In the dead of night, beneath the moon's soft glow, Mental Martin digs down low, Fifty-two years have come and gone, Yet he returns to the earth's dark dawn. With shovel in hand and sweat upon his brow, He digs with purpose, he knows not how, For buried deep beneath the ground, A femur waits, a secret found. Through layers of dirt and forgotten dreams, Martin digs deeper, or so it seems, His mind a maze of twisted thought, As he unearths what time has wrought. The grave lies silent, a solemn space, But Martin's hands know not of grace, For in his madness, he seeks to find, A bone long buried, left behind. With trembling fingers, he touches the bone, A relic of the past, now his own, But in his triumph, there's no release, Only the echoes of a mind at peace. For Mental Martin, the grave digger's son, His quest for solace has just begun, In the depths of night, he'll always roam, Digging up bones, to find his home.
They say we die twice, the first being our own death, and the second time is when the last person who remembered us dies.. After that, we’re forgotten.
I’ve never heard that before, it’s a little bit poetic and, certainly true and very sad. Unless you’ve achieved some form of greatness or some form of criminal notoriety, you’re just going back to whence you came and what you were made of in life….stardust.
I visit Boston a lot and am in awe of how well kept some of the historical cemeteries are. Adding: Salem, Massachusetts has a very well preserved grave of a Pilgrim from the Mayflower. Boston itself has the graves of John Addams, Paul Revere, etc.
Same in the South. I just took holiday poinsettias to the grave of my grandmother (died in the 1950s), and to my great-grandmother (died in the 1920s), and to my great-great grandmother (died in the 1880s), and to my great-great-great grandmother (died in the 1860s).
I wish to visit the Authors' Ridge, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA, one day. Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott and Hawthorne lie there. They are so dear to me.
@@bramlintrent1145 Catholic graveyard I'm assuming? A lot of the well taken care of cemeteries are catholic in NE. They continue to take care of everything.
Just a few decades and your bones just blends with the dirt like nothing, and very few people remain alive to remember you. It's like you never existed.
This depends on the type of soil that you are buried in. With some soils, you're gone in less than a hundred years. In others, you're still around after a thousand.
progmetal: Your message is well taken but there are exceptions. Many people are remembered hundreds and even a thousand or more years post mortem. Orators, composers, authors, painters, entertainers, scientists, architects, military and political leaders. It's a matter of what one has done in life that has had impact on humanity, good or bad.
Sad to see someone exhumed and treated this way. The grave is only 50 years old. I'm from the UK and many cemeteries around my town are many centuries old and all the graves are undisturbed, some are from circa 1700ad. No, it's not illegal and this guy is only doing his job but sad to see all the same...
what would you rather they do? Make it illegal to have burials and dictate that everyone should be cremated from now on? There's no room. UK only has room because of the massive crypts where bodies were just simply stacked the way this guy is doing. It's no different.
Totally agree , you see so many American clips like this ,especially the abandoned mausoleums where the coffins have been dragged out broken into & robbed, the dead should be left to rest & tended to, end of
I have some news for you, burial plots now a days in the UK are basically rented from 25-100 years. You don’t own them, you rent them. When the lease is up they’ll contact any alive family to see if they want to pay for longer.
Why is it sad? Treated what way? All he did was dig, as ordered by the cemetery. Should he have bowed down and worshipped the grave? Should he have sprayed the shovel with holy water before every dig? Should he have given the bones a massage so that this “someone” is treated well, since you claim they aren’t? What are you talking about? It’s dust ridden bones.
I find it both fascinating and sad that those brittle old bones are all that's left of what was once a living, breathing person. A person that had dreams and desires. A person with friends and relatives, who knew and loved him, some of whom might still be alive. It would be interesting to know a little about who he was, how old he was when he passed away, what he died from and what he was like when he was alive.
They're not letting us rest forever in peace... i can not believe that there is not enough space for us under the ground on this planet after we die...so sad that they just move the remains because no one paid for that spot...this system is killin' me, but the people that decides so are burried in nicest graves and they'll probably never be disturbed.
@@westerlywinds5684 They don't want to have the space. Show me a Country that has no wreckage buildings, ruins,etc... That were forgotten for decades and they could collapse 'em, tell me small countries with no clear land where they illegally store garbage because coruption's lvl is too high and they won't separate, recycle, instead of burning it? There's always enough field! Its just the lack of caring! We keep downgrading for money, respect principies are left behind.
@@westerlywinds5684 the UK is a small crowded country but your buried their for eternity, this must be some tin pot shit hole of a country showing so little respect!
I have a morbid curiosity for things like this, I've always wondered how things look under ground after years of being buried. Incredibly interesting and educational. Thank you for sharing.
I was a gravedigger at one time in my life. I'm here in the USA and I used to dig cremation burials up to my waist. They used to tell me that I didn't have to go down that far but I did it as a courtesy, it always gave people peace of mind that it was deeper when they saw it. But having to dig through clay dirt with a shovel and not a backhoe to put one of those heavy Wilbert urn vaults was a pain in the ass. I remember one incident where I had to remove a baby who lived for one day and died in Germany and was sent to Michigan in 1978. His mother wanted him cremated and sent to Washington State where she lived and there was nothing left. I would say 98% 99% of his remains were gone, I found one piece of bone that resembled a chicken bone, baby bones are soft. I remember finding his rubber duck and washing that off and getting it ready when I put it in the box to send to Washington State. I remember when I was digging the hole by hand the funeral director was standing there with a bankers box and he said that there's nothing else left. The one thing that didn't disintegrate was a satin ribbon and the string that held the coffin lid but everything else was gone even the wooden box
Glad you were able to find something. We had to do a baby exhumation to move it and found nothing but dirt. The funeral director was there when we dug it and we just did the best we could, and put the dirt from the grave into a baby coffin for reburial. You just do the best you can. Dust to dust.
I had to dig the grave in my family's plot in Minnesota and bury my mothers ashes 12" under the dirt until the grave digger could come back from LaCrosse Wisconsin to finish the job. He dug the grave in a relatives plot. Same family different plot. We had a good laugh, because my mother would have thought it was so outrageous. Plus, i think she would have wanted me to do it.
I used to work in a busy ER and we were also responsible for the hospital morgue. Someone wasn't doing their job and we had accumulated about 20 deceased babies that no one claimed nor was there any staff follow up to get the family to make arrangements for the children. So many were just forgotten. I was assigned with another to clean out the morgue. The babies all dissolved in the plastic bags to a liquid. Most had no form at all, just liquid.
Did you watch the whole video? They were reopening the grave to bury another family member. 🙄 He wasn’t evicted. Just buried deeper to allow a new casket.
@@selunea404 I'm not aware of this being a thing in America. There are tons of very old graves still here even when all family are gone. I have dead relatives that have been buried 20 plus years and we never have to keep paying to keep them there. I'm only aware of body removal or putting below new burials in places like the Philippines, China and other countries like that. It seems to be more of an Asian country thing from what I can tell. I don't know every country that does this.
Crazy isn't it. This guy back in the 50s and 60s was going out to the shops, watching TV, driving around possibly. And today this is how he is. It's so simple really but mind boggling at the same time.
My great great grandparents were missionaries who used to visit India. My great great grandmother died there because of an illness when she was just in her 30’s. It must have been sometime in the 1800’s, and her grave is still there.
In some countries, you rent cemetery plots for certain lengths of time to decompose and then your remains will be cremated and retuned to the family. I imagine that is what is going on here
@Xavier Sullivan Okay, that may be, but 52 years? A body decomposes long before that, and there is no mention of the body being returned to family. I just don't think this was a magnanimous act by the cemetery.
Humidity really makes all the difference in decomp. Many years ago I assisted with an exhumation in a dry, warm desert climate. The remains were 80+ years old at the time, and everything was intact. Even the hair around the skull
I'm a Medical Examimer, Funeral Director & Embalmer. I'm going in a 32oz bronze airtite hermetically sealed casket after being embalmed for long term preservation, then the casket is going into a concrete vauly with a 3,500lb lid that is sealed. The vault is lined with copper & & bronze. They'll pit me 12ft down so my wife can be put on top at about 9ft down in the same as I then another can go on top at 6-7ft. We did it with my grandfather and when we moved him to a new cemetery 25 years later, I bought a new vault because we couldn't get it up. When the casket was opened he was just as he was the day I closed and sealed his casket. My grandmother had people come fir 2 days to view him one last time before reburial in the new family plot. Her parents looked just as good after 63 years. Dr. Gennaro G. Giammarino, III
Thank you for writing. I always wonder what's the point of doing all that from a philosophical perspective. I want to be decomposed as soon as possible so I have no idea what the people on the other side of the fence are motivated by by doing all that. Shouldn't organic matter naturally return to the circle of life as mother nature intended?
Ya can't tell me that bodies buried for that long look completely "fresh" like when buried. After decades in the ground all bodies will dehydrate and decompose.
Why though ? I could perhaps understand if you were being viewed for eternity as our mummies that are on display but otherwise why all the trouble and expense ?
