My first thought when I saw the above sign at a county church cemetery in Oconee County, S.C., was that this couldn’t be a real issue.
But then I came across a similar sign at a larger church in the same area, and given the fact that it’s printed and of reasonably high quality, I have to suspect there are others out there, as well.
Normally, unless one lives in an area where the mob is particularly prevalent, one wouldn’t think ad hoc burials would be a problem. This, at least to the best of my knowledge, is typically the sort of thing most folks like to nail down before they shuffle off this mortal coil.
Some questions that come to mind:
- Do survivors cart around the deceased until they find a graveyard they like, than start digging?
- Don’t most churches have folks who keep an eye on things, just to keep odd occurrences like, oh, say, random burials, or maybe grave-robbing, from happening?
- Digging a grave, at least from what I can discern, is difficult work unless one has some heavy machinery on hand. Even two men digging a 3-foot by 8-foot hole four to six feet deep is going to take some time, especially if the ground has clay or a good bit of rock.
Clearly, I was missing some clue or clues to solving this puzzle.
Map showing Oconee County, S.C., in red.
Part of me wanted to call the numbers listed, just to ask what they heck was going on.
But I decided no, I’d rather harbor notions that there’d been a rash of indiscriminate interments and that folks just buried loved ones wherever was convenient in this neck of the woods.
It made for a much better story.
(Top: Sign seen at Damascus Baptist Church, Long Creek, Oconee County, S.C.)
The Cotton Boll Conspiracy 