Seattle police are looking for the ghouls who trashed a North Seattle cemetery last week.

According to a police report, 57 headstones at the Calvary Cemetery in Wedgwood were knocked over or damaged sometime after the cemetery closed on January 20th.

In the report, an officer estimates the damage to the cemetery to be between $150,000 and $2.5 million. Some of the damaged graves were over 100 years old.

Richard Peterson, director of cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Seattle, says Calvary will “readhere” the tombstones but, Peterson says, the cemetery does not have the resources to repair damaged graves. “Itโ€™s very sad that people would spend their energy desecrating graves for no good reason,” he says.

Peterson says Calvary has added additional surveillance on the property and is working with neighbors and the police department. “All cemeteries have problems from time to time,” Peterson says.

Jonah Spangenthal-Lee: Proving you wrong since 1983.

19 replies on “Is It Bad Luck to Knock Over 57 Gravestones?”

  1. How much time can you give these assholes. They are probably kids anyway so they won’t get much punishment. They need to be sued so deeply they will be homeless into their 80s.

  2. Again this fixation on law and order. The law upholds the wealth of th3 rich men, who got it by theft; it is the law breakers who expressr Hobsbaumian proto revolutionary consciousness — it’s the same whether it’s Robin Hood myths, or the Joker, or these Vandals. They “upset” headstones, head being like capital, representing the dead, stored labor extracted during the lives of those wealthy dead people from their wage slaves. Upsetting headstones thus locates its meaning in the overturning of capital; it is an inchoate revolutionary act.

  3. “Readhere” definitely needs a dash to clarify the pronunciation (otherwise, you read it as “read-here”). “Re-adhere”, please and thanks!

  4. Jonah – One of my earlier memories is playing with you in your basement. You showed me your “Monster Mash” record, and how to speed it up so it sounded like chipmunks. I am glad to see you still like that song! Take care,
    Kendra

  5. Shouldn’t there be a lot of comments referring to Blair Witch Project instead of a song from the 1960s?

    Or is John McCain posting all these comments?

  6. It’s deeply saddening that the sacred resting places of our dead are not safe from harm.

    “Youth is disintegrating. The youngsters of the land have disrespect for their elders and a contempt for authority in every form. Vandalism is rife, and crime of all kinds is rampant among our young people. The nation is in peril” — (quote from an Egyptian princess nearly 4000 years ago)

    Vandalism may be simply an age-old problem of controlling disorder and high spirits among the young, rather than an indication of declining moral standards.

  7. 13: Cemetaries aren’t just for the dead or even just for the religious. I live near a cemetary and, even though I knew no-one there, it’s the place I go to remember my dead loved ones or just to remind myself to appreciate life in its brevity. It’s an important place for many.

  8. #4 “Death Cab For Cutie” is a song performed by The Bonzo Dog Band. Their keyboard player was Neil Inness, who appeared in some of the final episodes of Circus, often in a musical capacity. He also toured with them doing the music parts, and wrote the music for many Monty Python Record and Movie and wrote material for the Rutles.

    The song and band appear in The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” and Paul McCartney appears on the Bonzo’s “I am The Urban Spaceman.”

    Seek out the album “Gorilla” their first and best album, which includes “…Cutie.” Unfortunately, except for the 3-cd “Cornology: The Complete Bonzo Dog Band” “…Cutie does not show up on any compilations, so if you don’t want to get it all, get Gorilla and then either History of, or Best of to get indispensable songs like “Mr. Appollo,” “Trouser Press,” “We Are Normal,” “I’m The Urban Spaceman,” “Canyons of Your Mind,” and “Suspicion.” (“Suspicion is only available on those two compilations).

  9. Its really sad when someone damaged love one’s monuments or markers. It’s hard to replace those stones because they are from 100 years ago and mostly they are not available now.

    I just can’t believe that they can do this kind of vandalism. It’s somebody’s mother, father, grandparents or friends they hurts the most.

    Sad!

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