Workers forced to build road around unusual discovery
A new rural road in a Turkish village has surprised motorists after it was left with a grave of a holy man in the middle of it.
The bizarre incident came about when the owner of the previous house had a dream that a holy man was buried in her back garden.
When she dug up the site with a neighbour in the district of Sarkisla in the Turkish province of Sivas, they were shocked when they did indeed find a skeleton.
As it is forbidden to disturb the bones of holy men, which need to be left where they are buried, the woman simply put up a small unmarked grave and left it.
However, years later the house was the subject of a compulsory purchase order to allow the new road to be built, which then got bogged down in the question of what to do with the grave after the house was demolished.
Eventually, it was decided to leave the grave and build the road around it, and there is now a road with the grave in the middle of it.
Although a name is written on the tombstone as a result of the information supplied by the former owner, who is believed to have dreamed the name, it is unknown exactly who was buried in the grave.
There are various legends that have sprung up in recent years over the tomb, around which vehicles pass, and some citizens come and pray.
Neighbourhood headman Ahmet Hark said there was a house on the site 40 years earlier.
He confirmed that the owner had seen in her dreams that it was a holy man's tomb in her house, which they found when they dug up the yard and built the grave as a sign of respect.
"Later, the houses here were demolished. But according to our belief, it is not right to move the graves of holy men, they should stay where they are. Because of that, this grave has remained in the middle of the road built in place of the demolished houses," Mr Hark said.
He also revealed that it was now a place where many people come to pray.
- Newsflash/ Australscope
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