@@jimbo6693 I wouldn't go that far. Different cultures have different norms about death and burials. Renting grave sites is a centuries old practice in many parts of Europe. This isn't vandalism. He's not disrespectful. He's taking care with the remains. I do understand how this evolved. You also have to remember in North America we have space to spare for gravesites. Europeans don't. In many places in Europe the center median on limited access highways is planted with crops because anywhere there is farmable land you have to use it. By reusing grave sites they aren't taking up more and more land needed for other uses.
@@jimbo6693 what's your problem? He's not grave robbing or anything. It's his job, mandated by the city he's working for. Totally legal and quite the norm in Europe. 20 years you're in a grave these days, that's it.
@@twinsonic What's my problem.?? Think your the one with the problem mate. And as for "your only allowed 20 yrs in a grave in Europe" that's rubbish mate. There would be uproar if people were routinely exhumed after 20 years to make way in the grave for other people. And not just that it's the act itself. Digging up someone's nearest and dearest from their final resting place like their some kind of landfill. That would never happen here in the UK or any other civilised country mate it's called "consecrated ground". Your obviously some kind of ghoul. I'd ask you what "your problem is" if he was digging your mother up you muppet.
@@jimbo6693 By the time my great grandfather had his time up, nobody was left alive who remembered him or wanted to pay rent on the plot anymore. Money is for the living. If it twists your knickers that much, please go to Denmark on my behalf & pay for my great grandfathers continued enjoyment of his pushing up daisy's. I will give you the info.
@@eileensorensen2414 No thanks I'm sure your the type of person who's enjoy digging him up yourself and maybe making a small stool or other household items out of his bones. You lot really are in need of some help.. Sad
Incredible to see how much the body has decomposed after 50+ years. Even the casket is gone! It goes to show we will all eventually return to nature. Thanks for the cool and informative video!
I was tasked with helping excavate an old early 20th century graveyard. Most looked like the remains in the video, and some looked well preserved, especially the ones we found in porcelain sealed coffins. I mean their skin was leathery, but they were still noticeable of the person they were when alive. Some weren't even bones yet
In the old days, some of the wealthier families used like a marble or porcelain material for the casket instead of wood. There weren't many of these caskets there as they were super expensive. They have/had porcelain characters on the marble tomb. Some had wooden caskets inside a marble looking vault with porcelain entrusted letters etc. A couple were made entirely of super thick porcelain that sustained through the years. How's it seem so far-fetched?
@@nick56677 I am going to encourage you to look up porcelain caskets which are small boxes to hold trinkets there is no way anyone would use porcelain for a body in a grave, it breaks easily. The marble caskets are also small boxes for trinkets, very very few caskets were ever made from marble even for the most famous of people and marble coffins are called sarcophagus, the reason people are not buried in marble is because gases can build up inside and explode.
This was so interesting! While watching I was thinking of my grandparents, morbid as it seems it was comforting! It's so cool that pile of bones used to have a family, friends etc. Life is such a strange thing!
Thank you so much for giving me a glimpse of what's to come (I'm 73 y.o.)-I've taken so much from the earth in terms of food and enjoyment throughout my life; it will be good to give something back.
Paddle: Depending how you are buried. You are not going to give anything back to the earth if your body is encased in a cement vault, so think of going "green" or cremation and scattering.
The cemetery I worked at here in the US did not require burial vaults until after 1955. When it comes to remains that are left it's probably about the same as what you see here. They had a removal one time, the burial was in a wooden box from about 1930 and there was no bone, there was nothing left.
As "disintegrated" as the remains/bones were after only 52 years, it makes me wonder how medieval grave bones are so well preserved in archeological digs, from 500 years ago (or even much longer)!
The critical factors in the decomposition of a body is the type of soil and moisture level. In environments with regular rain and snow, the process proceeds much more quickly. Drier conditions in sandy ‘soils’ significantly slow decomposition.
@@kimwood3327: That's because you and I are in first world civilized countries. This one being shown is evidently a shit-hole. Where else would they dig up graves because the deceased's families couldn't be blackmailed anymore. 😖
@@carolhutchinson7763 Is Germany, France etc. shithole country? In Germany grave is only paid for 20 years, after this family can buy another 20 years, or grave is getting new tenant . There is no place for new cemeteries.
I was born in the 1950s and lost a parent when a very young baby. I've considered being buried in the same plot but wondered what would be left of the original casket and body so this was very helpful. Thank You.
Abraham Lincoln, who died in 1865, was the victim of a plot to steal his remains in Illinois and hold them for ransom in 1876. The coffin was removed, but they did not take it away. As a result, plans were made to bury him in Washington DC at the planned Lincoln Memorial. Since he was on the surface again, they opened his coffin to honor and check on him. It was said that he looked just as he did when he was buried 11 years prior, because he had been embalmed several times after he died and made a rail tour of the cities along the route from Illinois to DC. A flag placed upon his chest had disintegrated to red, white and blue bits of cloth.
This seems brutal when you are someone like me who comes from a place where burial is expected to be perpetual. It doesn't make it any better when you consider this person's grave was essentially erased due to non-payment. However, having travelled a bit, I have seen that this is more common than people think. And it makes sense too. Eventually, you run out of space for the dead and room needs to be made. It's just difficult to get over the sacrilege of it all. In a way, this adds to Hemingway's observation that you die twice; first when you're buried, and then the last time someone says your name. But now add, the day you are evicted from you plot for non payment and your headstone obliterated as you are discarded like dust under a rug.
Everyone has a job to do, I live in the U.S. and I am appalled at how some of our cemeteries are abandoned and bodies left behind such disregard and disrespect brings me to tears at the sight of it. Don’t let people get in your head just because they don’t understand the ways of your country doesn’t make it wrong. It takes a person of strength of character to do what you do.
Just curious, but why dig him up just to put him right back in the same place, just a couple inches deeper? And another question, how do you know where people are if you put someone else on top of them? Is there a way y'all know so that possible descendants can visit or know later on
Great video. When my sister was buried, the funeral home told ua they found either some remains or a urn.They ask us what we wanted to do and i told them to put it back. My sister never met a stranger so i don't think she minded. I think it was the right thing to do. Here in Texas, we have lots of burying space, so we never have to rent a space. I understand why it has to be done when space is limited.
I hope that you are paid well for your occupation. This line of work would be too emotionally draining for me. I'm still shocked as to why my youtube algorithm continues to send these types of videos to me😢. Thanks for sharing your work either way
I would never have guessed that clothing outlasts bones. I've always thought of cloth as biodegradable, but the sock you dug up (after 50+ years) looked almost fresh.
Decomposition depends _a lot_ on the type of ground or soil. In some cases there may be hardly any or even no decomposition at all if it's dense clay because there is little to no oxygen. There have been cases of Victorian grave exhumations with the deceased still being totally intact in near perfect clothes.
Very true! Frost, permafrost, different types of soil, dampness or dryness of the soil, different geographical climates, etc. As for skeletal remains, they usually start breaking down 80+ years after burial. It also depends on the type of casket, if there was a casket liner, if the casket was sealed, etc. I know a coroner who exhumed over 50 bodies from a cemetery that was being demolished. Let's just say that he told me he'd never do it again. Not all bodies are decomposed as well as the one in this video.
Peat marshes or bogs preserve bodies due to the lack of oxygen and high acid pH levels similar to vinegar, it preserves human bodies and other organic material in the same way as fruit is preserved by pickling. Tollund Man, Grauballe Man and Lindow Man date to the Iron Age. Tollund man’s features were so well preserved that the was mistaken for a recent murder victim.
I totally appreciate your video of this re-burial. It's amazing how basically everything turns into mere dust after we die and there is little to no smell left. Thanks for sharing this awesome video.
That dude passed away in 1970, that's been awhile, I was 8 years old at the time. I can't believe you had to dig the fella up, because time ran out on his deathbed, that's some BS. Hey! nice job with that Shovel work, and digging up them bones!!
@@matthewblackwood4704 here in the Philippines it has 😁 especially in the public cemetery you only have 10yrs to stay and the rent will start if you can't afford to pay they will remove the tenant inside and put it on a large cross located inside the cemetery where all bones are there 😅 creepy isn't it? but that's how it works 😁
Does the body you buried deeper still have a marker, or headstone? Or is it discarded? Also, do the family of the new corpse know there is someone else lurking beneath? I've never heard of this before. Seems a bit sad. Great video.
The tombstone or the marker for the previous body is discarded. It just stays in the books. The family of the current body knows everything. You got me chuckle with the 'lurking' thing. Thanks!
In the United States, it's called grave stacking. Different states have different laws about it, mostly having to do with the age of the grave. It's more common around large cities. The city of New Orleans has a high water table which makes burial below ground difficult. In a lot of cemeteries there, an individual is given an above ground crept for a number of years, less than ten. After that time, their bones are removed and put into a vault and a new individual is given the crept for their burial.
@@barbaratankersley7117: This is common in Europe. Read the story of John Banner's grave ( Sgt. Schultz of Hogan's Heroes.) Some countries exhume bones after a number of years to use reuse the grave. The bones are then buried in a common grave.
