Perhaps it is the grave of a beloved pet.

I'm thinking if it is under the tree or at the base of a tree it could be a memorial stone type thing. I am pretty sure there wouldn't have been any human burials allowed in 1954 in a residential area of Oakville.

How are you all doing Nicole, how is Benny?

Anne

Really Anne? That is good to know. I really was hoping it wasn't a grave. :)

It's nice to "see" you! We really missed you at Christmas. We'll definitely get together the next time we're down there. Any chance of you coming up this way any time soon?

Here's a picture of the thing - whatever it is/was - that I just took from my bedroom. It's about 7 feet long....

Looks like a grave to me. How long is it? The only thing that makes me think it's not a grave is you said it said 1954. A grave would have a birth year plus the death year, unless, of course, it's a baby. There should be some kind of record at your court house.

Oh, and we're all well. Ben seems to be fine. I'm testing his blood sugar several times a day, and haven't gotten any high readings (no higher than 9) since we got out of the hospital. It's weird. Several times before this last hospital episode when we checked it, it was high, too. Not just when he's been sick. Just most of the time it'll be normal (even after a high carb meal), and periodically it will just spike high, seemingly out of the blue. On other glucometers, too, so it's not that we've got a faulty one or something. I don't know. He goes to the doctor on Feb. 5, so I'll definitely update after his appointment.

There are other words, too, that I can't pick out. It's too worn. But it's not right beside the date.

The name on it is Alice - uncommon name for a pet, but it could be. Or it could have been Alice's flower garden? I dunno.

I think you should call the owner/landlord and ask!

I think it's a flower bed, and would plant some shade loving perennials in it. And if it is a grave, that would be nice to have flowers on it.

Nicole, can you find out thru searching records who owned your piece of property back in '54? Then find the family and ask someone if they know. Hopefully it's just a dog's grave, but it would give you peace of mind to know. Are any of the neighbors "old-timers"? Maybe they would know. Or the realtor? I imagine it could also be some kind of planter that they put there when they planted the tree.

We have a large dog grave outside our bedroom window, but we marked with a large engraved stone with her name, dates and the fact that she was our best dog ever. The cats' graves are right next to her's.

Glad to hear the Ben is doing well!

They probably wouldn't know, Kat. The owners are a big company who bought this house and several others. They're going to be ripping them down in a couple of years and developing the area into condos. :( The house was abandoned for a while before that. I don't know who owned it originally - wonder if I could find out.

Nicole, City Hall should have a record of property ownership. Call 'em up and ask them how to go about finding this out.

I'll do that tomorrow - thanks, Flamingo!

Rub over the writing with chalk. It'll make it easier to read.

I would definitely go to the court house and check.Here you can go to the courthouse and look up deaths in the public records.Since you have at least a first name,a year and an address it should be fairly easy to find if there was a death there.And here I know you use to be able to bury people on their own land with proper permission from the county.Sorry,don't want to creep you out but I wouldn't be surprised if it is a human grave.

We live by an old cemetery and there are some graves in it outlined just like that one. If it was dated in the early 1900's or late 1800's, I'd say it might be a grave, but I doubt it from the date you mentioned

I am glad to hear Benny is doing okay.

I still don't think it would be a human grave but it wouldn't hurt to check. I have a large pet grave in my backyard under a tree and I think the pine coffin my brother's friend built for Arrow was over 5 feet long. LOL If somebody dug it up they would for sure think it was a real pine coffin right down to the old fashioned shape of it. LOL I should put a stone marker back there just in case somebody in the future wants to put a pool in. I don't want them to be in for any surprises. This way at least they would kno it was a dog's grave. LOLOL Can you imagine?

Are there any original neighbours still around? Maybe when the weather gets nicer out you'll get out and chat with them and could ask about it.

Anne

Sure wouldn't be my choice for a pet grave or a human one. Getting around those tree roots would be quite a task. Of course, the grave might have come before the tree. The tree could be a volunteer.

