Needing advice for a guilty friend.

[GravePony44]

Recently a close friend and I have been visiting lots of old cemeteries. Abandoned ones, that receive little to no care. Well we traveled very far to go see one, and when we got there, all the stones were torn up from the ground and placed in a massive broken pile in the middle, almost none of them were readable, just blank broken slabs, dates weren't even determinable. Asked around, and they all said nobody does anything for it, except for mow the grass every now and then.
I get a phone call from him a few nights later, and he tells me he went back on his own, and he took 2 of the broken stones from the pile.
I said "...WHAT?!" he said he felt bad seeing how they were, and nobody seemed to care, so he took them home, gave them a light sponge bath with plain water to get all the mud and dirt off, and I still wasn't sure what to think. I went to his house immediately, and sure enough, there they were sitting in the middle of the floor of his living room, air drying from their bath.
Now after talking about it all week, he's feeling guilty. So I said "simple, just go put them back".  He's torn between the upset of how bad they were being cared for, and for the fact that he took them. I don't know how else to calm him down. I told him I would go with him tonight if he wanted me to, we'd just drop them back off, and leave without a word. But now he's imagining every horrible scenario possible, and I honestly don't know what to tell him.
Would it be best if he just go and put them back tonight?

[Princess Lala]

I agree and would have also told him to put them back!!! xD Thats so strange he just took the tombstones!!! Poor dead person, it belongs to them after all! LoL Let the rest of the public enjoy seeing them too!!! If he likes refurbishing old tomb stones maybe he could volunteer to clean the cemetary? That would be cool! All I know is I would be mad if someone took my headstone even in 500+ years! xD

[barbgirl1999]

I agree, just take them back...I'm sure nobody has noticed.  If he feels bad that they aren't being cared for, then tell him to take some supplies and clean them THERE instead of taking them.  It's sad that they aren't cared for, but it IS someone else's property, so he should definitely take them back.

[Salli]

I agree that no one probably noticed who is alive anyway. It's nice that he cleaned them, but he needs to put them back. You don't even want to mess with that mojo. Try not to feel bad about it, he was trying to help, not vandalize.

If he wants to take them home to clean, he might get in touch with the city/town. Another way of preserving them is to write down any legible info and enter it and photos of the headstones onto the 'Find A Grave' website.

[kaoskat]

I agree. He really needs to put them back.

[ashes]

Yes, just have him put them back.  If he really wants to do something to help, he can take pictures of the gravestones and upload them to genealogy sites like Ancestry.com.  Old gravesites can provide a wealth of information about people trying to research their ancestors. 

[Kitkumi]

I agree with everyone else, go put them back. Though if he wants to help, I can say from experience that towns and cities are usually cool with people cleaning up old grave sites, and caring for them. My granny had a friend who, about ten years ago, gathered a group of people willing to help clean up a small forgotten graveyard in their home town. She was tired of seeing over grown and forgotten, and there were a lot of people who felt the same way! They got together, went out and repaired stones, took out weeds and overgrowth, documented everything.... it was apparently a lot of hard work, but as they gained attention the city got in on the act and now it is really well kept, even ten years later!

[melodys_angel]

I agree with the suggestions above.  He should put them back.

Im sure it wouldn't hurt if he cleaned them at the site--maybe get the city involved

[Loa]

Even though the stones may have been neglected, he is performing sacrilege by removing them.

If he wants to feel less guilty I'd suggest taking them back, and then doing some volunteering to help clean the cemetery. I've done it before, taking some water, buckets, clippers and helping clean up a derelict area of a cemetery.

[Aflame]

take them back you never know what or who you could be bringing home !!!
quick get the haunted collector !!!

[rearing_palomino164]

Volunteering to keep the place clean sounds good to me! But put them back for sure.

[elvenwine26]

No to sound superstitious but it really invites bad juju when you remove things like headstones from a graveyard.  He should just return them and maybe spruce the place up a bit.

[Lore-Lei]

Your friend sure has a heart of gold, caring for memories even those who belong to do not care of.

Though still, may I ask just what was he even thinking?! I recommend putting them  back soon as possible, before it could become a legal case. As in, NOW!

[CadePony]

Definitely, he needs to take the gravestones back where they belong. And if he really wants to make sure they're all clean and whatnot, why doesn't he simply volunteer to help maintain the cemetery? Even if no one really bothers going into that cemetery, I'm sure someone will at least appreciate that someone cares and wants to help keep the place maintained.

[Loa]

No to sound superstitious but it really invites bad juju when you remove things like headstones from a graveyard.  He should just return them and maybe spruce the place up a bit.

Yep, I was wondering how to put this! Bad Juju ALL ROUND.