I don't agree with disturbing someone after they're buried but if you must I'm glad there are people like you that take there time and do it carefully and as with much respect for the remains.
This is genuinely so beautiful and comforting, to see there's barely anything left of him. Nothing gruesome or sad about it, just a guy crumbling away and turning into soil as it should be, as nature intended. I want to be put underground too when I pass, if possible even without a casket, to become food for the environment and return to the soil and to the cycle of life in that way. The thought of being put in a burial niche or in some other kind of concrete building above ground really terrifies me, it feels claustrophobic
Dead can we be long time, but not for eternally. There shall come a day, when all who`s dead shall rise again, to get judged by GOD and to move to exist/live either into heaven or into hell fire. The same with the living now. The only difference with the living is, not all are going to rest in dust. 1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Hebrews 9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
That was a fantastic video. I helped dig a grave for a child who had died in a churchyard where the stones did not match the charts, and we ended up reaching the brother of the child who had died a few years before. Fortunately the casket was in good shape and the hole was shifted to make room.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. They say once you leave this earth you don't care about earthly things, including your old shell. Video done well and with respect, Thank you, I learned something new today.
Had recently visited the largest municipal cemetery in the UK- Southern Cemetery of Manchester, it's really amazing to see how these graveyards are maintained so well and how the bodies of the deceased families can be accommodated together, really commendable job Martin and many other Martins out there.
Fantastic video, thank you, im a Funeral Director for just over 20 years now here in England UK. my mate is the gravedigger for us on contract, ive witnessed this when visited him digging, taking him a flask of coffee. Good job done here
Omg, I love you already. Second video, and I'm laughing at the end because you're finally eating your banana after playing in human bones for the day! While in my last years of highschool, I had the opportunity to disect a cows heart! I loved it. It was as big as a pumpkin, and I greatly enjoy medical sciences. The girl I was paired with, not so much. She threw up. Lol. Funny thing was, I had my picture taken that class, because I got my hand trapped in a ventricle and couldn't pull it back out! Chinese finger trap style! Teacher yells from the other side if the room, "Use your other hand!" I told him I couldn't, I was too busy eating a grenola bar with that one! 🤣
It gives literal meaning "From dust you came, and to dust you will return. " Gen 3:19 It is very humbling to know that maybe one day someone will dig anyone of us up. It's hard to think of what will be there. This was only in 58 years. I'm 55 now. It's mind blowing.
Respect, you did a beautiful, very professional job. I found it oddly comforting to see how little is left of a human body after just 50 years. To my mind this confirms what a pointless luxury burial is, with land at a premium. Better to be cremated - we ultimately end up as dust, anyway!
I find your job quite interesting. I think Americans have 'problems' because most areas have plenty of room and don't need to re-use grave space, but I could be wrong. I enjoy seeing the different ways other cultures interact with their dead - some are quite fascinating. Thank you for sharing
Not really, I have seen numerous videos of cemeteries pave over and made into parking lots with the bones still there, ...big money for land you see. I live in a housing subdivision situated right next to a church and the subdivision has the exact dimensions of a nice cemetery though there is no proof I have found out that it once was,...if true,...haha, who knows what is down deep in the dirt, and besides I rent.
@@westerlywinds5684 Ive seen in Mexico where bodies were evicted from graves and vaults, put in garbage bags and just piled elsewhere in the cemetery. This although odd to me seems so much more respectable. Myself, Ill be cremated.
Homer City Generating Station Unit 3 is built upon an ancient Native burial ground. I used to go there 40 years ago and that unit had problems nobody could rationally explain. Disturbing the dead is a task not to be taken lightly.
Poland is an old country , lots of people , not much room..This is a very sensible solution. If I'm as dead as that guy it won't worry me in the least if they move me. God will know where I am and that's all that matters
You might want to do some research on that. Grave stacking is legal in America. In some places, you don't even have to remove the bodies before you build on a cemetery. There's a subdivision in San Francisco that was built on 60,000 graves. San Francisco is will known for building over its cemeteries.
Fascinating! This was nicely done! Thanks for posting. I always wondered what happens to the bodies. It's good to know remains are put back and not tossed somewhere.
I don't know where this is but I'm glad I live in New England. My husband passed 30 years ago and I bought a four plot with perpetual care. No one will take us out of there.
Not entirely true. In most states there are laws governing how long a grave can be used. If you read the fine print in most cemetery contracts, the plot is safe for up to 50-100 years. But if the cemetery is abandoned or the company goes bankrupt? Then all bets are off for what happens to the graves and the headstones. I used to make decent money as a young man relocating graves for relatives that companies could get in touch with. If the new owners couldn't get in touch with someone, the bodies were exuded and cremated. The vaults were crushed aand all the unclaimed bodies ashes would be placed in another cemetery as a common grave site or a community garden spot.
A really nice video, i love that you are showing everything like you usually do it and not making a "show for the cameras". People get offended by everything these days. "Why arent the archeologists doing this, how can you this, how can you that..." Love the comments during the video and having fun while doing your job. As a guy who dug up about 1700 bodies myself i felt "at home" watching the video 😁 PS You made a small mistake - the longest bone in the body isnt the tibia; its the femur (which you showed on the video but made a wrong statement) All the best my fellow bone digger!
That's why I'm getting cremated. I don't want some stranger dragging me out of my last resting place just to make space for some other poor soul. So undignified
Very interesting. I know some cultures remove the bones after the flesh has decomposed and place the bones in an ossuary. I didn't know about this method. Taking care of the dead is important work. We have lots of land here 🇨🇦, but cremation is becoming more popular. Cemeteries now have Columbarium (Columbaria?) Plazas where you purchase a niche for cremated remains. My mum's ashes are in a niche. She always said, "Don't put me in the cold dark ground where all the bugs will be crawling through me." I bought her a "top floor" niche with a view of the river.
@@angiemanges7945 It’s a question of respect for the sanctity of the human experience. Did you notice that nowadays, dead people are chopped-up and sold for spare parts? And that frozen babies are kept for years in case they’re needed? If they’re not, they get destroyed. So why not violate graves? These deliberate insults against man’s essential sacredness is designed to convince everyone that people aren’t sacred, and that life itself isn’t sacred. If nothing is sacred, then we can gladly sink to the depths of human depravity. Drugs, violence, tattoos, homosexuality, and widespread mental illness. Is that part of our “visit” to Earth? Earth is our home. It’s not temporary. And our lives can only be as good as the sense of pride and honor that we have in who we are, and what we do. So if we’re to be an honorable society, then mustn’t trample upon the memory of our forebears. Their dignity is a symbol of our heritage; and commitment to the idea of excellence as a way of life.
dead people dont have conscience or awareness as all of their nervous system has rotted away so i wouldnt really call it resting, and how do you turn relocating a mans remains into sex and drugs what is wrong with you?
I think it takes a lot of guts (no pun intended) to dig up bodies even years after they've been buried. I think I too have this morbid curiosity to wonder who even after 20 years, what a body looks like while it's been buried, even inside a casket and concrete tomb.
I heard about this happening in other countries. In America, you would not even get close to an open grave without everything being paid for up front. Why I am contemplating cremation myself. Too many abandoned cemeteries abound. One I grew up down the block from is now a dog run and greenhouse.
@@JTScott1988 wtf is wrong with you ? And this coming from a black life's matter account ???? It's not a rental place In this case as right now you can't do that because it's a disrespect to these people and their families and to life
How is that we find skeletons that are thousands of year old and they're in pristine shape, but yet this person has only been dead for half a century and there's virtually nothing left?
Absolutely fascinating. I’ve always been very curious about what happens in the grave, right from a very young age and I love watching your videos. Thank you for sharing the special, unique work that you do!
Very educational and interesting. I did not realise it only took 50 years to almost be dust.. thought it would have been at least 100 years.. The earth takes back what the earth gives.. Thanks for the very informative video. 👍
BEARDED... decomposition depends very much on the soil type, it's acid or alkaline content and how moist, wet or dry it is. It's always been a conundrum to me, for instance, how a highly acidic, soaking wet bog type environment can preserve corpses for thousands of years, such as in the case of Celtic 'bog bodies'.
@@cuhurun Not sure why I've only just received the notification for your response to my comment.. must of got lost in the interweb lol. But thank you for your comment and yes I should imagine the type of soil and climate would have a lot to do with the speed that which bone is broken down.. and yes it is really surprising how bogs preserve human and animal remains.
This was fascinating. In my home state of Connecticut, you buy the burial plot so that it is owned in perpetuity, and most people have their caskets placed in cement vaults. This video demonstrates how land use policies shape burial customs. Where land is scarce, it is understandable why there might be a time limit on the occupancy, or why it may not be possible to own the burial plot. In Singapore, cremation is mandatory for all non-Muslims. It is possible to buy a permanent niche for cremated remains in one of the state-owned columbaria or in a Buddhist temple. Muslims have dedicated cemeteries, but there is a time limit due to land scarcity, so the corpses will be exhumed and cremated after a period of time. In the US, the highest risk is probably with privately owned cemeteries or mausoleums. If the owner ever goes bankrupt, then the burials will not be maintained, and the site could even be sold and re-purposed.
