Last weekend, a longtime friend from Kingston called me. Among other news he gave me the lowdown on the cemetery vandalism in Eastern Ontario. Apparently his father’s headstone was damaged.
Leonard said, “There’s only two times I’ve ever been scared to come here. The day we put him six feet under, and then to see the damage to his grave.” He continued, “It’s so appalling what people have done not only to this cemetery but all the cemeteries. It’s just so disrespectful.”
Headstone vandalism is growing at eastern Ontario cemeteries recently. Clean-up is underway in Belleville after another act of vandalism to more than 300 gravesites. A spree of recent vandalism incidents at cemeteries in eastern Ontario in the last month, with 900 headstones estimated to have been damaged. Vandalism has been reported at eight different cemeteries in the areas of Trenton, Kingston and Belleville. One cemetery was targeted twice in just a few days. Police have not made any arrests or confirmed whether any of these cases are connected.
Staff at an Iowa State cemetery met an unimaginable scene as they arrived to work one morning. The usually serene grounds of the historic Elmwood Cemetery were now a crime scene after dozens of headstones were found toppled over, and some destroyed.
“I was just sick to my stomach,” Mike Walden, president of the Elmwood Cemetery board told to the press. “It just makes your heart hurt.” The cemetery is home to graves dating back to the 1800s. It is even the memorial site for the first settlers that arrived – the Hanna family.
The Hanna memorial that was toppled over was more than 6-feet tall, Walden says. The family’s two-month-old baby boy’s headstone dating back to the 1800s was yanked out of the ground and tossed nearby. Some of the headstones would have taken four or five people to knock over. About 50 gravestones were knocked over during a night with most damage done to the historic section of the cemetery.
Mount Pleasant in Toronto is more regarded as a public park than a cemetery filled with baby strollers and joggers that just happens to have a lot of permanent residents. At its opening in 1876, family picnics at gravesites were the norm. I was at a picnic too – so cool.
But it’s also true that when you see Mount Pleasant’s rolling green hills, botanical gardens, leafy trees, and elegant fountains, you know that it’s the cemetery’s incredible beauty that draws people in. Some grand mausoleums belonging to families like the Eatons’ and the Masseys, and a famous grave for pianist Glenn Gould’s resting place.
Why do people vandalize cemeteries in the first place? The answers are probably as varied as the perpetrators’ life stories, but from what I can surmise there are three different types of cemetery vandals: common vandals who don’t discriminate what they damage (most common), racist or antisemitic vandals who target specific cemeteries (less common), and grave robbers (very rare).
The common vandals are trying to express their hatred and contempt for society at large and want to break something that society finds meaningful. Since many burial rites are heavily tied to religion, vandalizing a cemetery is sure to upset some people greatly. These hooligans aren’t thinking about the personal effect this has on the deceased’s loved ones.
The hateful vandals are trying to trigger an emotional response or fear in their target audience. Violating a Jewish or Muslim or black cemetery is their way of anonymously trying to scare or hurt a group they are angry at.
I think “hate vandalism” is one type of crime that deserves extra punishment. Ironically, crimes like this often have a reverse effect, as the people targeted receive support from across the various churches and ethnic groups.
The final (extremely rare) type of vandalism is one that often captures the public imagination, as many people are fascinated/frightened by the idea of witches and satanists digging up bodies for evil rituals.
The financial rewards for digging through six feet of earth are simply not worth it.
A little research showed that Whitewater Region hasn’t had this problem to deal with.
We must have more common sense around here than other areas do.
