Famous celebrity graves Perhaps the most-visited is the burial site of Elvis Presley at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. More than 600,000 people annually visit Graceland and Elvis' burial site. Initially, Elvis was buried in a mausoleum in Forest Hills Cemetery in Memphis, but his body was moved after a theft attempt.
At Qafzeh, Israel, the remains of as many as 15 individuals of modern humans (Homo sapiens) were found in a cave, along with 71 pieces of red ocher and ocher-stained stone tools. The ocher was found near the bones, suggesting it was used in a ritual.
The most-visited cemetery in the world - the one that draws the most international tourism - is in Paris, France. It is called Père-Lachaise.
Founded in 1899, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the final resting place to more of Hollywood's founders and stars than anywhere else in the world.
Cenotaph - a grave where the body is not present; a memorial erected as over a grave, but at a place where the body has not been interred. A cenotaph may look exactly like any other grave in terms of marker and inscription.
Even pointing at a grave could bring bad luck. Given the proliferation of photos of graveyards, that means a lot of people have been willingly courting bad luck! According to one website, collecting epitaphs means the collector will lose their memory.
Six feet also helped keep bodies out of the hands of body snatchers. Medical schools in the early 1800s bought cadavers for anatomical study and dissection, and some people supplied the demand by digging up fresh corpses. Gravesites reaching six feet helped prevent farmers from accidentally plowing up bodies.
There is no nationwide rule that says graves must be 6 feet deep. Rules vary from state to state and city to city.
Sandra Ilene West, a flamboyant Beverly Hills oil heiress, was reportedly buried with her baby-blue 1964 Ferrari, California license RBM 362, in 1977. Her grave is next to her husband's at Alamo Masonic Cemetery in San Antonio, and it has become a tourist attraction.
One theory is that long ago husbands decided their wives belonged on their left side, the side closest to their heart. Other theories hold this placement is a reflection of a couple's wedding day. When walking down the aisle, the man is traditionally standing to the right of his bride.
Cemetery relocations are not at all uncommon, since developers often need to clear out graveyards from valuable tracts of land. Procedures for doing so vary from state to state, but most places require some careful planning and historical study.
Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Maspeth and Woodside, Queens, in New York City, New York, United States. With about three million burials, it has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States.
The oldest marked grave in Australia, of Henry Dodd, is at the Parramatta cemetery. Reverend Samuel Marsden (1764-1838) is among prominent historical figures buried at St John's.
A century in, the last of your bones will have collapsed into dust. And only the most durable part of your body, your teeth, will remain. Teeth, grave wax, and some nylon threads.
The exclusive right of burial (or grave deed) is sold for 75 or 99 years. For a cremated remains plot, the exclusive right of burial is sold for 75 or 99 years. These are known as 'purchased graves' and although you never actually own the ground you do own the exclusive rights to bury in your purchased plot.
Ben Jonson was buried in an upright position after he pleaded for 18 inches of burial space in Westminster Abbey. He requested an upright grave so that he would fit in the requested space, which was in the north aisle of the Nave of Westminster in London, England.
In 1946, Robert Earl Hughes was the world's fattest man. Even to this day, he still holds the Guinness World Record for the largest chest measurements ever recorded (an astonishing 10 feet and 4 inches). When he died in 1958, he weighed 1,069lbs and was buried in a coffin the size of a piano case.
Billy Standley's body was prepped by five embalmers with a metal back brace and straps, The Dayton Daily News reported. He was affixed on top of his bike – a 1967 Electra Glide cruiser-- which was then placed inside a Plexiglas casket.
A grave for a single burial is a minimum of 1.5 metres deep, a double grave is two metres deep and a grave for three burials goes down 2.5 metres. Legislation requires a minimum of one metre of soil above the last internment. Most graves are 6'9" (206cm) long and 24" (61cm) wide.
If you are looking at a long-lasting ground casket, pick a steel or metal casket. If the grave site is low on water content or moisture, metal caskets are known to last even longer, over five decades. Under favorable weather conditions, experts say that metal caskets may even last more than that – up to 80 years.
It seems that in Christianity, the star comes from the east. Some of the ancient religions (based on the sun) would bury the dead facing east so that they could face the "new day" and the "rising sun." Once again, Christ is considered to be the "Light of the World," which explains the eastward facing burials.
First, inner doors of crypts are permanently sealed with glue or caulk and do not allow any odor to escape the crypt. Secondly, caskets are often placed into liners or bags that absorb or collect any decay that might smell.
For the most part, however, if a non-embalmed body was viewed one year after burial, it would already be significantly decomposed, the soft tissues gone, and only the bones and some other body parts remaining.
Once buried, most caskets cannot keep bugs out indefinitely due to the natural decomposition process. However, some measures – such as the use of burial vaults and airtight seals – can keep bugs out for hundreds or even thousands of years.