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Why do people steal grave stones in a rural area?

My family found an old family cemetery in a rural part of NC with a fence still around it, but many of the known stones had mysteriously disappeared. We do not know what they would have been used for or how to gently ask in the local paper or online for return, no questions asked.

Can anyone suggest used for the stones dating back to 1700s & only missing on last 20-50 years? And can you suggest any way to get any to return?

Update:

We have been told, since many people in the area live in trailers the stones may have been removed and used to help hold them "up" instead of bricks. However, most trailers have metal "skirts". I have also been told that when people need to make cement they may take gravestones & pulverize them up or use them in walls. This is a flat farming area near the coast. In that the stones were INSIDE a FENCED cemetery there was no safety issue. Some were found flat or broken & partially buried.

9 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    2 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    That sort of thing has happened out here in Calif too. Gold rush era cemeteries have been robbed and vandalized because some fool thought somebody else's grandparents tombstone would look nice in their garden.

  • Anonymous
    2 years ago

    Hope someone steals from your grave

  • Anonymous
    2 years ago

    Your family all disowned you before they died lol

  • 2 years ago

    No idea, but If members of my family ever learn who stole some from our private family Grave Yard, heaven help them.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    This is the "bible belt". Their lives center around their church. Many of them will never venture more than 50 miles in any direction from their homes. Any one NOT in their congregation is suspect. You are evil. You, are a "non believer" and probably are not deserving of life. Conventional respect for other's property ends beyond their own family's and friends boundaries. Respect for civil law is missing. These people, living less than an hour from population centers, are in reality, lawless, uncivilized, tribe dwellers. Destruction of other's property is recreation, and often revenge for forgotten wrongs. Welcome to the "bible belt".

    Source(s): Survived 7 years in Ft. Mill SC
  • Anonymous
    2 years ago

    WE HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING...

  • Tavy
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    They could have been moved for safety reasons if they were very old. This has happened in the U.K. some fell over and injured people.

  • Anonymous
    2 years ago

    they sell them for antiques

  • ?
    Lv 4
    2 years ago

    Use your third eye. The eye sees all.

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