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wdlove

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 20, 2002
16,568
0
A teenager accused of violating a tomb in an Edinburgh graveyard cut the head from a corpse, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

A 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Sonny Devlin "was running aboot going mental with it."

Mr Devlin, 17, and the youth deny taking the remains of a body from its coffin, cutting off its head, playing with it and simulating a sex act.

They are also accused of breaking into the Mackenzie Mausoleum in Greyfriars Churchyard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3568075.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3564627.stm
 

Awimoway

macrumors 68000
Sep 13, 2002
1,510
25
California
I remember, as a kid, playing around old English churchyard cemeteries. They were spooky, interesting places. They appealed to a child's sense of romance about ghosts and all things creepy. Some of the graves were stone vaults resting above ground and the lids sometimes seemed a little askew. It wouldn't have taken much to prize them open. I can imagine that a couple of mental patients like these kids could pull some serious **** in a graveyard like that.

It raises the question… do you care what happens to your body after you die? Does it mean anything at all to you? I'm not sure I care. Seems like it would just be a meaningless husk after death.
 

wdlove

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 20, 2002
16,568
0
I think of it as being very sad. It just represents the disregard for another human being. The body after death may be of no value, but still should receive some dignity. We are but dust and shall return to dust.

Just visiting a cemetery as a teenager as a harmless prank would be OK. There should still be regard for the sanctity of that cemetery.

I personally was only at a cemetery for a funeral and Memorial Day to lay flowers to honor a dead relative. When I was growing up there would be severe consequences for any desecration of a cemetery. The friends that I knew like to have fun, but still had values and honor.
 

IndyGopher

macrumors 6502a
Nov 3, 2001
782
1
Indianapolis, IN
While I agree that it is disrespectful to desecrate a corpse or grave, it is absolutely not about respect for the dead person, it is about respect for the living relatives that will have to deal with it.

As for my own putrifying remains, I couldn't care less what is done with them. I have told my wife that I would prefer to be cremated since the expense is so much less.. (and spending money on a dead person is just ridiculous to me) but I suspect she will have me interred as her Catholic upbringing makes her bristle a bit at the idea of cremation. Were it not for her and my son, I wouldn't care if my corpse were used for a hand puppet.
 

JesseJames

macrumors 6502a
I've heard of a company that takes your cremated remains and turns them into an industrial grade diamond.
It's the same process of making industrial grade diamonds; just using the carbon that's left over from the cremation.
Pretty cool.
I think that would be pretty neat rather than rotting in the ground.
 

MongoTheGeek

macrumors 68040
JesseJames said:
I've heard of a company that takes your cremated remains and turns them into an industrial grade diamond.
It's the same process of making industrial grade diamonds; just using the carbon that's left over from the cremation.
Pretty cool.
I think that would be pretty neat rather than rotting in the ground.

I thought they were of better quality than that. Imagine some of the macabre possibilities. Giving your girlfriend an engagement ring made from your late wife's ashes.

I liked the idea though of a family tree of sorts with gems from everybody in the family. Then again such an heirloom would beg desecration like this.
 

dobbin

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2002
587
5
England
Awimoway said:
Some of the graves were stone vaults resting above ground and the lids sometimes seemed a little askew. It wouldn't have taken much to prize them open.

I don't think the bodies are in those vaults - they're just there to look grand. I think the bodies are still buried '6 feet under' the ground.
 

Blue Moon

macrumors regular
Apr 25, 2004
134
0
Los Angeles
dobbin said:
I don't think the bodies are in those vaults - they're just there to look grand. I think the bodies are still buried '6 feet under' the ground.

Indeed, you'd have quite a mess during a flood if not, no?
 

Apple //e

macrumors 6502
Jun 21, 2003
273
0
wdlove said:
Mr Devlin, 17, and the youth deny taking the remains of a body from its coffin

i think theyre being framed

i thought oj was guilty, but boy was i wrong......
 
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