Skeleton Park - Kingston, Ontario
Posted by: seaglass8
N 44° 14.140 W 076° 29.287
18T E 381164 N 4899124
Quick Description: Skeleton Park is also know as McBurney Park and is know to be quite haunted.
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 1/25/2012 2:02:11 PM
Waymark Code: WMDKDP
McBurney Park is unique among Kingston’s parks. It began life in 1816 as the Garrison Burying Ground, then in 1819 the Common Burying Ground, so named because it was common to the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. In 1825, an Order in Council by the Lieutenant Governor officially established it as the Upper Burial Grounds. As the principal cemetery for Kingston, it became overcrowded in a few decades and the four-acre cemetery was closed to further burials in 1864.
Thirty years later, the former cemetery was in terrible shape. Gravestones had been vandalized and the grounds were overgrown with tall grass and scrubby vegetation. Cows and pigs browsed there. Residents demanded that something be done with the eyesore, so the three churches that owned the land turned it over to the city, which proposed to turn it into a park. Among the three churches, only the Roman Catholics stipulated that all remains in their section be exhumed and re-buried in another cemetery. The Anglicans and Presbyterians only stipulated that exhumation and re-burial be undertaken if the families requested it. In 1893 the city hired a local contractor named George Adsit to exhume the bodies, bury the tombstones, plough and level the land and plant trees.
The job was a fiasco. Mr. Adsit found far more bodies than had been expected, sometimes piled high in waterlogged graves. It was a disgusting, putrid, horrifying job and workers quit again and again. Fears of an epidemic spread throughout the community. When the American consul in Kingston threatened to quarantine the port of Kingston to American trade, the Chairmain of the Parks Committee responded by halting the exhumation after an estimated 540 remains had been removed. Mr. Adsit then moved on to the levelling and landscaping. Frontenac Park was christened in the summer of 1893.
The ensuing years saw the park become a defining feature of the neighborhood. The locals took to calling it Skeleton Park, for obvious reasons. The city installed a playgound, a wading pool, picnic benches and, in winter, flooded a corner of it for a skating rink. It was re-named McBurney Park in the late 1960s.
Over 9000 bodies remain in the park. The park is know for it's eerie atmosphere at times. Often people have seen the park appear to be a grave yard again. Tombstones have been know to appear, as well as the occasional apparition. Many orbs, strange light forms and mists may appear in photos taken. Neighbouring homes have experienced ghostly visits as well.
This park is dog friendly and stroller friendly.
Anytime, although its creepier at night!
Website about the location and/or story: Not listed
Please submit a photo(s) taken by you of your visit to the location (non-copyrighted photos only). GPS photos are also accepted with the location in the background, and old vacation photos are accepted. Photos you took of paranormal activity are great. If you are not able to provide a photo, then please describe your visit or give a story about the visit
Tell your story if you saw, felt, or smelled anything unusual. Post pictures of what you saw.
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Be careful and do not enter areas which are off limits or look dangerous. No waymark is worth harm. Use your 6th sense, because sometimes there are unseen things which are telling you to stay out.
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