Ghost to Ghost
Ghost to Ghost
Cemetery Symbolism and Tombstone Art
So, ever wander through your local cemetery to visit a loved one and see some symbol on a nearby tombstone and wonder what that is? Well, today is your lucky day. Today, we will look at cemetery symbolism and tombstone art. Get something to drink, sit back, and listen to Ghost to Ghost.
You can listen to our Podcast, published every 15th and 30th of the month at midnight. Ghost to Ghost is a podcast by SPIRIT Indiana Paranormal and can be found on all popular formats. Where to contact us and follow us through social media: Web www.spiritindiana.com, Email info@spiritindiana.com, Please view and like our videos, and subscribe to our channel. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@G2GIndiana, Please like and follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Spiritindiana1, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/invites/com
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Sources and Resources
https://www.blog.billiongraves.com, https://www.pinterest.com/bivenshill/masonic-tombstones
https://penguinhall.org/mastering-cemetery-iconography/
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in the dead of night when the moon is high and ill winds glow and the banshees cry and the moonlight casts an unearthly glow arise my love with tales of woe
SPEAKER_00:Good evening, it is 12 midnight, the paranormal hour. Welcome to Ghost to Ghost. I'm your host, Chief Lawson. Ghost to Ghost is a podcast to discuss all paranormal and parapsychology subjects. You can find Ghost to Ghost on all major formats, so tell your friends, tell your family. Come listen to Ghost to Ghost. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is that time. It is the midnight hour. It is time for Ghost to Ghost. Tonight, we have a very special episode on the show for you. Tombstones, symbolisms, and at the end, we're going to throw in a little epitaphs. So, tonight with me is my cohort and my director, Heather Lawson.
SPEAKER_02:Hello.
SPEAKER_00:Tonight, folks... We're going to start adding a new feature. What is Chief drinking tonight? Well, Chief actually is drinking something a bit odd for Chief because usually I'm a scotch guy. But tonight I am drinking Blackberry Whiskey. I have just a little taste kind of veered off the normal track. Where did you
SPEAKER_02:get the Blackberry Whiskey?
SPEAKER_00:From the bottle. It said Blackberry Whiskey in the bar. Yeah, the Blackberry Whiskey came from, yeah, thank you, came from Black Dog. Black Dog, I believe it is.
SPEAKER_02:Anybody, give it to you.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, this is one that I actually acquired on my own. I got it for the bar, and for those who don't know, we have a very large bar selection at home. And it is a... one of the staples we have for guests. So what is Heather drinking tonight? An
SPEAKER_02:Amaroto Sour.
SPEAKER_00:There you go. Alright, so that's what we have tonight, folks. Now, moving along, we're going to start out our episode and we're going to talk about the different things you see in cemeteries on tombstones and statues and some of the markings. You know, and I think a lot of people and everyone's different, but I've had some people say, well, you know, about the only thing I ever saw. As a matter of fact, I was talking to a former member and a fan of Ghost to Ghost, Troy Pace. And he told me, he says, you know, all I really notice is the Masonic stuff. Well, that's just because we're both Masons. I think that's the only reason. But there's actually a lot of stuff out there. So, I mean... We ought
SPEAKER_02:to take him to a Veterans
SPEAKER_00:Cemetery. Oh, yes. Yes, because you'll see a lot of markings. I mean, have you ever just walked through the cemetery and seen all these gravestones? And I mean, if you really start looking... I had an opportunity, and in school, I took, in high school, that is, not college, in high school, I took a dentology course. Now, I have to thank Mrs. Dracu. I don't know if she's still alive. She was my teacher, and she taught several things, and I ended up with, I graduated a year early to start college, and anyway, in the last bit of my courses, I had to have a couple fillers. I had a three-hour block, but the way it went when I was in school, you had to have fillers. four hours and a half schooling, or classes. So in other words, you had to have at least four and a half classes, and you can't get a half class anywhere. So Mrs. Dragoo, my last year, let me actually take a reading course, which was really neat. It opened up my eyes to a lot of things, and I had taken her reading course before, but she taught tantology, and we went out to the graveyards and looked at stones and did rubbings. It was just kind of an interesting education. So I thought we'd talk a little bit about some of the things we've seen, you and I, and then we'll talk about some things out there. For centuries, you know, cemeteries back in the beginning weren't allowed to have figurines or statues. It was thought of as a bad idea. Now, cemeteries, a lot of people don't realize, most of the old ones, especially ones that are Catholic, are consecrated. In other words, they're blessed. And, you know, you'll see this a lot in horror films, old horror films, about how, you know, you can't, demons can't come on, and witches, um...
SPEAKER_02:Vampires.
SPEAKER_00:Vampires, things like that can come on consecrated soil. So a lot of the very old cemeteries are consecrated soil. So anyway, but they didn't allow figurines for a long time. And this comes actually because a lot of religious people, especially a lot of Baptists, Lutheran and so forth, they always referred to the Bible in Exodus 24, thou shall not make unto thee any engraven image. So they didn't want that. I mean, for a lot of times, if You still get into certain types of religions, such as some of the mainstream traditional Amish and so forth. They don't like their picture taken because to them that's not allowed. But over time, that changed. So we're going to take a quick break.
