# Time and history are very funny things. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952 "2008-11-29T18:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952/1 "2008-11-29T18:59:38Z")
I was creeping about in an old cemetery yesterday, looking for dead people. I’m going to give my boyfriend a mystery to solve for Christmas, and I need a young lady dead sometime between 1891, when the local newspaper I can get on microfilm started, and 1900, when it isn’t any fun anymore. I also need a grave that looks cool and it would be really nice if it’s got a tree or some bushes or something so nobody notices me digging holes and burying clues, because that could be hard to explain. I also need to remember where it is, and I need a bunch because what I really need is an obituary to lead him to the grave, and obviously not everybody got an obituary in the local paper. Anyway. I found one that was just PERFECT - big creepy angel, Masonic husband (also a theme in my mystery), dead infants… then I did the math and figured out she was a hundred and ten years old, which kind of quashes my illicit romance plot. 1790-1900. Jesus Christ, can you imagine? She may have died in a house with electric lights in it, and she was born when our constitution was a whole year old. I know it’s a young country, but wow - it’s a _really_ young country. Makes you think, don’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952/2 "2008-11-29T20:38:48Z")
Pictures, please? Also, can I say how AWESOME it is to give someone a mystery for Christmas? What an excellent present. Could you share the details of the mystery with us? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952/3 "2008-11-29T20:54:00Z")
It depends on what I win on Ebay. 🙂 I didn’t think to take pictures - I was really regretting that when I was thinking about how damned hard it was going to be to find the “good” graves again. I made totally incomprehensible notes - “tree by road and six babies”? ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952/4 "2008-11-30T14:35:26Z")
I 2nd the kudos for the Xmas gift. My wife would loooooooove that. Anymore details you can give us? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952/5 "2008-11-30T15:02:03Z")
Get a GPS unit and log the coordinates of the graves. Makes it really easy to find them again. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952/6 "2008-11-30T17:00:36Z")
Well, I completely forgot I had my iPhone with me and I could have taken pictures to locate myself. Guess I’ll just be looking for six babies! ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-and-history-are-very-funny-things/474952/7 "2008-12-01T16:43:41Z")
What a totally brilliant idea! Hope you give us more details and let us know how it turned out.