Digging Up a Grave from 1996 to Prepare it for the Next Person
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- Опубликовано: 3 июн 2024
- I just got back straight from a funeral and needed to dig this one quick, for the next day. It took me about 2,5 hours (with filming). The site was occupied by a woman, who died in 1996, 26 years ago. I dug until I reached her skeleton, established it's exact position (sometimes they are scattered all over or are not lying evenly horizontal) and removed all of the soil, just to leave a thin layer covering the skeleton.
This was a grave for one person, so there was no need to remove the remains. If it would be the so called 'depth' (for two caskets, one on top of the other) then I would need to dig out all of the remains, along with everything that was left of the coffin, place them on the side, dig deeper, make an additional hole for the remains, place them back inside the grave and cover with soil.
In Poland you can recycle a grave like that after 20 years had passed from the date of burial and the grave wasn't payed for for another 20 years. It is called 'liquidation' but we just move the remains deeper and make them more compact.
We can do this also with a grave that is payed for, but there's a need to bury someone 'new' in there. That was the case with my grandpa and cousin, which have my uncle and grandma stacked on top of them now.
The bones as you can see, look a bit rusty and are brittle. The skull has deteriorated from the orbits down, which is often the case, because the bone in that area is more porous.
Women crumble faster and easier than men due to lower bone density.
It is easiest to observe when comparing cremains. Old females turn into fine dust, while young men remain as ground pieces of bones.
The lady in the grave wore some kind of a synthetic sweater, that hasn't biodegraded at all. If it would be cotton, I wouldn't find anything and the skeleton would be all over the place.
The casket was made from chipboard (at least some elements) and was painted with oil paint, which would never be the case nowadays. If I wouldn't know the year of death I could deduce it roughly from the materials used. Plastic tells me it is fairly new but the glossy oil paint finish
is a classic 80s esthetic. I would say it was 30-40 years old (it's in fact 26).
As you can see I had no time to change and came straight in a hearse and my formal clothes on. I had the equipment stashed beneath the tarp by my colleague, who had also traced the outline of the grave for me.
After I finished digging this one I went straight to another cemetery to help digging another, deeper grave, with huge tree root right in the middle of it. I started the day at 7AM and finished at 8PM.
It was my third in a row 13 hour day at work. What a week.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Changing into digging clothes
0:10 Explanation
0:45 Initial digging
1:09 Describing the composition of the soil
1:47 Digging deeper
2:16 Making space for more dirt
2:43 Clay in the legs
3:22 Layer of stuff
3:54 Digging to under the waist
4:43 Tough digging in clay
5:47 Closing in on the body
6:26 Finding the remains of the coffin
6:47 The soil is getting loose
7:26 Finding the casket
8:12 The remains
8:56 More plastic and the heads of the casket
9:29 The skull and the axis
10:06 Preparing the grave for another person
10:48 This took a while
11:05 The Dead Man's View
11:46 Taping it up
Get to know me better here: / mentalmartin
Check out my place about Death: / funeralparadise
You know you’re bored when u watch a video of someone digging a hole
A weird practice when you buy a grave here in the US it is a lifetime purchase. Digging up a grave is considered desecration and disrespecting the dead.
My brother is desperately searching for the grave of our mother who died in Spain In 1963. I just found out that they recycle the grave and throw out the dead person. He is going to be very upset when he realizes that our mother wasn’t even worth the dirt she was buried in. What a strange world we live in.
Maybe they buried her underneath the next person, like we do. Check the Spanish funeral regulations. Maybe she's still there.
Unfortunately your mom has been disposed in a common ossuary, where the unclaimed remains are put there, without any recognition marks.
Remind me not to die in Poland or Spain! Second thoughts, I think I will be cremated! 😳
@@mikesey1 You would be dead and you won't have the ability to care about what will be done with your remains. After all the space is limited and people should be practical. For example, my grandma and grandpa are stacked above her parents. My father is stacked above his mother.
@@mikesey1 Why would you care? You will be dead.
I live in southeast England and my family have owned a burial plot for at least 180 years when a new cemetery was opened after the old 13th century church cemetery became full. Previously we were buried in the crypt/ undercroft of the church going back as far as the mid-1500s or the English Reformation. There are individual graves within the plot and they are all brick-lined with the local red clay bricks. The grave was last opened in 1999 when my parents were buried having died within five months of each other. Legally as ownership now rests with me nobody other than agreed with me can be buried there. I have continued to pay the land rent (called tithe in the UK) for the past 25 years but as I am the last of my family that will cease with me. The plot cannot then be touched for one hundred years. The earth in the cemetery is mostly light gravel with flint nodules and it is very dry but there are lots of tree and shrub roots. Above the grave plots are flat granite slabs the size of the grave. I was born in the village and I hope to die there as I am now 80. It is very comforting to know where you will lie for eternity. Thank you for showing great sympathy to the deceased in your videos.
this comment is incredible, you seem so sweet
Not very likely
Man, this guy digs an entire grave...I dread digging a post hole. You are a beast.!!
