Do graveyards smell? Are graveyards safe? Do graveyards ever run out of space? City of Charlotte Sexton Bill Bibby sits with Jason Puckett — yes, in a mausoleum — to answer some of Google’s most asked questions about cemeteries and share his experiences as a grave digger.
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Jason Puckett: Did you know that
there is a full-fledged Mausoleum in the city of
Charlotte? Yeah, it's this big Building behind me — the Oaklawn
Mausoleum and the Oaklawn Cemetery. And since Halloween is
right around the corner, we Figured this was the perfect
time to talk to the man who uses This building as a second
office. His name is Bill Bibby. He's the sexton for the City of
Charlotte. And he's got some Pretty fascinating stories about
working in cemeteries. And I am Joined here today by Mr. William
'Bill' Bibby. Bill, thanks so Much for joining us today. Bill Bibby: Thank you, Jason. Jason Puckett: Tell the folks at
home listening and watching Where we're sitting right now. Bill Bibby: We are actually
sitting in the Oaklawn Mausoleum, which is in the
Oaklawn Cemetery out on Oaklawn Avenue. It was built in 1928.
And it was like the first Community mausoleum built in the
Carolinas by EJ Smith Company Out of Cleveland, Ohio. Jason Puckett: We're literally
surrounded right now by how many Bodies? Bill Bibby: 302 people are in
here. Jason Puckett: And this just to
reiterate, is Bill's second Office more or less. Bill Bibby: Correct. This is my
hidden office, but everybody Knows where I'm at when they
call me. Jason Puckett: But I want to
just jump into it here. Are you A grave digger, and why or why
not? Bill Bibby: That is a funny
question. So you know how you go Out and you have a conversation
with people and you know, the Normal question, 'is what do you
do for a living?' And my wife is Normally with me all the time
and somebody asks me what I do For a living. I just blurt it
right out. I'm a grave digger. Jason Puckett: Self-described. Bill Bibby: Self-described. I
don't try to sugarcoat it or
Anything. But, I probably
haven't dug a grave for over a Year. Because I have people that
do. Jason Puckett: What does the
term sexton actually mean? Bill Bibby: It's just a
graveyard — they take care of The graveyards, and it was more
on the Catholic side and it just Kept sticking for the Catholic
cemeteries. So if you look it Up, it'll say caretaker now. The
good one is the grave robber. They weren't grave robbing for
jewelry, they were grave robbing For the bodies. Jason Puckett: Alright, so I
have a goofy section here. I Just started typing in on Google
like graveyards and cemeteries And sort of seeing what the auto
populating were for the Questions. Bill Bibby: Okay. Jason Puckett: I wanted to run
some of them that highlighted Both because I thought they were
entertaining and also some of Them I have no idea. So if you
type in, 'are graveyards', at The start you get, 'are
graveyard safe?' Bill Bibby: Okay. Yes. Jason Puckett: Always? Bill Bibby: No. Jason Puckett: Can you
elaborate? Bill Bibby: Maybe. Okay.
Graveyards are safe if the Sexton is doing the right thing.
You know, just to explain that Elmwood-Pinewood when I first
got here and my wife knew it Right away. She knew I was going
to tackle that one first because It was the most historic but in
the worst shape. I had 23 Homeless people living in there.
So certain things you got to do Is go in get rid of the the
bushes. You're gonna get some Slack from family members
because I cut up the bushes. Okay, to get the homeless out.
And then I lifted up the canopy Of all the trees, so I can see
under them. Because of course, You know, normally people like
me, graveyard guys, sextons, Don't like trees. Because they
tear up the granite. I'm not
Going to beat the city arborist
in that battle, so I've learned To deal with that. So, but, it's
the sexton that makes it safe. You know, now I put bike lanes
in. More people in cemeteries, The less bad you're gonna have,
believe it or not, except I Don't want to know what goes on
at night. Jason Puckett: I think what
they're asking for 'are graves', But it read 'are graveyards
reused'. Does that mean anything To you? Bill Bibby: Graveyards reused.