UNKNOWN:We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_00:Alright folks, we're back. Sorry about that. We had a little bit of technical difficulty. Okay, let's dive in. So, one thing that comes up a lot in cemeteries is angels. And believe it or not, how angels and different symbolism is depicted has meaning. So, we're going to talk about carved hands. Whenever you see a hand carved, It can, depending on the way the hand is posed, depends on what it means. Most of the time, if it's the deceased relationship with God or the others, they'll be in praying hands. There are sometimes clasping. That can mean a very close relationship. Pointing. Pointing is another thing. And these are, a lot of people use these as clues. They would put things pointing to a general direction. Go
SPEAKER_02:that way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, go that way. So in Birded torches symbolize the extinction of life or the transition to the next realm. Ivy. This is what's carved in. If you get some of the very old stones, they're carved this way and they're beautiful. Ivy represents immortality due to its ability to cling on structures and thrive. Skulls. Memento mori. Reminders of mortality. Death must come. Scrolls. Scrolls can be a couple of different things. They can symbolize a person's life. their past, their present, especially at the moment of death, and the future and the afterlife. If three, possibly it means that's the Tanakh, and it might be part of the Judaism religion of showing those like we would show a gray Bible. There would be three distinct scrolls, if that be the case. Sunburst, links with death and resurrection. Now, in Masonic, that means something different. Weeping willows. I've seen these on tombstones, especially very, very old. Skulls and weeping willows, you see these on very, very old, old tombstones. And, you know, I'm talking like 1600s, 1700s or earlier. Weeping willows represent sorrow. They embrace due to the dropping branches, the drooping branches, not really dropping, but drooping. Flowers, specific flowers can have different meanings, okay? Chrysanthemums for Sorrow. Also for devotion. And
SPEAKER_02:there's a whole language of flowers.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, God, yes. Yeah. And I don't want to get, because I've got to tell you, the script here or our notes is a good 15 pages long. You would not believe, you could write a book on the amount of symbolism. And I've thought about adding that to my book collection. I'm right. I mean, this is a whole world in itself, what's out there. But daisies represent new birth, new life transition. So flowers can have a lot to do with it. Now, nowadays, most headstones are pretty simple they have sometimes they have with the laser engraving now sometimes you have a set of wedding rings with a i think my parents have the wedding date on there they were married some of them have pictures of either something they did when they were alive like if they were a railroadman they might have railroad emblems actually there's a separate set on railroad emblems all on its own but they may
SPEAKER_02:have pictures of people on
SPEAKER_00:there sure i mean they laser engrave their favorite image yeah it uh So, having said that, okay, let's talk about architectural symbols, and these also slide into Masonic. Obelisk. It became popular in the 19th century, very Egyptian, but the Egyptian symbol has meaning. It means eternal life. It means into the heavens or even rays of sun shining down forever on the obelisk from the top means everlasting life. So... Now, broken columns, they mean two things. We'll talk about that with the Mosaic areas too, but broken columns signify lives cut short. And it means the same thing in Freemasonry, but broken columns are more common in Freemasonry. Urns symbolize the deceased body and the afterlife. Drapery and a veil separating the living from the dead. So if you see like a drape or a veil that is carved into the stone, some of them are very ornate. That is basically the thin veil between life and death. I mean, you know, we deal with that every day on investigations. Weeping figure. Okay, generally display a grief of mourning. Weeping figure can be sometimes symbolized in untimely or early death. Winged skulls. Now, these are really popular in the New England area around the 1700s. Puritans, Methodists, a lot of these cemeteries had these. Especially, and basically, you know, death was a frequent visitor in households back then. Medical care wasn't good. Certainly didn't have enough to eat. Sanitation was horrible. You know, and all this combined, they lost a lot of people, especially infants and children. So epidemics like smallpox, measles, whooping cough, you know, they swept through the communities. So this was a symbol of mortality, and actually same in Freemasonry. Okay, then we got youth groups, and I have not seen these as much as I've seen the markers, and that's Boy Scouts, the Boy Scout emblem. And you will see them from time to time, and it's It consists of three plumes on a Florida Lee, and it represents service to others, duty to God, and obedience to the scout law. And a lot of scoutmasters, lifelong scoutmasters that die get these. And then, of course, we have the Girl Scouts with the tree-fold shape, represents the three-fold Girl Scout promise. On my honor, I will try to serve God and my country and help people at all times and live by the Girl Scout law. So, same kind of thing. Now, You know, I thought that was kind of interesting, and then I actually, the other day when we were out dropping Dad's topper off, I actually saw one of these. I thought at first it was a VFW emblem. It was not. It was a Boy Scout emblem. So there are some out there. Cultural and religious interpretations. Now, these get really deep. The Celtic Cross, the Lily, and the Shield. The Celtic Cross... is a nod to ancient pagan sun worshippers, believe it or not, as well as Christian symbolism. The gravestone combines the Latin cross in the forefront and the circle representing the sun at the back. Irish legends claim that St. Patrick introduced the Celtic cross in Ireland as a way to guide pagans to Christ. At the center of the Celtic cross is a lily. Lilies have long been the symbol of hope and rebirth. Even today, white lilies are plants most often sold during Easter season. So the gravestone symbolizes the hope of rebirth and restoration of innocence for the deceased. Lastly, the headstone has a shield at its base. Usually shields or crests are used in Ireland to denote family or clan relationships. So, you know, it might have had some sort of special markings. The Church of England has its own emblem. Church of Ireland. Ireland. I'm sorry. Did I say England? I'm sorry. Of course, I have it from history. Church of Ireland. The emblem on the gravestone is a tribute to the faith of the deceased. It reads, and I cannot begin to tell you what that is in Latin. My Latin is very rough at best. It basically means the Holy Church of St. Maltos of Kinsale. And the year it was found, it was 1190 A.D. St. Maltos. church, also called Church of Ireland, is the Old Norse-style construction. Old Norse-style construction. I'm not sure what that is.
