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Dead funny gravestones and farewells to remember


Dead funny Irish gravestone - some people just have to get the last laugh
Dead funny Irish gravestone - some people just have to get the last laugh

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A new book ‘Dead Funny’ traces the funniest gravestone epitaphs in Ireland. The Irish have long been known for their love of the macabre and humor, even in death.

Here are my top ten entries. The book written by Allen Foster ,a freelance writer,  can be purchased at www.gillmacmillan.ie.

1.  From Northern Ireland:

“Erected to the memory of JOHN PHILLIPS, accidentally shot as a mark of affection by his brother.

2. Belturbet County Cavan:

here lies John Highey, whose mother and father were drowned in their passage from America. Had they both lived they would be buried here.”

3. Belfast City Cemetery:

 DUFFY: In loving memory of beloved Gerald, husband father, Died 30th November 1989 aged 65 years: I told you’s I was sick.

4. Larne County Antrim:

At the grave of a man hanged for sheep stealing:
Here lies the body of Thomas Kemp, lived by wool died by hemp

5. Belfast:

Beneath this stone lies Katherine my wife
In death my comfort, and my plague through life
Oh liberty! but soft I must not boast
She’s haunt me else , by jingo ,with her ghost

6. Dublin:

Here lies the remains of John Hall, grocer. The world is not worth a fig. I have good raisins for saying so.

7. Youghal, County Cork:

 Here lies poor but honest Cecil Pratt. He was a most expert angler until death, envious of his merit threw out his line and hooked him.

8. Waterford:

Here lies the body of Anthony Reynolds, who although a miller was an honest man.”

9. County Clare:

This stone was raised to Sarah Ford, not Sarah’s virtues to record - for they’re well known to all the town. No Lord; it was raised to keep her down.”

10. Mallow, County Cork:

Here lies the body of Edmund Spenser, great great grandson of the poet Spenser, unfortunate from his cradle to his grave.”


Nster.com


21 Comments

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MY favourite epitaph-'Was that it?'
Intriging! My Great Great grand uncle, Bryan Byrne born 1800 in Ireland, has a stone in the Irish section of the Vincennes Indiana Mt Calvary Cemetery. He died in 1865. No other info is available after much searching. I visit his stone frequently and ask him to enlighten me about his life. So far nothing.There are hundreds of Irish buried here.
Number 2 is not that funny. More sad
Great!
This is funny...I always told my son, that when I die, there will not be any information about my date of birth, etc. It would read, "Matthew, you are 100% responsible for all you do in life", Mom
Ah we miss the characters.. Hesh McCormack - oft lost election candidate for Laois-Offaly. He would "shoe the footless" and "hitch a lift up to the Dail with Oliver J (FG TD) if he won"
Ah, we all came in the same way and we all go the same way. Birth and death, the great equalizers.
I saw one that read,"Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake- who stepped on the gas insteadd of the brake" Calvery Cemetary, Queens N. Y. USA
drive carefully!
Previously...Here Lies Lester Moore Two Shots From a Forty-Four No Less, No Moore.......Boot Hill, Tombstone, Arizona
The comedian, ("I don't get no respect")Rodney Dangerfield has carved on his tombstone, "There goes the neighborhood."
funy!
Had a good chuckle!
Love this, I'll have to find the book! Amazon here I come!
My father's cousin had the "I told you I was ill" put on her stone in IL back in the "90s. His other cousin thought it delightful. Have to see her stone as I wonder what she had put on it. Must be an "Irish thing" to really enjoy leaving and reading interesting gravestones.




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