Roar!
If u can't dig a post hole u better get to the gym
My best friend passed in 1998. Now I know his remains are pretty much dust. I remember all the items everyone put in his casket. Crazy they outlast him.
His body may not be there anymore but the good memories hopefully are. I'm sorry for your loss.
What country? Im America we put coffins in vaults
I was told it all depends on the person doing the embalming. Some people look almost the same as when they died. There are you tube videos about it if u don't believe me.
@@vicvega3614Not every where in the states
@@angela-ji1cg it doesn’t have much to do with the embalming. It has to do with the condition where the body is buried. Dry desert like death valley or the swamps of Louisiana.
The way you covered the late face of this person was so beautiful and kind of emotional. Made me think about the meaning of life.
There is a meaning ?
Kedves Liliána! Írtam neked Facén.
The meaning of life is to find the balance in everything that makes your life. Its not rocket science. Lay off the Netflix fix
Memento mori 😅
@@joeblow1748 ain't that the truth?
This is really bizarre to me. I live in a very remote area of Montana, so there is definitely not a space problem here. Our dead rest peacefully for all eternity in the same grave.
@Kelly Schueman what are you smoking?
@Kelly Schueman I haven’t read such a stupid comment in a very long time.
I love Montana!! Great fly fishing
I sure would not dig up any grave.... bad juju
You know what takes up even less space? Being cremated. This seems sacrilegious and extremely wrong to disturb the deceased.😱
Why did I find this so fascinating? 🤷🏼♂️ There was nothing about it that was gruesome or scary. It actually felt very peaceful, especially when you were laying in the grave and showing your perspective looking up at the trees. All I felt was calm and peace. I especially appreciated how you treated the woman’s remains with respect and dignity. One should ALWAYS respect the dead.
What a back breaking job. Where's the backhoe?
I can honestly say, I’ve never found watching a man dig a grave so therapeutic before - actually, I’m 53 and I can honestly say, I’ve *never* watched *anybody* dig a grave before. I’ve dug a few holes over the years to bury pets etc, but never watched a man dig a hole. We enter the world through a hole; as a man I’ve spent 35 years trying to get back into many holes, and I’ll leave the world as I arrived, back in a hole. Everyone should watch this at least once - it’s like seeing your final home, unless you’re getting cremated.
Nice work! That’s a nice, tidy hole….. deja vu 🤷♂️? I’ve definitely had that thought before……. C’est la vie. 👍
Cheeky, but true!
well said!
Holes
When I was a boy, my grandfather worked for a company that would go in and retrieve per say family heirlooms for relatives. Don't how all that worked, but it gave me shivers when he talked about the things he saw. I guess that people, in a moment of sorrow, send their loved ones away with something pricey. Relatives afterward come along and retrieve it for a price. I'd rather not have it back...just saying
More than likely run of the mill Grave Robbers
I find decomposition to be fascinating. As you know, some corpses are nothing but bones in just a few weeks. Depending on conditions, other corpses look unchanged after decades.
Americans typically embalm their dead and use very expensive caskets so in the US, you'll sometimes see exhumations take place where the body is still fairly intact after decades under ground.
@@henrikpersson4698 There is a movement towards "natural burials" these days, where the body is left to decompose naturally, without embalming or extensive sealing away. "Dust to dust", etc. While I personally want to be cremated, I figure letting nature take it's course is a good alternative. Feed the trees!!
I’ve always wondered, “why are we trying to preserve a body? Nobody will see them after burial. Eventually they must decompose. So, the only logical reason is that it makes the living feel better. We need to change how we see death and dying. With our environmental emergency, we need to seriously look at natural burials. We need to preserve the earth for the living.
@@kimnoble9434 On a tangent, I saw a video about how coffins/caskets in mausoleums are sometimes propped open a crack to let the air hit the bodies. That way, the bodies can decompose at a decent rate instead of building up pressure, and having that pressure either pop off the marble piece that seals the body or ooze out of the crypts if they do not decompose naturally. So, in other words, from what I understand, most of the remains in mausoleums are not much more than bones.
@@kimnoble9434 Embalming gives the family a chance to have a viewing/funeral without the body decomposing so soon.