SPEAKER_02:It's of Old Norse.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but I still don't know what the Norse-style construction actually is. Colors dance across the wooden floors. You want to find out? You want to look that up? Shines through the stained glass windows. Ancient tombs fill the churchyard, which is not uncommon. And this is something that we've gotten away from this day and age. Years ago, your church you attended had its own church cemetery, and that's where most people were buried that attended that parish. And, you know, city cemeteries were more for people who did not have membership in a certain church or parish, and that was where it came from. And Heather is diligently looking up what Norse-style construction looks like. I should have noted that and looked at that before we began, but I did not. Hinduism. Cemeteries are seen in places of contemplation, reflection, especially on the cycle of life and death. In Judaism, they view it, traditions emphasize the connection between the soul, the body, and the body resting in a sacred space.
SPEAKER_02:It would have been a like a longhouse.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so it's done almost like a Viking longhouse. It's given that kind of architecture. Now, I've not seen that, so I can't help out there. With Christianity, it's primarily the cross. One cross called a Christogram, which has IHS in the center, is an abbreviation for the name Christ. This symbol was introduced in Ireland about 1780 and was popular, highly popular in the 1800s, early 1800s, before 1840. It has to do with the Latin phrase And that is horrible. That's the worst Latin I've had. It means Jesus, Savior of Mankind. I have seen these before. And usually you will see them, and the IHS is in kind of a diamond shape. It's in the middle of the cross where Jesus' heart would have been. The other one is called a chiro. It's an X with a P in the middle coming up, and basically it's Greek letters. And it actually is a symbol that comes from Emperor Constantine's vision, instructing him to inscribe a heavenly divine symbol on his soldier's shields. Now this was told to him to keep soldiers from being defeated on a tombstone it signifies resurrection so ionic the ionic greek cross and this cross on an irish gravestones combination both the ionic greek and ionic crosses flare out at the end so this has like a three um it's almost like a three leaf clover out at the very end of it and each arm kind of makes a plus sign so it's kind of a and this has some german backing but it's actually equal spacing so you don't have the long leg at the bottom it's more even legs going uh crossed of course we have the celtic cross which we just talked about and it has knot work that celtic knotting that's in yeah it's brought into the cross itself for a look and um and then the sacred heart and this is probably one of the most widely known symbols in roman catholics is the sacred heart of jesus it represents boundless love of God for mankind. This symbol, and this is usually a heart with flames and a cross protruding from the top, surrounded by a crown of thorns. The image is on gravestone markers. You'll see portraits of Christ with this, but these you see quite a bit. Now, here's one that I had not known about. Lions and oak leaves. Strength, stability, endurance, and protection. Both of these symbols also have Christian connotations, as the cross and the crucifixion was believed to be The crucifixion cross was thought to be made of oak. And the lion is a symbolic of the Christian God's power. The Lion of Judea. Okay, so angels. We're getting back to those. Often depicted as guides to heaven. And we've talked about angels before and how the angels we look at are more the angels that Leonardo da Vinci came up with, not the real angels.
SPEAKER_02:Not biblical
SPEAKER_00:angels. Nope. That's another episode. We're not getting into that. How
SPEAKER_02:about you get one of those on your tombstone?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that'll wake everybody up, wouldn't it? Make them wonder where that came from. Okay. And Chief has to blow his nose. Sorry about that. Okay, now getting back here. Okay, that's a bit of a long episode, so everybody hang in there, but there's a lot of good information here. Okay, so these angels' arms are crossed, usually, and it means they're seeking a blessing. Of course, if they're praying, they're praying for the soul that has perished. And, you know, if they're looking heavenly, they're praying to God in heaven and asking for his blessing and his guidance and Okay, anchors. Oh, anchors have been around a long time. And symbolism of anchors goes beyond the cemetery, but it's a symbol of hope, right? And it can also be a symbol of a mariner, you know, a sailor. So sometimes those are on both. In Christianity, it's a symbol of hope. And now, switching gears, another category. Let's talk about the military. You were bringing that up a few months ago. If you go to a military funeral or a military section within a cemetery, you will find an egregious amount of markings. The most common ones are cross swords, but... That basically means a military career. It's not specific. Now, of course, you have the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW. Those emblems are quite frequently seen on a lot of markers. And, you know, the top of the tombstone, if it looks like a staircase, it's symbolic of the steps Christ took to Calvary or to Golgotha on his way to make atonement at the cross. Usually, there's There are three steps that represent faith, hope, and charity. Now, these are the same three steps that appear in Freemasonry on steps as well. Similarly, there are a type of cross called the Calvary Cross that is mounted on top of a three-tiered platform. Beneath the pinnacle of steps on the gravestone is an ionic cross which flares outward at each end of each arm. Okay, so, you know, if you're looking at the emblems, the American Red Cross American Legion has a shield with a star in the middle. And there's several different divisions there. You have the American Legion, which is what I used to belong to. You have Sons of the Legion. which I'm trying to read a very small picture here.
