Vampires in real life?

Figure 1: A vampire emerges from his coffin in a scene from "Curse of the Blood Ghouls", 1962 (Hulton Archive, Getty Images). Source

     Lately I’ve been hearing people talking about “vampire graves”, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when I went into Google to finally find out for myself what exactly this term meant. The Telegraph (2013) describes a “vampire burial” in Britain dating back to 550-700AD. The individual had metal spikes through the shoulders, heart and ankles. ABC News (2012) describes two graves found in the Black Sea town in Bulgaria, where each skeleton had an iron rod pinned into the chest (Figure 2). This makes me think about what Dr. McGurie said in class about how there are instances where buried bodies are made to be trapped either with spears crisscrossing over top of them, being buried face down, or staked down. People often did this because they were afraid of the dead coming back to life and their spirit sticking around to haunt them and make bad things happen. This particular practice may have also been reserved for social outcasts or “bad men” such as criminals, traitors or disrupters of the peace.

Figure 2: In this sunday, June 3, 2012 photo showing a piece of iron next to skeleton dated back in the Middle Ages. (AP). Source

     So, why term these burials as “vampire burials”? Why not just call them “deviant burials” as that’s what they are? Is this the author’s way of grabbing peoples attention so that they the audience reads their article? Are they utilizing the popularity of vampirism in our culture today for the sake of gaining more readers? It would appear so, as stated by Dimitrov in the ABC News article, putting a stake in the chest was a common practice of the Middle Ages and he does not understand why these burials are getting so much attention. We should not be quick to apply cultural terms of today on remains of the past; it alters how we view the remains and can impose our own modern ideas onto the remains that may not be true.

Reef Burials

     A few weeks ago I read two blogs, Amy’s and Carly’s, and decided I would follow up and get more detail on the Eternal Reef burials they discuss. Eternal Reef is an organization that takes the cremated remains of a loved one and incorporates the ashes into an environmentally friendly concrete formula that is made into a coral like structure. They started out by making the structures to help develop more habitats for sea life and the creator’s father said he wanted to be included in one when he died and so the practice of this green burial was created. The structures are modeled after real coral and come in different size and can include numerous individuals. Families can chose the size and location of where the reefs are put, but only have a certain number of selections to choose from. After the casts are made, while the concrete is setting, family members can come and personalize the reef by writing or drawing in the setting concrete. Once it is set family members can also draw or write on them with chalk and take rubbings of the personalized plaque placed on the reef. Families are then taken out on a boat and have a tribute reef so they can leave flowers that are provided, and say their goodbyes. Each reef gets a dedication and their names read out as they are placed in the water. You can also buy memorabilia in the form of a certificate, a replica of the plaque, a small model of the reef or Eternal Reef merchandise.
       This form of green burial is a great way to give back to the environment and provide the marine environment with a new habitat and feel you are giving back to the earth even after death and be surrounded by life. I feel it may be harder for the families as there isn’t really a way to go and visit your loved ones unless you are able to scuba dive, as you would be able to with other kinds of burial. But they do provide other ways to keep them close with the small replica of the reef or plaque. The process after making the reef to when they place them in the ocean seems very informal to me. In the video it looks like the viewing area is a field outside the building and doesn’t seem the best place to be saying goodbye to loved ones and paying your respects. When they place the reef into the ocean you are taken out in a boat with other families and able to say your good byes and leave flowers to a tribute reef while they take you to the chosen location. Once at the location the name of the loved one and speech is given as the reefs are placed. It just doesn’t seem like a very formal, personal or private burial practice to me like the ones that we are used to seeing in western society. You are with other strangers who are also grieving and making it a group event rather than just a private family mourning. But that being said it seems a very peaceful place for the deceased to rest and “live out their death” as well as giving back to living marine populations that provide us with so much beauty.

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To get more information go here.

After doing more research on Reef Burials, I showed the information to my father. He is a geologist who specializes in carbonates, which often means he gets to go on many trips where he gets to scuba dive and take coral samples for his work. I've always known he wanted to be cremated, but never knew what he'd want after that. After showing him this type of burial he seemed very interested in wanting to be put to rest this way when the time came. He even said that he's taken so many coral samples that he needs to give something back.  Not that I want to think of my dad dying, but I feel like this would be an appropriate burial for him; but I think I would still want to keep some ashes or something of his for myself to keep him close by.

