Alternate origin story for "graveyard shift"

[Jonathan Lighter]

For a summary of the facts on Thomas Crapper, see here :

 http://www.plumbingworld.com/historythomas.html .

JL

James Callan <jabeca at DRIZZLE.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: James Callan
Subject: Alternate origin story for "graveyard shift"
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Last night I went on the Seattle Underworld Tour, the risqué, 21+
version of Seattle's famous Underground Tour. Among the many anecdotes
told was the story of how, when the first Seattle Cemetery was moved
during the 1884 regrade project, bodies were moved in the middle of the
night to avoid disturbing people or otherwise causing a scandal. And
that, the guide asserted, is where the term "graveyard shift" came
from.

I found one Web reference to the story on King County's history site,
historylink.org
(http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=969 ):

> Given the conditions under which Shorey was striving to make the
> removals, it would not be surprising if he had missed a few burials,
> and so he did. During the final regrading of Denny Hill, in which the
> land on which the Seattle Cemetery had stood was lowered about 60
> feet, several bodies were purportedly found, probably Indian graves,
> as the regraders washed away the hill. Because it would have disturbed
> people and possibly caused a scandal, it is said that these bodies
> were removed to some unspecified place during the middle of the night,
> when supposedly no one would notice. Local legend has it that this
> incident is the origin of the term "graveyard shift" for work done
> during the middle of the night.

I would've been skeptical of this story even if the tour didn't repeat
the "Thomas Crapper invented the toilet" story. In fact, the first time
I took the Underground Tour, I had to double-check that the term "skid
row" originated in Seattle -- and was pleased to discover that that, at
least, was true.

As origin stories go, this one for "graveyard shift" doesn't seem
nearly as popular as the "sitting in the cemetery listening for bells"
tale. Has anyone else heard it?

-- James Callan


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