26 years doesn't seem like long ago to me at all. Our perspectives on time are very relative and subjective.
26 years is like 26 micro seconds in the scale of the universe
It isn't long At all..old is for sure the wrong word..more like recent ..
Seems like a lifetime ago for me probably doesn't help I was born in 96 lol
@@bug3518 lol..I remember it well..the last of the good days
@Bug mate I member 96 like it was 7 years ago serious
Here in ireland you buy the burial plot and then own it for ever no digging people up here, we also dig our graves 9ft down so 3 coffins can be interred when the grave is full we concrete over the top so it's never disturbed again it's so sad to see this happening all for the sake of more money
Values can and do change. Sad to say.
This is needed for over crowded cemetery.
@@ayajparahinog9168 why don't they just extend the cemetery make it bigger or just make a new grave yard within the vicinity that's what's done in ireland
@@celticoceane well if the place or lot is wide and has still enough space to expand then it's okay.
Try to google this cemetery(Manila North Cemetery) in my home country. There is no space to expand, and it needs to regulate by decreasing the size of those 100 years old graveyard by cremation and place it in a small jar or something like memorial house.
@oceanelucia So in Ireland they don't worry about being under the frost line (at about 6')? In the US they've started doing "companion plots" where they go down about 10' and they stack 2 deep to stay under the frost line. I do like the cement "cap" over everything, although here they normally put the casket in a concrete "vault" or "rough box" so the caskets will never touch.
I have just discovered this channel and I suspect that it will become a firm favourite of mine. This is a secretive industry in this country. We never see the digging, just the hole and the ceremony. There's so much more to it and I am impressed.
Thanks for tuning in. I'm working on a new video as we speak. It'll be out next week.
I work at a Funeral Home. I am watching this on my break, and I can say he does handle the remains with respect.
[New Subscriber from the US!]
This hit home for me because my dad died the year after in 1997, its weird to be able to see the state that his remains would be in currently.
This is very physically hard work. My hats off to you bro being as tough as you are. Take care of your self.
It's extremely hard work, that's why I always laugh when I see someone hand dig a large and deep hole in a movie or whatever in no time at all and they're not even tired whatsoever.....just watching this guy makes me tired 🤣
He did that in like 15 minutes too, so insane
Sharpen that shovel.
Im a Funeral Director, been in the funeral industry for just over 20 years. You have done a wonderful and professional job here. My father passed away in 1996 as did this dear lady here, this gives me some idea of what dads remains would be like although its very clay where he is buried and on the day of the burial it was raining and already a foot or so of water in the grave bottom as we lowered dad to rest and start his final journey.
Thank you, It's always nice to hear some feedback from the people that actually work with the dead. A lot depends on the type of soil as well but I'm sure that you're aware of that after so many years. All the best to you.
Hope he liked to swim
@@michaelvoorhees5978 You're disgusting.
Damnit. Now i want a completely sealed, airtight coffin
In Germany, there is a "resting time" in which a body may not be dug up. Depending on the community, this is 20 to 30 years, in clay up to 40 years. So I understand that decomposition is slower in clay.
In 1998 my grandfather died. All of us family members got together the night before his funeral and dug his grave. The hole we dug as way to big. If I remember correctly it was about 7 feet deep, 6 feet wide, and 10 feet long. We were all reminiscing the good old days and a few beers were had by all of us. Digging at night with only headlights providing light was very therapeutic. Then the next day we filled in the hole. It was funny because people attending commented on the size of the hole!!! Great vid!!!!👍👍👍
That's a great story thanks for sharing! I had holes too small where you scrape the casket whil lowering it and holes collapsing right before the funeral. Did you fill the hole during the funeral or after everybody left? Thanks for watching.
@@MartinsGraveyard we filled it afterwards. most of the family stayed behind and shoveled a bit.
I guess that would be the thing to do. If nothing else, just to make sure there wasn't anyone down there in a plot yall paid for.
Some time ago, I was visiting my local church yard in Surrey, there was a guy just doing this, recycling a grave which was about ninety years old, he explained exactly what he had done, he said that he had been very respectful of the remains….
When I went to Tennessee I was walking through mountains stumbling on a old cemetery most caskets were dug up already you could see inside most caskets I’ll never forget
Fascinating! I am amazed how quickly we disintegrate (good thing) but plastic just stays forever (not so good). Even the plastic wrapping from the flowers was still there.
In Illinois once your buried you are there forever .. even if you want to move a loved one you have to go to court and it's very unlikely you will get an ok to do so .. here you don't disturb the dead final resting place
That's because, in America, we have a lot of land. European countries are old and small. There isn't enough room to give everyone their own grave. You really can't make a comparison. Americans have privileges that a lot of the world doesn't.
