Relatives moved at least nine graves after seance in Leusden cemetery
Seances held at the Rusthof cemetery in Leusden in September last year are still causing unrest among relatives of people buried there nearly a year later. Relatives had the graves of at least nine people, including children, moved in the meantime. The municipality of Amersfoort, which covers Leusden, assumed the costs, NRC reports.
The seances left people with many questions, mayor Lucas Bolsuis said to the newspaper. Especially for the people whose children are buried at the children’s part of Rusthof. They wanted to know why the director of the cemetery allowed this paranormal investigation without informing them. The seances only came to light when a parent found a video camera forgotten among the children’s graves.
Anger and disbelief prevailed. Some relatives wanted to have their loved ones reburied. Amersfoort already spent 165,000 euros for nine reburials, according to the newspaper. Multiple proceedings and lawsuits are still pending.
Bolsuis told NRC that the drama touches him personally. His father-in-law is buried at Rusthof, and he personally knows several other people affected. One is a father who was the first to move his child’s grave from Rusthof. “That touches me as a person and a father,” Bolsuis said. He called the reburials a dramatic low point.
The Public Prosecution Service is investigating the seances after multiple parents filed complaints. The National Ombudsman, Reinier van Zutphen, also launched an investigation at Bolsuis’s request. He concluded that the cemetery director should never have allowed the seances.
