Groundspeak Portal

 Recently, we purchased a GPS and are embarking on a new hunting adventure. My wife and I have been taking pictures of graves for requests from Findagrave.com. These are mostly in our general zip code area. Since we often go north to our hometown, Toledo, OH, we try to fill some requests along the way.
 For my birthday, I was given a copy of Ohio Oddities and on page 32, I learned of a famous gravestone that was mysteriously moving by itself. It has been investigated by people like Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not and Paul Harvey, as well as scientists from as far away as Russia.
 Thought to be the only peripatetic monument in existance, I quickly came upon another one that very day, in another graveyard, due west of Marion, Ohio. To my astonishment, it was located at a similar latitude... 40.5. This is the graveyard GPS position of both balls, not the exact monument position. Hence, the Garmin aqusition, and a more exact position, will settle my questions.
 That very same day, we traveled east of Marion and visited a graveyard for more pictue-taking. The sexton was very nice to us and we talked about the moving monument oddities. He was quick to tell me about a similar moving monument in Claridon, Oh.. His recently deceased boss had a grave directly across the graveyard from it and the locals have talked about it with no notoriety.
 Guess what...that monument is also at latitude 40.5..While Googling Garmin info, I ran across Geocaching and then found this more-exact website for what I need.
 In a nutshell, I need more people to investigate along the latitude 40.5, for anything purportedly moving by itself, all across the globe.
 I have probably deduced nothing at all or I have found an anomaly that Waymarkers can get in on, on the ground floor..no pun intended.
 In the near future, I will revisit those graves and give exact latitudes for each grave marker. Look for them before the year is up.

Hi!  I've done some of the Findagrave stuff, too.  Not always easy to find a specific grave in a large cemetery without some sort of directory!   I was in southern Ohio (Portsmouth) so was a little south of 40.5.  Cemeteires are very different here in Korea where we now are, and I don't think I'll be able to get to 40.5 here.  Seems someone drew a line here!

Anyway, it is an interesting phenomenon and as far as waymarking is concerned, these locations/stories could probably be created as a waymark and posted to one of the existing categories - maybe weird stories or hauntings.

Aside from that, there are enough waymarkers poking around cemeteries for our many other grave related categories that it might be an interesting investigation.

ROCK&ROLL:

  Thought to be the only peripatetic monument in existance, I quickly came upon another one that very day, in another graveyard, due west of Marion, Ohio. To my astonishment, it was located at a similar latitude... 40.5. This is the graveyard GPS position of both balls, not the exact monument position.

 

I'm not positive that it's the same one you're talking about , but I know there is supposed to be one in the LaRue cemetery (which probably is the one due west of Marion).  I've never personally seen that one.  I've been to the LaRue cemetery once, but I forgot to look for the ball there. 

I just realized that I haven't posted the cemetery yet, but I did find another one in a small cemetery not far from Malabar Farm, around Lucas/Ashland.  I don't have the details handy though.  Using decimal coordinates, it should be somewhere around 40.7 or 40.6

 

That's correct..La Rue has a ball..Hastings is the name and it is located near the front entrance. Your other monument is too cool...see how close it is to latitude 40.5..please send more information..thanks

There is a sphere that appears to have rolled in Brookside Cemetery in Tecumseh, very close to this Civil War Memorial

 

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4XWC

Good one...let's get a waymark ! Anyone ?

" In a nutshell, I need more people to investigate along the latitude 40.5, for anything purportedly moving by itself, all across the globe."

Here is a list of graveyards and counties along the latitude 40.5 in Ohio..If anyone is near any of these and would check locally for any moving monument information, I would appreciate any feedback..thanks !

     Ohio 40.5 AUGLAIZE
ARNETT, BENNER, BURK, GEYER, HARUFF, JULION, KELLER, LOCKHART, MOUNT LOOKOUT, MOUNT TABOR, OLD CATHOLIC, OLD SAINT JOHNS, OLD SAINT JOSEPHS, OLD SAINT MARYS
     Ohio 40.5 CARROLL
CHAMPERS, CHESTNUT RIDGE, DEEP SPRINGS, DOWNING, GREEN HILL, GREENBRIAR-WEST UNION, HARLEM SPRINGS, HEITZ, LEAVITTSVILLE, LEE, MCGAURAN, MCGUIRE, MOOREHEAD, PRICE-ROLLINS, ROBY, SCROGGSFIELD, UNION VALLEY, WELLS-JACKMAN, WESTVIEW
     Ohio 40.5 HARDIN
 BAILEY, BOWDLE, HINKLE, LYNN GROVE, MCARTHER, MOUNT VICTORY, NEW ROUNDHEAD, OLD FAIRVIEW, OLD ROUNDHEAD, RUTLEDGE, SEIG
     Ohio 40.5 HOLMES
ABE A YODER FARM-HOLMES , ADAM H MILLER FARM-HOLMES CO, AGOSTA-MARION CO, ALBERT SCROCK FARM-HOLMES CO, ALVIN I YODER FARM-HOLMES CO, ANDREW RABER FARM-HOLMES CO, ANKENYTOWN KNOX CO, ANNA J MILLER FARM- HOLMES,BEACHY-HOLMES, BERLIN TOWNSHIP-HOLMES,  CHRISTY CHAPEL,  DANIEL J MILLER FARM,  DANIEL J MILLER FARM,  DAVID J YODER FARM, DELBERT SHEPLER FARM, GINDLESBERGER, HENRY BEACHY FARM=HOLMES, HERSHBERGER-HOLMES,  IVAN D TROYER FARM-HOLMES,
JACOB E MILLER FARM-HOLMES,H MILLER FARM-HOLMES, KAUFMAN-HOLMES, KAYLOR RIDGE-HOLMES, KOLB, LEVI ERB FARM, MELVIN J HERSHBERGER FARM-HOLMES, MELVIN MILLER FARM-HOLMES, MELVIN SHETLER FARM-HOLMES, MONROE LUTHERAN-HOLMES, MOSES COBLENTZ FARM-HOLMES, MOSES J MILLER FARM-HOLMES, MOSES MILLER FARM-HOLMES, NASHVILLE METHODIST,NOAH BEACHY FARM-,OLD DUTCH LUTHERAN-ROMAN D MILLER FARM-HOLMES, ROMAN RABOR FARM-HOLMES, ROY BURKHOLDER FARM-HOLMES,SALEM REFORMED,SHRIMPLIN-,SUNNYSIDE,WELCOME
     Ohio 40.5 KNOX
ANKENYTOWN, BASSETT, BIGELOW, FOUR CORNERS, HARDING, JELLOWAY METHODIST EPISCOPAL, LEVERING, NORTH BEND CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN, NORTH LIBERTY, RIDENOUR, RUHL, SHADLEY VALLEY, STRONG
      Ohio 40.5 MARION
AGOSTA, BARKS HISTORICAL, BONNER, BOYER, CANAAN, COLLMER, COOPER VESTAL, CRIMM, DICKASON, GERMAN REFORM, GREEN CAMP, GUTHERY, HARDING MEMORIAL,
HINDS, IDLEMAN, KLINGLE, LA RUE, MYRES, OLD MARION, PLOTNER, REIDEL, SAINT JOHNS REFORMED, SAYLOR, SMITH-WITZEL, WILLIAMSON, ZIEG
      Ohio 40.5 MERCER
LANDFAIR, LIVE OAK, OLD TOWN
      Ohio 40.5 MORROW, NORTH GROVE, PETRIE, STATE LINE, SWAMP COLLEGE
BINGHAM,  BRYN ZION, GLENDALE, HEXSITE, MOSHER, PULASKIVILLE, PURVIS, RIVER CLIFF
     Ohio 40.5 TUSCARAWAS
BRANDYWINE, BROADRUN, DOVER BURIAL PARK, DUNDEE, FELLER, FOURTH STREET, SUNFISH, WESTON, WORDEN, YANKEE STREETGORSUCH, HARDSCRABBLE, MILLER-MAST, RUSLIN HILL, SAINT JOSEPHS CATHOLIC, SHANESVILLE EASTLAWN, SHANESVILLE FIRST REFORMED, SOMERDALE, WALTER, ZOARVILLE 

