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'Tis the month of October, when even the most sensible souls shy away from the shadowy mysteries of cemeteries at night, with their rustling leaves and scurrying mice, bats and spiders and sunken graves.
We leave the burial grounds to those who belong there.
The dead, of course.
But daylight comes, dispersing shadows and restoring shapes. Tree limbs become branches again, not skeletal arms, tombstones stand up as simple blocks of marble or granite, not ghostly forms against the night.
Mortals enter, bringing flowers, cutting grass, taming weeds, digging graves. Genealogists and historians with pens and paper search for names and dates and links to the past.
And the tombstone-rubbers, few though they are, come armed with cheap paper and waxy crayons to coax delicate images into print, to take home Uncle Chester's epitaph or a stranger's unusual grave symbol.
They represent our fascination with places of the dead. And they unnerve cemetery preservationists more than any ghoul in the nighttime.
"We really wish they wouldn't do it," said Joanna Wilson, an archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
The practice is not routinely banned in graveyards, and caretakers in several area cemeteries said there have been no problems resulting from tombstone rubbing.
"To tell you the truth, I'm rarely aware of anyone doing it," said Barbara Crookshanks, president of the Ladies Memorial Association of Fredericksburg, which oversees the city's Confederate Cemetery.
A Brownie troop recently did some rubbings in the cemetery as part of a history badge project, she said.
"They got some beautiful images and had a wonderful time."
Wilson understands the appeal, because she herself loves tombstone art and old cemeteries for both professional and personal reasons.
But she says the downside of rubbing is the potential for harm.
"Old stones can be very fragile, and if a stone is cracked or flaking, rubbing can actually accelerate the deterioration," she said. "And too much pressure on a stone can cause it to tilt or fall."
Anita Dodd, chairman of the Stafford County Cemetery Committee, agrees with Wilson.
"It's better if you just take a picture," she said.
"Some stones are very porous," she said. "A lot of the old ones are sandstone and they are very fragile and they absorb anything that comes into contact with them. Of course, the old, fragile ones seem to attract the most people because they're more interesting."
The Stafford committee does not advocate stone-rubbing, she said.
Wilson said she doesn't "get militant" about tombstone-rubbing because she knows people are going to do it anyway.
So she recommends that would-be rubbers become informed about the best methods and materials to use to avoid causing harm.
She said the best guidelines she knows of are available from the Association for Gravestone Studies at gravestonestudies.org.
The Web site acknowledges that gravestone rubbing is fun and that it can yield beautiful artwork showing the stone carver's skill.
But its list of "dos and don'ts" says the practice is controversial and is often banned, especially in older cemeteries where restoration work is in progress.
The Web site stresses that rubbers obtain permission to make rubbings from someone in a position of authority over a cemetery. And rub only solid stones that are in good condition.
If a stone shows evidence of previous repairs or air pockets beneath the surface, do not rub it because the stone could collapse under the pressure of rubbing.
Letters and designs carved into the stone will show up in greater detail if the background of the stone is smooth.
Use only soft brushes and plain water to clean a stone before rubbing, and never use cleansers of any kind. Do not attempt to scrape off or chip away stubborn lichen or moss.
Choose a good quality artists' paper and attach it securely with masking tape, covering the entire surface of the stone. Do not use glue, paste, adhesive, duct tape or Scotch tape.
Some genealogy and hobby Web sites suggest using Pellon, or dressmaking interfacing, rather than paper, but Wilson disagrees.
"It's too flimsy and you can cause damage to the stone underneath."
And Wilson stresses rubbing with charcoal--definitely not crayons or markers--because charcoal can be brushed off and washed away by rain.
"The color of wax can bleed through and stain the stone," she said. "I've actually seen an old stone that was orange because of the marker or crayon someone used. You don't want to get anything on the stone and you want to use a paper that's sturdy enough so you won't rub through it."
With the paper taped in place, rub gently over the surface of the stone, lightly at first. If greater contrast is needed for the detail to stand out, go over the surface again.
When the rubbing is finished, remove the paper from the stone and spray with artist's fixative to keep the charcoal from sloughing off or smearing.
Remove any tape left on the stone, brush off any powdered charcoal, pick up any scraps of paper.
And when you leave the cemetery, take everything with you, so no one will know you've been there.
You don't want to disturb the preservationists--or the inhabitants, especially this close to Halloween.
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