cemetary gun

[Rifleman1776]

Was watching the Auction Kings show the other night. The guys came across a 'cemetary gun'. This was a new one on me. These were used in the 16th & 17th centuries to try to discourage grave robbers. They were crude, individually made contraptions with a trip wire that shot as the (hopefully) grave robbers entered the cemetary. They were flintlocks with whatever was handy for a barrel. The one on the show had a cut down blunderbusss barrel. The use was discontinued in the 1800s because too many innocent people were getting hurt by these things.
Wish I had a better pic. This was the best I could find.

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[rickystl]

Believe it or not, there's one on Gunbroker for sale !!

 

[Mike Brooks]

I have always heard them called "poacher's guns". Used to kill trespassing poachers on his lordship's land.

 

[JOHN F]

there used to be a gun museum not far from me when i was younger that had a "coop gun".. seems as though this farmer was getting his coop robbed nightly by some poacher so he devised a gun that would hit the person when they opened the door ,but this individual met his own demise at his invention when he forgot to disable it before coming in..ilways remenbered that gun looked like a pipe with some stuff to me,(4 to 6 yr old then)

 

[freekforge]

I want one on my grave

 

[matt denison]

Bahaha! Good one Rifleman!

 

[Rifleman1776]

I want one on my grave

Don't worry, I think you are safe. :rotf:

 

[duke21]

That is so cool!!! Historical pieces like this are going to the scrapyard faster than we can count. Sure its dangerous but at the time of invention it was a neat contraption that was an inexpensive security guard. These picker and pawn and auction tv shows are very interesting for us history buffs. Thanks for sharingp