@@David49305 I wasn't making a comparison only stating a fact
Wonderfully done and very in depth! You are very respectful in process. It is sad that the earth must be disturbed and really goes to show the reality of death and time. Ashes and dust but hopefully the life and memory of the deceased remain in the hearts of loved ones.
Yeah very sad…
Very respectful? Like the part where he balances his shovel across the grave and bunny hops into it? Give over.
@@jourdanze He didn't jump from bones OR on bones though.
I shit myself and cried when I saw that. How much did you shit? I had a whole pant loaf
I was unfamiliar with the practice of grave recycling till I stumbled on this video. What happens to the old grave stone?
It all seems very efficient and economical, but I think I'd prefer to go the cremation route if I knew I was going to be dug up after 20 years.
Grabs kids. Rushes over. Grandson is curious, 26 year old son is trying not to fall in with looking. Daughter just scrunches
Up face and walks away.
No pleasing some people.
Please don’t stop your vids! They are amazing! X
We have a friend who does grave digging for the local council he dug my uncles grave and during the service around the grave the vicor noticed a mouse running round in the hole so our friend had to jump in and rescue the mouse 😂 but it made everyone smile on a sad occasion 😊
What a animal friend!!!👍😊🎗️⚰️🐁💕
It's interesting! What most of the people don't know about & my father used to say 'only undertakers know, it's their job', now visible on RUclips- & must say it's kind of fascinating & special..
Years ago as a preacher, we came out one Sunday morning from service, and there was a family hand digging a grave for a departed family member. I had not seen people hand digging a grave since I was a child. I walked out to them and offered to help them, but they just politely thanked me for the offer, and they told me that they appreciated the kindness offered, but “…preacher, this is just something that we have to do.” (Giles County, Tennessee). Funerals and burials are different and private to many people all over the world. Like some commented below, I hate to dig a post hole. The thought of digging a grave just wears me out thinking about the task.
You must be in fantastic shape! I dig for 5 minutes & about pass out lol 😆
So much for "eternal rest". Nothing lasts forever.
This is amazing educational stuff for those of us in the USA. Not gruesome at all, very "earthy." An honest days work.
Thank you for sharing your work!
I love when you give us the deadman view. Its very peaceful there. Lots of nice trees.
until it goes dark
I new of someone whos body was exhumed in the UK after 20 years and when the coffin was opened the man inside it looked as good as the day he was buried and was wearing a grey suit
He was either embalmed or the conditions in the ground were optimal for natural mummification.
@@MartinsGraveyardI am from Long Island, NY. Many years ago, a woman was killed by her husband. They were Jewish, so she was buried right away and buried in a wooden coffin in an out-of-state cemetery. When they disinterred her a few months later, her body was in very good condition bc she was buried in a cool area. The ME found a needle mark on her, and it was discovered that she had been murdered. She wasn't embalmed.
Hope you’re paid well to do this work!
Some do it voluntarily like in my place
Very respectfully done, props 2 u, this is very tough work!
It’s interesting how the roots of the trees are there in the grave , it makes me wonder if the soul of the deceased person a part of the surrounding trees now & that is a comforting thought ..
That's a lovely thought!
To hell with that. I now have to renew my will
What a beautiful thought x
Don't eat the fruit!
That was fascinating, and I thank you for the miserably hard work you had to do to bring this adventure to us! It reinforces my belief that cremation is the way to go.
exactly
Bingo
You have lost the plot
The coffin had direct contact with the ground no surprise there was just a skeleton had that not been the case the body probably would have been still recognizable especially if it was embalmed. Thanks for sharing.
I live in France and in America. I’m familiar with both burial customs of mostly Europe and the US. In the US when we buy a place at the cemetery, we are property owners. There is a deed with your name. You own that land. No one can take you out unless a court order to exhume you for some legal reason. In Europe you are a tenant with a specific lease from 10 to 50 years depending where. When your time is up and if no one renewed the concession then they will take you out, either removing the bones, placing them in a wooden box and storing them in a vault a the cemetery called an ossuary.They are not “thrown away .However, for instance in a single plot, both my grandparents and great grandparents are buried on top of each other. On a new burial they put the older deceased remains at the bottom of the grave and place the newer tenant on top. It has to be the same family though other wise you go in the cemetery vault.
In France it is against the law to keep your loved one’s ashes at home. They have to be placed in a cemetery or the ashes can be spread out in a part of the cemetery reserved for that. You never regain possession of the ashes.
When a friend of mine died here in Los Angeles and wanted to be interned in France his husband took the ashes to the consulate where they put a tricolor ribbon and a waxed seal
After given the proper paperwork to enter France, he turned the ashes over to the cemetery to be placed in the family vault.
New to the channel.
Very interesting and skill full work carried out by yourself.
The most disturbing thing is the fact that plastic is still lurking around after all that time!
And coffin is made of cheap particle board 😮
Agreed
The disturbing fact is that he's doing what he's doing..
Your video educates for those who are struggling to decide on what to have done with their bodies after death. I dont know of a cemetery local to me that does the recycling of grave. As the person purchases there plot and remains there. It doesnt not make sense to recycle a grave. But I would see digging up ones remains as disturbing the peaceful rest of death. But I am learning everyday and grasping perspective as I go. Thank you for sharing.
Right? My family paid for our plots. I'm gonna have "booby traps" written up in my last will and testament
Hi ive just come across your channel .i find this so sad that these people ain't left to rest in internal peace this j7st seem very very wrong to me .from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
Excellent job!!!! Very well done and is probably the best exhumation video I've watched. You showed a lot of respect to the remains...well done!!!
Thank you!
I have the luxury of using a back hoe. Very rarely hand dug. We do use vaults as well. Looks like you don't have room in that cemetery for a machine? Love your channel.
mother nature really takes us roots growing in our bodies, it's really returning to our mother
Good job dude. I did smile when you had a little lie down in the hole at the end and filmed the trees it was a nice view.
So, why did you have to dig up this grave if not to bury the original occupant deeper for another burial in the same grave?🤔 Maybe Im missing something
I am thinking like you my great great grandparents are still where they were placed so glad their remains are in place
This height of hole that he left is perfectly fine for another dead person so he didn't dig it deeper.
In most newer cemeteries in the UK graves can be recycled 75 years after the last burial.
It says this in the small print on the cemetery notice boards.
I wonder how many people are aware of this?
Older cemeteries don't get disturbed unless major infrastructure is planned to go through them (HS2).
Where i live [south wales] we have the oldest municipal cemetary in the country. As you say, they will sneakily and slowly clear large areas, leave then for years, then start again. I think they think, that people do not notice. It is 75 years as you say..
@@caerleon87 I don't believe that many people will be aware of the 75 year rule. It's going to happen much more often because we just don't have the space for burials - especially if 350,000 new houses get built every year to house the growing population.
We soon won't have the land to grow enough food. We currently produce 46% of what we eat in the UK. The rest is imported.
Thanks for showing us your work I wanted to go into the funeral business after the military but after working as an apprentice I knew I wasn't cut out for it. I would like to do what you're doing but the bodies that were like three days olds I couldn't deal with the smells.
You get used to the smell pretty quick.
I live in Poland and totally understand the grave-recycling things, since being interested in the funeral industry and cemetary business. It’s nice to see you treat the remains properly, with dignity to the deceased. Today I was cleaning the grave of my gf’s grandpa, who’s been buried a week before. I found a vertebra laying basically under the flowers, at the top of the hill from the ground. Horrifying. When we’re going to put a wooden box, i’m gonna search for another remains and bury them in the same ground, 20-30 cm down. It’s a shame that people treat remains so disrespectful.
Thanks. You should take the remains to the office of the funeral home and demand refund. This is absolutely unacceptable. That's why I sift through every shovelful carefully, to prevent situations like that. They really messed up.
Interesting, never seen this done before. Thanks for sharing.
I'm surprised the caskets aren't entombed in a burial vault. Here in the states, most states require it, as they keep graves from sinking, and keep decomposed bodies from contaminating the ground. Do any of these cemeteries contain a columbarium or mausoleum which house cremated remains?
Most of the graves in Poland are just dug in the ground, without a concrete vault. We have concrete vaults also but they are rare. We cremate over half of the dead and mostly bury the urns under the existing tombstones (in the ground), in the columbariums or in the recycled children graves (the graves are recycled, not the children ;)
They don’t embalm there which makes the body not toxic. We are organic - this is natural and normal. What we do in the states is not.
Just because we are organic doesn't mean we don't carry potentially toxic chemicals. Organic chemistry.. When someone passes away and isn't discovered for weeks, they're essentially decomposed to the point of a liquid state which is a biohazard if not cleaned properly. I'm not saying what we do in the states is normal, but just because we are organic doesn't automatically make us completely safe when one is in advanced stages of decomposition.
concrete doesn't keep the body from contamination the soil as concrete is porous
@@scentlessapprentice88 The body doesn't stay a biohazard forever. Everything decomposes into basic compounds. The bacteria etc, that may be harmful;l after death will eventually die off. People have been naturally decomposing for thousands of years with no need to seal them in a vault. Besides, the vault isn't watertight. Concrete is porous.