SPEAKER_02:Sure, it's not Sons of the...
SPEAKER_00:Sons of Liberty, I think it is, isn't it? No?
SPEAKER_02:Sons of the... Revolution?
SPEAKER_00:No. No, it is not. Okay. You have the Lady's Auxiliary, and then you also have American Legion Riders, which is an emblem that's been miniaturized in front of an eagle. And... Now, the ones we...
SPEAKER_02:It does say Sons of the American Legion.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, does it? Yeah, that's what I thought. That's Sons of the Legion. And that's for people who did not serve, but their parents did serve. And if they were members, they were allowed to join. These are not uncommon.
SPEAKER_02:We're looking at a picture.
SPEAKER_00:We're looking at a very small picture that someone should have blown up, mainly me, a lot larger. So, now, the one thing we didn't cover is in the military. You get in a military cemetery or military section, you will have individual emblems of that individual. individual's career in the military. And what is your emblem for 88M, 88 Mike?
SPEAKER_02:It's a wagon wheel. A wing.
SPEAKER_00:A wing, okay. A good
SPEAKER_02:wagon wheel.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so every division of the Army, divisions of the Navy have the same thing, where Army and Marine Corps have MOS, Navy has ratings, and in the case of commissioned officers have different departments and areas, they all have different markings.
SPEAKER_02:And you can get your religious symbol on there, too.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yes, yes, you can. You can do a lot. I mean, a cemetery tombstone these days, it can be like tattoos on your body. You can really fill them up.
SPEAKER_02:So like an artist's canvas.
SPEAKER_00:I know several masons, if they had to put all the emblems on the back,
SPEAKER_02:There wouldn't be room for their names.
SPEAKER_00:They'd have to have a bigger stone. Yeah, I know guys that would do that, too, not mention any names, because he probably doesn't listen anyway. But true, Masons love, they love emblems, they love symbolism, and they love lapel pins. And I'll never forget, there's two individuals that did not take my joke very funny, but I found a meme that had a collar extender. It was like this extra cloth you put on your collar so you put more pins on. One poor brother's gone, and I thought the world would understand was Floyd Sondermeyer, a great guy, and he loved wearing pins. He always looked like, as we put it, a Chinese admiral. Anytime you saw him, he had tons and tons of pins. There's another one, a gentleman who collects pins and titles pretty well, and I'm thinking that that'd be right down his alley. Okay, so God forbid he passed. I mean, I want to make sure everybody understands that. So let's get to the story. Let's talk about some of these other military emblems. So if they were in airborne, they would have an airborne emblem. In the Navy, it all It depends. They may have their rank. They may have their rating or in the Army and MOS.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they could have rank. They could have any combat areas they served in, if they had
SPEAKER_00:anything. Yeah. I mean, today, it's endless. Now, for those that aren't Freemasons, never grew up in a family that had Freemasons and don't understand the symbolism... That's another big area. Probably military and Freemasonry is your two biggest areas of symbolism in a cemetery. First of all, I want to start by saying if you're in a Masonic section, and a lot of cemeteries have those, you'll have a broken column. a statue, a broken column in the area. They'll have names like Acacia Boulevard and Hiram Walkway or Abiff Avenue. They'll have Masonic names, but also sometimes they'll have a column with a virgin weeping behind it. And she's standing over it and she's weeping over the column. Now, it means the same things we talked about earlier. A column is a sign of a Mason who has passed. And it doesn't really signify he died early, died late. It just means he has passed on. He The working tools of life have slipped from his hands, and he's passed on to that temple not made with hands, internal in the heavens. And some things, of course, everybody knows the standard emblem. The square, the compass overlaid with the G in the middle. Okay, and this is the most standard Blue Lodge Freemasonry. Anybody that's a Mason is going to have this symbol. And the G, for those who do not know, it stands for God or God. and we usually say sacred geometry, which is what we practice. Now, it has a sunburst behind it. It means he was at one time master of his lodge, and he's a past master. The all-seeing eye at the top of the pyramid, even with a sunburst, this symbol represents the idea that all deeds on earth are seen by God. He is often associated as overseeing all freemasonry, and that's why I love these people who... And this is always a freestanding thing, you know, in my particular lodge. Everybody always goes, oh, New World Order, you guys killed Princess Di. Oh, my God, all the things the Masons did. Yeah, you've been watching too much of the History Channel. You know, Chris Hodep, a good brother and friend of mine, he wrote a book called Freemasonry for Dummies. And I used to love to watch him on these shows. Everybody would come out and go, okay, well, this is Washington, D.C., an overhead map. And it was laid out by Masons. If you look here and you draw lines down these streets, it makes a pentagram and a rampart. And he goes, yes, if you do it this way, it makes a horsey and a doggy. And yeah, I mean, you know, for the people who think we're taking over the world, come to my lodge and watch these old guys argue over an ice maker for two hours and tell me how in charge we are. Yeah. Anyway, but. Having said that, if the pyramid, anytime you have an all-seeing eye, it represents God. God sees all. He knows all. He's completely omniscient. A double-headed eagle has represented the ancient and accepted order of the Scottish Rite, which is extra degrees for Freemasons. I've heard people say, well, he's a 32nd. He's higher than a third. No, no. Anything above a third is just extra degrees. You're never higher than a master Mason. But if you're a 32nd, you have attained higher enlightenment. So, as we call it, more light and freemasonry. Architect's tools, you'll find these, the plum, the gavel, you'll see a 24-inch gauge, you'll see a square. These are all tools that symbolize that. An acacia branch. Now, acacia, to us, is a symbol of immortality and everlasting life. And it once marked a very esteemed mason's grave. So it's become common. Years ago at funerals, if we were having a Masonic ceremony, and a lot of funeral directors have quit planting evergreens outside their establishments because we would break off little bits of them and put them in our lapel as a symbol of acacia. And I'll never forget, I was talking to one who's passed away now who owned a very large chain. He said, oh, we had to quit doing I saw the damn brothers kept killing the bushes. He said, those aren't acacia. He said, those are standard shrubs. And he says, they're junipers, and they're expensive.
