Why Them?

Saturday I was on the way home from L-Town and I decided to grab a cache. On the outskirts of Tyler, I turned off to visit a cemetery and pick up a quick cache. It was, in fact, quick and easy and when I was done, I was about to get back in the car and head off when I noticed I was almost literally parked on top of the pin of a Mystery. I wasn’t in a horrid rush so I decided to take a quick look at it before I left. Consequently, I ended up stumbling across an unexpected but famous (or rather, infamous) grave to add to my collection.

Believe me, the grave of David Koresh was not on my bingo card. But it did start me thinking about something. How do we as cachers decide whose graves we mark to remember? I’ve seen a lot of famous graves over my travels and some of them have had caches attached to them in one way or another. The Old West has been incredibly well represented. I’ve seen the likes of Billy The Kid, Jesse James, Doc Holiday, and a handful of others. Musicians have been somewhat represented such as Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Parker, and Buddy Holly. When I was in Lincoln, I found Virtuals at the graves of singer and actor Gordon MacRae and spree killer Charles Starkweather. Huey Long was well appointed and Paul Klipsch was interesting though I’m sure few are interested in the graves of engineers. I wasn’t able to get Marie Laveau when I was in New Orleans or F. Scott Fitzgerald when I was in Rockville, but hope springs eternal that I’ll be able to sometime when I pass back through. But so many others have gone without them. You would think that the grave of Benjamin Franklin of all people would have one there. What about John Hancock? If you put a Virtual at the grave of Martin Luther King Jr., you would probably rack up favorite points for days (though maybe you wouldn’t, but that’s a very different discussion). When I received a Virtual (that I haven’t placed yet), I started making a list of interesting graves where I would like to put it (if I have more than one, there would be so many famous graves…) but I’m not sure about how reviewers would treat it if I placed them in different states (it shouldn’t matter, but who knows?). I can only imagine that the choices are a reflection of who the COs are. I think this is part of the reason that there are so few Black figures comparatively (and pretty much none who aren’t musicians), but that’s just something I’m especially sensitive to.

I guess my point here (and I do have one) is if you’re going to point out a grave in Tyler, why choose Koresh over someone far less … problematic like Johnny Gimble?