Burial in a vault is the worst thing you can do with a body either in a wood coffin or metal casket. Vaults will fill with water. Even the expensive sealed ones will eventualy.
When I went to Germany to work, I was in the same area as my ancestors from 300 years before. I didn't know about grave recycling. I had hoped I'd be able to find a family member's grave, but they were all long gone.
The bone he referred to as the tibia is actually the femur, which is the largest bone in the body. The head/ ball on one end sits in the socket/ acetabulum of the pelvis, making up the hip joint. (The tibia, btw, is the larger of the two bones - tibia and fibula - that make up the lower leg.)
Świetny dźwięk, świetny montaż i komentarz. Z przyjemnością obejrzę następne materiały, zwłaszcza że tematyka dość niecodzienna, wręcz bym powiedział- ciekawa. Sub w nadziei na kolejne filmy!
Just so you know the bone you showed us was the femur bone with the femoral head (hip bone) intact. I grew up at a funeral home in America and I've often wondered if one day the current graves would have to be emptied for new cases as there's only so much room in our fast growing world. Oh how I wish I could see into the future as my precious grandma is interred there as are a few of my relatives. I wonder how it would work in the United States. This has been a very educational video and I thank you for making it.
Hi Martin! I was just thinking about getting myself some lollies to help me quit smoking, seeing you use them is a small bit of synchronicity telling me to go for it!! Another great video which I thoroughly enjoyed - thank you. All the best from Durham, England.
It's been 3 weeks so far. I use them along with the nicotine gums which are last resort and I just chewed five of them im that period. Lollies really help a lot. You'll be catching yourself holding them like ciggies in the beginning. Thank you for your comments. I enjoy them and I am looking forward to them. I'll try to keep posting content worth commenting. Cheers.
I absolutely love this guy. He normalises the burial process, its not scary or grusome at all. Its just digging nature and reusing a grave, almost like giving graves new life through the years to come. Thank you for your videos, please keep them coming :)
In the dead of night, beneath the moon's soft glow,
Mental Martin digs down low,
Fifty-two years have come and gone,
Yet he returns to the earth's dark dawn.
With shovel in hand and sweat upon his brow,
He digs with purpose, he knows not how,
For buried deep beneath the ground,
A femur waits, a secret found.
Through layers of dirt and forgotten dreams,
Martin digs deeper, or so it seems,
His mind a maze of twisted thought,
As he unearths what time has wrought.
The grave lies silent, a solemn space,
But Martin's hands know not of grace,
For in his madness, he seeks to find,
A bone long buried, left behind.
With trembling fingers, he touches the bone,
A relic of the past, now his own,
But in his triumph, there's no release,
Only the echoes of a mind at peace.
For Mental Martin, the grave digger's son,
His quest for solace has just begun,
In the depths of night, he'll always roam,
Digging up bones, to find his home.
That was absolutely fantastic. You made my day. Thank you.
WOW!!! An amazing piece of poetry 👍🏼❤️
That was amazing, thank you for your words.
wow!!
chatGPT ftw :D
They say we die twice, the first being our own death, and the second time is when the last person who remembered us dies.. After that, we’re forgotten.
What a profound and memorable observation.
Kenny lunaaa. Forgotten........into the oblivion of eternity: forever!!!!!!
That’s why when I visit an old cemetery I always make it a point to say their names out loud.
@@Bampitas74ps 👌
I’ve never heard that before, it’s a little bit poetic and, certainly true and very sad. Unless you’ve achieved some form of greatness or some form of criminal notoriety, you’re just going back to whence you came and what you were made of in life….stardust.
Glad you dug the guy up, hope he makes a full recovery.
Lol
Hahaha, was that meant to be a joke? Full Re-cover-y....
Lol
He did and now he’s the president of the USA .
@@allseeingotto2912 omg so inspiring
To all those saying "who visits a Grave after 50 years", I say, I do. In New England old cemeteries are often cared for forever.
Yep, I'm in New England, and it's actually fairly common to see people at tombstones decades, even centuries old. And I don't mean edgy teens, either.
I visit Boston a lot and am in awe of how well kept some of the historical cemeteries are.
Adding: Salem, Massachusetts has a very well preserved grave of a Pilgrim from the Mayflower. Boston itself has the graves of John Addams, Paul Revere, etc.
Same in the South. I just took holiday poinsettias to the grave of my grandmother (died in the 1950s), and to my great-grandmother (died in the 1920s), and to my great-great grandmother (died in the 1880s), and to my great-great-great grandmother (died in the 1860s).
I wish to visit the Authors' Ridge, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA, one day. Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott and Hawthorne lie there. They are so dear to me.
@@bramlintrent1145 Catholic graveyard I'm assuming? A lot of the well taken care of cemeteries are catholic in NE. They continue to take care of everything.
Just a few decades and your bones just blends with the dirt like nothing, and very few people remain alive to remember you. It's like you never existed.
Your here then your gone. 100 Years from now zero give a Fucks.
This depends on the type of soil that you are buried in. With some soils, you're gone in less than a hundred years. In others, you're still around after a thousand.
progmetal: Your message is well taken but there are exceptions. Many people are remembered hundreds and even a thousand or more years post mortem. Orators, composers, authors, painters, entertainers, scientists, architects, military and political leaders. It's a matter of what one has done in life that has had impact on humanity, good or bad.
Burial is more natural than cremation
@@winchesterwings8795 outcome is about the same.
Sad to see someone exhumed and treated this way. The grave is only 50 years old. I'm from the UK and many cemeteries around my town are many centuries old and all the graves are undisturbed, some are from circa 1700ad.
No, it's not illegal and this guy is only doing his job but sad to see all the same...
what would you rather they do? Make it illegal to have burials and dictate that everyone should be cremated from now on? There's no room. UK only has room because of the massive crypts where bodies were just simply stacked the way this guy is doing. It's no different.
Totally agree , you see so many American clips like this ,especially the abandoned mausoleums where the coffins have been dragged out broken into & robbed, the dead should be left to rest & tended to, end of
He put them back
I have some news for you, burial plots now a days in the UK are basically rented from 25-100 years. You don’t own them, you rent them. When the lease is up they’ll contact any alive family to see if they want to pay for longer.
Why is it sad? Treated what way? All he did was dig, as ordered by the cemetery. Should he have bowed down and worshipped the grave? Should he have sprayed the shovel with holy water before every dig? Should he have given the bones a massage so that this “someone” is treated well, since you claim they aren’t? What are you talking about? It’s dust ridden bones.
I still visit my dad's grave in a cemetery in Michigan I was 14 when he died 53 years later I still visit his grave
😢 condolences 💐
if you will visit today, your childs will visit you for you are you will be happy in paradise❤️
My mother died 52 years ago in May. I was 13😢
My father died in July 1981. I was 11. Still visit and leave small gifts.
I’m sorry for everyone’s loss I’m sure your parents now are your guardian angels.
I find it both fascinating and sad that those brittle old bones are all that's left of what was once a living, breathing person. A person that had dreams and desires. A person with friends and relatives, who knew and loved him, some of whom might still be alive. It would be interesting to know a little about who he was, how old he was when he passed away, what he died from and what he was like when he was alive.
It's the cycle of life. We are born, we die and that's it.
@@KCCardCo Nonsense. We transcend.
its sad, we will all become that. unless cremated
Here today gone in 50 odd years 😂😂 awell
@@Harry_Stylus keep dreaming mate :-)
crazy that even in death, we will get evicted for not paying rent.
in all seriousness though, awesome video, thanks for sharing it!
They're not letting us rest forever in peace... i can not believe that there is not enough space for us under the ground on this planet after we die...so sad that they just move the remains because no one paid for that spot...this system is killin' me, but the people that decides so are burried in nicest graves and they'll probably never be disturbed.
@@RobertMustiuc
Cremation is the key.
Why you so worried about it nobody's going to visit your grave anyways you're already dead your dead
@@westerlywinds5684 They don't want to have the space. Show me a Country that has no wreckage buildings, ruins,etc... That were forgotten for decades and they could collapse 'em, tell me small countries with no clear land where they illegally store garbage because coruption's lvl is too high and they won't separate, recycle, instead of burning it? There's always enough field! Its just the lack of caring! We keep downgrading for money, respect principies are left behind.
@@westerlywinds5684 the UK is a small crowded country but your buried their for eternity, this must be some tin pot shit hole of a country showing so little respect!
I don't think I'll ever meet this guy, but if I do and he offers me a banana I think I'll pass
😂😂😂
Don’t use his pocket knife to cut your sandwich
@@hdvette64 😆☠
Or Funny Bones…
😂
I have a morbid curiosity for things like this, I've always wondered how things look under ground after years of being buried. Incredibly interesting and educational. Thank you for sharing.
It's kind of beautiful. We all return to whence we came
@@victorvendetta9409 I came from my mother's vagina, pretty sure there's no space left in there for me.
I do too.