Maybe it was framed off for a bench or bird bath or the flower garden you already questioned. Now you've got us all curious. LOL

My guess is it looks like a flower garden. Guess you'll never know, But 1954 isn't that long ago. I'm sure you couldn't just bury a person in your backyard even 50 years ago.

Take a big piece of paper and lay it over the parts you can't read, then take a piece of charcoal or even a dark crayon and rub over the writing. It should come through on the paper so you can read it.

I'll do that tomorrow, too - try to decipher the rest of the words. It's almost dark now.

You know, that really creeps me out. :) I read everyone else's responses and thought, "well I really have nothing to add.." and then left your post. Upon further reflection, could it have been an area for invasive plants? In the distant past, our landlords had a huge mint patch which was separated from everything else like your "grave" is. Maybe it was a strawberry patch or a child's garden?

Or maybe it's a grave. *shiver* I wouldn't be able to look out of my window at night!

Danielle

With a date of 1954 my guess would be a pet is buried there. It could also be a memorial for someone. Perhaps the tree was planted then.

If you can find someone with "witching rods", they can tell you if there is any sort of body there. DH or I have the rods and can do it, but we are sort of far away :^(

It could be child's grave, not necessarily an infant but maybe a child of 6, 8, 12 years old (I can't tell how long the area is by the angle of the photo). I would find it very typical to plant that tree at the same time, too. And I expect it will take quite a bit of investigating. You might get lucky and find records but I'm thinking if it was illegal at that time, there won't be any record of the death. The family might have done it because they couldn't afford a proper burial. Good luck in finding out for sure.

bestlawn...I think she said it was 7 feet long...I'll go back and check....

patti

It looks like a grave to me too. Maybe a baby or small child. My Grandparents graves are identical to that one only larger. The babies they lost had small ones just like that. I would check it out too.
Judy

Sometimes if you photograph something, you can see things that you can't see just by looking at it. I would take several photos in different light, daytime and night, wet and dry, at different angles, with and without flash and put them on the computer. Lightening or darkening the photo may make the design or words show. The ideas from others could work also by themselves or with a photo.

Sometimes I help out at estate sales where boxes of cremated remains have been left behind. Not quite sure where they end up. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, but whatever you find out could be interesting. If they're tearing the property down, that stone might be an interesting pad in a garden elsewhere. When the demo guys get there, everything there will be history.

I wonder if there's a school that deals with forensic science near you that might want to come and use whatever is there for hands on experience in investigations. Linda

glad you posted linda..ds1 had to visit a graveyard for a college class. we took pix of the headstones and they do show up much better...(ours were at least 100 year older...)

Boy, have to say, it does look like a grave. And the tree doesn't look ancient--probably about, say, 50 years old? I think, whatever was outlined there, the tree was probably planted about the same time or shortly after.

Be sure to let us know what you find out.

I guess I would have tried to find out who/what it is if I lived there. It doesn't make me feel creepy, just fascinated with it.

Reminded me in a way of a picture I have of a marker in a cemetery in SC. This is an old and not very clear pic, but you can see the writing.

{{gwi:1575107}}

This is under a tree just a few feet away from the graves of my Aunt, Uncle and niece. My Aunt loved her dog. Uncle buried in 1958, Aunt in 1944 and niece in 1959.

I doubt if you could bury a dog in that cemetery now.

Sue

Looks like a grave. You could always take a shovel and dig down and see if you hit anything.

Kathsgrdn...oh my heck. I am laughing so hard I can hardly type. I think I would let someone else dig down to see if they hit anything.

I, too, think it is a grave. And sometimes, assessor sites will show previous owners...back for a ways anyway. I would definately be trying to figure it out. I wouldn't be creeped out about it though. I would be fascinated. We have a cemetery at the end of our street (4 houses down) and I love to walk thru and read the headstones. DH, on the other hand won't go near it. Let us know what you find out.

I would bet it may be the grave of a beloved pet, and the tree doesn't look like it could be any older than 1954. Was probably planted as a memorial.

If there is a human grave there the property couldn't be developed without major zoning changes and moving the grave. I really doubt it is a human grave.

