Man digs pool, finds 300-year-old cemetery
November 13th, 2011 - 5:30 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Nov 13 (IANS) A man in the US dug a swimming pool in his backyard, only to find a historic cemetery dating back to the 1700s.
Vincent Marcello lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans. When workers dug up his backyard for the pool, they unearthed 13 caskets stacked one on top of the other, the Daily Mail reported.
The French Quarter is the oldest neighbourhood in New Orleans, founded in 1718. The property used to be the St. Peter Cemetery before it was closed down.
Marcello knew his land had historic ties but did not expect to find human remains, he told WDSU.com.
Archaeologist Ryan Gray from the University of New Orleans, said: “Part of the reason why the cemetery was closed was because it was overcrowded, and historical accounts and complaints revealed that people couldn’t dig anywhere without hitting earlier remains.”
This is not the first time bodies have been discovered underground in the area. In 1984, 36 corpses were found when an apartment complex was being built.
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Tags: apartment, caskets, corpses, daily mail, digs, french quarter, human remains, london, neighbourhood, old cemetery, peter cemetery, ryan gray, st peter, swimming pool, ties, university of new orleans, vincent marcello