Legal Question

If you were digging under your house to work on a water line and happened to dig up a skeleton, what would be your legal responsibility? Could you just fill the hole back in and move the waterline around it or would you have to call authorities? Said skeleton has likely been there a long long time.

If you did report it, would authorities have the right to tear your house down to get to said skeleton or would they have to do the best they could to get it out without destroying your house? If it turned out to be native american or some such, what kind of problem would you have?

Skipper

Did you dig up a skeleton??

I would bet if it was a native American, they'd make you stop what you were doing so authorities could come in and dig up the area and call it a archiological sight and take all the valuables with them!!!

If it was just some person, I might call the police. Could be an unsolved murder or something of the nature and they might be able to figure out who it is and maybe bury them properly for the family's sake. Who know's maybe catch the killer too.

That's my take on it.

Tommy

I don't know about you, but they wouldn't have to make me move! I'd be in a motel already! :speechles

I didn't dig this up, just heard about it today from someone.

Skipper

I don't know about Kentucky but here in Georgia you can be charged with not reporting a death. I guess it would have to be determined how long it had been there and what the circumstances around the burial were. I'd sure hate to fight the government bureaucracy if it turned out to be an Indian burial site or something.

Don't be opening any closets!!

You know what happened in the movie "Poltergeist" :speechles

woody--don't go into the light if you do open the closet!!!! we'd hate to have to throw in a tennis ball to see it comes back all gooey to show you it's not safe!

I wouldn't call anyone. I'd hinge said parts together and make a really cool halloween decoration!

Kentucky hasn't been so cosmopolitan for too long back, paticularly in Eastern Kentucky. I know for a fact that in the early 1980's when one town was building a new school on the old fair grounds, they knew that some graves had to be moved because they had stones there and everyone knew they were there. Those got moved to the corner of the property. The original intention was to cut the knoll down to street level before they built the school. However, the deeper they dug, the more unmarked graves they ran across. Some were let's say, many years older than the town itself was, and that was one of the older towns in the state having been around since the 1840's. Finally, a decision was made to build up the property instead of leveling it down. That's what they did, and now the school sits on top of the old cemetary. I lived across the street then and know for a fact that the dozer operator casually and quickly filled an area back in.

This guys place where the find is is an older farm house. Probably on the order of 40 years old and was likely there before most around it were built. It's rental property for him and he's only owned it a couple of years.

I know one thing sure, cemetaries have clogged up a lot of valuable land. I can't immagine where we'll end up putting all the graves 50 years from now. I guess cremation may become a manditory thing. You take a city like Knoxville, Tn. In 1900 it probably had about 25,000 people in it where it has 750,000 today. Obviously, all of them are going to die eventually and be replaced by more that will die. That's a whole heap of 4x7 pieces of land. If you look back to this area in 1900, I wouldn't doubt that the majority were buried in the back yard, some were obviously marked, but most probably not by anything permanent or recognizable. It's untelling how many houses or buildings are sitting on top of someone's grave from the 1800's.

Skipper

I think the owner needs to report it to the proper authorities.Should it get out that a grave was there and not reported,the owner could be in a world of trouble.My .02 cents....

Step one: Cover grave
Step two: Put up "For Sale" sign...

Seriously, I would DEFINITELY report it. If for no other reason than I wouldn't want to be sleeping on top of somebody's grave!
Really, it's the right thing to do for crying out loud. It's the remains of a fellow HUMAN BEING!

Hunt/fish safely,
Phil

I looked up the KRS statute on it.

Yep, you are required to report it.

If it's an abandoned grave of a regular person from who knows when or who, YOU are required if you so desire to move it, purchase a cemetery plot to move it to. However, before you do it, you have to present the case to the Fiscal Court and get their blessing to move the grave.

If it's an American Indian, it ain't that simple. The best I can figure is you'll wish you didn't own that place.

Skipper

Besides feeling ethically responsible to report it, I would also think reporting it as the right thing to do to just in case it is a recent (within 40 or so year) unsolved disappearance to help put a family's mind at ease.

Skipper,
You use a riding lawn mower for a four wheeler, talk about searching for dead bodies, and now talk about finding skeletons. :speechles I'm not sure but are you all right? : Definitely would like the ability to hunt your area in Ky though.

Don't ferget about them Onions.

It's good to be alive and living in Southeast Kentucky.

So which do you want to hunt? Dead Bodies? Skeletons? or Deer? The latter is more fun from my personal experience. Come on up, we'll find a place for you?

Skipper