 

ROCK&ROLL:

That's correct..La Rue has a ball..Hastings is the name and it is located near the front entrance. Your other monument is too cool...see how close it is to latitude 40.5..please send more information..thanks

Wouldn't ya know, I took a little motorcycle ride this morning, and stopped at the La Rue Cemetery along the way.....completely forgot to look for the ball there again.   Arg!

I have a picture of the other one I was talking about, near Lucas...but not directly.  You can see it, and the unpolished spot in the background of THIS photo.  The coords for the Zinc headstone that I was taking the picture of is

40 43.184    082 20.929
or
40.71973    -82.34882

It's just a few feet from the ball.

Motorcycles do that to me too...it's the dopamine...

I'm glad to see another moving stone, even if it isn't on the precise 40.5 latitude.

The book, "Ohio Oddities", ISBN 1-886228-49-3, page 33, states that there is a similar ball and pedestal in another part of the cemetery (south), that has not moved even a fraction of an inch in the last 100 years. Maybe because it's pinned and no one knows it or..it might be south of Merchant's ball is not affected but north of it is affected. I just got my Garmin and will be waymarking preciseiy, soon.

Thanks for the picture...I admit..I'm amazed by this, and so are lots of people. The book says that the Merchant's monument has become such a tourist attraction that it is included in bus tours of the city.

 FYI.. contact the Marion Area Convention and Visitors' Bureau, 1952 Marion-Mt.Gilead Rd, 800.371.6688. 

 

I wonder if a little water gets in there, and it does the same thing as the Kugel Balls? Maybe a bad storm with wind?

That's a good one !..Where is this one located ?

 Kugel balls are high pressure water fountains contained by the weight of the ball. Even small children can move them.

The Merchant ball was repositioned with a crane and it was lead sealed around the bottom to be sure no water could get in but the ball still moves about an inch a month. It weighs more than 5 tons. There are no scratch marks,either..

 After seeing the Merchant obit, I realized that he was a train magnate and that reminded me of the tracks that rumbled nearby the Marion and the La Rue graveyards. Yet another possibility for good vibrations.

That ball  is very close to this waymark

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4XWC in Tecumseh MI

 

RADON could also be a culprit. It's a gas and a century ago, it was probably strong as heck in granite mined locally. Here's a link to This Old House counter top conclusions...

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,20241210,00.html

I like the Kugel Ball theory myself.  Kind of reminds me of The Racetrack and the various theories of how the large stones move across the desert floor:

 

  I always wondered about those..I actually saw some timelapse video of them moving..seems like..when it rains, it creates a slippery mud and the wind pushes them along...would've never believed it if I hadn't seen it..

 I went back to Marion this week and inspected three more balls in that graveyard. To my surprise, two of them had shown movement. The Ohio Oddities book said that other nearby balls did not move like the Merchant ball. Not so....one thing though, they were smaller and I could actually move them with one hand. I was cautious not to disrespectively move anything, but it made me think.  What if someone had the same idea as me and moved these balls ?

 Any ball under 30 inches could be suspect to human intervention.

 

mr. 0:

I just realized that I haven't posted the cemetery yet, but I did find another one in a small cemetery not far from Malabar Farm, around Lucas/Ashland.  I don't have the details handy though.  Using decimal coordinates, it should be somewhere around 40.7 or 40.6

  I finally got pictures and co-ords for the Richland county ball

...

N 40°43.176    W -82°20.928

It's pictured under Richland county graveyard at Findagrave.com.