SPEAKER_02:That's just an evergreen. Come on
SPEAKER_00:now. Yeah, I mean, what we used to do a lot of times, we would take apart an old Christmas tree. When someone got rid of the Christmas tree, we'd dissect that son of a gun, and everybody would get a little branch, and you'd put a little black bow on it, and you'd pin it on. And that kept you from bothering the live plants at the showing. But anyway, I died. grass broken calm with virgin weeping we talked about oes now this is a this is a primarily a women's organization heather is a member of the oes she holds a station of electra in her lodge and but there's men there as well you know i go uh the symbol of the eastern star is a five-pointed star now a lot of people mistaken this with a pentagram it is not a pentagram the bottom array of the star points downward symbolic of the star that's shown over the manger of A biblical quote from the Song of Solomon. The five points of the star also represent the five biblical women and their exemplary virtues. These are Ada, obedience to duty, Ruth, adherence to religious principles, Esther, loyalty, Martha, endurance in trial, and Eletra, endurance in persecution. And that is the station which Heather currently holds. So, and each one of the star points has a different color. Heather's is red. And so, anyway, that is, and you'll see a lot of times on a tombstone where the gentleman, it's a gentleman's wife on a joint stone, and he has a square and compass and a G, and she has the eastern star. So, having said that, Yorkwright. Yorkwright has several, several emblems. It can be a four-corner Maltese cross with the words Inhofe into it, and it can be a crown with a cross through it sideways. These are emblems of the York Rite and Knights Templar, of which I am one. And then you have the shrine. The shrine has a scimitar, which hangs below it, the dual tusk of a elephant. A center has the eastern star with the head of a sphinx in the middle. And the shrine is a club for Freemasons. There's also some women's emblems with that. One that stands out I've seen on a tombstone is the mosaic emblem, but instead of having in the bottom where the star hangs, they have a rose. And that's actually Daughters of the Nile. So the grotto has the same thing. They have their own emblem, and it is also a club for men. And I don't want to get into a fraternity talk here. That's very easy to do. Handshake on an arch. That's another symbol of the early degrees of York Rite masonry, which is a Knight Templar. That's the orders of the arch. Also, we have Knight's Pythesis. And for smaller towns outside of larger towns that did not have a York Rite or weren't big enough to have a York Rite, a lot of them formed Knight's Pythesis. And on that, you'll see a Knight's Helmet with additional weaponry used Usually two fowls or two spears or battle axes crossing. The knight's epithesis symbols. The knight's helmet is chivalry and honor. Skull and dagger, willingness to die for one's friend's cross, which is Christ-like in love. And FCB, the wording, that means friendship, charity, and benevolence. Other fraternal orders that are non-Masonic. You will see fraternal order of eagles. I've seen that before. I've seen an independent order of odd fellows. Now, These have a three-linked chain with the letters FLT, friendship, love, and truth. Now, I've seen, I know where there's a cemetery that's all an Oddfellows Cemetery. Now, if you really want to know about this, I want you to go down and buy Chris O'Depp's book, and I hope he'll be telling you on podcasts to come buy mine. But pick that up. It has a lot of great information on some of these pendant bodies. The Oddfellows came out of Freemasonry a lot of things did, and it was a form of labor union. They're still around. They're not thriving any more than any of us are, but they're still around. Another one, Knights of Columbus. Now, this was the Catholics' answer to Freemasonry. At one point, when King Philip and the Pope Clement—now, this is going back a bit, folks— They turned around and tried to outlaw Knights Templar, and over the years, especially in the early 40s and 50s, Catholicism did not welcome Masons, did not believe in it until John Paul came around and rebuked that. But they formed their own called Knights of Columbus. And you will see a Maltese cross that's turned to an off-center so that your points are going out at like 3 and like 5 and like 7 and like 8. 10, and it has a shield with KFC, meaning Knights of Columbus, on it. It was named in honor of Christopher Columbus. Membership is open to males age 18 and older who are good standing in the Catholic Church, so you have to be Catholic. Knights of the Maccabees. Now, this is one that really got me, because I had not seen this. It's more prevalent in, actually, in Europe, especially England. I'd heard about it in England, and in Canada, and so forth. It was founded back in 1878, so it isn't that old. I don't know how well they're doing, but their motto was Latin phrase, Astra Castra Numen Lumen, meaning the stars, my camp, my deity, my light. Likewise, the degrees, and I'll tell you, the emblem looks like a tent, and inside of a world globe, a wire world globe, a K-O-T-M written on it. And so the K-O-T-M is known as Knights of the Maccabees. It's just an abbreviation for that. And Any additional clues, I don't really have a lot of information on them, but it is in the