My brother-in-law was Greek. When he died there, he was buried the same day. After 5 years it's mandatory in the area for the remains to be exhumed and placed in an ossuary, to make way for more recently departed. My sister, his parents and my nieces were required to attend the exhumation. My sister and nieces in particular found it quite upsetting.
I understand about keeping green and all but that is truly horrifying.
@@TheTwoFingeredBulldog I can't imagine it myself either. Apparently there were still parts of the suit he wore when he was buried on his remains, and some hair on the scalp. I think I'd have passed out!
You would think they would offer a legal loop hole to allow the family to just give permission and not be there
@@varidian694 I guess they could have just not gone but there would probably have been a hell of a fall out.
@Glen Arnold in my culture we help to prepare our own dead if they die at home. I sat with both of my grandparents when they passed. And walked each of their bodies to the funeral car when they were collected after we took care of them and sat with them for several hours.
But the idea of seeing them being dug up is too much even for me, having seen their dead bodies at length...
My hands would have so many blisters from digging
The difference between animals and humans are that we bury our dead and respect them.
This is crazy to me! I am glad that this is not a practice in my country and I can easily find most of my loved ones back to the 1600s. I am keeping up some of the graves myself.
Louisiana ????
I'm a 5th generation cemetery caretaker and this is very interesting to watch. Ive always thought what would happen if we were to run out of space. I appreciate the care you took in doing this job I know it cant be easy.
I find that hard to believe. If you are, as you say, a 5th generation, then you should already have had at least a basic understanding of how plots are dug and what happens before, during and after a funeral.
@Harkeill You find it hard to believe I work at a cemetery Lol I have more than a basic understanding of what happens. Doesnt mean we all do it the same way haha
My family paid for plots. I'll be damned if someone comes digging around looking for extra space. I'm putting booby traps in my last will and testament.
You work so hard
I can’t believe there is little left of the human body…. But the bloody plastic is still intact!
Another Great video. THANKS
Very educational thank you for the woman whos remains were used to explain the process RIP AGAIN
Really interesting insite into your profession, thanks for sharing.👍🏻
And this is why most of the people in the last two generations of our family have been cremated. As a Genealogist, I find going back 4-5 generations - many have been relocated as their original burial was in a CBD area. At least one local council that I am aware of, that had difficulty allocating real estate for the departed, instituted a mandatory "stacking" system - they dig using backhoes, put down a cement "sleeve" and then stack coffins 4 deep separated by concrete slabs.
I guess I don’t understand, if someone pays for a grave and you bury them, the cemetery comes back out in 20 years and buries someone entirely unrelated on top of them? I don’t think we dig people back up for any reason other than a coroners inquest that I’m aware of.
Fascinating 👍
I guess I don’t understand why this had to be done since they were not going to bury another body,or were they?
I don't know where this is but in Norway you can have a grave for 10 years. Then the remains are removed and cremated. I don't know if this is still done today but I think it probably is. There are small countries where if this isn't done the whole country would be nothing but graves.
This is an interesting topic. In the United States is this going to be the future of leasing a plot for at least 20 years and if not paid then the remains are removed? If so, what are the challenges of the concrete box- and when did that start in the US? Also, in Poland is there a register of where the dates and remains for a person were even if that changes multiple times?
The thing is, that a large part of Poland was Germany before WW2 so we have no idea who lies where before 1945. We often find unexpected skeletons in places that should be clean and there's no way to identify them in any way. This is the case in one of my videos (perfect conditions gravedigging) where I found a skeleton of a German, who was left undisturbed by me, since he was buried deep enough in the beginning. I think that the future will be mandatory cremation, which I don't find an ecological solution at all. The less human intervention, the better for the nature and I don't mean that in the ridiculous 'save the planet' way.
In the US, you do not lease a plot. It is bought for a sum of money. It's yours for eternity. My dad bought 5 plots in 1996 at $100 each. They are now selling for $250 each.
@@swabybaby3523eternity? Ya ok 😅 not making fun of you specifically just the thought of eternity gets me giggling 😂
So with this being the common practice, why not dig all graves deeper in the first place and lay a plastic tarp over so the next digger will know when to stop digging and not have to exhume any bodies?
Well, that would make sense... not the world's typical plan, true?
Exhumation is done only if the grave rental fee is not paid for another term. As long as rent is paid, the remains are left alone.
Curious, why are the caskets not in a vault?
Why should they be?
I feel badly that you have to do all this by hand, it is hard work to dig these graves. But you are so respectful, I commend you.
What do you do with the old grave stone/marker ?? Refurbish it ??
It either disposed off and the family choses a new one or it is gently dismantled, stored for about 6 months, while the headstone is either changed completely or given to engraving. After that it is erected back in place.
@@MartinsGraveyard Thank you ! :~)
@@MartinsGraveyard what is the difference between gravestone/marker that jane dow asked about and a headstone that you mentioned in your reply to her?
@@michaeldroege1898 I'm not sure but I think that the marker lies on the ground while the headstone stands up and in our country is almost always a part of the tombstone.
I always joked about having my coffin filled with nails and broken glass. Be careful digging lol
I've dug a few graves myself, though I'm unsure who ended up in it. Always loved to dig holes as a kid. I remembered my first contact with a post digger. I'd end up with a hole as deep as the handle and I could jump in and go below and use the post digger to come back out. Back then those holes turned into wilderness shelters. but growing I found out after measuring a casket at a Halloween party that hey... this could fit. 3ft by 8... though not as deep as this. I'd either hit rock or the water table. When the walls held, the deadman's view was the most calming feeling ever. Fear only starts setting in when the walls fell while I was in them. but yes, 4-5 ft deep, its nice and cool down there
Where I live now a decent hole isn't possible. I can cut a hole down 5ft in one day, but it doesn't stay dry. during the rain season waters 14" below the surface, its just cave ins and mud
Thanks for sharing. Always nice to hear from a fellow gravedigger. Where are you from?
Never dealt with human bodies, but spent a year in the college biology lab as an assistant injecting dye into arteries and veins and disposing of the meat wrecks that were once animals. Carcasses does give me a bit of curiosity. And I dig holes to put them in.
I was born in Taiwan, bordered by mountains, full of rock and not very good digging material. Moved to the US when I was 8, 30 years ago. I found the post digger in high school, and found its really good exercise. Wherever there's a need for digging, I volunteered. the water tables the limit in a way for me. Beyond my day job and house duties, my favorite past time away from people is digging holes. foxholes, trenches, a few roomy holes I suppose could double as graves. I'm 6ft4, around 195cm. I've dug holes I could make an angel impression in it before, though the walls have to be shored up with corrugated steel.
Its very weird thing for me to say it, when when I'm working on a hole my troubles disappear. all I am thinking of is the dimension, the smell of the dirt, the pain in my back and arms, but no human troubles. its a stress relief. If I was allowed acreage of clay and not the sand we have here and not have to work to bring in money, I'd tunnel in it all day. I can't do the things you do, I wish I can, but my gag reflex prevents me, even for dental work
It never made sense to me how in the US we put our dead in an impenetrable coffin and then into a concrete vault to bury them. It should be a pine box that returns you to the earth.
Don't forget the embalming.
It's creepy that you laid in that grave over a deceased person 😮
Right?
We're all gonna be there someday.
Total lack of respect..
That would creep me out touching the skeleton
I do think it odd they re use the grave, but where do I get an application?
I thought machinery was used to dig graves. This man must have some incredible strength to dig through all this shit
Shocking! Bodies are dug up to make room for another? Hopefully the families of the deceased are made aware of the displacement. It's all about money, isn't it? Heart breaking.....
Don't you ever worry about making a spirit angry? I wouldn't want to bring something like that with me.
No. The dead like me and know that I'm their pal.
@Martin the Maker Just remember to let them know what you are doing, and pray for them. You do a very difficult underappreciated job. Thank You
@@rev.tommiestovall7541 They know. Thanks
@@MartinsGraveyard Hello Martin. Have you encountered the spirits of those you have exhumed? A feeling of being watched maybe?
@@captainamerica6525 No, nothing like that.
I find your job very interesting. You are very respectful. I don't think we are into recycling graves in the US, but in big cities, graveyards are crowded. I could see it happening. Enjoyed your post.
I find your job completely fascinating! Good for you! I understand the limitations of having a full graveyard. New Orleans continues a unique cemetery tradition: unlimited burials in tombs and plots. Shared and removal of the deceased. I love that she was decomposed enough to just leave her!❤
Thanks. She was buried deep enough to leave her alone.
When your dead your dead makes no difference if your bones are replaced somewhere else you'll never know lol. Brilliant insight Martin. Thank you for your hard work and all you put into your work 👍
And you wonder why the native Americans hate you people……..
The Indians would beg to differ
Nope because you are messing with the remains of the undead, once remains are disturbed they awaken from their rest
You will find out
But any living family will do, if that was a close relative of mine I would be fuming. After only 28 years she could easily have close family alive still.
