mass burial ground for the plague unearthed in Schuylkill Haven PA

[jeff of pa]

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Human remains from the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic were unearthed in the lot adjacent to the U.S. Army Reserve Center during state Department of Transportation construction Thursday on Route 61, North Manheim Township.
“It’s confirmed that there were human remains found. The lot was actually used as a burial ground for the plague (Spanish influenza) in 1918 where they dumped masses of bodies,” Corporal Michael Sadusky, of the state police at Schuylkill Haven, said Thursday. “This isn’t a criminal act. There was no misconduct at all.”
Approximately 10 bone fragments could been seen protruding from the dirt along side Route 61 South.
“One looked like a tibia, which is the long bone of the lower leg, definitely a partial mandible, which is the jaw bone, and we identified that because of the anatomic location of the tooth socket. Then there were fragments of the skull plate,” Schuylkill County Coroner Dr. David J. Moylan III said Thursday. Confirmed identification of the bones is pending further investigation.
Construction will not continue until the bones are removed.

Route 61 construction reveals mass grave in Schuylkill Haven - News - Republican Herald

 

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Yuck

I'd wonder if perhaps the viruses were still active.....

 

[jeff of pa]

I don't remember ever hearing Viruses can Survive that long.

They are using their Bare hands to Dig & Handle them

http://republicanherald.mycapture.c...image=56608371&event=1964853&CategoryID=49719

A K-9 unit detected that there were about 40 feet of scattered bones in the immediate area. The dogs are trained to smell bones and lie down when they find an area, Pothering said.

Excavation team digs up bones found in road construction in Schuylkill Haven
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Bones were excavated Friday after road construction on Route 61 revealed human remains from the 1918 Spanish influenza. “We’ve identified a tibia, a bottom jaw, a possible rib and other little bones,” Schuylkill County Deputy Corner Joe (read more)

 

[RON (PA)]

Interesting story. I sure hope the team from Mercyhurst can help reunite distant relatives. Mercyhurst is the best in the area when it comes to excavations involving human remains.

 

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Human bones in Pa. may be from 1918 flu pandemic | Mayerthorpe Freelancer

This statement was buried in the article:

Most victims, Mock said, were buried without coffins. He thought it unlikely there could still be active H1N1 flu pathogens - the strain that caused the 1918 pandemic - in the bones or soil given the passage of time and the usual practice of sprinkling lye over buried without coffins.

I wonder if "unlikely" would be enough comfort for me to be in there digging....

 

[jeff of pa]

Interesting story. I sure hope the team from Mercyhurst can help reunite distant relatives. Mercyhurst is the best in the area when it comes to excavations involving human remains.

Only if the Relatives DNA is on file.

which narrows it down to Criminals/ probably politicians if there is a difference.

and the few citizens who gave DNA to places that use it

 

[jeff of pa]

Human bones in Pa. may be from 1918 flu pandemic | Mayerthorpe Freelancer

This statement was buried in the article:

Most victims, Mock said, were buried without coffins. He thought it unlikely there could still be active H1N1 flu pathogens - the strain that caused the 1918 pandemic - in the bones or soil given the passage of time and the usual practice of sprinkling lye over buried without coffins.

I wonder if "unlikely" would be enough comfort for me to be in there digging....

Well with all the Rains, Snow Melts & Floods over the years,
and all the people buried throughout PA history
being Dissolved from Rot & Water,

I would guess everyone who drinks water gets a little taste

Any-who..... I'd enjoy digging along side them, Hoping for a coin to confirm age

 

[doverturtle]

Human bones in Pa. may be from 1918 flu pandemic | Mayerthorpe Freelancer

This statement was buried in the article:

Most victims, Mock said, were buried without coffins. He thought it unlikely there could still be active H1N1 flu pathogens - the strain that caused the 1918 pandemic - in the bones or soil given the passage of time and the usual practice of sprinkling lye over buried without coffins.

I wonder if "unlikely" would be enough comfort for me to be in there digging....

Most people alive today would probably have enough of an immunity that they wouldn't die if exposed to that strain.

 

[jeff of pa]

Most people alive today would probably have enough of an immunity that they wouldn't die if exposed to that strain.

That may be true also.

Although at the rate EPA & the germaphobes are working against us,
our Immunities may not be as strong as they should be

just look at Measles .

When I was growing up, when a kid got the Measles, the family had a party & invited the the whole neighborhoods kids. (get it over when they are Young)

now it's called an Outbreak, families are Quarantined, the CDC is called,
Schools are shut down, and they get close to Reporters doing this

 

[Old Rerntern]

Just read this post for the above story. Interesting to say the least. Has anyone else heard of this?

My grand father and I used to fish a deep abandoned quarry near there and he often told me about that site. I never remembered exactly I was a teen ager back then but he also told me about a stolen shipment of gold stolen by defecting U.S. Cavalry men heading north towards Ehrie Pennsylvania to deliver food to a fort then onto the New York route. The gold was destined for a new fort being built in New York some where near that burial site it was the soldiers that encountered fierce Indians that attacked them inflicted heavy casualties so they buried the stolen loot and planned to come back for it later. That area where this burial site is has so much history. It was said it was the wounded Emmaus Indians of that region were last survivors that actually saw the gold buried. The Indians claims that of the time anything you couldn't drink smoke or eat was useless to them so the gold had no value to them. My grandfather had many interesting friends among those friends were surviving native Americans. Most of the stories were not stories but true historic facts. Somewhere in that region where they are digging is the remains of those Cavalry soldiers Indians and the gold. It was said that poor house was inhabited by disenchanted soldiers as well as Polish and Irish immigrants too sick to work in the mines quarries and on the railroads. The only kink in the gold story is the fact of the soldiers intent to defect is disputed that they planned the defections before the Indian attack or the question was it after they were attacked is what was disputed. The gold existed and it was buried shallow and fast so it shouldn't be hard to find and it is near that area..

 

[jeff of pa]

I haven't heard that one

 

[jeff of pa]

Radar to be used to find remains of Spanish influenza victims in Schuylkill Haven

The pandemic claimed more than 1,500 lives in Schuylkill County and spread so rapidly that coffins were often unavailable, requiring mass burials.

According to The Pottsville Republican on Oct. 17, 1918, T.D. Bergen Funeral Home, South Centre Street, had 121 funerals from Oct. 11 to Oct. 17. Thirty-six burials were denied in one day.
The paper stated that the shipments of coffins were so delayed that there were two styles of coffins available: chestnut wood and cloth covered.
The 2.23-acre lot where the remains were found, adjacent to the Army Reserve Center off Route 61 south, was originally used as a cemetery, according to an 1875 map in the County Atlas of Schuylkill, Pennsylvania.



“A lady who lived up near the lot, on Stanton Street, is 80 years old and she said she remembers seeing bumps in the field from the bodies buried,” former Schuylkill County Historical Society executive director Peter Yasenchak, Ph.D., said Tuesday.


Radar to be used to find remains of Spanish influenza victims in Schuylkill Haven - News - Republican Herald