roscoe wrote:
Sheila wrote:
don't know why i ever started talking with you again, it's a waste of time.
Guess you didn't like the question then.
Why is Sauniere and de Coma buried in unconsecrated ground?
Their graves are orientated North South. Ask BULLDOGNIC what that means?
Hi Roscoe,
Quote:
Facing East
The traditional Christian method of positioning the coffin or shroud covered body in the grave was to have the body with the head to the west, feet to the east. The body was placed face up. When it was not practical to use the west-east position for the grave, a north-south positioning was the next best option. There the body would then be laid on its side, head to the north and facing east. Not all burials followed the tradition nor did all cemeteries.
The reason for the east facing position is offered by tom kunesh:
Note that in Christianity, the star (of the Jewish astronomers from Iraq [Babylon]) comes from the east. Then there is Matthew 24:27 (NKJ): “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be ...” thus for the Christian believer in the resurrection of the dead, placing the body facing east will allow the dead to see the Second Coming of Jesus.
When the West-east burial position was used, the graves hardly ever aligned with the true east. The probable reason for that is true east could not be ascertained. Even though the magnetic compass existed when the first settlers established James Town (Jamestown) in 1607, its use was very limited. The earliest graves from Virginia are not aligned true east. (See Martin’s Hundred Burial Ground.) The most probable reason for misalignment is that the east was determined by position of the sun on the eastern horizon at sunrise at the time of the establishment of the burial ground. It was the perception of east that set the direction, not the compass.
From :-
http://www.tngenweb.org/darkside/facing-east.htmlAnd to give an example of a N/S facing grave :-
Quote:
Molly Leigh - the witch of Burslem
Everybody who lives in the north part of Stoke on Trent knows the legend of Molly Leigh (not Lee!). Her strangely-shaped grave and tombstone can still be seen to this day. Sue Lightwood has written an account of Molly's life for us....
I researched this story some years ago and found the following information, though maybe down the years some legends have got mixed up with the facts!
Hopefully it will interest readers who may want to go on to find more info...
*****************
Margaret Leigh was born in Burslem, which is now one of the Six Towns of the Potteries, about 1685.
Sadly, Margaret, or Molly (sometimes Molly Lee) as she was known, was ugly. Very ugly. And in those days, this led to her being shunned, then alone, and then becoming notorious as the witch of Burslem. She never married.
Poor Molly.
Witch?
There were allegations from the start about her strangeness. it's said she had an adult mind and abilities from birth. "Evidence" for this came from the story that she was able to eat a hard crust of bread just a few hours after being born; and that she refused her mother's milk, to suckle farm animals instead.
Ostracised because of her deformities, and possibly friendless too, she seemed to have developed a vicious temper as she grew older.
And was it the need for a friend that also made her train a blackbird (though some say it was a jackdaw) ... which became her companion, being tame to her call....?
Or was she really a witch?
It's clear that the atmosphere of the time thus led created a sequence of events which would lead eventually to some bizarre happenings one midnight in Burslem churchyard.
Molly grows up
More difficulties came to her.
Her parents died when she was young, and she had to earn her living quickly - which she did by taking milk into the town and shouting out her wares.
She became a well-known, if unliked figure - and she was constantly accused of watering down the milk.
Her cottage was some distance from the town, at Hamil Grange (then known as the Jack-field) in the middle of the forest then in that part of the area.
So, shunned there by others, strange rumours emerged.. especially of the hawthorn bush outside the cottage on which her pet blackbird was to be found - a bush they said, which never produced blossom!
But now Molly made a bad enemy.
Enemy
Parson Spencer, Rector of Saint John's Church in Burslem accused her of rarely attending church. In those days, everyone went.
And he declared her - for her refusal - a witch.
And things now got out of hand.
The Rector was known to spend some time at The Turk's Head, and the blackbird appeared there one day. Apparently, immediately the beer in the pub turned sour and gave all the customers rheumatism!
In fury, Parson Spencer shot at the bird, which simply flew off - unhurt. Poor Parson Spencer then claimed an attack of stomach pains - which kept him to his bed for the next few weeks.
It's not clear how things developed now. Perhaps in such a small community, the strength of either side in this dispute was recognised , and a grudging stalemate came about.
Death and burial - and reburial
But the final irony came when Molly died in April 1748 (some say 1746).
It was the same Parson Spencer who laid her to rest in St John's churchyard. But the good townsfolk had concerns - was this witch really dead? Their concerns were even greater when the blackbird started to make a nuisance of itself in the town.
Apparently, with a little drink inside them, they paid a visit to Molly's cottage in the woods. And what they saw astonished them.
Afterwards, witnesses swore blind (or blind drunk!) that Molly had been sitting there by the fire - knitting, with her bird - as in real life.
Unsurprisingly, they did not stop to talk to her.
The story now gets to its oddest part.
Parson Spencer decided that her spirit must be quieted, and chose a strange way to do it. In the dead of night, the reverend returned to the churchyard with colleagues to perform the rite to silence her ghost.
This was done by opening up the grave, where the now-captured bird was placed in with her - still alive.
Then her body was moved. Instead of lying in an east-west direction, normal for Christian burial, it was turned, into a north-south direction.
Some historians claim a stake was driven through her heart - but this is more likely to be a product of a modern writer influenced too much by horror films!
Questions remain
Why did Parson Spencer turn her body? The rite of laying-the-spirit should have been enough. So why did he not trust his judgement?
It is very unusual to see a body turned like this in any other churchyard.
Second, even today, in St John's churchyard, Molly's grave can be seen, and it is easy to spot. It's the large tomb (it's some four feet high) lying in the different axis to all the others. But who paid for such an expensive tomb? Molly herself would not have had money to speak of.
Interestingly, the Pagan Association offered to pay for a railing round the grave - an offer that the Church of England didn't know how to react to!
Thirdly, Sybil Leek, a self-declared witch and associate of the Satanist Aleister Crowley, once visited Burslem (possibly in the 1940s or 50s?), and walked round the town with a jackdaw on her shoulder, claiming descent from Molly Leigh.
But, though Sybil claimed to have born in Staffordshire, and therefore could have been a descendant, it's been very hard to trace her birth records. What is the truth?
Finally, the legend is that if, at Halloween, you dance around her grave and sing "Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh, you can't catch me" her apparition will appear. But who would know? Did someone actually see her after performing this incantation?
Regards
Nic
PS I wish I'd never used caps for my forum name
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