Cleopatra and the Temple of Tomb

It seems like people have been pretty busy lately worrying about Cleopatra, her death and now the aftermath.

A flamboyant archeologist known worldwide for his trademark Indiana Jones hat believes he has identified the site where Cleopatra is buried. Now, with a team of 12 archeologists and 70 excavators, Zahi Hawass, 60, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has started searching for the entrance to her tomb.

And after a breakthrough two weeks ago he hopes to find her lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, sharing her last resting place at the site of a temple, the Taposiris Magna, 28 miles west of Alexandria. Hawass has discovered a 400ft tunnel beneath the temple containing clues that the supposedly beautiful queen may lie beneath. “We’ve found tunnels with statues of Cleopatra and many coins bearing her face, things you wouldn’t expect in a typical temple,” he said.

It sounds to us like the makings for yet another blockbuster sequel.

[Times Online]

Shakespeare's Tombstone May Cause Sweet Sorrow

Hark ye! Could thy grave be curseth? Steppeth hitherforth.

Ledbury architect Ian Stainburn has been given the tricky task of restoring and preserving Shakespeare's tombstone, - a slab bearing a terrifying curse which warns people not to move it. Shakespeare, who died in 1616, aged 52, was a lay rector at the Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. As such he had the privilege of being buried inside the church, near the altar.

The restoration is likely to be completed by springtime next year. Just in time for the Bard's April 26 birthday, too. We wonder if British folk celebrate Shakespeare the way some celebrate Jim Morrison.

[Ledbury Reporter]

Cemetary Towns in N.Y. Hold Some of the Famous

We told you recently about a hobby that some people have to visit the graves of famous celebrities. While some travel around looking for these graves, others have made their searches more local.

Chuck D’Imperio of Oneonta, New York, is the author of "Great Graves of Upstate New York." He believes that the state of New York has enough buried there for people take up an interest in their local cemetaries.

“They’re repositories of history, family history, New York history,” he said. “There are representatives of every war. There are fascinating sculptures. You never know who’s going to turn up in a cemetery in Central New York.”

So who has D’Imperio found? The book contains a list of 70 people – including criminals, politicians, movie stars, artists – who are buried in Upstate New York.

“The list of these 70 people is fascinating,” said D’Imperio. “It includes four U.S. presidents. It includes very, very famous names like James Fenimore Cooper and Lucille Ball.” D’Imperio became interested in famous graves after the death of his grandfather. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira. So is Mark Twain.

“There’s politicians here,” he said. “There’s folk heroes here; there’s a horse here. There’s a one-legged tap dancer here.”

You may now be wondering where some famous horses are buried. Mr. Ed? Unknown. Secretariat? Kentucky (a champion horse...of course, of course). Marvin The Tap-Dancing Horse? Reruns.

[Utica Observer-Dispatch]

A Hobby that Involves the Pursuit of Grave-ness

Stew Thornley has an interesting hobby. He's a "graveyard hunter." His own death is even a source for material, as he and his wife have posed in front of his future grave for their holiday cards. He got started with his hobby after visiting some famous graves a decade ago.

Thornley, a 52-year-old Roseville resident, has nurtured a preoccupation with "grave hunting" or "grave surfing" since 1997, when he and a friend visited the graves of President Benjamin Harrison and gangster John Dillinger in Indianapolis.

Since then, he has photographed hundreds of graves, including those of every buried U.S. president, vice president, Minnesota governor and practically all of the 200-plus Baseball Hall-of-Famers. He's also visited the sites of a slew of Civil War generals, movie stars and other celebrities - even victims of Charles Manson.

Thornley published a book dedicated to the graves of Minnesota's most famous' graves and is considering putting together another one on the resting places of well-known ex-baseball players. You might expect that someone who has spent so much time visiting these graves of the famous fallen would have some sort of emotional or philosophical connection to the deceased. You'd be wrong.

When visiting the grave of a celebrity, he said, "I've never really felt I'm connecting with greatness. It doesn't stir any emotions. It's just empty remains."

He views his own plot with no great reflection, either. He just admires gravestones the way one admires architecture, and he talks about good graveyards the way one describes fine parks.

As long as Thornley sticks to admiring the gravestones' architecture and not the texture of those buried underneath, we think this hobby toes the better side of the line between fascinating and creepy.

Look here for more celebrity grave locations.

[Dickinson Press]

Carving Out the Old Nietzsche

The remains of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche will need to be moved if a German mining company gets the green light to build a massive brown coal mine on top of the thinker's final resting place in the eastern village of Röcken.

