I copied this from Va roots....All about finding unmarked graves. I don't know what you are supposed to do once you find them!!! < I might also add (from experience) that many, many people were buried and the grave was marked with a simple fieldstone that is now long gone and may or may not have had the person's name inscribed. Also, many graves located on farms have simply been 'plowed under' either out of ignorance or apathy. Very sad. >> Good point - I should have mentioned the field stones. Some of the family cemeteries have/had a fence or line of bushes around them so they are easier to find. Look near hilltops, under large trees, or near rivers or creeks - they seem to have been popular areas. Don't forget to 'fish' around in the grass too - there may be a stone that's fallen over and grass or weeds has covered it up. It may even be a couple of inches under dirt - so poke around a bit. A long piece of wire is good for this - something sturdy that doesn't bend easily but thin enough to go through the ground easily. And long enough to save your back. Think of those long poles they use to find people who were swallowed by avalanches - same thing! Also, if you believe you have found a cemetery, try 'dowsing' for the graves. Now, don't turn your nose up - it really does work. I know I know - I didn't believe it either till I was shown how to do it and it worked for me. OK, keep laughing about the crazy lady - but read on anyway! In the old days, folks would hire dowsers to find sites to drill wells, but it will work for gravesites too. All you need is 2 wire coathangers and 2 old click ballpoint pens - the kind you can unscrew and take the 'innards' out of. Clip the twisted part off the hangers and straighten them out. Bend about 2-3 inches down on one end at a 90 degree angle. Take the pen apart and keep the end that had the point sticking out. To use it - Drop the bent end of the hanger into the pen case. Don't try to glue it or otherwise attach the wire to the case - it must float freely in there. Hold one case in each hand with the wires sticking straight out in front of you. As you walk towards a grave and the wires are at the edge of a grave, the wires will move toward each other until they cross when the end of the wires are directly over the grave. When you walk away, they will uncross when they leave the edge of the grave. I'm not kidding - give this a try over graves that you know about. Then try it over open areas between graves - I'll bet you find unmarked graves! You can also find underground wires and pipes with this gadget, so don't think every underground line in your yard is a grave! Then someone else replied: > Yes it does work. That's what some funeral homes use for locating graves in > older cemeteries. It's because the ground has been changed. It was never wise > to distrub one's last resting place. Individual's believed evil would befall on > them. The truth is various disease are contained underground with the infected > individual and became active again when exposed to fresh air. Embalming was not > done in early times or is done in the Jewish religion. When cemeteries are > moved, great care is taken to remove every piece orginial material. A stray > animal or bird may happen to move it to another location and the effects can be > horrific. Some states require special clothing be worn by workmen for their > safety. But I don't think it's called dowsing. Someone should ask Thomas Yelverton Funeral Home if they do this .....or here in Greenville, Wilkerson's Funeral Home. .. Carol P. Martoccia .. 903 East Fifth Street .. Greenville, NC 27858 .. Pridgen Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/6297 Rootsweb Archives: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl LISTMANAGER FOR PRIDGEN ROOTSWEB LIST AND FOR NCWILSON ROOTSWEB LIST