At last count, it was the 28th body placed in seven spaces in the tiny family plot, said Troy Shuler Jr., the family's historian. For at least 60 years, Key Westers have recycled graves in their historic cemetery in the heart of the island the Spanish called Cayo Hueso, Isle of Bones. It is a burial custom unheard of elsewhere in the United States. The custom was born from lack of space, not from lack of love. Key Westers say it reunites husbands and wives, fathers and sons.
Many spouses request it even if there Is room for separate burials.
Cemetery experts call the custom desecration of the dead. The custom has resulted in disinterment of human bones and destruction of monuments at the city owned cemetery - possible violations of state law. Historic and veterans gravesites have been desecrated. The cemetery is plagued by weed-choked plots, headstones marred by vandalism and voodoo and crypts that have cracked open. After an inspection last week, Homer Rhode, Monroe County's environmental health director, ordered the city to seal off the cemetery s hand-operated wells which he said may be contaminated.