We all do, otherwise there wouldn’t be almost a million views
I have that same exact curiosity. Anatomy physiology and history. It amazes me. Are there any other videos you recommend?
I was a gravedigger at one time in my life. I'm here in the USA and I used to dig cremation burials up to my waist. They used to tell me that I didn't have to go down that far but I did it as a courtesy, it always gave people peace of mind that it was deeper when they saw it. But having to dig through clay dirt with a shovel and not a backhoe to put one of those heavy Wilbert urn vaults was a pain in the ass. I remember one incident where I had to remove a baby who lived for one day and died in Germany and was sent to Michigan in 1978. His mother wanted him cremated and sent to Washington State where she lived and there was nothing left. I would say 98% 99% of his remains were gone, I found one piece of bone that resembled a chicken bone, baby bones are soft. I remember finding his rubber duck and washing that off and getting it ready when I put it in the box to send to Washington State. I remember when I was digging the hole by hand the funeral director was standing there with a bankers box and he said that there's nothing else left. The one thing that didn't disintegrate was a satin ribbon and the string that held the coffin lid but everything else was gone even the wooden box
😢😢😢😢
Glad you were able to find something. We had to do a baby exhumation to move it and found nothing but dirt. The funeral director was there when we dug it and we just did the best we could, and put the dirt from the grave into a baby coffin for reburial. You just do the best you can. Dust to dust.
You get what you can. You do what is best to give peace of mind.
I had to dig the grave in my family's plot in Minnesota and bury my mothers ashes 12" under the dirt until the grave digger could come back from LaCrosse Wisconsin to finish the job. He dug the grave in a relatives plot. Same family different plot. We had a good laugh, because my mother would have thought it was so outrageous. Plus, i think she would have wanted me to do it.
I used to work in a busy ER and we were also responsible for the hospital morgue. Someone wasn't doing their job and we had accumulated about 20 deceased babies that no one claimed nor was there any staff follow up to get the family to make arrangements for the children. So many were just forgotten. I was assigned with another to clean out the morgue. The babies all dissolved in the plastic bags to a liquid. Most had no form at all, just liquid.
I can’t think of anything more disrespectful or sad than evicting someone from their grave.
I can think of a million things actually, especially since I respect living humans more than their dead remains.
Did you watch the whole video? They were reopening the grave to bury another family member. 🙄 He wasn’t evicted. Just buried deeper to allow a new casket.
@@selunea404 I'm not aware of this being a thing in America. There are tons of very old graves still here even when all family are gone. I have dead relatives that have been buried 20 plus years and we never have to keep paying to keep them there. I'm only aware of body removal or putting below new burials in places like the Philippines, China and other countries like that. It seems to be more of an Asian country thing from what I can tell. I don't know every country that does this.
He put them back.
How about taxing a LIVING senior citizen out of their home that's been "paid for" for thirty years??
Crazy isn't it. This guy back in the 50s and 60s was going out to the shops, watching TV, driving around possibly. And today this is how he is. It's so simple really but mind boggling at the same time.
@@heskeylator ..and before that once he was a precious tiny baby in his mother's arms!
I have relatives buried one hundred years that we still visit the graves. Stories about their lives are handed down from generation to generation.
My great great grandparents were missionaries who used to visit India. My great great grandmother died there because of an illness when she was just in her 30’s. It must have been sometime in the 1800’s, and her grave is still there.
Same, even older than 100 years ago.
My ancestors buried in the 1700's still get flowers
@@ColKorn1965 yeah, that's great. Eventually it will stop. I doubt anyone will remember us given enough time, which is infinite.
You can only guarantee that for your generation and maybe your children's. After that, my guess is as good as yours.
The weird thing is, I always wanted to exhume an old grave for interests sake but you’ve saved me from doing it which has settled my curiosity.
Man, you guys are brutal. "You don't pay, we dig you up and move you out!" Not to mention this person's been dead for 52 years. Brutal man, brutal...
Hey, The dude has had 52 years to pay.
In some countries, you rent cemetery plots for certain lengths of time to decompose and then your remains will be cremated and retuned to the family. I imagine that is what is going on here
@Xavier Sullivan Okay, that may be, but 52 years? A body decomposes long before that, and there is no mention of the body being returned to family. I just don't think this was a magnanimous act by the cemetery.
@@lorinkramer1524 maybe there was no remaining family to pay for the plot, and even then, a lot of cemeteries are running out of space.
Cemetery grounds are running out and a lot of dead people are coming in
Humidity really makes all the difference in decomp.
Many years ago I assisted with an exhumation in a dry, warm desert climate.
The remains were 80+ years old at the time, and everything was intact. Even the hair around the skull
@@sharonrigs7999 Yes.
Please tell us more!
There's no rest. Not even for the dead.
I'm a Medical Examimer, Funeral Director & Embalmer. I'm going in a 32oz bronze airtite hermetically sealed casket after being embalmed for long term preservation, then the casket is going into a concrete vauly with a 3,500lb lid that is sealed. The vault is lined with copper & & bronze. They'll pit me 12ft down so my wife can be put on top at about 9ft down in the same as I then another can go on top at 6-7ft.
We did it with my grandfather and when we moved him to a new cemetery 25 years later, I bought a new vault because we couldn't get it up. When the casket was opened he was just as he was the day I closed and sealed his casket. My grandmother had people come fir 2 days to view him one last time before reburial in the new family plot. Her parents looked just as good after 63 years.
Dr. Gennaro G. Giammarino, III
Thank you for writing. I always wonder what's the point of doing all that from a philosophical perspective. I want to be decomposed as soon as possible so I have no idea what the people on the other side of the fence are motivated by by doing all that. Shouldn't organic matter naturally return to the circle of life as mother nature intended?
Anubis: "Dude what the heck? You didn't prepare at all??" @@MartinsGraveyard
@@MartinsGraveyard Did this guy even have a casket when he was buried?
Ya can't tell me that bodies buried for that long look completely "fresh" like when buried. After decades in the ground all bodies will dehydrate and decompose.
Why though ? I could perhaps understand if you were being viewed for eternity as our mummies that are on display but otherwise why all the trouble and expense ?
Absolutely fascinating, your light hearted approach takes any morbidity out of this subject while maintaining respect for the deceased. Big like!👍🏻👍🏻
You're very kind, thank you 🙂
This just blows my mind. In the US it takes a court order to exhume a burial. In most jurisdictions it's a serious crime to disturb a grave site.
@@jimbo6693 I wouldn't go that far. Different cultures have different norms about death and burials. Renting grave sites is a centuries old practice in many parts of Europe. This isn't vandalism. He's not disrespectful. He's taking care with the remains.
I do understand how this evolved. You also have to remember in North America we have space to spare for gravesites. Europeans don't. In many places in Europe the center median on limited access highways is planted with crops because anywhere there is farmable land you have to use it. By reusing grave sites they aren't taking up more and more land needed for other uses.
@@jimbo6693 what's your problem? He's not grave robbing or anything. It's his job, mandated by the city he's working for. Totally legal and quite the norm in Europe. 20 years you're in a grave these days, that's it.
@@twinsonic What's my problem.?? Think your the one with the problem mate. And as for "your only allowed 20 yrs in a grave in Europe" that's rubbish mate. There would be uproar if people were routinely exhumed after 20 years to make way in the grave for other people. And not just that it's the act itself. Digging up someone's nearest and dearest from their final resting place like their some kind of landfill. That would never happen here in the UK or any other civilised country mate it's called "consecrated ground". Your obviously some kind of ghoul. I'd ask you what "your problem is" if he was digging your mother up you muppet.
@@jimbo6693 By the time my great grandfather had his time up, nobody was left alive who remembered him or wanted to pay rent on the plot anymore. Money is for the living. If it twists your knickers that much, please go to Denmark on my behalf & pay for my great grandfathers continued enjoyment of his pushing up daisy's. I will give you the info.
@@eileensorensen2414 No thanks I'm sure your the type of person who's enjoy digging him up yourself and maybe making a small stool or other household items out of his bones. You lot really are in need of some help.. Sad
Incredible to see how much the body has decomposed after 50+ years. Even the casket is gone! It goes to show we will all eventually return to nature. Thanks for the cool and informative video!
THE COFFIN HAD 2 B WOODEN BECAUSE METAL WOULD NOT DISSOLVE LIKE THAT ..
What did you expect after 50 years
the casket was not placed In a VAULT... as is mandatory in the USA>>> if it had been the coffin would still be there and the body intact!
Love the Klaus schwab joke. 👍👌
@@mikecockerham5285 It is not a law here in Missouri to have a vault. It is up to the family if they want one or if the graveyard requires it.
I was tasked with helping excavate an old early 20th century graveyard. Most looked like the remains in the video, and some looked well preserved, especially the ones we found in porcelain sealed coffins. I mean their skin was leathery, but they were still noticeable of the person they were when alive. Some weren't even bones yet
What is a porcelain casket/coffin, please?
Have never heard of a porcelain casket/coffin?
