Need a Job?

He is the original “Digger O’Dell!” Our brother today told us of one of his previous jobs in Cebu. He worked at a Catholic cemetery digging up the bones. You see, when they bury you, they charge 2000 pesos which is good for five years, after that you have to pay again. “What if you don’t pay?” you ask…Ahhhh! That is where our brother came in. He would be sent to dig up your bones and place them in a box to be claimed later. He received 150 pesos per skeleton. He said it was an easy job, because the bodies were buried near the sea and so the ground was mostly sand. The only problem was once they found the coffin and pried it open, water would begin to fill into the hole, he would be searching around with his hands to find the head. Once found, he would have to hoist the skeleton up out of the grave, often the water would trickle on to his face and sometimes in his mouth! Yuck!!! The families would oft times be right there to supervise the bodies being exhumed. He said once, a man from out of town came to watch them pull out the bones of his relative, he looked at the skeleton and said “Hey the leg is missing!” So into the soupy water they searched looking for the leg, only to find out later that the leg had been lost in his lifetime, during a dynamite fishing accident! So…..Need a job? Follow @ddevonshire