentially a short-barreled shotgun mounted to the coffin lid. Once set, if anyone opened the coffin they would be blasted in the face by the weapon. Another explosive device was the grave torpedo, invented by Thomas Howell, which was a landmine-like device that was planted a few feet below the surface as the grave was filled. If disturbed by an industrious grave robber, the device would detonate, ending their cadaverous career.

More recently, a disgruntled cemetery board president took matters into his own hands to protect his cemetery. James Fiorentini, the mayor of Haverhill Massachusetts, and Thomas Spitalere, the president of the local cemetery board, have been battling over a fence to protect the burial ground from vandals. Mayor Fiorentini has been called out for not providing promised funds for the fence and rebutted by accusing board president Spitalere of laying booby traps in the cemetery. Allegedly, Spitalere laid down boards with nails sticking up to pop the tires of trespassing vehicles that come in after dark to dump garbage and knock over headstones. Neither party can lay the issue to rest, so the cemetery‘s future is far from carved in stone.