Digging up the past
Professor reveals bones, stories from unmarked graves
Lyndsey Struthers
Issue date: 12/11/06 Section: News
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Ann Magennis, an associate professor of anthropology, is now digging up these people's stories for the first time.
"Her research has shown that there were these people coming from the working class that were less educated and less affluent," said Mary Van Buren, an associate professor in the anthropology department. "Her work really shows us that life on the frontier doesn't really conform to a lot of the stereotypes that we have."
But with very few written records to go by, the process of piecing together their lives can be frustrating.
"Accounts from newspapers indicated the superintendent was burying some patients on the grounds of the institution, although such a practice was not condoned as far as I can tell," Magennis told Today @ Colorado State, a Web site and electronic newsletter.
The pieces of this puzzle comprised of about 135 skeletons, which were discovered in 1992 when the state began building a maximum-security facility for the criminally insane in Pueblo. In 2000, during the planning phase of another expansion for the facility, 20 additional skeletons were exhumed.
Magennis said that prior to the corrections department's findings, utility workers in the area often reported finding bits and pieces of skeletal remains as they installed water and sewer lines in the area.
"People knew about it, but not one seemed to do anything official about it," Magennis said.
It is believed that more than 500 bodies were buried at the mental hospital. Magennis said the unmarked graveyard extends to an area currently covered by a road.
In 2001, through an agreement between CSU, Colorado's Department of Corrections, the State Archaeologist and Colorado College, Magennis assumed responsibility for the remains.
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