The invisible island where New York buries its poor and unidentified

Hart Island can be found on Google Maps, which labels the northern half of the island "Potter's Field," a term commonly used to refer to a place where unknown or unclaimed bodies are buried. The location is no longer accurate, and the name never was. When the city bought Hart Island for $75,000 in 1868, the new potter's field was set on 45 acres at the island's northern tip. Administration was handed over to what was then called the Department of Charities and Correction, which operated a prison and a technical school for delinquent boys on the island. Inmates were given the job of burying the dead, a practice that continues to this day. The Department of Correction estimates that more than 850,000 people are now buried on Hart Island, noting that the actual number may be somewhere between 750,000 and a million, a standard deviation that is jarring when you think about it.

The invisible island where New York buries its poor and unidentified

A part of me is sad that there are those who will never know what became of their loved ones.

Then again, many of these people choose to live outside the norms of society.

I wonder if it is haunted?

reply to post by TDawgRex


I believe this island and burial place is a key plot element to the movie 'Don't Say a Word' with Brittany Murphy and Michael Douglas? It's been many years since I've seen it...

Regards,
Rewey

I quite like finding out about "forgotten" places like this - the wiki article is interesting

The headline is a bit silly tho - it's obviously not well known but the general population, but it's not invisible!

there's a bit of history about the Nike-Ajax missile battery that was located on the island here - I think the 2 missile silos are the vaguely rectangular and somewhat overgrown shapes at het north end of the island on Google Maps/Earth,

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


I believe this island became invisible as a result of The Philadelphia Experiment (or it may have been The Philadelphia Story, the one with Hepburn). Boats often bump up against it, surprising the heck out of their occupants. According to local legends it becomes visible once every hundred years.

Now, with a million bodies just laying around in the island, it not only is haunted, but haunted in the worst way.

reply to post by Aleister


Most of those cases probably happen because the families can't afford the overpriced burial services in the U.S.

If your family is broke sign up to give your body to science. Helps med students and they cremate your body for free and throw it in the ocean afterward.

For some reason organ donors don't get the same offer. This system makes no sense. Imagine how many more people would sign up for organ donation if they'd just pay for the funeral services afterward.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Thanks for the Wikipedia link, it's a very interesting (and gross) article. An odd topic, and a well-used Island indeed.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Thanks for the links. I love history and the many twists and turns that it takes. I found the article macabely interesting. And now I know even more.

I bet alot buried there had mental health issues. Issues they were to poor to get treated. And so ended up on street dying alone and unknown.

But hey least they died "free" right?

Im sure this is porn for a few extreme right wing hardliners. Why give them a burieal at all on the tax payer, just dump em in a open ditch and let the birds do the rest /sarcasm.

Can someone please explain to me how nearly 1,000,000 people cannot be known to society.

They die only to be stacked three high in a box with a number on it..

They should at least have a plaque -

HERE LIE THE BODIES OF A 1,000,000 PEOPLE...KNOWN ONLY UNTO GOD.