Metal Detecting a Graveyard?

Personally, I wouldn't see a problem with searching the "common areas" of any place, just not the graveyard proper. We have a ton of old abandoned NYA / WPA built Depression era school buildings and homeplaces in my area. I have always wanted to get a good metal detector and do a little poking around.

 

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If I interpreted this correctly you're walking around a burial site with a metal detector. You're not exactly "targeting" the bodies, just prospecting the periphery. I'd say you're troubled at the very least.

 

And for the record, I don't think any dead should be messed with. I don't care how long they've been in the ground for or if it's for supposed archaelogical purposes....Its just not right.

 

Try to find a old map that shows drover/stage routes around your area then look for river crossings and cross roads allways good places to make finds as they were natural stopping and meeting points If you are detecting on someoneelses land ask for permission 1st and come to a agreement on any finds at the same time

 

By now 18th and 19th century coins would'nt just be laying on top of the ground,you'd have to dig or probe for them. If I caught someone doing this on my dads grave I really don't know what I'd do..........but I know I would not want to shake your hand and start chit-chatting!

 

A big no-no! There are a lot of towns and cities banning or requiring a permint for metal detecting in all public places because they consider it an annoyance and destruction of property. Cemeterys should be left alone out of respect. There are a lot of other places to detect

 

I too believe that you should not detect in the graveyard, now for the common area or parking lot outside that is still a grey area but still should be done with respect. What would you think if you were at a funeral and someone walks by with a metal detector? There was a tradition when people would go to the graveyard and have picnics, but people also used to have picnics during the Revolutionary and Civil War during the battles.

 

I didn't read it, I have observed it on several occasions and have asked the people involved what they were doing. In the case of the scout master, he was my scoutmaster, and asked several people why it looked like the ground about him had been disturbed in several places.

In the case of my friend's daughter's grave they used to leave things at the base of the headstone but they would dissapear so they have been burying items for several years each time they go there.

 

A bunch of us detected a guys wedding band in a church grave yard, he was a pall bearer at a funeral and lost his ring. He hoped it did not fall into the big hole or get rolled up into the fake grass. We got permission from the church, but had specific instructions not to dig, only to surface scan.

One of the guys found his ring in about 15 minutes, 20' off the service road, heading to the grave site. The dirt was still fresh at the grave site, the ring was in about 2" of grass.

I was actually kinda glad to get out of there, we were really quite and respectful. Oh yeah, just before finding the ring, a signal lit up a 30.06 spent cartridge. We all wondered how that got there...you never know what your going to come up with detecting.

 

Don't dig too deep! Be sure to ask permission of the caretaker first. I would be very unhappy if I went to a family/friend gravesite and found someone metal detecting/digging. TC

 

I think it's pretty damn ****Ed up for even trying.
Peoples loved ones are buried there and it's a very sad moment for them. In all honesty you can't go lower than that. Stealing from the dead. Be Ashamed

 

Honor guard salute?

 

As an avid Detectorist, i feel i should warn you that it is very poor etiquette to do any treasure hunting in a grave yard. I have been digging for a long time, and never once have i been in a grave yard. You are sure to get some hard looks from folks, and it may even be illegal. Be sure to have permission when detecting, and always leave the site as you found it. Also any cans or other junk that you dig should be removed from the site by you. A little common sense goes a long way, and keeps the hobby respectable.

 

Its ok to walk the roads in and around a graveyard digging a few inches with a hand tool when it beeps and pick up trash as you go.
Its not ok to dig anywhere near graves and even then not more then a few inches and do NOT bring a full size shovel since you
could get arrested.

 

It might be somethine like this?
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video...=Night+of+the+Living+Dead+[1990+Remake]+Part2

 

Are y'all no reading the posts or what? He wasn't detecting "graves" or even the "graveyard". Slow down on judgement.

 

Interesting topic.

I wouldn't metal detect in a grave yard. Too creepy and lack of respect for the deceased.

On my dad's side of the family's farm (dad died in 2006, so my mom owns the land now) there is a small cemetery up on the hill behind my half brothers house. My great great great grandparents and some of their relatives are buried there. I used to help my dad mow up there and since I moved away 13 years ago, dad has died since then and my brother won't do it its probably a mess.

I have a detector and always wanted to detect where my grandparents had their home before they tore it down. The foundation is still there. Also I would like to detect where my great grandparents house was. Problem is I don't get home very often and when I do I am too busy. Plus not much mowing is done where the houses are at. Afraid of running into snakes.

 

So you are walking along a road in a graveyard, you see something shine in the sun light and its a silver coin, would that be "Stealing from the dead" if you kept?

 

Is detecting any more disrespectful then people riding there bikes and walking there dogs like the graveyard is some kind of park?

 

No because it was on the road. Who in their right mind would put something on the road in plain sight for their loved one?

Once again, I would never detect in a graveyard at all!