Disturbing a boundary stone is more than just a lifetime of punishment.

Why is this the first I've heard about this?  

I've run into some of those undead creatures but I just assumed they were meth heads. Now I know.

I came across the lore a few years ago and it's been haunting me ever since.

Deildegast, another name for neighbor! 

I've got 2 of those stones plus an obilisk in my front yard. Does that mean that I've got these spirits hanging around trying to put the stones back where they came from. Note: I did not takes any of these items. They were given to me by others and do not know thier origins.

I own a stone wall about 50 feet long by about 14 feet high and over a foot wide that would supply a monument settr for a long, long time.  Solid limestone, all generally square cut.  It served as the west wall of a commercial building in a small town.  The other wall has already been removed as well as everything in between.

Soooo…… do these curses apply to surveyors who remove beautiful … perfectly good GLO stones and replace them with a new 3.25” AC per the Scope of work they have with a govt agency, or do the curses apply to the contracting officer? asking for a friend…..

On a Montana forest service survey crew in the 60's we were told that all stones were notched on the south and east sides and the bottom of the stone was bigger than the top. So whenever we found a stone disturbed we would determine the bottom and face one set of notches south and the other east. We also knew what section we were at so if the notches did not give the correct section corner we would flip the stone then it would be correct. So 4 notches south side and 2 notches east side.....where am I ?

@landbutcher464mhz 

Without looking, the SW of S11

 @mightymoe  SW COR SEC 11 for the win.

The 3 x 3 notches stone is the most important one when surveying in a township. It's the center of the township (16-15-21-22), and if it's found it restricts the amount of surveying needed in the four quadrants. Most surveyors won't find themselves surveying in an empty township, but once you do that center is like gold. Around 1906 GLO converted to brass caps. Some of the old-timers couldn't give up notching section corners so they notched the edges of the brass caps. Finding those is really cool, you know they aren't phony. Between mid 1890 to the brass cap era they would put extra effort marking the center township corner. They would mark the stone with township and range along with notches. 

@mightymoe "Around 1906 GLO converted to brass caps. Some of the old-timers couldn't give up notching section corners so they notched the edges of the brass caps. Finding those is really cool, you know they aren't phony."

I never knew that. I am going to review a few photos of GLO caps I have found and look for notches.

@landbutcher464mhz 

I've not seen the notches on newer (1914 era) BCs. It was only some up in NE Montana that must have been during the change-over to metal monuments.

Maybe twice in over 40 years did a find a stone with notches.

Posted by: @holy-cow

↑

Maybe twice in over 40 years did a find a stone with notches.

Had one this spring with 27 found stones, not all marked, but many of them are. The stones were soft sandstone, which made some lose their markings. I know I work in the big open, many properties are large covering townships, so we do get to find original monuments. 

@mightymoe 

Found many stones.  The whittling of notches simply didn't catch on.