Oddities from around the World: “The Island of the Dead”: Manhattan’s Forgotten Mass Grave and the Secrets of Hart Island
- Nico Schepis
- Aug 9
- 4 min read
“There are more dead people there than living people in the Bronx.”— New York historian, 2014
Everyone knows the Statue of Liberty. Times Square. The Empire State Building.
But hidden in plain sight — just off the Bronx shoreline, near the bustling city streets of Manhattan — lies an island where over one million people are buried.
No headstones.No family visits.No monuments.
Just endless rows of unmarked pine boxes, stacked in trenches, rotting quietly beneath the grass.
This is Hart Island, and it’s been called many things:
And up until recently, you weren’t even allowed to visit.
A City of Millions — and an Island of the Forgotten
Since 1869, Hart Island has served as the final resting place for New Yorkers who died unclaimed, unidentified, or unwanted.
That includes the homeless. The stillborn. The mentally ill. The impoverished. And in more recent years… victims of COVID-19.
But here's the thing: these people weren’t buried with ceremony. The bodies were stacked in trenches — 100 coffins deep — and buried by prisoners from nearby Rikers Island.
There are no individual markers. Just a grid of forgotten names and whispered stories.
If ghosts exist in Manhattan, they're here.
Not Just a Graveyard
Hart Island has worn many masks over the years:
A Civil War prison camp where Confederate soldiers wasted away
A psychiatric asylum, housing “troubled women” in the 19th century
A tuberculosis sanatorium, long before antibiotics
A missile base during the Cold War, aimed at Soviet submarines
And even a boys’ reformatory, infamous for abuse
In every chapter, the island was a dumping ground — for people society didn’t want to see. And those kinds of places?
They never stay quiet.
Voices Across the Water
For decades, boaters and fishermen around the East River have told stories about Hart Island.
Low moans drifting across the water at night.Figures walking along the tree line.Lights flickering in the abandoned buildings when no one’s inside.
The island is filled with collapsed structures, rotting dormitories, and caved-in chapels — the skeletal remains of institutions that held thousands. Paranormal investigators who’ve snuck in describe it as “one of the most charged locations in the country.”
One medium described feeling trapped spirits — not angry, but forgotten, still trying to be seen.
The “Black Angel” and the Shadow Nurse
Two legends stand out.
The first is the Black Angel — an apparition said to appear at the water’s edge during foggy mornings. She’s dressed in mourning clothes, holding a bundle that looks like a child. If you call out to her… she vanishes.
The second is the Shadow Nurse — a woman in a long 1930s-style dress seen walking in the ruined tuberculosis hospital. Witnesses say she appears to be checking on patients in the empty rooms — and then disappears through walls.
Visitors have described sudden cold spots, the smell of rubbing alcohol, and feelings of dizziness in that part of the island.
Mass Death and COVID Burials
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hart Island made headlines once again — drone footage showed rows of fresh trenches, and inmates in hazmat suits lowering coffins into the ground.
Hundreds were buried each week.
No funerals. No names.Just pine boxes. Just numbers.
It was a reminder: Hart Island still serves the same purpose it always has — quietly absorbing the casualties of a city that never stops moving.
You Couldn’t Visit — Until Now
For over 150 years, Hart Island was closed to the public. Families had to fight for access. Journalists were denied. Even Google Maps blurred parts of it out for a time.
But after years of protest and reform, the city transferred the island’s control from the Department of Corrections to the Parks Department in 2019.
In 2021, public visits were finally allowed — by appointment only.
You can now step foot on Hart Island. But when you do… step carefully. The ground beneath you isn’t just earth.
It’s full of stories.And some of them are still awake.
Travel Tips (and Warnings)
📍Access: Limited ferry service from City Island (Bronx). Reservations required
🚫 No recreational visits — Hart Island is still an active burial site
🎧 Bring audio gear if you want to try for EVPs (ghost voices)
🕯️ Be respectful — many of the dead here had no one else to mourn them
🌫️ Best time to visit: Early morning or dusk. That’s when the veil feels thin
Final Thought
In a city known for its noise, Hart Island is the quietest place in New York — but not because nothing’s happening.
Because something is waiting. Something long buried. Something forgotten by the living, but not yet at peace.
One million souls rest there.
And not all of them are asleep.
