Dozens Of Graves Were Just Discovered Under A Parking Lot In This Pennsylvania City

A construction crew in Philadelphia got the shock of a lifetime when, instead of dirt and rubble, their equipment started pulling up bones and bodies.

While working on the site of a new apartment complex on Thursday, March 9, workers began to haul entire coffins up from beneath the pavement. So far, 38 coffins have been pulled from the ground. The remains were buried only a few feet below the surface.

YouTube/AMCTV

YouTube/AMCTV

Archaeologists were immediately called to the scene, and luckily, they have a pretty good idea where these bodies came from. The parking lot rests on the site of the former First Baptist Church graveyard, established in 1707. The bodies from the cemetery were supposed to have been moved to the Mount Moriah Cemetery in 1860, but it is clear that some were left behind.

So why were these remains abandoned? The Historical Society of Pennsylvania assumes that it was a money matter, with business cutting corners to avoid the expense of having to transport the remains across town.

YouTube/AMCTV

Now, the construction of the apartment complex has been put on hold while archaeologists work to remove the forgotten dead. The Mutter Institute and Museum plans on studying the bones to learn more about people buried beneath the parking lot.

Researchers have no idea how many more bodies remain to be unearthed, but the excavation is ongoing. Take a look at this fascinating footage from the parking lot: