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Archiver > APG > 2009-07 > 1247167752


From: "dunna" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] APG Digest, Vol 4, Issue 418
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 14:29:12 -0500
References: <mailman.144.1247165871.22111.apg@rootsweb.com>


This particular story is new. It has unfortunately happened before as Ray
Johnson has said.
I have heard of stories as well.

This story is about the Burr Oak Cemetery in Chicago, a historic
African-American cemetery.
Cemetery workers there dug up a unknown amount of graves there then buried
the bodies
in a mass grave. Other graves were pushed further down in the ground to
allow others to be
buried on top of them. Up to 300 dead have either been moved or disturbed.

The graves were resold to customers and in some cases had new burials. Some
of the
cemetery records were destroyed. Tombstones were removed and caskets were
destroyed.
You can find the latest information on the story on any of the news networks
websites or by
searching for it.

One article hinted that some graves were the older graves, but at least one
family had
a missing tombstone for a more recent death.

Amy

--- Original Message -----
Message: 12
> Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 11:05:14 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Ray Beere Johnson II <>
> Subject: Re: [APG] Chicago cemetery graves dug up
> To: Jane Pearson <>, APG Posting <>
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> --- On Thu, 7/9/09, Jane Pearson <> wrote:
>> Is this new news or did I miss it earlier?
>>
>> http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/09/illinois.cemetery.scheme/
>
> _This incident_ appears to be new news - but similar incidents are not
> as uncommon as you might think. A few years ago in Massachusetts, a
> cemetery worker confessed that he and colleagues had been opening caskets
> and stealing valuables - and, in a few cases, dug up graves or otherwise
> desecrated them. I remember it quite clearly, because a friend's wife had
> been buried there, and he expressed horror at what might have happened -
> then he died shortly after the story broke and was buried there.
> Ray Beere Johnson II

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