Eventually, cremations will be compulsary.
In Belgium you pay for a grave for 35 years. If this time is passed you can pay for another 15 years and so on. When the grave is not payed for the old bones are removed and cremated together with other dugout bones. We do have very old graves that are “everlasting “. Before the new burial laws the graves could be bought to be everlasting. These are mostly grave cellars or Monuments. I think they date from before the 1950’s. Our country is Catholic and in principle the religion dictates that the body must remain buried until the day of resurrection. Now however we have fewer cemeteries and also fewer burial plots. Hence the reuse of graves. Also lots of people are cremated nowadays.
Here digging up the graves is done by cemetery workers. In Poland undertakers have to work hard and it seems that they are really doing the whole burial by themselves. That deserves respect.
That's a very nice and string shovel with a sharp edge blade. Do you occasionally sharpen the edge? Is the shaft of the shovel made of steel?
The whole thing is made of steel and I sharpen it with angle grinder with a 120 grade sandpaper disk to cut through the roots easily. The brand is Fiskars. I could do a commercial for them someday. Bad PR for the company so it will never happen though, which is fine.
Man, I really need to get off RUclips for a while…
Wow! I never knew that bodies have to be dug back up after some years...
I really never knew this.. Does this happen with everyone's grave ...
No. It depends on what part of the world you live in. Different countries have different rules. This is in Poland.
Hard way to look at. It. There is over a billion peoole world wide. If everyone died. Do you think there is still enough land to burry us. Honestly they should make cremation mandatory. Instead of digging up Remains to put someone else there
I live in Germany and the remains get removed after 25 years. The laws are very strict here.
It’s no wonder you’re in great shape with a job like that. 😮
Never heard of someone re-using graves before, in my town in Georgia we got graves with tombstones all the way back to the late 1700s, original tombstone, never moved or buried over
And how much land do you have compared to Europe? That's right. My whole country is smaller than Texas. It's common practice outside the US.
May I ask why you needed to dig her grave?
Stupid just let the person to rip ok they are going to become dirt why you have to dig him up after it 50 uearls later you ate nothing just let it R.I.P
In the states there is no concept of renting a grave or recycling it and the thought of doing that is considered horrifying. I understand it is the norm in a lot of countries but here it would be disrespectful it is our attitude of death here that we build an industry that puts a complete separation of death that makes the concept of recycling a grave uncomfortable. Digging up a grave for reuse makes you confront death and people in our country are really not use to that. We are not a death positive society and videos like this just validate to me that there is no such thing as an eternal resting place and when I die I want to be cremated and my ashes scattered. Why keep me around what's the point? Why bury me my grave will be forgotten about and overgrown or dug up in 500 years as a archeology site. Masoleums don't last forever they crumble. It doesn't logically make sense to try and forge a ' eternal resting place' when there is literally no such thing.
I am death positive! I am making plans for a body farm! Learned about this from Caitlin doughty. She is a mortician in Los Angeles. That orvplacing my body on a scaffold as the native Americans did. I am claustrophobic and want to rest in peace above ground. With a book under a weeping willow.
When you are in a very old country with limited land, there is little choice but to reuse graves. Happens all over Europe. One of the reasons why cremation is so popular in the UK.
@@David49305 I can see that being a popular thing because the UK is such a small country. It just makes sense at some point in civilization there will be no choice because there will be no room
@@donnarouse5366 I seen ask a mortician it reminds me of that episode iconic corpse where she talks about a rich Japanese woman who was a practicing Buddhist and wanted to use her death and her body as a teaching moment so she had her body laid out on the road for dogs to scavenge. I think what she wanted to teach was beauty is fleeting or something like that it's been a while since I seen that episode.
@donna rouse My husband is also claustrophobic and wants his remains donated to the body farm 8n Tennessee. I hope I go first. I'm being cremated. Hard pass on being buried.
Any new Graves to dig where I'm from we don't reuse the Graves I find it very interesting. Keep up the good work
This is a great video. I'm so used to doing this in the dark, it looks totally different in the daytime. Like a different world.
Why are you digging up people’s graves in the dark…?
@@dm2836
Maybe better not go there. I mean, if you've seen any horror movies. . .just. . .don't ask. 😰
Cue the Michael Jackson Thriller music
@@dm2836 sometimes I like my women cold and blue.
That's a tough job but you're a real pro at it! My respect.
Thank you.
8:14 i was very shocked about the perfect condition of this watch, then i realized you didn’t find it lol
When I die I just want to be stood out in the garbage with my hat on.
Happy holidays everyone!
Lol..
Ha hahaha ha 👍☺️