[IronJack]

I visited New Orleans a few years ago (pre-Katrina; I wouldn't go back if I could stay for free) and while there, took a tour of the "cities of the dead." The guide there said the common notion that the water table is too high for in-ground burial is a misconception. The reason bodies are entombed in mausoleums or crypts is because it's French Catholic tradition.

He conceded that the water tables are fairly high in New Orleans; it IS below sea level, after all. But he said that actually contributes to more rapid decomposition of the body and the casket, so that the idea of rotting coffins popping out of the soggy soil is alarmist nonsense.

Then again, I think the guide was half drunk.

[Lera]

[[rotting coffins popping out of the soggy soil is alarmist nonsense ]]

But they do pop out of the ground .
I grew up on the other side of the river .
I remember hearing and reading about caskets popping out of the ground many times during floods .