Okay. Yeah. If they're not Occupied. There's a reclaim
process that you go to if you Haven't heard from a family
member for 100 years. Jason Puckett: Oh, you mean like
if they bought the plot and that Person never ended up being
burried there. Okay. Bill Bibby: Correct. Jason Puckett: So there's like a
time limit on how long you can Actually hold a piece of land. Bill Bibby: Correct? Jason Puckett: Are graveyards
open at night? Bill Bibby: Ours are. Jason Puckett: How late? Bill Bibby: All night long. Jason Puckett: Oh, you can come
in here 24 hours a day? Bill Bibby: Mhmm. Jason Puckett: Okay, that's good
to know. Then if you switch over To the 'do graveyards'
questions, 'do graveyards get Full or run out of space?' Bill Bibby: Yes. Jason Puckett: What happens
typically at that moment? Bill Bibby: If you run your
cemetery correctly, your Perpetual care, if you charged
enough for it, and how a Cemetery works, the interest of
the perpetual care is what keeps That cemetery going. Jason Puckett: Gotcha. Okay. Do
graveyards smell? Bill Bibby: No. Outside, no.
Inside mausoleums? Yes.
Jason Puckett: There's not
really… Bill Bibby: There's no smell
here. That's why like it. Jason Puckett: But some of them
do have a smell? Bill Bibby: Yeah, they didn't
seal the crypt up very well. Jason Puckett: Okay, and I'm
guessing that's just a smell You've learned and get used to? Bill Bibby: Yep. Soon as I walk
in the door, it'll hit you in The face. Jason Puckett: I'm guessing
someone like me who's not used To that would be new be like… Bill Bibby: Blahhh Jason Puckett: Then this one I
was confused by this, but it Made me think of something you
might have touched on before, 'do graveyards face east?' Bill Bibby: No. The graves face
east to adopt the denomination. Some people you have to bury
facing east. Jason Puckett: So that's a
religious choice. Okay, but then Like a city cemetery…okay. So
switching over to the why Questions here? Why do
graveyards have fences? Bill Bibby: To keep people in.
That's the biggest joke. Jason Puckett: Oh God. Now
everyone's watching is gonna be Like I knew it. He saved it
until the end. Bill Bibby: Fence lines. They
just did it to segregate you Know that it is a cemetery. It's
like fences going around the Airport. You know, fence goes
all the way around them. You Know, Charlotte Douglas Airport. Jason Puckett: Yeah. Who's gonna
run out there when people don't Come in the right entrance? Bill Bibby: Correct. And you
want to funnel everybody in. Jason Puckett: Why are
graveyards so noisy? And I added An addendum: is that even true?
Are graveyards noisy? Bill Bibby: No. They're quiet. Jason Puckett: I think maybe is
there a part of that I'm like, Do recently buried bodies make
noises?
Bill Bibby: No. Jason Puckett: Okay. See, these
are good things to clear up. Your folks are getting the true
answers here. And then Countering that, 'why are
graveyards so peaceful?' was the Following question. Bill Bibby: It has the sanctuary
type feeling you go into into It. My favorite thing is nature.
To watch the hawks chase the Squirrels, and the squirrels eat
the nuts, and everything that Goes with it. And yes, do I talk
to the hawks, and they don't Talk back. But it's the nature
part to me is the most Fascinating. Jason Puckett: I kind of want to
get in a little bit more too a Little bit more about Bill here.
Because I feel like we talked Mostly 'job'. So I went to
Google and I looked up the best Getting-to-know-you questions,
and I'm gonna rapid fire some of Them off at you here real quick. Bill Bibby: Let me loosen up. Jason Puckett: Limbering up
here. First off, are you Married, single, or as Facebook
says it's complicated. Bill Bibby: Married. Jason Puckett: Married. What
about kids? Any family you'd Like to mention or give a shout
out to? Bill Bibby: Five kids. Jason Puckett: Five kids. Bill Bibby: Yes. We're a blended
family. Jason Puckett: Wow. Bill Bibby: My wife had two, I
had three. Jason Puckett: That is a lot of
kids. Bill Bibby: And now we're on our
fourth grandchild. Jason Puckett: What are some of
your hobbies outside of work? Bill Bibby: Ah, that's a lot. I
love golf. I love cornhole. I Was big in college with
baseball. I love photography. I Love classical music. Jason Puckett: What are you
passionate about? And again,
Let's say outside of work. Bill Bibby: Outside of work.
