Comments on: #44: Moving the Dead — San Francisco Cemeteries

By: Elgy

Elgy — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:53:05 +0000

Can someone tell me if the Columbarium has a website, or perhaps Emmit Smith?
elgy

By: Boinko

Boinko — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:57:12 +0000

I just saw that thing about the Paris catacombs, too, and they even just made a horror movie about it…

By: San Francisco Timecapsule: 02.16.09 » San Francisco History Podcast - Sparkletack

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:48:46 +0000

[...] you’ve heard the Sparkletack podcast called “Moving the Dead“, you already know something about how the bodies of hundreds of ‘49ers were shuffled [...]

By: Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, December 8-14 » Sparkletack - the San Francisco History Podcast

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:01:18 +0000

[...] in ‘42, had actually given the hill its name. If you’ve heard the Sparkletack “Moving the Dead” episode, you know that this burial ground is long gone now — and in fact, its remote [...]

By: John William Blackett

John William Blackett — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:55:04 +0000

This is very interesting my friends. I didnâ€™t known about the Noe Valley wall. I’ll check it out.

My current concerns are with the Presidio Pet Cemetery and the Merchant Seamans’ grave sites. Things are afoot that the Presidio Trust doesn’t want to admit to, or acknowledge, or follow through with just yet. Lincoln Park is also in jeopardy if the city hands it over to profit orientated Golf developers.

Best Regards,
John W. Blackett,

P.S. The Paris cemeteries were mostly moved to a catacomb site still within the Paris City limits. Why can’t we have a site today in San Francisco to place our loved ones’ final remains? The San Francisco Columbarium is filling up fast. We need more room to rest in.

By: Meteor Freaks

Meteor Freaks — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:40:29 +0000

I remember watching that show on the History Channel about the graveyards of Paris being moved to the catacombs and the skeletons just being piled up. It made me want to be cremated when I go…

By: Steve (thingmaker)

Steve (thingmaker) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:13:50 +0000

I remember in 1974… Pretty sure it was ’74… I was with some friends goofing around on the fringe of Lincoln Park Golf Course – There was a path up from 40th and Clement, just alongside the fence of East Ft Miley -… Anyway, there was some work being done on the golf course which caused great ten-foot piles of earth to be piled upa few yards from whatever # hole is there. Among the dirt piles I remember picking up what was obviously a human femur, just lying there. We didn’t go digging for other body parts or anything and my mother had told me it had been a cemetery so we certainly didn’t report it.

By: family tree search sunday

family tree search sunday — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:47:53 +0000

This is great post and great comments. How does this impact the databases of headstones. I’ve found online cemetery searches a great way to get things going (before an inperson visit) but the idea of such a broadbased move is a bit un-nerving.

Trina – you DVD looks good. I think I’ll have to pick it up to get the full story.

I knew nothing about this.

By: tour review — 1906: phoenix rising (sf city guides) » Sparkletack - the San Francisco History Podcast

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:42:31 +0000

[...] A cemetery was once buried under the Civic Center [...]

By: richard

richard — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:35:05 +0000

I checked out your website, and noticed that you linked to a website about Emmitt Watson, caretaker at the columbarium.

Sparkletack #51, “The Columbarium and the Caretaker” is all about Emmitt… check out the archive list at right.

Looking forward to your DVD!

By: Trina Lopez

Trina Lopez — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:34:46 +0000

I completed a 46-minute documentary on the this topic! It is titled, _a Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco’s Lost Cemeteries_. I don’t have any public screenings of it planned at the present time, but the DVD is available through my website at trinalopez.com

I will go look for the stones in the pictures — I’ve never seen those ones! Other names are visible on a wall to the west of Aquatic Park and in rain gutters in Buena Vista Park and the Marina breakwater and the Wave Organ are also constructed from tombstone rubble!

By: Sam Taussig

Sam Taussig — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:34:31 +0000

R.I.P. Rest in Peace, have we forgot about that. I think it is wrong to move the dead, the dead is supposed to be holy and sacred. Show some respect people.

By: Chris Christensen

Chris Christensen — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:34:05 +0000

The other very famous emptying of graveyards was in Paris which took all the dead from Cemetery of the Innocents in 1786 and piled them in the catacombs. Somewhere between 3-6 million bodies were moved.

Chris from the Amateur Traveler podcast