book if you read Chris's book. Low order of the moose. Now my grandmother, my mom's side was a moose. So was my, I think, yeah, my grandfather may have been one time. Another one, and of course that usually has a large moose emblem on it. And they have their own watering places, so to speak. That's what they actually call them. They call them moose watering places. And they have their own benevolent... Charitable. Yeah, charitable. It's called Mooseheart. And whereas when Freemasonry, each one of our orders has its own charitable philanthropy, get it right here in a minute, it's different there. Now, something else which is kind of odd, and I've seen one of these and didn't know what it was, Salvation Army. And I'll be honest, I'll be the first guy to tell you I don't know a great deal about Salvation Army other than the fact that once you join, you go into their ranks, the Christian ranks. It's considered a Christian Army Order. And when you're buried, you can have the emblem. It's not the shield you see on the thrift stores that says the Salvation Army or the one out around the bell ringers at Christmas.
SPEAKER_02:Wouldn't that be
SPEAKER_00:something? Yeah, it's a five-pointed crown over top of a badge with S and T in the middle and has two cross swords and it says Blood and Fire. And then a ribbon below it says the Salvation Army. And so... Today, most everybody sees the red symbol, the shield. That's pretty popular, but this actually, and the symbolism is the sun is the light and fire of the Holy Spirit. The cross, the atonement of Christ, S is salvation. Swords, the word of God, seven white dots, shot marks represent the seven principles of the gospel. I didn't see the shot marks on there. Oh, they're
SPEAKER_02:at the bottom of the blue circle.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I see them now. Okay, I didn't see them at first. Blood and fire, the blood Christ shed for all mankind The crown of the glory is given to God's soldiers who are faithful until the end of time. So, and you know, they've got several buildings downtown. We all know them at Christmas time for ringing bells and maybe the thrift stores, but there's a whole lot more to that. It really is. Now here's one. Who knew? Yeah, who knew? This is, this gets better, okay? So as we go through this, and again, hey, if you're on Facebook, come over and ask us questions. I'll see if I can't find you the answers for it. You know, Next time you're going to a cemetery, step in there and kind of look around. Now, I'm going to ask you to look up the coins to make sure I'm right. They're left on graves. That's something we didn't cover in the military. I want to come back to you. So before we move on, I have a test. The last thing I have is the woodsman of the world. I had no idea. And I looked in Chris's book. Sure enough, their headstones are shaped in tree trunks. I've seen these at a couple of different older cemeteries. Ones that go back into the 18, early 1900s, they're shaped like tree trunks. And I kept thinking, why would somebody want What a tree-shaped grave, Barker. I mean, it's big and it's nice. It's very ornate. Well, it's actually a symbol for the woodsmen of the world. The fraternity turned insurance company. And this is more fascinating than anything. In 1882, founder Joseph Cullen Root heard a church sermon about a pioneer man who was clearing the forest to provide for their families and inspired him so much he wanted to help provide others too. So Root started the fraternity and it eventually became an insurance company. So if you see a stone that is shaped like a tree and it has two crossed axes, pretty much you're looking at a woodsman of the world. Okay, we're going to backtrack for a minute because something I regret and I didn't cover when we were doing the military section is an honor that is paid from one vet to another. And we do this every time we go to my dad's grave marker. And my dad's grave markers, if If you see coins on them, that is a military tradition passed from one vet to another. Now, penny means that you're... I
SPEAKER_02:have the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, well, go ahead and read it. Yes, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:It's just a little paragraph. So leaving coins, particularly pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters on gravestones, especially those of military veterans, is a longstanding tradition that carries specific meanings within the military community. Each coin type signifies a different relationship or connection the visitor had with the deceased soldier. or service member. The practice became more common during the Vietnam War, offering a way to show the respect without needing to engage in potentially difficult political conversations. Here's a breakdown of the meaning of each coin. A penny indicates a general visit, a simple act of remembrance and respect for the deceased. A nickel signifies that the visitor trained with the deceased at boot camp. A dime represents a shared service experience, meaning the visitor and the deceased served in the military together in some capacity. And a quarter indicates that the visitor was present when the deceased service member was killed or passed.
SPEAKER_00:There you go, folks. So if you see coins on the grave, it's not a tip. Please don't pick it up. It's a symbol of honor and dedication to that individual.