According to German press reports, Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft (Mibrag) has been collecting drill samples from locations around the town and is thinking about developing the mine to secure fuel for an electrical generating station.

"If it's possible to dig around it, we will," she said. "We're aware of the cultural and historical treasures here." They'll be ample time to decide. Even if Mibrag decides to forge ahead with the project, it's not expecting to start mining until 2025. Perhaps the last laugh goes to Nietzsche, whose famous declaration that "God is dead" suggests he really couldn't care less what happens to his remains.

Continuing with Nietzsche's postmodern ideas, we wonder if this opens up the debate about whether what's mine is also philosophically mine.

[National Post]

All About Bette: Waxing Nostalgic About Davis

Bette Davis died at 81. But she would have celebrated her 100th birthday next month. From what we've read about her, she sounds like she had feistiness and an overall positive outlook on life...and death.

The actress suggested her own epitaph - "She did it the hard way" - and the core of her lasting allure, and the respect she commands, is our sense that she was no manufactured legend but battled tooth and nail for her success and survival. In This 'N That - written after a stroke and a mastectomy - Davis writes about one of her prize possessions: a pillow embroidered with the motto "Old Age Ain't No Place for Sissies."

Bette Davis' Eyes are now going on 34. A Headline News tribute can be found here.

[Daily Telegraph]

What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?

Many of the selections in this year's death pool should look into what this British man did. That is just so considerate of him.

Makes you wonder if a tombstone is an appropriate birthday gift for one who is dying.

Today is somebody's birthday! Whose Birthday? Singer and Actress Carol Channing's Birthday. How Old Is She? 1,2,3,4... 87! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Carol Channing's name appears on "Remains to be Seen's" roster

• Chaninng's trademark, poofy blonde hair has always been achieved by the use of wigs, as she's allergic to bleach.

Does that mean all Orthodox Jewish women are allergic to bleach too?

Today is somebody else's birthday! Whose Birthday? American Civil Rights Leader Benjamin Hooks' Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 83! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Benjamin Hooks' name appears on "The South Shall Rise (from the Grave) Again's" roster

• Hooks' paternal grandmother, Julia Britton Hooks (1852–1942), graduated from Berea College in Kentucky in 1874 and was only the second American black woman to graduate from college.

She would have enjoyed speaking to Buzz Aldrin.

Today is somebody's else's else's birthday! Whose Birthday? Former Chicago Cub Shortstop Ernie Banks' Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 77! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Ernie Banks' name appears on "Do Not Resuscitate's" roster

• Banks holds the Major League record of most games played without a postseason appearance (2528)

It's shocking that that record would be held by a lifetime Cub.

... And Many More!

Merv Griffin Still a Genius (But Still Dead)

It's been 5 months since Merv Griffin passed away, but it turns out that he will continue to provide in death the thing he provided for so many during his lifetime: good, clean entertainment. Behold, the greatest tombstone in history.



[TMZ, hattip BWE]

Tombstones Go Digital; Nary a Sold

Want to leave a message for your relatives and friends from the grave? New technology allows for it through high-tech digital images powered by a solar cell. But it hasn't been received well by the public thus far.

The panel mounts to the front of the gravestone and pays tribute to the deceased in color pictures, words, music and even videos. It's all from a small memory chip inside a device that opens like the front cover of a book.

"I haven't sold any," said Doug Ellis of Riverview Monuments, who has been offering the so-called "serenity panel" system for about $2,000 since February.

Ellis, 54, said maybe 15 potential customers have spent time looking and listening to the gravestone player he displays in his store. One woman asked him to mail her pricing information. But nobody has been serious about buying one.

Despite poor sales numbers, this technology brings with it the chance to revolutionize the legacy that the deceased can leave behind.

"That is a big step, putting electronics on your headstone," Cheri Lucking said. "People are used to sandblasted, granite and marble and things like that."

Ways of honoring the dead are changing because of technology, Lucking said.

If Pavarotti was digitally alive today, we wonder what he'd sing.

[CNN]

Epitaphs Tell a Story

Many people request epitaphs to be written on their tombstones after they pass on. In "The Final Word: The Book of Canadian Epitaphs," Nancy Millar studied the growing trend to leave behind a message longer than a simple R.I.P.

"I think graveyards have a root in history. I'm not particularly creepy or any of those sorts of things, I just love them because they tell a story out there."

What say you? What do you want written on your tombstone?

[Yahoo! News]