John and Hank at the Cemetery

2021-12-03 · documentary visit · Hank, John · 3:55 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities · mode: Documentary visit · tags: guest or collab, on location

At Indianapolis's Crown Hill Cemetery, John and Hank hunt epitaphs: a tennis-net tombstone, odd and lovely inscriptions, an overcrowded list of accomplishments, Benjamin Harrison's 'publicist', and the surprising inside of the Bane mausoleum, in a place both somber and whimsical.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greetings; Crown Hill Cemetery and the epitaph-hunting plan

• ★★ Hank says John has long talked to him about Crown Hill Cemetery, the highest point in Indianapolis. — 00:00:00 · John Green, Indianapolis · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated
• ★★ John calls Crown Hill America's greatest cemetery, with the most vice presidents per square mile anywhere in the US. (playful) — 00:00:00
• ★★ Hank explains the plan: go epitaph hunting, then reconvene and share the best epitaphs. — 00:00:00
• ★★ Hank says that if you can afford a few extra words on your tombstone, they add a lot. — 00:00:00

00:00:37 — A tennis-net tombstone, the mooning bit, inscrutable and lovely epitaphs

• ★★ John shows the tombstone of Stan Mollis, who died in 2012: a tennis net reading 'game set match'; he was a professional tennis player. — 00:00:37
• ★ John says the same man owned the magnet company that designed magnets for the Apollo mission. — 00:00:37
• ★★ Hank finds a lovely epitaph saying the man filled his niche, accomplished his task and left the world better than he found it. — 00:01:41

00:02:04 — Bad epitaphs: too many accomplishments, Harrison's 'lawyer and publicist', etched in stone

• ★★ John: Criticizing Ebenezer Dumont's tombstone, John says it lists too many accomplishments in shrinking font, so you can't read them: you have to pick a couple. — 00:02:04
• ★★ John says President Benjamin Harrison picked just a couple of things for his tombstone: lawyer and publicist. — 00:02:04
• ★★ John says 'publicist' then meant a person concerned with or expert in issues of the public. — 00:02:31

• ★★★ John is very fond of the idea that even the things we etch in stone are not necessarily etched in stone. — 00:02:31 · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated

  “even the things we etch in stone are not necessarily etched in stone”

• ★ Hank likes the epitaph 'To live in the hearts of others is not to die.' — 00:02:31

00:02:57 — Mausoleum costs, the Bane mausoleum reveal, a somber but whimsical place; sign-off

• ★★ John says mausoleums now cost about what houses cost and are very rarely built; the last at Crown Hill was the Bane mausoleum. — 00:02:57
• ★★ John says he always walked past the plain neoclassical Bane mausoleum, but Hank, ever curious, walked up to its edge and found its inside truly astonishing. (playful) — 00:02:57
• ★★★ Hank says the cemetery is an odd place: very somber and full of sadness, but with room for whimsy too. — 00:03:26
• ★ Hank thanks John for showing him around and says John is becoming a legitimate Crown Hill tour guide. (playful) — 00:03:26 · John Green
• ★ Hank says maybe being a Crown Hill tour guide will eventually be John's job. (playful, hedged) — 00:03:26 · John Green

In the description and comments

• ★★★ The description says he very much likes making videos with his brother, and while together they recorded two more: more reunions next week (week of 6 December 2021). — video description · John Green

Humor (significant)

• John boasts Crown Hill has the most vice presidents per square mile in the US — 00:00:00

  “As long as you count dead ones.”

• Mishearing 'to moon' as mooning, they replay Neil Armstrong's first words on the Moon — 00:00:58

  “We did it, Buzz! We're mooning!”

• Benjamin Harrison's tombstone calls him a lawyer and publicist — 00:02:31

  “Like, I was a lawyer and also I helped people get into Us Weekly.”

• Inside the somber neoclassical Bane mausoleum is a surprising sight shown in Hank's footage — 00:03:26

  “Just add the whimsy.”

Threads in this video

• update · John and Hank reunite in person in late 2021 and record several videos together (2021) — The description says he very much likes making videos with his brother, and while together they recorded two more: more reunions next week (week of 6 December 2021). (video description)
• predicted · Hank: John may eventually become a Crown Hill Cemetery tour guide as a job (2021) — Hank says maybe being a Crown Hill tour guide will eventually be John's job. (00:03:26)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• Hank: John may eventually become a Crown Hill Cemetery tour guide as a job (2021) — said in jest (not tracked); last: predicted, 2021-12-03
• John and Hank reunite in person in late 2021 and record several videos together (2021) — followed over 4 videos (2021); last: update, 2021-12-10

Mentioned

Central: Crown Hill Cemetery · epitaph

Also: Apollo program · artificial intelligence · Benjamin Harrison · Buzz Aldrin · Indianapolis · Neil Armstrong · Us Weekly

Also centred on Crown Hill Cemetery: America's Capital of Dead Vice Presidents · John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated

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