This innocent looking city park is built on top of a graveyard. The Mount Prospect graveyard, which came to be known as Boot Hill, was created in 1858. In 1873, officials renamed the place City Cemetery but only buried criminals, transients, and epidemic victims there. In 1893, the city gave notice that all bodies had to be removed within ninety days. Needless to say, most of the graves remained untouched. The city hired an undertaker to dig up the 6,000 to 10,000 remaining bodies, put them in 1-foot by 3½-foot pine boxes, and deliver them for burial at Riverside Cemetery. It was a horrifying sight. Workers broke corpses into pieces to get them to fit into the mini-caskets. Body parts littered the ground and got mixed together in the process. Many of the graves were looted by the men digging them up. During the work, psychics warned workers the dead would return unless a short prayer was uttered for each casket, but no one listened to them. One worker, removing valuable brass from the coffins, ran hysterically from the graveyard saying a ghost jumped on his back. People in neighboring houses reported confused spirits wandering through their homes or appearing in mirrors. A huge scandal erupted, and Mayor Platt Rogers ordered all work halted, while an investigation was conducted. No one was able to sort out the mess the workers left behind. The remaining bodies were plowed under, and grass and trees planted. Today, sensitives detect an undertone of sadness and confusion at the site, and some say they can hear a low moaning sound coming from the restless ground. (The Catholic section of the original cemetery was removed in an orderly fashion by church members and is now occupied by the Botanical Gardens. The Jewish section was also completely cleared and is now called Congress Park. Cheesman Park, named for a prominent citizen, is in central Denver, in the Civic Center area. The park is bounded by 8th and 13th Avenues, near University Boulevard.)
No comments:
Post a Comment