A historic cemetery in Suffolk, Virginia received a flood of visitors in recent months, with several driving over unmarked graves and trampling over the dead in pursuit of elusive Pokemon Go characters.

“Everyone deserves a decent burial,” Lee Hart, a member of the Sons of the Confederate Soldiers who helps maintain the Cedar Hill Cemetery, told WAVY. “This is not about the Confederate States of America, this is about respect for cemeteries.”

Hart said he noticed tire tracks running through a grassy area of unmarked gravestones about six weeks ago, around the launch of the the popular augmented reality game, and visitors have become more common since. Before long, strange vehicles wore ruts and killed the grass, while Hart and others noticed folks walking through Cedar Hill focused on their phones. They soon realized Pokemon was to blame, according to the news site.

“I think it’s disrespectful,” Hart told the Suffolk News Herald.

“This is a place of honor,” he said. “This is hallowed ground.”

According to the News Herald, “The deeper and more pronounced the ruts get, the more it looks like an official path and the more people drive down it, exacerbating the problem, Hart said.”

“Hart said people driving along the route may not realize they are driving over a number of unmarked graves. At this point, they also probably don’t realize it’s not supposed to be a path for vehicles.”

“It’s kind of like a trash dump in the country,” Hart said. “Somebody backs a pickup truck over to the side of the road and dumps trash and somebody else is going to do it.”

The ruts run from a paved path along the south of the cemetery up a hill to the Hosier mausoleum, which is an official Pokestop, then to the Nansemond County Civil War monument, another Pokestop, before arriving at another paved path.

There’s also Pokestops at a Confederate monument and other areas of the cemetery, though most of the rest are on the paved path, the news site reports.

Hart told WAVY he’s concerned mostly about respect for those resting at Cedar Hill, but said the new flood of visitors could also easily topple gravestones or cause other damage during their Pokemon missions.

“When people come to the cemetery, it should be with the utmost respect and reverence,” he said. “It is hallowed ground, not a playground.”

The situation also prompted and editorial from the News Herald asking local Pokemon players to be more aware of their surroundings, and to perhaps ditch the Cedar Hill Pokestops altogether.

“What’s happening at Cedar Hill … goes beyond simple disrespect. Folks aren’t just walking through the cemetery looking for Pokemon-related goodies,” the news site opined. “They’re actually creating new paths with their vehicles as they drive from one Pokestop to another. …

“In fact, the cemetery’s Pokemon traffic has created ruts in the grass that even those who aren’t playing the game might construe as a sanctioned driveway.”

The editorial pointed out that game developer Niantic offers an online form to petition for the removal of a Pokestop, though it’s unclear if anyone has complained about the Cedar Hill issues.

“However, reasonable and considerate Pokemon players can take the easy intermediate step of recognizing that cemeteries might not be the most appropriate places for games, especially when those games result in damage to public property,” according to the News Herald.

Suffolk city spokeswoman Diana Klink said officials are aware of vandalism and are monitoring the situation.

“If people are utilizing the space and are unauthorized, this is a concern,” she said