next »

[ESHcemetery]

For several years we've been telling the state this would happen. In most of the meetings we had with them they seemed to think we were only trying to "throw a wrench in the works" when we said "you're going to find a lot of unmarked graves. It's only Phase 1 of the project, about 2 months in & they found 20-30 unmarked graves already. I expect there to be many more when they get farther out on the property.

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/01/20/1604185/burial-grounds-found-at-building.html#more

[Kay]

Glad they did not sweep this under the carpet, showing the respect the bodies deserve. See a lot of work has been done to the place.

[ESHcemetery]

I think the only reason it wasn't swept under the the rug was because someone from the outside reported the find & the state followed hours later with an "Oh by the way..". From the meeting Wednesday, I don't have much faith in their outlook on the whole thing.

[rtotten]

Wow, thats crazy, I agree that if someone from the "inside" found those people that it probably would have gone unspoken..... crazy I say

[ESHcemetery]

Judging by the way utility lines run through the place, it looks like someone knew where to stop digging in the past. Monday they are going to go back to digging to see where the graves end in the spot in question, we think it will only lead to finding more & more. Here's a few photos from today;

The latest graves, this is about 20-30 once they pull up more asphalt. Could likely end up being more, kind of sad to see all they've done is cover them with black plastic. Note the gas & water line running through the graves, someone on-site told me they weren't buried as deep as they should've been. Leads us to believe they knew what was there in the 1970s-80s.


Some misc. demo photos, wasn't easy to take the pics! They are going to stop at the "Tower".

[Kay]

Seems everyone knew but would not do anything till now. Guess the building is gone.

[ESHcemetery]

Seems everyone knew but would not do anything till now. Guess the building is gone.

Well, 1/3 of the old female ward is gone & that's all they're going to do for now. The rest will be around for a while due to the economy.

As for the graves, I think it's safe to say someone knew where they were at least until the early 1980s but someone decided it was easier to ignore it then do something.

Edit
Forgot to mention there was an article in the Lexington paper about the mess again;
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/02/06/1623941/discovery-of-graves-at-eastern.html#more

[ESHcemetery]

As of Friday afternoon the number of graves is around 50. The state has pretty much said "we're done looking for now", most likely due to the budget. It looks like the line of graves goes on for several hundred more feet to the north, their plan is to start again in 2013 when they start demolition of the Allen building. Any and all photos or video are being banned, probably because they don't want people at home seeing the remains on TV or in the paper and might start thinking the state screwed up or at least owes an explanation.

[Kay]

That is just sad, seeing the black plastic covering them. Any idea when they will bury them in the graveyard you showed me?

[ESHcemetery]

That is just sad, seeing the black plastic covering them. Any idea when they will bury them in the graveyard you showed me?

They keep going on and on about dignity (like they've shown so much in the past) & yet they use garbage bags from Home Depot to cover the remains.

It will probably take 2 years until they are re-interred in our cemetery. The University of Kentucky Anthropology department does a pretty thorough job of going over the remains. It costs $8,000 to $10,00 per set of remains once they're done.

[ESHcemetery]

More mud & plastic from Wednesday.

[Kay]

Connie and I plan to go to Lexington next weekend. I told her I wanted to drive by, see if we can stop by, pay our respect. 

 

[Kay]

We went by Sat. Place was locke up tight. When they make the plans to bury the remains in the grave yard on site- please let me know. If we can we both wish to attend the service.

And by the way- the basement door on the laundry room is broken, open. I did not have my camera with me as it poured the rain all day, as I am sure you know.

[ESHcemetery]

They started removing remains Friday & security is in overdrive now. There isn't much to see in the basement, I had my hopes up last summer when I went in there with a guy from maintenance, all we found was old kitchen equipment & water fountains. We went on a thorough search last year looking for old medical equipment, never found any unfortunately. The morgue coolers used to be in the Allen building, they vanished. I suspect they were carted off to a scrap yard on 3rd shift.

[TootUncommon]

Thanks for the updates ESHcemetery.  This is another sad situation