[Longhorn92]

I saw this a few weeks ago and forgot to post it. Here's a well known and respected historian who "loved" history so much he had to desecrate graves and steal things for his collection.

Supposedly he was a published guy.

After reading this I found some articles that alleged grave robbing for collectibles is becoming common in parts of Europe. Apparently, people will do some research and find mass graves, remote burials etc. through the historical record--maybe 10 German soldiers were buried here or there--and dig them up to find helmets, belts, whatever is salvagable and then sell the items.

Crazy stuff. I wonder if any genuine, high-end ebay items have ever been taken out of graves.

http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=1383225&nid=104

 

[KneeJoint]

Weird and creepy.

Couple of years back I was working on a no budget WWII film. I had to buy GI. uniforms and get them cheep. The canvas leggings I got looked to have seen salt water and sand. I had to do a lot of cleaning and dyeing to make them look right... Now that I've read your post I'm wondering where they came from.

 

[highwayman57]

More interesting than that is an article I read a few years ago that some amateur archaeologists are excavating old outhouse sites. It seems that people often tossed lots of things into the vaults below the outhouses. Much of the time, diggers will unearth antique bottles used for alcoholic beverages (it seems that lots of people spent their time drinking while on the can!). In one instance, a complete set of dishes was unearthed-- it was theorized that they belonged to the lady of the house who died from some communicable disease, so the dishes were disposed of in the vault to avoid spreading the disease.

If the idea of digging through yards of fecal matter doesn't appeal to you, you should be aware that the vaults being excavated are several decades old, and the waste has turned into harmless compost. Depending where you live, there may be a wealth of sites around to explore in this manner!

 

[Shaun1162]

I'd rather dig up compost than disturb the dead...

 

[KneeJoint]

If the idea of digging through yards of fecal matter doesn't appeal to you, you should be aware that the vaults being excavated are several decades old, and the waste has turned into harmless compost. Depending where you live, there may be a wealth of sites around to explore in this manner!

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase polished turd.

There was a show on the travel channel called hidden treasures (I think). One one episode they were talking with a guy who has the oldest and largest collection of whisky bottles - Some of the bottles were worth as much as 5K. He mentioned digging them out of old out houses.