The revived dead, bloodthirsty mummies and witches flying in coffins are shots from horror films and science fiction books. In life, everything is more modest, but from this no less creepy and mysterious. However, the human mind, being held captive by the ordinary, is protected from collisions with an incredible search for logical explanations for what cannot be explained
What a stupid joke?
More recently, in late 1989, an incident in Western Kansas shocked sensational Americans. The owner of one of the farms in Foley Creek, 60-year-old Joe Verney, felt like a hero of a horror movie or a participant in some silly reality show. The day at the farm begins early, and in the predawn twilight Joe left the house and came across a grave mound with a lopsided stone tombstone, not just anywhere, but right in his yard. Out of harm's way, the farmer returned to the house and called the police. The law enforcement officers who arrived at the scene stated the presence of a tombstone from an unknown source. The stone was so old that it was impossible to read the inscription on it, so it was impossible to determine where the unknown "jokers" had brought it from. That this was a joke, although stupid and difficult to carry out, was not doubted until then,until they began to tear down the grave mound. A decayed coffin with human remains was found under a half-meter layer of earth. It took an excavator to remove the coffin. Following the exhumation, the unidentified remains were transported off the farm and buried in a deep pit.
During the investigation, the idea of a joke had to be discarded: to move the tombstone, at least a hundred kilometers, and quietly install it in a new place - this is a difficult task, but doable. But getting into the fenced area on an excavator or other equipment capable of moving a whole layer of soil along with bones is an out of the ordinary task. To do all this silently and without leaving any traces is hardly within the power of even David Copperfield. And who and why needed to do this? There are far more questions in this story than answers.
Austrian sorcerer
However, this is far from the first such case. The graves, along with their "residents", moved before, but then the explanation was simple and unambiguous - this is witchcraft. The remains were burned in such cases.
In the 16th century in the Austrian city of Linz, the grave of the burgher Stetenberg disappeared from its usual place and was found in a completely different place, about which a corresponding entry was made in the archives of the local church of St. Thomas. The incident caused a violent reaction among the population. With a large crowd of people, the body of the "sorcerer" was removed from the "new" grave and immediately burned. The pit left from the burial was thrown with stones, and an aspen cross was erected on top. Since then, the "sorcerer" Stetenberg did not frighten the local residents with his "relocations".
In Spain, the Holy Inquisition dealt with similar cases. In 1627, an investigation was carried out into the secret relocation of Pedro Asuntos's grave. As in other cases, the gravestone moved with the remains and a large layer of soil.
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All the will of God
Similar incidents happened with very honorable citizens, whom it was simply unthinkable to suspect of witchcraft. In 1740, in Germany, in the vicinity of Ravensburg, shepherds noticed a grave with a tombstone on the banks of the river, which had not been there before. Thanks to the well-preserved inscription "Christina Bauer, a parishioner of the Church of Ravensburg" rests here, it was easy to establish where this vagrant grave came from. The shepherds immediately notified the priest, whose surprise knew no bounds: the grave of Christina Bauer was in a prominent place in the church cemetery. During her lifetime, this parishioner made very generous donations and thus secured posthumous honor for herself. Meanwhile, neither stone nor burial mound was found in the proper place. With numerous witnesses, excavations were carried out at the cemetery,but no remains were found at the burial site. Then they carried out excavations on the banks of the river and, to the amazement of the audience, dug up a coffin with human bones, which had obviously been in the ground all this time. The priest did not fight the witches, but reasoned that if the highest
Sometimes the soul of the deceased wants to change the environment … (art. Anthony Wirtz 1854)
the force was pleased to move the bones of Christina Bauer to another place, then so be it. The decayed coffin and remains were sprinkled with holy water and left under a stone on the river bank. Local residents bypassed this place for a long time, until during the First World War the ill-fated grave was destroyed.
Miracles at Glanceville Cemetery
But the most well-publicized case of the mysterious relocation of the grave was in Scotland. Sir Arthur Hazelm in the fall of 1928 found himself passing through the town of Glanceville, where his relative Roger Hazelm was buried more than 60 years ago. Sir Arthur intended to pay his respects and visit the grave of the deceased, but it turned out to be not so easy. He remembered the location of the grave very well, although the last time he was here 15 years ago. On that day, Sir Arthur had to doubt his memory - on the site of Roger's grave there was a flat, overgrown with grass.
The cemetery caretaker was unable to clarify the situation, and Hazlem contacted the city council, where an old scheme of the cemetery was kept, confirming that the grave should be located exactly where Sir Arthur was looking for it.
Meanwhile, the watchman discovered Roger Hazelm's tombstone six hundred feet from the burial site. To understand this story, Sir Arthur hired excavators, and in the old burial place they dug a deep enough hole … There was no coffin! The conclusion was that Roger Hazlem had never been buried here at all, and the stone was moved for some incomprehensible reason to the other end of the cemetery.
A relative of Sir Arthur, Lady Beryl, who specially came from London at the request of her nephew, joined the investigation of this mysterious story. Deciding to go to the end, Sir Arthur ordered to excavate a place under the tombstone. At a depth of one and a half meters, the excavators stumbled upon a coffin, which was immediately opened. Sir Arthur was sure that these remains had nothing to do with his relative, but Lady Beryl insisted on an examination. According to legend, the late Roger wore a ring with the monograms "R" and "H". Sir Arthur personally went down to the grave and found on the ring finger of the skeleton just such a ring, thus confirming that in front of them was the remains of Roger Hazelm, which in an incomprehensible way moved along with the earth and the tombstone to a new place.
In the order of things
All these mysterious stories are inexplicable only for civilized Europeans. Some African tribes and indigenous people of Polynesia take such phenomena for granted and have even learned how to take measures to prevent them. Priests in the Pacific Islands immediately after the funeral pour over a fresh grave with tree sap or cover it with shells, just so that the grave does not "go away." The priests of the voodoo cult in Haiti do much the same.
The movements of the graves are explained by the desire of the soul of the deceased to change the place. To prevent this, two people are necessarily buried in one grave on the Tong Guo islands. Local residents believe that even if the soul of one person wants to change the situation, the soul of another will certainly interfere, and then the grave will remain in place. It remains unclear why the natives believe that the souls will not be able to come to an agreement and leave together, but they probably know better - on the Tongo Islands they do not experience the shock of the disappearance of graves.