In the old days, some of the wealthier families used like a marble or porcelain material for the casket instead of wood. There weren't many of these caskets there as they were super expensive. They have/had porcelain characters on the marble tomb. Some had wooden caskets inside a marble looking vault with porcelain entrusted letters etc. A couple were made entirely of super thick porcelain that sustained through the years. How's it seem so far-fetched?
@@nick56677 I am going to encourage you to look up porcelain caskets which are small boxes to hold trinkets there is no way anyone would use porcelain for a body in a grave, it breaks easily. The marble caskets are also small boxes for trinkets, very very few caskets were ever made from marble even for the most famous of people and marble coffins are called sarcophagus, the reason people are not buried in marble is because gases can build up inside and explode.
This was so interesting! While watching I was thinking of my grandparents, morbid as it seems it was comforting! It's so cool that pile of bones used to have a family, friends etc. Life is such a strange thing!
They had dreams, hopes, likes, dislikes, a favorite food.
A unique experience that’s been gone for half a century.
It’s crazy
It's so strange how the clothes seemed to hold up better than most of the bones!
that's because the ghost needs to
wear clothes, as seen with ghost.
They sure don't make them like that anymore.
acidity of the soil and microbes they can eat bones because its natural the plastic that is used to make clothes isnt
Polyester and nylon was very common back then, it's not biodegradable like organic material
Thank you so much for giving me a glimpse of what's to come (I'm 73 y.o.)-I've taken so much from the earth in terms of food and enjoyment throughout my life; it will be good to give something back.
You're very welcome. I'm happy that you have a good life. When your time will come, many years from now, try to go back without plastic.
I know no plastic for me and no embalming either.
Paddle: Depending how you are buried. You are not going to give anything back to the earth if your body is encased in a cement vault, so think of going "green" or cremation and scattering.
The cemetery I worked at here in the US did not require burial vaults until after 1955. When it comes to remains that are left it's probably about the same as what you see here. They had a removal one time, the burial was in a wooden box from about 1930 and there was no bone, there was nothing left.
As "disintegrated" as the remains/bones were after only 52 years, it makes me wonder how medieval grave bones are so well preserved in archeological digs, from 500 years ago (or even much longer)!
Most corpses disappear quickly. We only see the ones that survived for whatever reason.
Depends on the soil, I would think. Sand/soil mix. Probably more factors also.
The critical factors in the decomposition of a body is the type of soil and moisture level. In environments with regular rain and snow, the process proceeds much more quickly. Drier conditions in sandy ‘soils’ significantly slow decomposition.
@@yogiperogy thanx for the info.
Chemistry and physical conditions of the soil
Body’s have a really hard time rotting in oxygen poor soil
The bone referred to as a tibia was actually the femur as evidenced by the ball that goes into the socket in the acetabulum of the pelvis.
..... College boy!!!!! Lol
The vinegar cup
You’re right. It was the femur.
Glad you said it cause I was like dang lol 😂
The acetabulum translates as 'vinegar cup'.
Seems very harsh. In Australia we pay for our plots, no ongoing fees. So much for eternal rest.😢
I find it morbid and sick that we can get evicted in life and also in death. Everything boils down to greed and money, it’s ridiculous imo
NOT true! Australians have been into grave re-use for at least 50 years!
@@honinakecheta601no it boils down to how much room there is
@@kimwood3327: That's because you and I are in first world civilized countries. This one being shown is evidently a shit-hole. Where else would they dig up graves because the deceased's families couldn't be blackmailed anymore. 😖
@@carolhutchinson7763 Is Germany, France etc. shithole country? In Germany grave is only paid for 20 years, after this family can buy another 20 years, or grave is getting new tenant . There is no place for new cemeteries.
I was born in the 1950s and lost a parent when a very young baby. I've considered being buried in the same plot but wondered what would be left of the original casket and body so this was very helpful. Thank You.
I don't think that's what being in the same plot means
In Canada every one that is buried is also put into a cement vault which may slowdown the breakdown of the bodies somewhat.
Abraham Lincoln, who died in 1865, was the victim of a plot to steal his remains in Illinois and hold them for ransom in 1876. The coffin was removed, but they did not take it away. As a result, plans were made to bury him in Washington DC at the planned Lincoln Memorial. Since he was on the surface again, they opened his coffin to honor and check on him. It was said that he looked just as he did when he was buried 11 years prior, because he had been embalmed several times after he died and made a rail tour of the cities along the route from Illinois to DC. A flag placed upon his chest had disintegrated to red, white and blue bits of cloth.
He was also in a Lead welded coffin. Airtight!
Bullshit!
He was nothing but bones with a pitchfork in his ass!!
I thought this was going to be depressing but it was very educational and had a happy vibe to it. Nice video !
Thanks!
As much as being evicted from your grave is a happy event.
Yes I to found it interesting, nothing wrong in reusing the space, done professionally by Hand..
@@stananders474 you don't know what reality is obviously, death is a normal thing and one day that's going to be me and you
@@stananders474 not really? its kinda comforting
I am stunned that the casket disintegrated completely (other than the handles) after only 50 years. Fascinating video overall.
My guess is that it was probably pine, and with no concrete sarcophagus to protect it, disintegrated quickly. Still, surprising.
My infant sister was dug up and moved to a different cemetery after about 50 years. Her metal casket was still pretty much intact.
@@kencurtis2403why did they move her body?
@@lenakosmo5217 So she could be in the same cemetery next to my mom and dad.
cheap stuff....
This seems brutal when you are someone like me who comes from a place where burial is expected to be perpetual. It doesn't make it any better when you consider this person's grave was essentially erased due to non-payment. However, having travelled a bit, I have seen that this is more common than people think. And it makes sense too. Eventually, you run out of space for the dead and room needs to be made. It's just difficult to get over the sacrilege of it all.
In a way, this adds to Hemingway's observation that you die twice; first when you're buried, and then the last time someone says your name. But now add, the day you are evicted from you plot for non payment and your headstone obliterated as you are discarded like dust under a rug.
Everyone has a job to do, I live in the U.S. and I am appalled at how some of our cemeteries are abandoned and bodies left behind such disregard and disrespect brings me to tears at the sight of it. Don’t let people get in your head just because they don’t understand the ways of your country doesn’t make it wrong. It takes a person of strength of character to do what you do.
Just curious, but why dig him up just to put him right back in the same place, just a couple inches deeper? And another question, how do you know where people are if you put someone else on top of them? Is there a way y'all know so that possible descendants can visit or know later on
Poor guy. It wasn’t his fault the family didn’t pay. RIP fella.
What family will sincerely continue paying for the dead?! Consider human nature. Forget about RIP for the fella.
Great video. When my sister was buried, the funeral home told ua they found either some remains or a urn.They ask us what we wanted to do and i told them to put it back. My sister never met a stranger so i don't think she minded. I think it was the right thing to do. Here in Texas, we have lots of burying space, so we never have to rent a space. I understand why it has to be done when space is limited.
I hope that you are paid well for your occupation. This line of work would be too emotionally draining for me. I'm still shocked as to why my youtube algorithm continues to send these types of videos to me😢.
Thanks for sharing your work either way
You can find a pair of socks after 52 years, I can't find mine after one day. Thanks for sharing very cool video. 😊🌻
I would never have guessed that clothing outlasts bones. I've always thought of cloth as biodegradable, but the sock you dug up (after 50+ years) looked almost fresh.
Lots of polyester in the 70s....
@@clarkharvell5242 Oh yes...I was forgetting about those ugly space-age fabrics.
Rayon, Polyester, lots of plastic!
It's a shame since millions of tonnes get disguarded every year
Wonder what brand name the sock was? That would be good advertisement. (Buy _____ brand socks, They last)...
Decomposition depends _a lot_ on the type of ground or soil. In some cases there may be hardly any or even no decomposition at all if it's dense clay because there is little to no oxygen. There have been cases of Victorian grave exhumations with the deceased still being totally intact in near perfect clothes.
Also in Mexico and other low humidity locations body decompose very slowly.
Very true! Frost, permafrost, different types of soil, dampness or dryness of the soil, different geographical climates, etc. As for skeletal remains, they usually start breaking down 80+ years after burial. It also depends on the type of casket, if there was a casket liner, if the casket was sealed, etc. I know a coroner who exhumed over 50 bodies from a cemetery that was being demolished. Let's just say that he told me he'd never do it again. Not all bodies are decomposed as well as the one in this video.
Peat marshes or bogs preserve bodies due to the lack of oxygen and high acid pH levels similar to vinegar, it preserves human bodies and other organic material in the same way as fruit is preserved by pickling. Tollund Man, Grauballe Man and Lindow Man date to the Iron Age. Tollund man’s features were so well preserved that the was mistaken for a recent murder victim.
That’s actually so freaking cool… I did not know that! It’s almost like mummification of it all just by the earths doing.
50 yrs still intact??
I totally appreciate your video of this re-burial. It's amazing how basically everything turns into mere dust after we die and there is little to no smell left. Thanks for sharing this awesome video.
Glad that you get the point of this video.
My socks will smell for eternity
That dude passed away in 1970, that's been awhile, I was 8 years old at the time. I can't believe you had to dig the fella up, because time ran out on his deathbed, that's some BS. Hey! nice job with that Shovel work, and digging up them bones!!
Seriously? His time ran out? OMG!!!
@@brendashaw2035
That's what the Grave Digging man said. He should know, he's the Grave Digging man. Your sky daddy has zero fucks to do with it.
Never heard of an expiration date on a grave, this isn't in the USA is it?
@@matthewblackwood4704
Poland, always read what the man has detailed at the top of the page.
@@matthewblackwood4704 here in the Philippines it has 😁 especially in the public cemetery you only have 10yrs to stay and the rent will start if you can't afford to pay they will remove the tenant inside and put it on a large cross located inside the cemetery where all bones are there 😅 creepy isn't it? but that's how it works 😁
Does the body you buried deeper still have a marker, or headstone? Or is it discarded? Also, do the family of the new corpse know there is someone else lurking beneath? I've never heard of this before. Seems a bit sad. Great video.
The tombstone or the marker for the previous body is discarded. It just stays in the books. The family of the current body knows everything. You got me chuckle with the 'lurking' thing. Thanks!
@@MartinsGraveyard thank you for replying. Very interesting. I'll look for more of your videos. Cheers.
@@mairireid554 Enjoy!
In the United States, it's called grave stacking. Different states have different laws about it, mostly having to do with the age of the grave. It's more common around large cities. The city of New Orleans has a high water table which makes burial below ground difficult. In a lot of cemeteries there, an individual is given an above ground crept for a number of years, less than ten. After that time, their bones are removed and put into a vault and a new individual is given the crept for their burial.
@@barbaratankersley7117: This is common in Europe. Read the story of John Banner's grave ( Sgt. Schultz of Hogan's Heroes.) Some countries exhume bones after a number of years to use reuse the grave. The bones are then buried in a common grave.
I don't agree with disturbing someone after they're buried but if you must I'm glad there are people like you that take there time and do it carefully and as with much respect for the remains.
CORRECTION GRAMMER that take their time an NOT THERE
@@billysmith5721 CORRECTION. SPELLING. : GRAMMAR. NOT GRAMMER
@@billysmith5721 Oops..Didn't realize grammar nerds were still trolling!
@@wojapi7538 Lol well caught sir!
This is genuinely so beautiful and comforting, to see there's barely anything left of him. Nothing gruesome or sad about it, just a guy crumbling away and turning into soil as it should be, as nature intended. I want to be put underground too when I pass, if possible even without a casket, to become food for the environment and return to the soil and to the cycle of life in that way. The thought of being put in a burial niche or in some other kind of concrete building above ground really terrifies me, it feels claustrophobic
Being buried 6 feet underground would make me claustrophobic. That's why I'm going to be cremated and strewn upon my favorite beach!
We still visit gravesites of our family from 1945. Sad that they would evict a person like this.
How was he evicted?
This was very interesting. Fascinating honestly. Dust to dust, so clearly true. What an amazing thing to witness.
Dead can we be long time, but not for eternally.
There shall come a day, when all who`s dead shall rise again, to get judged by GOD and to move to exist/live either into heaven or into hell fire.
The same with the living now.
The only difference with the living is, not all are going to rest in dust.
1 Corinthians 15:51
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Hebrews 9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
That was a fantastic video. I helped dig a grave for a child who had died in a churchyard where the stones did not match the charts, and we ended up reaching the brother of the child who had died a few years before. Fortunately the casket was in good shape and the hole was shifted to make room.
The idea of having to pay for a grave more than once is a totally foreign concept to me.
The easy going and respectful nature of this guy. You sir, can dig me up anytime.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. They say once you leave this earth you don't care about earthly things, including your old shell. Video done well and with respect, Thank you, I learned something new today.
So much for resting in peace.
Had recently visited the largest municipal cemetery in the UK- Southern Cemetery of Manchester, it's really amazing to see how these graveyards are maintained so well and how the bodies of the deceased families can be accommodated together, really commendable job Martin and many other Martins out there.
Thank you.
Fantastic video, thank you, im a Funeral Director for just over 20 years now here in England UK. my mate is the gravedigger for us on contract, ive witnessed this when visited him digging, taking him a flask of coffee. Good job done here
I love when you dig and someone brings you something to eat or drink. A small gesture but a very appreciated one.
Quite fascinating really….can’t believe a body is almost to dust after 50 yrs…. Very interesting video ..well done !
It proves that what the bible says. We are made from the ground and to the ground we will return
It also depends on if a good vault was used to put the casket in.
It doesn't appear that a coffin was used?
@@TeddyBear-ii4yc 5:36 He finds a casket handle, the coffin has just rotted away over time
Before you usually get traumatizing stuff like this but it's honestly such a beautiful process
Omg, I love you already. Second video, and I'm laughing at the end because you're finally eating your banana after playing in human bones for the day!
While in my last years of highschool, I had the opportunity to disect a cows heart! I loved it. It was as big as a pumpkin, and I greatly enjoy medical sciences. The girl I was paired with, not so much. She threw up. Lol.
Funny thing was, I had my picture taken that class, because I got my hand trapped in a ventricle and couldn't pull it back out! Chinese finger trap style! Teacher yells from the other side if the room, "Use your other hand!" I told him I couldn't, I was too busy eating a grenola bar with that one! 🤣
Cool story, thanks for sharing. I work at an anatomy departament now and dissect bodies everyday. It's absolutely fascinating.
It gives literal meaning "From dust you came, and to dust you will return. " Gen 3:19
It is very humbling to know that maybe one day someone will dig anyone of us up. It's hard to think of what will be there.
This was only in 58 years. I'm 55 now. It's mind blowing.
Respect, you did a beautiful, very professional job. I found it oddly comforting to see how little is left of a human body after just 50 years. To my mind this confirms what a pointless luxury burial is, with land at a premium. Better to be cremated - we ultimately end up as dust, anyway!
I'd much rather be a pile of sterile ashes than a moldering corpse.
Or they could put the bones in an ossuary. Cremation is inappropriate if they didn't want it or come from a time when it wasn't common.
I find your job quite interesting. I think Americans have 'problems' because most areas have plenty of room and don't need to re-use grave space, but I could be wrong. I enjoy seeing the different ways other cultures interact with their dead - some are quite fascinating. Thank you for sharing
I’m from the us and I was mind blown the entire vid but also was like ya that makes a lot of sense and Is a good idea
I salute you for being able to do such a job. Just the thought of dead bodies, especially partially decomposed ones gives me the shivers.
Grow up on a farm. No big deal.
Here in America a body maintains possession of the "final resting place" in perpetuity.
Not really, I have seen numerous videos of cemeteries pave over and made into parking lots with the bones still there, ...big money for land you see. I live in a housing subdivision situated right next to a church and the subdivision has the exact dimensions of a nice cemetery though there is no proof I have found out that it once was,...if true,...haha, who knows what is down deep in the dirt, and besides I rent.
@@westerlywinds5684 Ive seen in Mexico where bodies were evicted from graves and vaults, put in garbage bags and just piled elsewhere in the cemetery. This although odd to me seems so much more respectable. Myself, Ill be cremated.
Homer City Generating Station Unit 3 is built upon an ancient Native burial ground. I used to go there 40 years ago and that unit had problems nobody could rationally explain. Disturbing the dead is a task not to be taken lightly.
Poland is an old country , lots of people , not much room..This is a very sensible solution. If I'm as dead as that guy it won't worry me in the least if they move me. God will know where I am and that's all that matters
You might want to do some research on that. Grave stacking is legal in America. In some places, you don't even have to remove the bodies before you build on a cemetery. There's a subdivision in San Francisco that was built on 60,000 graves. San Francisco is will known for building over its cemeteries.
Fascinating! This was nicely done! Thanks for posting. I always wondered what happens to the bodies. It's good to know remains are put back and not tossed somewhere.
Yes. Appreciate Mr. Martin sharing his work like this.
I don't know where this is but I'm glad I live in New England. My husband passed 30 years ago and I bought a four plot with perpetual care. No one will take us out of there.
You did a great job. In USA people are confused and forget our bodies go back to dirt. They need to be concerned where the soul ends up, not the body.
This.
@@joeluebbers5474 💯
Another great thing about living in America, when you own your burial plot it's forever. Not 50 years and they dig you up
Not entirely true. In most states there are laws governing how long a grave can be used. If you read the fine print in most cemetery contracts, the plot is safe for up to 50-100 years. But if the cemetery is abandoned or the company goes bankrupt? Then all bets are off for what happens to the graves and the headstones. I used to make decent money as a young man relocating graves for relatives that companies could get in touch with. If the new owners couldn't get in touch with someone, the bodies were exuded and cremated. The vaults were crushed aand all the unclaimed bodies ashes would be placed in another cemetery as a common grave site or a community garden spot.
A really nice video, i love that you are showing everything like you usually do it and not making a "show for the cameras". People get offended by everything these days. "Why arent the archeologists doing this, how can you this, how can you that..."
Love the comments during the video and having fun while doing your job.