Spending time in cemeteries

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A few weeks ago my group and I went to Ross Bay Cemetery to collect data for the monument assignment we were required to do for class. I’ve never really spent much time in cemeteries as all of my family members that have passed are buried in England and I’ve never been to a funeral. But as my group and I were walking through Ross Bay reading the monuments and looking at the different styles and locations I couldn’t help but wonder, what was the proper etiquette for cemeteries? Were we allowed to be standing on top of the burial sites so that we could read the headstones? I tried to walk around plots as much as possible but sometimes we had to stand on top to be able to read the monument  to record the information on it, but tried to kept it to a minimum even though it felt wrong. You feel bad standing on the plots that are marked off and yet forget you’re standing on top of a burial with those plots that are unmarked and it's so hard to know exactly where the grave actually is. Walking across Potter’s Field where there are many unmarked graves I began to wonder who I was walking across and silently apologizing to them in my head. We saw many people walking through the cemetery, some walking their dogs, others taking a stroll in the sunlight and younger kids taking the shortcut through the cemetery. We got some odd looks as the three of us were bent down in front of the monuments franticly writing as it was so cold and taking quick breaks by standing in the sun (when it decided to come out). But is it so wrong that we want to record these monuments that are slowly disintegrating and will soon be lost over time without restoration. Recording them allows them to last longer, so it felt good to be doing this assignment despite feeling awkward when people were staring as they walked by. I found looking at the different monuments used and what was written on them very fascinating, especially if they provided information about why the monument was raised or how the person died. However the information provided on gravestones could be frustrating as they are all so diverse and personalized, as it should be, but made it harder for us to record. Ross Bay is a beautiful place to be when the sun comes out and I can see why it is used for a walking park; it is full of trees, next to the coast and when the sun sparkles on the water it becomes a very pleasant and peaceful place to be. Overall I found this to be a very rewarding and fascinating learning experience and feel that we should all take a stroll through a cemetery every once in a while and pay attention to those who are buried there.

Testing my map

Happy reading break to all! Just a quick post before I hope on the plane home. Here is our map of Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, B.C. with the marked graves that myself, Angela and Raychel choose to focus on for our monument analysis project. Enjoy!
View Ross Bay Database Map in a larger map

Leaving behind a tree instead of a tombstone

After talking about many different ways of disposing of the dead the last few weeks in class, I’ve heard many people say they love the idea of planting a tree over their remains or giving themselves back to the earth. But what about having your remains become a part of a tree?

This company in Spain has created a biodegradable urn called “Bios Urn” and it is a green alternative to dispose of your body. The urn has a seed of any tree of your choosing inside of it, the cremated ashes are placed inside and the urn is buried in a location of your choice. The ashes help fertilize the seed and aid it in growing into a full size tree, enabling you to help the environment even after death and to give back to the earth. However, this green burial does not help solve the problem of pollution that cremations create, but it does allow one to have themselves return to the earth and help repopulate your favorite tree and remain in your favorite location after death. This is definitely a neat way to use your remains in a meaningful way, and something I would consider for myself.

Source for above images.

You can watch a video about it here.

Links: one and two.

After some thought I began to wonder what happens if the seed doesn't take? Or what if the tree becomes diseased and needs to be severely cut back or cut down? How would they handle that? Would they treat it as a normal tree and do what needed to be done to keep it and the surrounding ones healthy? Or would the family have to give permission before anything was done? Also, what happens in a few hundred years once the tree dies or anyone who knew about the tree is gone. Because you can't use a marker of any kind, that defeats its purpose, yes there is an online database and place for them to be recognized, but you never know what will be around or recognized as official documentation in the future. And what kind of rights does the tree have as a burial, if you plant it in your favorite place and in 100 years or so they want to clear it for housing or something like that, what happens then? 

Fleshy bodies? No thanks!

After talking about many different ways of preservation in class this week and seeing many of the pictures I oddly feel much more comfortable handing the bones of the dead now than I ever was before. Seeing fleshy remains just plain freaks me out!  However, the ones that are well preserved and just look like they’re sleeping don’t for some reason, like the little girl we saw in class, Rosalia Lombardo.  

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And Body Worlds that I saw in Calgary; I was fascinated to learn about our body under the skin and to get to see it in real life rather than through pictures or video was a real treat and an experience I'll never forget. I also got to hold a real brain in my hands! And yet I say I can’t handle a little bit of fleshiness? Go figure.

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I guess that goes to show how comfortable I am with the different stages of death and can show how removed one can make themself from the remains. It seems I am at the two ends of the spectrum and am only comfortable with the newly dead or the very dead, dead where everything fleshy is long gone. Whereas the middle stage of decomposition is just too squishy for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love learning about them but only from afar. But that makes me wonder what happens if your excavating somewhere bodies aren’t suppose to be or all of them are just bone remains, then you stumble across one that’s half decomposed or preserved? What do you do? Bite the bullet and do it anyways for the name of science? Or do you call in a specialist to do it for you? And what does that say about you as a scientist?  Even though I can’t deal with it I know how important these remains are to us and how glad I am for anthropologist to have access to preserved bodies since they can tell us so much about ancient life and the person who's remains they are. Like when they found Otzi, frozen in the Otztal Alps, scientists were able to determine his last meal and tried to determine what his life was like when he was alive and the remains tell us more about what kinds of things the people of this time were eating and have solid evidence for their conclusions.

“Otzi on ice” Source

Preservation and mummification can really help scientists learn about ancient life and can also be a useful way of teaching modern society about the human body. I just know that I will be keeping my hands clean (pun intended) by sticking to de-fleshed bones and learning about preserved bodies in a hands-off setting.