Graveyard Dirt: Encountering the Collectors

Graveyard dirt is exactly what it sounds like: dirt taken from a grave, often for the purpose of serving as an ingredient in spiritual and religious rites. It’s collected for a number of reasons, some mundane, others elaborate.

Recent scholarship on the ritual use of grave dirt traces its cultural depth from modern America back through the historical African diaspora. Some communities once attributed layered spiritual meaning to grave soil; in Hoodoo, graveyard dirt was used to mask scent trails to evade slave-catchers, or was included in protective mojo bags. Today, a related blend, “goofer dust,” mixes grave soil with ash or snakeskin for, er, darker purposes. Even ancient Egyptians may have used earth from graves in necromantic rituals.

It’s not the sort of thing American death care workers are likely to encounter daily, but ceremonial celebrations and observations of death are. And in the age of technology, we’re all becoming more familiar with new cultures and traditions all the time.

Voodoo viewing?

In recent years, pagan and folk forms of spirituality have become much more visible than they were historically. This is in no small part because popular culture is far more accepting of what were once taboo traditions — witchcraft, paganism, regional folk practices such as hoodoo or voodoo. Today, the almost workaday presence of what once might have been considered the “occult” makes it increasingly likely that death care professionals may encounter once-hidden rites in the ordinary course of their duties.

The purpose behind grave dirt collection is magical. Depending on the practitioner’s intent, soil may be taken from the grave of a loved one or a stranger. They may seek dirt from the grave of a person known for courage, charm, or authority, from a soldier’s for protection or strength, or from a preacher’s for influence or persuasion. When collected from loved ones, the soil may serve intimacy or attachment rites.

Power is attributed to the dirt itself, the grave reflecting the essence of the individual buried there.

Legalities

As for legal ramifications, it’s different state by state. For the most part, dirt is collected from the surface of the grave — no digging involved. At a graveside ceremony, a request for soil might occasionally be made to professionals. If it’s the family, the law can be fuzzy. Most sources state that permission is required. But often it is gathered quietly, without notice — under cover of darkness during specific lunar phases, or on meaningful dates or holy days. Most practitioners only collect a handful or so, and do not disturb headstones or memorials. It’s not grave robbing, but it can be classified as desecration, depending on the circumstances.

So it can be legally grey territory in most states. For those not legally attached to the grave or the family, taking even a handful of dirt without permission can be considered vandalism, theft, or desecration of a grave — all offenses punishable at the very least by fines. This extends to cemetery dirt as well, where nobody is buried — it’s still private property, so permission is required.

As religions and societies have evolved, different spiritual practices have come to light. There may be other uses for grave soil about which we are unaware presently that could come out in time.

For now, this one’s still a mostly uncommon request, and where it arises for the first time, it’s the sort of thing that could raise some eyebrows. A pragmatic awareness can’t hurt… of the practice as well as of the laws in your area.

Everest’s Graveyard: Permanent or Purgatory (Part I)

It’s no mean feat to recover the fallen from Everest, Earth’s highest mountain; the climb is notoriously deadly for all kinds of reasons (hurricane-level sub-zero winds; thousand-foot fatal falls; hypoxia; altitude sickness; avalanches; crevasses; and pulmonary and/or cerebral edema among them) and claims multiple lives every year. Human remains dot the landscape, serving as markers along the route.

Every year the mountain’s permanent population grows, partly due to the rising popularity of “summit tourism” (a trend of selling guided tours to climbers of questionable ability, an attempt that regularly claims the lives of the most experienced professionals). At this date there have been about 350 deaths, with an estimated 200 bodies remaining on the slopes.

As much as for its height, Everest is known for this ghastly display of victims. Nearest the summit, many still lie where they fell: an open-air graveyard dubbed Rainbow Valley for the colorful, frozen corpses adorning the last few thousand feet of the ascent. Bright down jackets poking through the snow along the route like colorful, grisly jewels.

Attempting retrieval

Many who die on Everest are likely to stay there forever, because it’s often impossible to get them down. A frozen body can weigh 300 pounds; depending on how long it has lain there, it can take hours, even days, to free from the ice. Once removed, frozen quite solid, remains are as apt to shatter into pieces as any icicle… and must be transported down the treacherous mountain. No helicopter assistance is possible above 21,000 feet; at this altitude, they cannot fly.

The process of removal (called “repatriation”) requires the efforts of entire professional rescue crews, often Sherpas, local climbers whose lungs are adapted to the altitude and often have elite abilities. Some have lost their own lives in recovery attempts. Only highly specialized teams trained in body extraction are granted permission, and costs are prohibitive at $20,000 – $70,000 USD or more per body.

And even with such skill and experience, attempts may fail. Locating remains is not always possible, or access may change due to natural processes in the Himalayas, such as earthquakes, avalanches, and rock collapse. Bodies may now be buried under feet of snow and ice.

Even if pinpointing the location of remains is possible, there are legal hurdles to overcome before a body can be removed, because the two main routes to Everest’s summit lie in different countries – the south in Nepal, the north in China — and each imposes its own legal requirements for the repatriation of remains being taken from the mountain.

Once the appropriate permissions have been obtained and the body is successfully recovered, remains will be handed over to local authorities for their own processing, and when complete, next of kin is notified.

The process may take months; sometimes the ordeal is worthwhile for a family in mourning, who will do whatever it takes to being their beloved home. And for all the challenges associated with the task, there’s no question of their commitment to seeing it through.

Once they come home and make it to the capable hands of death care pros, any number of special considerations of processing the bodily and psychological aftermath.

Then the real work begins.

What role do funeral directors play in this involved and convoluted process? Watch this space for Part II in this series on the recovery and processing of bodies from extreme mountain environments