SPEAKER_02:The tradition dates back to the Roman Empire where the coins were given to the ferrymen.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they were. also placed over the the deceased eyes and it was to pay for the uh carry is it carry care on care on who was the boatman that would would uh ferry the deceased over to the underworld and it was to pay the boatman care on so it's been around for a long time every time we leave there we didn't obviously serve my father so we leave a penny um now I hope that's been enlightening to you on these. And we just did a small section. Actually, I thought it would go a lot slower than that, so I cut some of them out. There's tons and tons of symbolism. You know, I'll be looking in the future for a book from me for that. But anyway, yeah, if I ever get the other one done.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:and Richard, I am working on that. Anyway, let's talk about epitaphs, which is kind of the second half of this. And for those who don't know what an epitaph is, it's a saying that's placed on the cemetery grave marker, normally carved in the stone. And the epitaph is a brief inscription on the headstone as a memorial. Sometimes it commemorates the dead. It might have been in life, something he said. And some of them are very, very amusing. And I've got several picked out. My daughter used to say that she was going to put on the back of my headstone two things. I know a guy, and I got a hell of a deal on this. Because she always thought those were two sayings that I used quite frequently. Well, you did. Well, I do a little bit. So a lot of times there are favorite sayings. There might be nicknames. You know, everyone calls me Chief. I imagine that'll be incorporated into mine.
SPEAKER_02:It'll probably be James Chief Christopher
SPEAKER_00:Lawson. Yeah, something to that effect. But my God, as I got into this, it's got fun. And a good friend of mine named Tom Tuttle years ago gave me one. And I thought it was funny. He was Irish, but he was on the back of the stone. And it read, Remember, man. As you go by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so shall you be. Prepare yourself to follow me. Someone had taken a piece of paper and taped it to the tombstone, and it read, Man, I am content to follow you. I only wish I knew which way you went. All right, so I'm going to read this one, and I'll let you read this one here. Okay, here's a little different version of it. Remember me as you pass. As you are now, so once was I. You just read that. Yeah, this is a different one, if you don't mind. Hang on. As I am now, you soon must be. Prepare to death and follow me. My glass is run and yours is running. Mind death for judgment's coming. Now, when it says your glass is running, you know what they're referring to, right? A hourglass. So the sand's running. Okay, you take the next one.
SPEAKER_02:This one?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And that's from
SPEAKER_00:William Shakespeare.
SPEAKER_02:Yep,
SPEAKER_00:cemetery. I'm going to incorporate some of that. I want to put a curse on there for anybody that stirs my bones. Just because I think it's a good thing
SPEAKER_02:to do. Toil and trouble.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, toil and trouble. Yeah, move my bones and I'll come for you. All right. Here's one that's really good. This is Frank Sinatra. The best is yet to come. Here's from Dorothy Parker. Excuse my dust. Oh, Mel Blanc is great. Of course. Yeah, he did all the voices for all the Warner Brothers cartoons. That's all, folks. You want to take four?
SPEAKER_02:Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake. stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
SPEAKER_00:And he wrote that himself. Okay, here's one. Now, this really struck me. Wait till you see who it's from. Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday. That was actually John Wayne. It just doesn't seem like him. So...
SPEAKER_02:You'll be next.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think that one. There's another one I see that says, oh, no. I think, oh, this is too good. Okay, he never killed a man that did not need killing. Robert Clay Allison, one of the greatest gunfighters or outlaw gunfighters there was.
SPEAKER_02:I'll never get out of this world alive.
SPEAKER_00:Hank Williams. That seems like Hank Williams. It really does. Okay, here's another one you may not know where this comes from. I know in my heart that man is good. That's what is right will always eventually triumph. And there is purpose and worth to each and every life. Ronald Reagan.
SPEAKER_02:The entertainer. He did it all. Sammy Davis Jr.
SPEAKER_00:Gotta admit, seems like Sammy. She always said her feet was killing her, but no one believed her. Unknown.
SPEAKER_02:I will not be right back after this message.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a good one. I will not be back after this message. All right. Good night, sweet prince. John Barrymore.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. I gotta go now. Dee Dee Ramone.
SPEAKER_00:And you know who that is. I do not. He is the drummer. Oh,
SPEAKER_02:from the Ramones?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Ramones. Yeah. Yep. I believe he's a drummer. Is he a drummer or a guitar player? I
SPEAKER_02:had an inkling, but
SPEAKER_00:I didn't want to. Yeah, he's from the Ramones. Be wrong. Yeah. Will he be back? Let's hope not. Unknown. This is a great one. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:Letter it.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:Leslie Nielsen.
SPEAKER_00:You know... Leslie Nielsen only made one serious movie of all things. It was Red Planet. And, oh, God, watching it is hard to do. Now, I love B-rated. Me and Heather both like B-rated shows. But it's hard to watch this because when you watch it, you keep seeing the naked gun, two and a half, or whatever, and it's awful hard when he's doing a straight line. You just keep wanting to go. You're waiting for that punch line to kick in. You know, it just doesn't seem like him. But Let It Rip does seem like him. True to your own spirit. Jim Morrison. Knights in white satin.
SPEAKER_02:They said I made my bed. Now I'm lying in it. Let me tell you, it's the pits. Unknown.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, this is a good one. I may be gone, but rock and roll lives on. John Belushi. I tell you. A life cut too short. All right. You want to take the next?
