Fallen tree on New Haven Green unearths human skeleton

[Will E Worm]

Fallen tree on New Haven Green unearths human skeleton

NEW HAVEN – Talk about an eerie Halloween story. Hurricane turned Superstorm Sandy toppled a majestic old oak on the Upper Green and intertwined in the dirt and roots was a human skeleton.

Police were called, as was the state medical examiner.

But there was no horror story to be told.

The very old bones likely are centuries old dating back to when the Green was used as a cemetery during colonial times until the Grove Street cemetery was chartered in 1797. There remain an estimated 5,000 people buried under the Green.

The tree toppled sometime during the evening on Monday during high winds from the hurricane. On Tuesday, a passerby noticed something unusual. It looked like human bones. She contacted police.

By Tuesday afternoon, police were there in number and had contacted the medical examiner.

Finding human bones isn’t that uncommon in the city but it often does draw a crowd.

Last year, workers discovered several skeletal remains while excavating for an addition at Yale-New Haven Hospital on York Street. Tony Griego, a retired police sergeant, security guard at Y-NH and local historian, said the site where the bones were found is the location of an old cemetery used by the city’s first Catholic church.

Article

 

[Will E Worm]

Skeleton believed from Colonial times found when Sandy uproots historic tree in Conn.

New Haven police say superstorm Sandy has revealed a skeleton beneath the town green that may have been there since Colonial times.

Police spokesman David Hartman says a woman who was with other bystanders looking at a fallen oak tree called police Tuesday after she saw bones in the upturned roots.

Hartman says the tree was planted on the green in 1909 on the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birth. He says the remains likely belong to one of thousands of people buried there in Colonial times. The remains will be evaluated by the state medical examiner.

Katie Carbo, who called police, tells the New Haven Independent she saw something in the tree roots, and found the bones when she removed some dirt. She says the skeleton "should be given a proper burial."

Article