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Originally Posted by Happy Monkey
All those churches worrying about running out of graveyard space? Hint, hint...
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You joke, but honestly, thats part of the reason why the bones were used in the first place.
I took a class my senior year entitled History of Death in America, and among other things, we talked about this church (or another one like it, not sure if it was exactly this one) and the ideas about death surrounding it.
As expected, most people found it rather creepy and macabre, but obviously, it being a Christian church, it wasn't viewed as creepy around the time it was being used.
Our teacher told us that it used to be that when you died you were buried within the church grounds. Unfortunately, with people dying every day, and church lands not exactly getting any bigger, the places tended to fill up. Thus, some churches (i.e. this one) decided to make use of all the human remains.
And there you have it. As to the evolution of attitudes towards death, and how much things have changed, and the reasoning behind it all....well, it was a semester long class, so I don't think we have time for it here.
- Sam