why are people buried 6 feet under?

Question

why does it have t be 6 feet. and why are some in those coffins above ground. dont you wanna be closer to heaven than hell?

oh and why are there grave robbers ?

Answer 1

English law once required a burial depth of 6 feet to ensure a corpse didn't spread the Bubonic plague to the living. Of course, this measure was ineffective as fleas infected with the plague probably spread the disease. The coffins today are usually put into a vault to keep them protected from rotting and also to keep the ground from sinking. In areas that flood, coffins will sometimes surface if there is no vault.
A long time ago, people in New Orleans had trouble burying the dead. If they dug even a few feet down, the hole would fill up with water. As a result, the buried caskets would float. People tried drilling holes in the caskets and using stones and sandbags to weigh down the body.
Early settlers decided to bury bodies above ground following the Spanish custom of using vaults. Now people are buried above-ground by choice not necessity.
And uh is hell below and heaven above....that would mean that Hell is inside the core of the earth. I think the direction is incorrect. Also, Christian usually burry east-west, with the head at the western end of the grave. I think Muslims sometimes turn the head of the body toward Mecca.
There are grave robbers because people used to be burried with all or a lot of their jewelry and possessions.
And think about it...unless they are burried in a pine box with no vault, which will still take a little time to rot, animals are not going to dig them up. Most coffins are no longer made of wood.

Answer 2

6 feet is where the ground is not frozen so the body will decompose. If it were say, 2 feet, the body would stay preserved. The coffins that are above ground are only in a temporary holding area until the ground unthaws in the spring and can be properly buried. The spirit is what goes to heaven, not the body. That happens when the person dies, not when they are buried.

Answer 3

The ones above ground are there because the shallow groundwater will float the coffins out of the ground. So, to keep that from happening, the bodies are kept in crypts.

Don't know about 6 ft under.

Answer 4

Microbes that promote decay don't making it down that far into the ground. It's a form of mummification in itself.

Odd that no one else knows this. As far as coffins floating to the surface if the ground becomes saturated enough it might float up from a hundred feet deep to the surface, it's basically an air bubble trapped under the ground.

Answer 5

A coffin is about 2- 2.5 feet high. If you bury them six feet under, when their spouse dies, you can bury the spouse on top of them without worrying about animals digging them up as they both will be under at least 1-1.5 feet of dirt. It also slows the grave robbers down.

Answer 6

6 foot is pretty tradional, the ones above ground are crypts, the coffin is inside. in a shallow grave you may find sometimes that the dirt moves and you can see the coffin, not overly nice, but why 6 foot i don't know

Answer 7

The ones above ground are usually in low lying places. That is where the custom began. They kept being washed up out of their graves. The six feet, I don't know. Maybe god commanded it.

aen

Answer 8

So that those of us that are still alive don't have to smell the decaying remains of the dead body in the ground. Some are above ground because, the area they are burried in has a higher sea level. At three feet you will hit water, so they won't be able to go the required depth of 6 feet.

Answer 9

perhaps if it rained really hard and someone wasn't buried in a coffin and were over 5 feet tall, their head might pop out of the ground. Therefore they bury them 6 feet.

Answer 10

When someone is buried at least six feet under, animals don't dig up and eat the remains.

Except of course for worms.

Pastor Art