22 May 2021 - JFK'S CASKET BURIED AT SEA

 

JFK'S CASKET BURIED AT SEA 

G'day folks,

February 18, 1966 — The casket used to carry the body of assassinated President John F. Kennedy from Dallas to Washington was, on this day, parachuted into oblivion.

The story of the coffin is remarkable. It was ordered from Dallas undertaker Vernon O’Neal by Secret Service agent Clint Hill when futile attempts at Parkland Hospital to save the slain President were finally abandoned. Hill is the man who leapt onto the back of Kennedy’s limousine after the fatal shots were fired.

When the body of JFK was placed in the coffin and the Secret Service entourage began to wheel it from the hospital for a flight to Washington they were stopped by Dr Earl Rose, the Dallas County Medical Examiner. Physically barring their way, he insisted that the body could not be removed because, by law, an autopsy had to be performed in Dallas.

The agents and Kennedy aides pleaded and argued with Rose, but he would not budge. As tempers began to fray, Justice of the Peace Theron Ward was sent for to overrule Rose. But he refused and, siding with the Medical Examiner, he said: “It’s just another homicide as far as I’m concerned.”

Still reeling with shock, disbelief, anger and incredulity at what had happened an hour or so earlier, this was the final straw for Kennedy’s men. Kenny O’Donnell, a close aide of the fallen President, lost his temper and was reported to have shouted: “Go f--- yourself. We’re leaving. Get the hell out of the way!”

With the Secret Service men threatening fisticuffs and apparently ready to draw their guns, Rose, Ward and some Dallas policemen were shoved aside as the President’s coffin, used almost as a battering ram, was hustled out of the hospital.

Bloodstained because of the magnitude of JFK’s head wounds and damaged in transit, the solid bronze casket was stored in a secure Washington warehouse after the Kennedy family declined to use it for JFK’s interment. Later, there were reports that Vernon O’Neal had received an offer of $100,000 for the coffin so that it could be put on display as a relic of the assassination.

But it no longer belonged to him and on 18th February, 1966, at the Kennedy family’s request, it was disposed of by the Air Force.
They filled the casket with sandbags, encased it in a solid pine box, then drilled over 40 holes into the structure. It was bound with metal banding tape and finally fitted with parachutes.

This astonishing load was taken aboard a C130 transport plane, which flew about 100 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to a selected point 9,000 feet deep and away from shipping lanes. At 10am the casket was pushed out of the C130’s tail hatch and after the parachutes softened its landing on the water it immediately sank. The C130 circled the area for 20 minutes to make sure nothing resurfaced.

It didn’t, and to the relief of the Kennedys, the final physical reminder of that dreadful day in Dallas was gone forever.

Clancy's comment: I never knew that.

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13 August 2020 - MEDIEVAL BURIAL SITE FOUND UNDER CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

MEDIEVAL BURIAL SITE 

FOUND UNDER

 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

G'day folks,

We are constantly finding all sorts of burial sites around the world, and this one is a beauty.

This story is fascinating and it will make you wonder what is buried underneath your house. In London, under Cambridge University, archeologists have discovered something that doesn’t sit well with most people. More than 1,000 human remains were found in a mass burial site. The large, medieval hospital, burial ground was discovered following an archeological dig under the Old Divinity School at St John’s College.  

Archeologists were aware of the burial site’s existence but didn’t know how big the site was until now. This discovery is crucial as it gives new insight to the life and death of the people during the medieval Cambridge.  Some researchers believe the Cambridge University burial site was used for the poor during the 13th-15th centuries.

There are over 400 perfectly preserved skeletons that were once buried without coffins leading archeologists to believe the people buried there were too poor to afford a proper burial.

 The massive dig was led by Dr Craig Cessford from Cambridge University’s archeology and anthropology department and a team from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit.

 

According to Cessford, he states “The excavation of four hundred complete and partial in situ burials from the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, represented one of the largest medieval hospital osteoarchaeological assemblages from the British Isles,”

 The hospital, which is connected to the burial ground, was created in 1195 as a place to take care of the sick.

The Cambridge University burial site dig is going to be beneficial to archeologists and researchers to be able to examine the bodies and get a better understanding of the people during that time. The bodies found are dating from the 13th to the 15th centuries, creating new evidence of a life that hasn’t been researched too much until now. 

Clancy's comment:  Amazing, eh? I'd love to be there and watch as they uncovered remains.

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19 October 2019 - AMAZING CATACOMBS OF SAN GENNARO

AMAZING CATACOMBS

 OF SAN GENNARO

G'day folks,

Welcome to an underground paleo-Christian burial site composed of the remains of several cemeteries and Basilicas. 

The Catacombs of San Gennaro (St. Januarius) are considered by many to be the most significant paleo-Christian ruins in Italy south of Rome. They are situated in the northern part of the city, on the slope leading up to Capodimonte, on a site that is now easily identified by the large church of Madre del Buon Consiglio. In early Christian days, there were actually three cemeteries, dedicated, respectively, to San Gaudioso, San Severo, and San Gennaro. The three grew together and are now known collectively as the Catacombs of San Gennaro.

These Catacombs in Naples are different from their Roman counterparts in that they have more spacious passageways along two levels. The lower level is the oldest, going back to the third or fourth century and may actually be the site of an earlier pre-Christian cemetery later ceded to the new sect.

It became an important religious burial site only after the entombment of Bishop Agrippinus of Naples. The second level was the one expanded so as to encompass the other two adjacent cemeteries. The site was consecrated to Gennaro (Januarius) in the fifth century on the occasion of the entombment of his earthly remains there. The remains were later moved to the nearby Cathedral of Naples, where they are still housed.

Between the 13th and 18th centuries, however, the catacombs were the victim of severe looting. Restoration of the catacombs was made possible only after the transfer of skeletal remains to another cemetery.

Today the catacombs are prized especially for both the length of the period they were in continued use—from the emergence of Christianity until the 10th century—and the well-preserved fresco cycles that decorate their corridors and chapels, spanning from the second to the 10th centuries.

Clancy's comment: I have been in a few, but not this one. I'd be more than interested to visit this amazing place. Amazing art and construction.

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