----- Original Message ----- From: "Betty A. Pace" <bapace2@juno.com> To: <NCROWAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 5:46 AM Subject: [NCRowan] Fw: Bells in Graveyards The History Channel several years ago had a series on burial rites and rituals and the "bells" were discussed and several shown in old England graveyards. Very Interesting Jan > > > The Victorians had a fear of being buried alive because death was not > always easy to determine. Thus the Victorians often had graves equipped > with a bell above ground, the clapper attached to a string or wire that > went into the casket below ground and attached to a finger of the > deceased. The idea was that if the deceased happened to awake, he could > pull the wire and ring the bell. I think I read that for about a week > after burial, someone was stationed at the grave to listen for the bell. > > Has anyone actually seen one of these bells above ground in an old > cementery? > > Betty Pace > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >