The Hand of Fate

While slogging my way on safari through the cemeteries of the Commonwealth (neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this courier), I've often been curious about the floating hand that appears on many gravestones. For the most part, the hand has a finger pointing upward, presumably to Heaven. But every now and then you find one whose finger is pointing down.

What's up with that, I ask you? Surely they aren't suggesting that the person in the grave is going to H-E-double-toothpicks?



My colleague Joseph A. Citro, in his fine tome Weird New England, delves into the matter but remains stumped by the mysterious omnidirectional hand. And a cursory Google search led to me to a somewhat unsatisfying and specious-sounding explanation on the About.com: "A hand with the index finger pointing upward symbolizes the hope of heaven, while a hand with the index finger pointing down represents God reaching down for the soul."

I have trouble believing that the up and down fingers both mean essentially the same thing. If the up-pointing digit means Heaven, surely the people of centuries past saw the obvious logical symmetry implied by the hand pointing down. Then again, I wasn't there so I don't really know, and they're all dead themselves now, so who you gonna ask?

(Both examples of the hand spotted in Bedford Cemetery, Trimble County.)

Trimble County Birthday Vault

It's another Kentucky time capsule, this one outside the Trimble County Courthouse in downtown Bedford. I like that they actually don't call it a time capsule, they call it a "birthday vault."

Cemetery Shoe

One from our abandoned clothing department: why is this single shoe sitting in a cemetery in Trimble County? I mean, really, think about it - what could the story behind this possibly be?

W.H. Averitt

A grave that gives a little detail about how someone died always catches my eye, and this one that says "Murdered in Stanton" certainly did. In Bedford Cemetery (Trimble County), you'll find the grave of W.H. Averitt, who had been the Fayette County Attorney at the time of his murder in 1893.

Wrought-Iron Gravestone

An unusual grave marker, looking rather like a wrought-iron gate, in Trimble County's Bedford Cemetery.

Little Town and Country

I haven't tried the grub at the Little Town and Country restaurant in Bedford, KY yet, but I sure love soft-serve cones and neon signs.


The words "drive-in" puzzle me, though. It doesn't seem to be a "drive-in restaurant" in the sense of, say, Sonic, Wig Wam, Parkette, Dairy Dart or The Twin. There's a side window that might once have been for walk-up orders, but it doesn't appear to be in use now.

Glass-Encased Urns

I love the idea of any gravestone with glass or plexiglass enclosures, although I wish the companies that manufacture them would take better care to create ones that are actually waterproof.


This one (spotted in the Bedford cemetery in Trimble County) has unfortunately let in a great deal of moisture, to the extent that some sort of orange fungus is thriving inside the clear glass casing with the urns.