Cemetery Gun
Turns out there was actually such a thing as a ‘cemetery gun’ (aka ‘set gun’ or ‘alarm gun’). Seems the Museum of Mourning Art at Arlington in PA has one on display.
They were used in cemeteries during the 18th and 19th centuries to discourage grave robbers. Not too clear on how they worked, heard stories of how the guns were ‘locked, cocked, and ready to rock’ once the lid was closed, with no way to deactivate them. And another story was that they were operated by way of trip wires. Seems that somebody walking through the graveyard would likely be shot if they stumbled upon such a wire. Guess these cemeteries needed a way to secure clientele…….
Often these were homemade apparently. Body snatching/grave robbing was a big problem 200 years ago give or take. To deter body snatchers cemeteries used cemetery guns/cannons, barbed wire, iron/cement coffins, booby trap coffin torpedos, etc. Most stolen bodies were sold to medical schools. The law allowed medical schools to use only the bodies of inmates condemned to death. So there was a shortage of cadavers. Stealing clothes/jewelry was a felony. Stealing a naked body was a misdemeanor. So grave robbers left the clothes/jewelry behind, mostly.
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