Nicole, telephone the property manager or your landlord, he should be able to tell you.

Anne

Oh Anne, now I'm hoping it DOES turn out to be a grave - maybe there'd be delays and we'd get to live here longer. :)

I'll take more pictures tomorrow or Wednesday and post them on here.

I'd want to know for certain- with my luck wrecking crews & earth moving equipment would uncover human remains & cops would be at my door offering to 'escort' me downtown to answer some serious questions. lol.
Your property abstract would show all owners from wa-ay back & County Clerk has deeds recorded.

Do keep us posted.

Also, you don't want to go digging into it. I think there's a law against that. Disturbing a grave, or something?

Sue

oooh, I can't wait until you figure out what it is! Keep us updated! Once you can figure out the words, you'll probably be able to figure out what it is without having to do any digging!

I've been mulling this over even before kath wrote to start digging. That's what "I" would do. There wouldn't be a law against it if it wasn't a noted grave for sure...and you "might" be putting in a flower bed when you were digging...a deep one. I don't think I could help myself...I'd be out there diggning right now..snow and all :o)

Didn't you ask the realtor when you bought/rented the house? That would have been one of my first questions!! How old is the house?

If it's 7 feet long, it seems huge for a pet grave, unless maybe a big German Sheppard etc?

Keep us updated!

Maybee, I'd be helping you LOL. This is so very intriguing I wouldn't be able to help myself. No law against digging in your backyard (except to make sure there are no pipes) or an unmarked grave.

Have you thought about running a metal detector over it? I'm just sure there are metal things in the earth, but maybe not LONG metal pieces. I don't know how deep one will go but I'd be curious enough I'd be trying anything. And digging yourself would probably be tough--aren't graves 6 feet deep?

Today's been a crazy busy day and so I haven't had a chance to do anything. Tomorrow we've got a homeschooling field trip to a museum so I won't get out there until Friday. I'll do the chalk thing and take pictures then. If I can't find anything else out on my own, I'll call city hall.

Teresa, we would have asked when we rented the place if we had actually suspected that it was a grave, but I never really thought that it might actually be that until yesterday when I took a good look at it.

I would never ever ever dig there. It wouldn't creep me out just to have a grave in my yard, but it would sure creep me out to dig one up - legal or not. :)

Even though it is big for a pets grave, it could be a site set asside for more then one pets graves.

We use to have an un-official pet cemetery in our backyard. We just didn't want to end up with them here and there all over the backyard. Eventually we had three cats, a dog, and many birds (not exactly pets) but at least they were in one area.

I'm not creeped by this sort of thing but I find it very interesting.

It's probably a pet. However, you aren't going to find any record of a pet burial, and if it's an illegal human burial you aren't going to find any record of that either.

If on a long shot you dig it up and it turns out to be human, then you've got a crime scene on your hands.

I'm thinking it's probably a pet, but what if you dig up a baby or a fetus?

My advice would be to contact your local police station and get hold of the public affairs officer or neighborhood watch liason and ask them for advice on how to handle this. They may come out and take a look. Maybe they'll want to have someone there while you dig it up. Maybe not. That's where I'd start.

With a female name and a date inscribed in cement under a tree, my guess is it's not a garden stone.

Well it looks an awful lot like the grave we made for our Rottie, Tonka, when he passed on. We had to have a backhoe come in and dig it for us. He was a really big dog. I bordered it with railroad ties and planted a huge bed of daisies there. I made sure when we sold the place that the new owner was aware of the grave so that there weren't any "surprises" if he decided to dig there for some reason.

~Betsy

My friend used to bury her cats in the garden. She either didn't mark the graves, or the markers got moved and bumped.

Once, digging up dahlias or something, she unearthed a skull. She set it on the mantel in her pre-Colonial kitchen; she said she thought it was Killer but she wasn't sure.

(this is the same woman who gave my DD, as a First Communion present, a shopping bag w/ all sorts of nature "finds" in it--a piece of a wasps' next, a "button buck" skull, etc.)