That's a hard one. Because my Passion is what I do. So how you
say it. And people see that a Lot in me. It was the passion of
four cemeteries. Have I stopped My family through going on
vacation to look at cemeteries? Everywhere we go, we go
cemetery. Cemetery. Because That's the English and
Australian terminology of it. Jason Puckett: Well, and correct
me if I'm wrong, but you you've Taken a real active interest in
the history, which is not really A job requirement. But it has
made you sort of know from our Experience from interviewing you
not only who's buried here, but Their stories, their histories,
the area's history, kind of walk Us through how you got into the
history aspect. Bill Bibby: Well, the history
aspect comes it's usually starts With the records. And in the
file. You may get a card that You come across a guy's name,
and they'll have how they died. So like gunshot wound to the
head. Well, I'm looking back in 1900. Looking through newspapers
how this guy died, it may may be In there may or may not be in
there. So then we start the History part of it. And then
that sort of turns into to the Tours that we do especially at
Elmwood and Pinewood cemeteries. We did a lot of tours, because
it's one of the most historical Ones around. Jason Puckett: How long have you
been in the Charlotte area? Eight years. Working on my
ninth. So last question on this rapid
fire section. If you could visit Anywhere where would you like to
go? Bill Bibby: Père Lachaise
Cemetery. Jason Puckett: Where's that? Bill Bibby: France. Paris,
France. Most visited cemetery in The world. People that are in
there. The beautification of the Cemetery. Botanical garden.
Arboretum. You name it, they got It all. That's what, you know,
cemeteries were more made from. That's where the big push was
from the French coming over here
And making cemeteries more of a
park-like setting because we Didn't have parks and recs back
in those days. Jason Puckett: I know this is a
huge topic, but I don't want to Ask a leading question here. So
I'm gonna just leave it at, can You sort of explain what the
pandemic was like for y'all? Bill Bibby: You want that bullet
points. Okay. I gained 40 Pounds, stressed out. The families who we dealt with
and watching a mom scream over a 10-year-old's casket and you
deal with it all the time out There. That hurts me at times.
It's the moans, people grieving Really out loud that stick into
your mind. And that's a hard Thing to get rid of. Because
what I like to tell people is, I Don't really have nobody to turn
to. To talk to about it. So it Kind of stays inside, stored in
there and I tried to brush it Off to the back left, just leave
it there. So, but yes, it gets Tough. Jason Puckett: I know as a
society, I think there were There were like highs and lows
of people recognizing the hard Work of others. I know a lot of
medical professionals, Rightfully so, got a lot of
shout outs, but I just really Wanted to also say thank you for
the work you did. A lot of People missed that you guys were
the ones who ultimately had to Take care of all this. Bill Bibby: I felt bad for the
doctors and the nurses. Yeah. Well, nonetheless, thank you for
all the hard work. Thank you. Thank you. That is all the time for the
questions I have. We also have To let Bill get back to work.
But before we go, I want you to Offer any of these cameras, is
there anything you'd want to Say, or shout out, or you know,
if you're talking directly to The folks listening? Basically in a nutshell, If I
had a thing to say is the fact That death is not what is
portrayed to be death. It's not. It's a fact of life. We all
don't want to die. But I want
People to — to help that
decision or that you want to do Cremation or traditional, that
you make those pre-need Arrangements. Because it helps
your family and it helps us too, At the same time. That's the
biggest thing. Because it's Tough to take a person through
it all. Jason Puckett: And Bill is a big
believer that cemeteries don't Have to be spooky. It is
essentially a big, beautiful, Well-maintained park where you
can come and live while also Remembering and honoring those
who have passed before. Thanks a Ton to Bill for sitting down
with us, and from all of us here At the city, Happy Halloween.
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