Comments on: Hart Island

Hart Island

biscotti — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 08:58:38 -0800

Island is a tiny island in Long Island Sound, NY. Formerly the site of a prison, it contains an active Potter's Field with over 700,000 people buried in it, a ghost town, abandoned Nike Missile silos, was the site of a Civil War POW camp, and a long-abandoned sanitarium. It's the subject of a documentary, and has guest starred in at least two movies.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 09:41:01 -0800

An interesting post, although I have to disagree with a couple of the links that say the term "potters field" came from the bible. I'd reckon the King James translators must have used a phrase that was familiar to them when translating Matthew 27, as there were no english phrases in the original texts of the bible.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 10:00:22 -0800

Great job rounding up links. I enjoyed that. I may track down the documentary some day.

By: jasenlee

jasenlee — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 10:30:35 -0800

Great post, I love reading about the forgotten corners of our world.

By: carter

carter — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 10:58:02 -0800

Yes, nice collection of links - thanks, biscotti!

By: gubo

gubo — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:00:31 -0800

To the lexicon, blue_beetle! Neat post. I love New York history.

By: Vindaloo

Vindaloo — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:02:09 -0800

I wonder what kind of security they have there against people just boating out to the island?

By: splatta

splatta — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:12:17 -0800

I propose the next New York meetup be at Hart Island! But seriously, I'd love to get out there and see this first hand, document it. Doesn't seem possible tho :(

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:35:58 -0800

That's quite a cast on Island Of The Dead.

By: Postroad

Postroad — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:53:50 -0800

I had looked up Potters Island shortly after seeing one of the films in which it was used. As I recall, you can not just go out there on your own. As for the derivation of the name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potters_field

By: HyperBlue

HyperBlue — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:59:52 -0800

From one of the Wiki links to a 1967 pamphlet on the Island (.pdf): "There are about 600,00 dead buried at Potter's Field, approximately two thirds of them infants and stillborn. Of the 8,000 burials a year, 1,500 are infants. Because interments are made on the mass level of approximately 125 a week, there can be no rites s aid over the dead at the grave sites. Despite the large number of burials, the 45-acre area of the cemetary is in no danger of being exhausted. Custodial forces are authorized to reuse burial ground after 25 years, sufficient time for the complete decay of the original remains. Currently, they are using ground which has not been used for forty years."

By: HyperBlue

HyperBlue — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 12:02:30 -0800

600,00 =600,000 (c.1967) s aid = said (1:59 PM CST on October 28)

By: daninnj

daninnj — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 12:11:44 -0800

I never heard of a potter's field before...Spooky.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 13:36:32 -0800

Nike has missiles? Yikes. I never knew they were that powerful... (but seriously, nice post)

By: BillsR100

BillsR100 — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:00:24 -0800

My best friend lives in Manhattan, cant wait to send her these links. Thanks, excellent post.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 23:45:33 -0800

I'd love to get out there and see this first hand, document it. Doesn't seem possible tho Hmmm, I wonder. Maybe you could convince one of the swarthy sea-goin' types on nearby City Island to ferry you over there! At any rate, City Island is a pretty interesting place to see in itself.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 02:24:19 -0800

Primarily, those interred on Hart Island are not vagrants and alcoholics from Skid Row, as hearsay has it, but people who worked hard during their lifetimes just to "keep their heads above water," and could not afford the expenses of private funerals. There's a testimony to the Land of the Brave and the Home of the Free. You work hard all your life, and all you've got to look forward to is an unmarked pauper's grave.

By: watsondog

watsondog — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:09:56 -0800

It's also a testimony to the fact that a lot of people simply don't care what happens to their remains after they die. One problem with Hart Island is that unidentified persons were buried there along with those who couldn't afford a snazzy cemetery plot. Some of the unids were murder victims and the like. The cataloguing of remains wasn't done anywhere near as well as that website implies; I know of five cases where people who are looking for their missing relatives don't know if they're dead or not because remains that *might* have been their loved ones have gone missing on Hart Island. Four of those are likely murder victims.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:52:56 -0800

Fantastic post.

By: supremefiction

supremefiction — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:06:28 -0800

Brilliant stuff. If there are no ghosts here, ghosts do not exist. And there are no ghosts here.