 

ROCK&ROLL:

 
 That very same day, we traveled east of Marion and visited a graveyard for more pictue-taking. The sexton was very nice to us and we talked about the moving monument oddities. He was quick to tell me about a similar moving monument in Claridon, Oh.. His recently deceased boss had a grave directly across the graveyard from it and the locals have talked about it with no notoriety.
 Guess what...that monument is also at latitude 40.5

After talking with the Rivercliff sexton again, he said he was mistaken about the moving monument in Claridon..but I assured him that the Richland Royer ball was north and only about 15 miles away.

The Richland Royer ball had some bad scratches on it but not unlike the Marion Merchant ball, it could have been physically repositioned at one time

I have a Garmin E Trex H and I have been trying to come up with my own USB connector to my computer. This particular Garmin has a connection on the top that uses a sliding connector with 4 metallic surfaces ( RS232 )which mate a similar cord. The cord I have actually is a power connection but with a little solder and tape, I should be able to make the computer cable I need with a spare USB cable.

Does anyone have any experience jury-rigging a cable like this ? Any help appreciated..TIA..

I'm not very savvy on the tech of it. That's my husband's department. I have this Garmin eTrex and can connect to my computer, download waypoints, etc. If this is the eTrex you have, I can have my husband (Tom) jot off a message letting you know what you need and what to do.

That would be a great help...I think the Garmin site says I need 2 cables..not sure though..

The cost would be near what the device costs.. Thanks..

ROCK&ROLL:

I have a Garmin E Trex H and I have been trying to come up with my own USB connector to my computer. This particular Garmin has a connection on the top that uses a sliding connector with 4 metallic surfaces ( RS232 )which mate a similar cord. The cord I have actually is a power connection but with a little solder and tape, I should be able to make the computer cable I need with a spare USB cable.

Does anyone have any experience jury-rigging a cable like this ? Any help appreciated..TIA..

I've seen such a thread on the geocaching forums. I had a big headache with the RS232 to US connector. The first I  bought on Eay. an off brand, and it never did work no matter what drivers they sent me. Then I bought a name brand (I think keyport?) and I had no trouble. The new one was ugly but it worked like a champ, it was about 20$ used.

ROCK&ROLL:

I have a Garmin E Trex H and I have been trying to come up with my own USB connector to my computer. This particular Garmin has a connection on the top that uses a sliding connector with 4 metallic surfaces ( RS232 )which mate a similar cord. The cord I have actually is a power connection but with a little solder and tape, I should be able to make the computer cable I need with a spare USB cable.

Does anyone have any experience jury-rigging a cable like this ? Any help appreciated..TIA..

 

I got a Manhattan Serial To USB converter at my local computer store $19.99 comes with the driver.

I got some great techy friends that showed me just what I needed.

The thing you want also has a power supply you can get both for just a little more in one (that is what the 2 chords do).

1 is for the GPS to Computer and the other is to power supply but can be purchased together.

I found this site that's kind of like WIKIHOW and explains how the connection on a Garmin etrex H is routed to a serial cord. It even has pictures of jury-rigged connectors..I'm working on one now., even though I have one coming from E-Bay...you can never have enough cords...

http://tinyurl.com/8wm7fc

This one is in East Cleveland Township Cemetery N 41° 30.840 W 081° 36.101 

Here is a Forum Link to Geochums trying to get a better understanding of why.

http://www.geochums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4068&hl

 

We just figured it moves because of water and wind and the sphere not be attached to the rest of monument.

Team RAGAR:

This one is in East Cleveland Township Cemetery N 41° 30.840 W 081° 36.101 

Here is a Forum Link to Geochums trying to get a better understanding of why.

http://www.geochums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4068&hl

 

We just figured it moves because of water and wind and the sphere not be attached to the rest of monument.

Dude must have been quite the fan to get the Death Star mounted on his headstone... Have you entered this in "All things Star Wars"?

kidding

BQ