“Unpleasant Disclosures” — Tonawanda Cemetery Scandal of 1885

In the winter of 1885, disturbing truths surfaced about Tonawanda’s South Side cemetery—truths that suggested the dead here were not resting peacefully.

Newspapers reported that the cemetery had fallen into chaos and neglect. Burial records were so poorly kept that lot boundaries vanished, numbers were altered, and families unknowingly buried their loved ones on top of strangers. Some plots were packed so tightly with bodies that no one could say with certainty who lay where.

Worse still were allegations that corpses were secretly exhumed—removed under cover of darkness and relocated to the pauper’s field to make room for new burials. Families were not notified. The dead were moved without ceremony, their identities lost to careless recordkeeping.

One incident haunted readers most. During the funeral of a well-known Tonawandian, the grave digger uncovered another body already in the grave. With the funeral procession moments away, there was no time to explain. The exposed corpse was pushed aside, covered with the digger’s coat and overshirt, hidden from mourners’ eyes. Only after the funeral ended was the body carried away and reburied elsewhere.

As these revelations spread, accusations grew darker. Cemetery funds—meant for care of the grounds and the dignity of the dead—were allegedly wasted by officials, spent on drink and gambling while graves sank, markers shifted, and records unraveled.

By the time the scandal reached the public, the damage was already done. Bodies had been moved. Names had been lost. And no one could say for certain how many graves had been disturbed.

For a time, this cemetery was not only a place of mourning—but of secrets. And some visitors have long wondered whether those displaced souls ever truly found rest.