"Some were buried in pine boxes, some were just wrapped in cloth,'' said Bob Hightchew, minister of South Fork Christian Church. "You go down six feet into the ground, normally you don't find anything but discolored clay.''

They found a few pieces of caskets and bones, sealed them in containers the size of suitcases, and buried them again in the back corner of the property, he said, to make room for a larger new church.

Twelve headstones now stand back near the woods, huddled close enough to fit in a single hearse. Graves that were spread out in the shadow of the church are now crowded together like passengers in economy class on the last plane to Eternity.

After midnight, when a cloud passes over a full moon, I imagine you can hear bitter cries of anger and sadness.

But this is not Stephen King or Poltergeist. Those cries are coming from Jannes Garbett of Burlington, president of a cemetery preservation group.

"We believe that mass graves are barbaric, that they represent the worst kind of violation and vandalism of human remains,'' she said. "These people wanted to be buried around the church to be closest to the holiest thing they knew.''

Hightchew said the descendants in his congregation of 180 approved the relocations.

But Debbie Kaye of Georgia said she discovered during a visit that her great-great-great-grandmother, Mary McCandless, buried in 1894, was lost. "I think it's disgraceful and un-Christian,'' she said. "Three generations of my family were members of that church and pioneers in that area. They deserved more respect.''

Boone County Coroner Douglas Stith said, "They did what they could. Very little was found as far as bone fragments,'' and the infants decomposed long ago.

Hightchew and Stith said all the state rules and permits were followed properly. They say only 12 graves were moved.

Garbett and Bridget Striker, a librarian and member of Garbett's group, say their research found at least 16 graves, and as many as 19. "Where's Mary Brown, little John Roberts and baby girl Ross?'' Garbett asked.

Matt Becher of the Boone County Historic Preservation Board said, "This thing is getting so complicated, it has to be decided by lawyers. Part of the problem is that Kentucky cemetery law is so vague.''

I hope he's wrong about lawyers digging around in the cemetery. Maybe they can straighten it all out if Hightchew and his church check Garbett's research and give the remains a more decent burial in larger graves.

"My concern is not knowing what really happened,'' said Striker. "Cemeteries are the only thing left of a community, that tell us what happened and how they lived.''

True. But these headstones are streaked with lichen stains and worn smooth by time's eraser. If they tell us anything, they speak in whispers.

Some were buried with children nestled close, like Luella West, dead at age 29 in 1886, buried next to her 13-year-old son, James, on the far side of the church. Her headstone says, "Oh friends of my mortal years, the trusted and the true, you are waiting in the vale of tears, but I wait to welcome you.''

The dead can't talk for themselves. But they do have something to say. It sounds like, "Please, show more respect.''

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.