![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/how-20000-bodies-were-buried-in-mass-grave-under-popular-new-york-city-park/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/0_Washington-Square-Park-in-Lower-Manhattan-New-York-City.jpg&description=Washington Square is said to be one of New York City's liveliest parks, but beneath the 10 acres of paved meeting places and lush greenery lie the bodies of 20,000 peopleWashington Square Park: Remains uncovered in 2015 Beneath the grounds of one of America's most popular parks lies a mass grave where officials dumped the corpses of tens of thousands of poor and sick New Yorkers. Washington Square is said to be one of the city's liveliest parks, popular with university students and dog walkers, but below its 10-acres lie the bodies of 20,000 people. Research librarian Carmen Nigro wrote about the morbid secret in a blog post for the New York Public Library. She said: 'What lies beneath that splendid, recently re-landscaped and renovated outdoor sanctuary is a bit more morbid." Before it was a park, two thirds of Washington Square was a pauper's grave, where unidentified and unclaimed bodies were buried. New York City purchased the plot in 1820 for just $4,500 to address the surge in deaths linked to a series of Yellow Fever epidemics, the New York Post reports. The Lower Manhattan park is popular among tourists and locals alike ( Getty Images/iStockphoto) The city had originally planned to bury just 5,000 bodies in the park, but when four outbreaks raged through the city between 1797 and 1803, they had to quadruple the capacity. The disease initially causes fevers, chills, vomiting and muscle pain before developing into more severe symptoms. These include a yellowing of the skin and eyeballs, vomiting black bile and organ failure. Around 60 per cent of those infected with the disease will die. The 10-acre site was a pauper's grave from 1797 to roughly 1820 ( Department of Design and Construction) In 1799, the city passed a mandate ruling that anyone who died as a result of the plague - rich or poor - must be buried in the potter's field. Grave diggers, struggling with the volume of bodies, ended up stacking them on top of each other. Some have claimed they failed to){kind=link}
Washington Square is said to be one of New York City’s liveliest parks, but beneath the 10 acres of paved meeting places and lush greenery lie the bodies of 20,000 people
Beneath the grounds of one of America’s most popular parks lies a mass grave where officials dumped the corpses of tens of thousands of poor and sick New Yorkers.
Washington Square is said to be one of the city’s liveliest parks, popular with university students and dog walkers, but below its 10-acres lie the bodies of 20,000 people.
Research librarian Carmen Nigro wrote about the morbid secret in a blog post for the New York Public Library.
She said: “What lies beneath that splendid, recently re-landscaped and renovated outdoor sanctuary is a bit more morbid.”