Hart Island – The Saddest, Most Haunted Place in New York
At the western end of Long Island Sound lies Hart Island -- the final resting place for over one million people.
Also known as "The Island of the Dead," Hart Island was purchased from the Native Americans in 1654, according to wikipedia, and was used as a Union Civil War prison camp in 1865, a psychiatric hospital in 1885, a tuberculosis sanatorium, a boy's reformatory, and currently is the largest tax-funded cemetery in the world. Who's buried in Potter's Field? Unfortunate people whose bodies remained unclaimed or couldn't afford the cost of burial.
According to theparanormalguide.com, up until 1913, adults and children were buried in mass graves to save space. To save money, prisoners from Riker's Island handled all the burials, which used to be in the thousands each year. Believe it or not, there has never been a formal paranormal investigation of Hart Island. According to seeksghosts.blogspot.com, only witnesses who have actually been to the island, along with workers, have reported the feeling of being watched or hearing whispering voices -- many of them children.
Many paranormal investigators claim that the poor souls of the dead are trapped on Hart, but if they were allowed to conduct an official paranormal investigation, they would be able to help the hundreds of thousands of souls that are trapped there, to move on.
The Hart Island Project, started in 2011, assists families and individuals access public burial records and information concerning burial procedures on Hart. The project also promotes the incredible history of the island. The fascinating story of the history of Hart Island is explained in a May 2016 article in the New York Times.
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