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[ESHcemetery]

Thanks for the updates ESHcemetery.  This is another sad situation

It is sad, especially considering they screwed up in the past & the state is still doing their best to hide the what happened with previous generations. We found a death certificate for an infant this past week that was buried at the hospital cemetery in 1927, asked the state about it, they have no comment of course. The mother died several years later and is also among the unmarked graves.

The state has finally agreed to put up a memorial with names on it. We plan on doing a design competition to pick the final plan. If anyone is interested, let me know. This is still in the planning stages.

[Kay]

The building before the hospital- the Justice Department. The two older red brick buildings? Are those the apartments/ living quarters of the Dr./ nurses? They are of the same time frame, same brick as the older buildings on the hospital grounds. And within walking distance.

[ESHcemetery]

The building before the hospital- the Justice Department. The two older red brick buildings? Are those the apartments/ living quarters of the Dr./ nurses? They are of the same time frame, same brick as the older buildings on the hospital grounds. And within walking distance.

There's actually 3 of them, 1 large one & 2 smaller ones on either side. They were built in the 1920s for male staff. The superintendents house & other doctors had houses there that are long gone. The nurses had a separate building where the parking lot was at Newtown & 4th St. I'll have to ask who they belong to now.

[ESHcemetery]

The 55 graves has turned into 100 as of Friday morning. This is all within the same area they've been digging in since late February. The area surrounding it we were told had 100-150, so now I suspect that number is much higher. Due to the budget they wont know until later this year or early next year what is in the surrounding area so the plan is to just convert those areas into a greenspace. Keep in mind, this is only phase 1 of 5! Now I know why we weren't allowed to see what was going on while they were digging.

[Kay]

Going to sound mean, uncaring but... bet the state wished they had just left the building up now.

[ESHcemetery]

I'd be willing to bet they're thinking that! I was told off the record by someone with the state they wish they had never come up with the project.

[potbellynine]

I used to live in Lexington, and used to drive past E.S.H. daily.  It always struck me as a place with a lot of dark secrets.  I'm glad to see that some of these secrets are finally being unearthed and brought to light.   Too late for any justice, but maybe it'll offer some closure to the families.

[ESHcemetery]

I used to live in Lexington, and used to drive past E.S.H. daily.  It always struck me as a place with a lot of dark secrets.  I'm glad to see that some of these secrets are finally being unearthed and brought to light.   Too late for any justice, but maybe it'll offer some closure to the families.

It does have an ominous look from Newtown Pike when you drive by, especially in the fall & winter when not hidden by the trees. As old as the place is, I'm sure there are a lot of dark secrets that we'll never know about. An employee kept telling me about patients being chained in the tunnels through the 1800s. I figured it was just an old rumor since that's said about just about every state hospital. Then 3 years ago I was helping to get decorations out of a small room in the tunnels & you could see huge eye bolts in the wall surrounded my marks & rusted chain links lying in the dirt. Not long ago they were removed & patched up. It doesn't confirm the old story but I have seen in old annual reports complaints from politicians that on visits to the hospital they saw patients shackled in the tunnels.

The recent finds of remains is a double edge sword. Good that they're finally going to get a proper burial but on the other hand, at what point will the state stop & say it's time to just create another cemetery & leave the remains where they are.

[Kay]

I really don't see that happening. They have already spent too much money on plans, designs, tearing down the old building to stop just because they have found some bodies that- when you take the age of them- no one is really fussing over. Sad, but it is true. And that land is worth a lot of money, location location location.

On the flip side- those who do care about the bodies, and there is so few it seems, will not stand for them being left that way. Right? I mean... just a mass grave, no idea how many?  To me more hell would be paid if they did not do what they are now, taking the bodies out.

And the idea of the tunnel, chain to the walls I remember you talking about that when we meet. So sad to hear of this event in this place history. But sadder to read that it was common to these kinds of places.

Thanks for keeping us updated.

[ESHcemetery]

I really don't see that happening. They have already spent too much money on plans, designs, tearing down the old building to stop just because they have found some bodies that- when you take the age of them- no one is really fussing over. Sad, but it is true. And that land is worth a lot of money, location location location.

On the flip side- those who do care about the bodies, and there is so few it seems, will not stand for them being left that way. Right? I mean... just a mass grave, no idea how many?  To me more hell would be paid if they did not do what they are now, taking the bodies out.

And the idea of the tunnel, chain to the walls I remember you talking about that when we meet. So sad to hear of this event in this place history. But sadder to read that it was common to these kinds of places.

Thanks for keeping us updated.

I don't think the state would voluntarily stop & sacrifice land. The more likely scenario would be a lawsuit being filed. This wouldn't be part of our project, but I could see a group of relatives getting fed up with lack of information & the censorship with the media deciding that it's time for them to get some answers. Without going into a 4 page history, our group was included partly because we have many relatives of the deceased patients as members and we were concerned with the current cemetery & what would happen with the remains they found. As this has gone on, and the families have become more vocal I foresee a new advocacy group being formed. They request records and get the runaround & excuses. They're just fed up with the whole situation.

There is no telling of how many state hospitals actually chained up patients in their tunnels or for that matter, in any room! Including ESH I know of 3 that where this was a fact. Another bad part of the history is that they buried whites & African-Americans separately, which the state has denied for years. Last year someone found an old piece of paperwork that stated a patient was buried in the "Colored burying ground". We have a good idea of where this is, although part of it had a building built on top of it so who knows what happened with those remains.

[straav]

So a little background on the black plastic you see in the photos.  When doing field archeology you use plastic tarps to cover the work area to prevent rain and animals from disturbing the site while people are not at the location.  while not pretty it does protect the remains from more damage and disturbance till such time as you can properly remove them.   

[ravenna752]

I love wandering through cemeteries.  Such a shame when one is unmarked and excavated by "idiots" that didn't want to believe there were any graves where they were going to dig.   Hope this gets resolved and the remains are taken care of properly.   Thanks for posting especially the updates.