As a guy who dug up about 1700 bodies myself i felt "at home" watching the video 😁
PS
You made a small mistake - the longest bone in the body isnt the tibia; its the femur (which you showed on the video but made a wrong statement)
All the best my fellow bone digger!
That's why I'm getting cremated. I don't want some stranger dragging me out of my last resting place just to make space for some other poor soul. So undignified
"Im Bob the necromancer, and today were doing an unboxing!"
Wow - a LOT less is left than I would have expected. Seeing you do this somehow makes the prospect of digging up an old grave much less frightening.
Very interesting. I know some cultures remove the bones after the flesh has decomposed and place the bones in an ossuary. I didn't know about this method. Taking care of the dead is important work. We have lots of land here 🇨🇦, but cremation is becoming more popular. Cemeteries now have Columbarium (Columbaria?) Plazas where you purchase a niche for cremated remains. My mum's ashes are in a niche. She always said, "Don't put me in the cold dark ground where all the bugs will be crawling through me." I bought her a "top floor" niche with a view of the river.
Great job.
You've done it with respect and care.
Music background: 😌🌼🌻
Activities: 💀
Sad that even after 50 years, no one can be certain to rest undisturbed.
Yupp how you think the ancient Egyptians feel? They got turned into fckn tea n other dumb things
Digging up dead people is a huge moral crime. We’re not supposed to violate new graves, or old ones.
Why? Earth was just our temporary home. Our souls depart these dead physical parts, which mean nothing. It's the soul of every person that matters.
@@angiemanges7945 It’s a question of respect for the sanctity of the human experience. Did you notice that nowadays, dead people are chopped-up and sold for spare parts? And that frozen babies are kept for years in case they’re needed? If they’re not, they get destroyed. So why not violate graves?
These deliberate insults against man’s essential sacredness is designed to convince everyone that people aren’t sacred, and that life itself isn’t sacred.
If nothing is sacred, then we can gladly sink to the depths of human depravity. Drugs, violence, tattoos, homosexuality, and widespread mental illness. Is that part of our “visit” to Earth?
Earth is our home. It’s not temporary. And our lives can only be as good as the sense of pride and honor that we have in who we are, and what we do. So if we’re to be an honorable society, then mustn’t trample upon the memory of our forebears. Their dignity is a symbol of our heritage; and commitment to the idea of excellence as a way of life.
dead people dont have conscience or awareness as all of their nervous system has rotted away so i wouldnt really call it resting, and how do you turn relocating a mans remains into sex and drugs what is wrong with you?
I think it takes a lot of guts (no pun intended) to dig up bodies even years after they've been buried. I think I too have this morbid curiosity to wonder who even after 20 years, what a body looks like while it's been buried, even inside a casket and concrete tomb.
he has no guts....so no pun.
I found this educational and done with respect. You are a good man.
Thank you.
hes evicting a body for not paying... but yea...a good man... lol cmon
@@LostInSpace175 He’s doing his job. He’s earning a living. Someone has to do it. You will notice that the body was reburied, right?
He measured the hole with a banana . Very respectful .
zero respect.
So much for the saying " REST IN PEACE " LOL 😆
What rests in peace, the soul or the body?
I heard about this happening in other countries. In America, you would not even get close to an open grave without everything being paid for up front. Why I am contemplating cremation myself. Too many abandoned cemeteries abound. One I grew up down the block from is now a dog run and greenhouse.
In this case it’s fucking RENTAL space
Who the fuck rents graves?
@@JTScott1988 wtf is wrong with you ? And this coming from a black life's matter account ????
It's not a rental place In this case as right now you can't do that because it's a disrespect to these people and their families and to life
In most U.S states it is illegal to destroy a cemetery!
I'll never eat a banana again lol
Did you bury the remains in the same grave? I am confused.
Yes he did ...Dug a bit deeper ,put the remains in there ,covered with a little dirt and ...Pesto...the grave is ready for a new tenant.
@@meatavoreNana let's hope they aren't a rotten tenant and get on ok
Love this channel. Makes me feel better about my natural burial request. Also, that "tibia" is actually a femur my dear. Much love!!
How is that we find skeletons that are thousands of year old and they're in pristine shape, but yet this person has only been dead for half a century and there's virtually nothing left?
It's mostly about the soil.
Absolutely fascinating. I’ve always been very curious about what happens in the grave, right from a very young age and I love watching your videos. Thank you for sharing the special, unique work that you do!
You are such a freek Angela Lewis. I'll be down at the cemetery about 10 PM . Please come and join me!!!
@@mro4440😂😂😂❤
@@mro4440Did she come??
Doublespeak!!😂❤
Very educational and interesting. I did not realise it only took 50 years to almost be dust.. thought it would have been at least 100 years..
The earth takes back what the earth gives..
Thanks for the very informative video. 👍
BEARDED... decomposition depends very much on the soil type, it's acid or alkaline content and how moist, wet or dry it is.
It's always been a conundrum to me, for instance, how a highly acidic, soaking wet bog type environment can preserve corpses for thousands of years, such as in the case of Celtic 'bog bodies'.
@@cuhurun Not sure why I've only just received the notification for your response to my comment.. must of got lost in the interweb lol.
But thank you for your comment and yes I should imagine the type of soil and climate would have a lot to do with the speed that which bone is broken down.. and yes it is really surprising how bogs preserve human and animal remains.
What country is this? This is really sad! What will they do with the remains? This is just so wrong!
You didn't even watch the whole thing.
Dude is a badass. That's hard work and he made it look easy.
Badass?... Why?... Not harder than digging a hole.
@@Michael-no6jw Did you ever digged a hole like that? 🤨
Mostly sand with a few roots dude had it easy.
Very cool video, it is so humbling to see this. One thing we all have in common.
Some get boners..
This was fascinating. In my home state of Connecticut, you buy the burial plot so that it is owned in perpetuity, and most people have their caskets placed in cement vaults. This video demonstrates how land use policies shape burial customs. Where land is scarce, it is understandable why there might be a time limit on the occupancy, or why it may not be possible to own the burial plot. In Singapore, cremation is mandatory for all non-Muslims. It is possible to buy a permanent niche for cremated remains in one of the state-owned columbaria or in a Buddhist temple. Muslims have dedicated cemeteries, but there is a time limit due to land scarcity, so the corpses will be exhumed and cremated after a period of time. In the US, the highest risk is probably with privately owned cemeteries or mausoleums. If the owner ever goes bankrupt, then the burials will not be maintained, and the site could even be sold and re-purposed.
Burial in a vault is the worst thing you can do with a body either in a wood coffin or metal casket. Vaults will fill with water. Even the expensive sealed ones will eventualy.
“Should be at least 4 bananas wide and 11 bananas long”. Absolute precision measuring tools there
When I went to Germany to work, I was in the same area as my ancestors from 300 years before. I didn't know about grave recycling. I had hoped I'd be able to find a family member's grave, but they were all long gone.
The bone he referred to as the tibia is actually the femur, which is the largest bone in the body. The head/ ball on one end sits in the socket/ acetabulum of the pelvis, making up the hip joint. (The tibia, btw, is the larger of the two bones - tibia and fibula - that make up the lower leg.)
Agreed, that is definitely a femur and not tib or fib
This is interesting but the concept of ‘renting’ a grave just sounds….counter intuitive.
Świetny dźwięk, świetny montaż i komentarz. Z przyjemnością obejrzę następne materiały, zwłaszcza że tematyka dość niecodzienna, wręcz bym powiedział- ciekawa. Sub w nadziei na kolejne filmy!
Bones
Just so you know the bone you showed us was the femur bone with the femoral head (hip bone) intact.
I grew up at a funeral home in America and I've often wondered if one day the current graves would have to be emptied for new cases as there's only so much room in our fast growing world. Oh how I wish I could see into the future as my precious grandma is interred there as are a few of my relatives. I wonder how it would work in the United States. This has been a very educational video and I thank you for making it.
Hi Martin! I was just thinking about getting myself some lollies to help me quit smoking, seeing you use them is a small bit of synchronicity telling me to go for it!! Another great video which I thoroughly enjoyed - thank you. All the best from Durham, England.
It's been 3 weeks so far. I use them along with the nicotine gums which are last resort and I just chewed five of them im that period. Lollies really help a lot. You'll be catching yourself holding them like ciggies in the beginning. Thank you for your comments. I enjoy them and I am looking forward to them. I'll try to keep posting content worth commenting. Cheers.
I absolutely love this guy. He normalises the burial process, its not scary or grusome at all. Its just digging nature and reusing a grave, almost like giving graves new life through the years to come. Thank you for your videos, please keep them coming :)
Thank you, that's very kind of you 🙂
No name........some people just got weak stomachs for kind of stuff 🙄. I call them complainers or whinners........they don't appreciate nothing.
The fact that you mentioned Klaus Schwab made me smile. 😂 He is penetrating the cabinets. But very interesting video.
If it’s haunted it will get back tonight 😂😂😂..ground is sour ! 😂😂 😂
to think, that skeleton walked the earth..
your doing a job that not many will do..