Hurricane Sandy uproots a 100-year-old tree only to reveal a human skull and rib cage entangled in the trees roots.
A woman named Katie Carbo found the remains at around 3:15 pm. Visibly attached to the roots of the tree was the back of a skull, upside down with its mouth open. The skull was still connected to a spine and rib cage.
New Haven Police Spokesman David Hartman released a statement on the morbid find, providing some history behind the tree’s roots:
“Hurricane Sandy has uprooted a famous New Haven tree on the upper town green. The tree was planted by Admiral Andrew Hall Foote’s Grand Army of the Republic post (the Union of the Republic). Foote, who was born in New Haven, was President Abraham Lincoln’s favorite Civil War admiral. He died in a naval battle and is buried in the city’s Grove St. cemetery.
Dutch Elm disease killed all of the majestic Elms planted by James Hillhouse in the 1820s. In honor of the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday in 1909, the Oak tree was planted.”
Hartman has stated that the skeleton is most likely the victim of Yellow Fever or Smallpox who may have been buried between 1799 and 1821. The headstones, in a very Poltergeist-esque way, were removed to a new location but the bodies were left behind.
The town green is the burial ground of possibly 5,000 to 10,000 people, according to local historian Robert S. Greenberg.
Detectives from the department’s Bureau of Identification and the State Medical Examiner’s office responded to the scene and collected the remains. New Haven Police have not launched a criminal investigation. The skeletal remains have been transported to the Medical Examiner’s office for further analysis.
Nation
Is it wrong that the bodies were never moved? Would you feel uncomfortable if your local park doubled as a cemetery? Let us know why in the comments below!