SPEAKER_02:I told you I was sick. Spike
SPEAKER_00:Milligan. I think I've seen that on quite a few of them. I told you I was sick. I was hoping for a pyramid. I like that one. I may use that one.
SPEAKER_02:I found mine.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. I was hoping for a pyramid. Unknown. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:I am ready to meet my maker. Whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. Sir Winston Churchill.
SPEAKER_00:I like that one, too. That just seems like me. I told you these taxes were killing me. Unknown. Free
SPEAKER_02:at last, free at last. Thank almighty, I'm free at last, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
SPEAKER_00:Here's a good one. Here lies. This just seems like him. Here lies Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statues Establishing Religious Toleration in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson. He wrote it himself. If you know anything about him, yes, you would understand. If you've never got a chance to study him, he wrote his own Bible. And he took out the stuff he didn't like. It was kind of funny. You really have to read on him. He's quite the character. You want the next one? Yeah, I got it.
SPEAKER_02:The body of B. Franklin, printer like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here. Food for worms, but the work shall not be wholly lost. For it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more perfect edition, corrected and amended by the author. Benjamin Franklin.
SPEAKER_00:Anybody knows old Ben? He was a brother. There's a little bit of ritual mixed in there. Murdered by a traitor and coward whose name is not worthy to appear here. Jesse James.
SPEAKER_02:Here lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon me for not writing. Johnny Yeast.
SPEAKER_00:Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable on the side of the Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalms 1914. Johnny Cash.
SPEAKER_02:Here lies Ezekiel Akel, age 102, the good guy young.
SPEAKER_00:There you go.
SPEAKER_02:Ezekiel Akel.
SPEAKER_00:Here lies George Johnson, hanged by mistake in 1882. He was right, we were wrong, but we strung him up and now he's gone. George Roy Johnson.
SPEAKER_02:I'd rather be reading this. Esther A. Freer.
SPEAKER_00:Here lies the body of Anna done to death by a banana. It wasn't the fruit that laid her low, but the skin of the thing that made her go. Anna Hopewell. And this is from a Scottish graveyard. You want me to read it? I got it. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:The children of Israel wanted bread, and the Lord sent them manna. Old Clerk Wallace wanted a wife, and the devil sent him anna.
SPEAKER_00:That's just Scottish for you right there. Yeah. Here lies a man named Zeke, second fastest draw in Cripple Creek.
SPEAKER_02:Here lies Lester Moore, four slugs from a.44. No less, no more.
SPEAKER_00:Tombstone of a gunslinger, Lester Moore, a Wells Fargo station agent for Narco, Arizona, in the cowboy days of the 1800s. He's buried in Boot Hill Cemetery. And it says, here lies... Well, I always say, I want to go there. That's why there's two I want to finish with. And one of them I couldn't find beforehand, but we've got two more. And one of them, it was so hilarious. It's a little stone attached to a fence, you know, surrounding a grave. So it's an old grave, and it said... Husband, father, grandfather, and it said adulterer. And it said, yes, John, I knew. But tonight, folks, as we close this off, it may be a little bit of a shorter episode, but hopefully a more informative episode for you. I want to leave you with this. I think this is the best stone out there. Here it is. Here lies an atheist, all dressed up and no place to go. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is now time for the Ghost Story of the Day with Heather Lawson.
SPEAKER_02:This is Last Chance to Turn Back from Cursed in New England, More Stories of Damned Yankees by Joseph A. Citro. In the following pages, we will witness a variety of New England curses at work. with all their attendant horror pathos and occasional humor. Please keep in mind that this book is not intended to be all inclusive. The sheer volume of Yankee maledictions would make that impossible. At the very least, you would hold in your hands should be a collection of entertaining stories. At most, it is evidence that there are powers in this world so subtle and sinister that they can work inexorably against us without our even knowing it. In the interest of journalistic objectivity, I have taken a position one way... You
SPEAKER_00:want to start again from the beginning?
SPEAKER_02:No, I'll just do that last paragraph.
UNKNOWN:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:In the interest of journalistic objectivity, I haven't taken a position one way or another. All I can tell you is that I have visited Black Agnes many times, and I have never chosen to sit on her lap.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for listening to Ghost to Ghost. Again, I'm your host, Chief Lawson. You can find Ghost to Ghost on all major formats on the 15th and 30th of the month at midnight. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, maybe have a question or subject you'd like to ask about on air, or be used on the show, please email us at ghosttoghost at spiritindiana.com ghosttoghost at spiritindiana.com I want to thank my production staff on Spirit, Jennifer Verne, our research manager, and our producer, and Heather Lawson, our trainer on spirit and our podcast director for helping make these podcasts possible. My chief of staff, Andrew Books, for his guidance and help on the scripts and everyone else involved. Thank you so much. See you next time. Until then, stay safe and remember the truth is out there. Good night. Ghost to Ghost Podcast and its contents is the property of Spirit Paranormal LTD, all rights reserved. We welcome you to download and play the podcast and share with others for personal use. You may not, except with written permission. Use or distribute its contents for commercial use. Thank you for listening. Take care of yourself and the ones you love and be safe out there.
