Kris Childers and Shayna O’Kelley spend their weekends making up stories about the deceased.

They joked that one man was 18 feet tall and hence, a professional basketball player in the 1800s.

The fact that the headstone and the footstone of his grave in Mount Moriah Cemetery were spread far apart lended to this story.

They made up stories like those to have some fun as they collected data about the inhabitants for a cemetery documentation project that’s been underway since October 2005.

Assistant Anthropology Professor Kate Hudepohl selects two anthropology seniors each semester to work on this project. This semester she chose Childers, a senior from Hattiesburg, Miss., and O’Kelly, a senior from Austin, Texas.

The research collected will be compiled into a genealogy database Hudepohl hopes to create in the future. Anyone will be able to access it. So far, the students have researched in St. Joseph Cemetery and Mount Moriah.

Hudepohl feels that this project gives people a sense of Bowling Green history.

“You get a sense of the comings and the goings and that this is a part of the community,” she said.

She thinks this research is important because it preserves the lives of those in the past.

“It puts the word out there that there are people buried in the cemetery that don’t deserve to be forgotten,” she said.

Hudepohl got the idea for the project from Robin Zeigler, former historic preservation planner for the Bowling Green Warren County Preservation Board.

Zeigler wanted to document every cemetery in Warren County and she’s trained various people in the community on how to document the tombstones.

She trained Hudepohl and Hudepohl decided to turn it into a hands-on learning project.

“I think it enhances learning and makes students more connected to the material,” she said.

Childers agrees.

“I was kind of excited about it because it’s something new, something different,” she said. “It’s not just sitting in a classroom.”

The students record the type of material used on the marker, which are usually made of materials such as granite, limestone and marble. They make note of the height, width and thickness.

And they record what appears on the markers, from the actual information to the decorations that appear such as a Bible, a tree or a flower.

And one of the more important tasks they do is check the condition of the graves. The stones may have moss growing on them, they may be cracked or they may be deteriorating.

Or, they may be in perfect shape.

The appearance of the markers indicates various things. For example, a tablet on top of the base means it’s a more modern stone, Childers said. And an all-marble stone may mean it’s a military tombstone.

Childers said she felt odd at first doing research in a graveyard.

“It’s kind of weird going out there by yourself,” she said.

But once she started doing the work, she said she became fascinated with the history that goes on “behind the iron gates.”

For example, in the 1800s, people would bury the dead without being completely sure that they were dead. So, people would put a bell in the coffin and if the person inside was alive, the bell would be rung.

Fairview Cemetery Administrator Beverly Fleenor said she thinks this project is great because it records history.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “Of course, you look at a headstone and it tells a story about a person.”

Fleenor said that genealogy studies is the number one hobby. She thinks this is because people enjoy finding out about things that relate to themselves.

“It’s just fun trying to find out where your family came from,” she said.

Fairview has recorded some genealogy information and can help people who are interested in doing research.

But, Fleenor said that the research Fairview has for Mount Moriah isn’t extensive because old records aren’t as accurate or detailed.

For example, tombstones in the 1860s may have not been put up or they may have deteriorated. But with technology, genealogy records can be more intact today.

The two students will continue analyzing the tombstones until the end of the semester, the amount of work totaling around 120 hours.

Their goal is to finish recording the data for every tombstone in Mount Moriah.

Reach Nina Bosken at diversions@chherald.com.