This isn't technical abandoned but it is hidden with the intent that people forget about it. This has possibly the most interesting history behind any location I've ever visited, yet to look at, it's very boring. Please delete if not allowed.
A picture perfect USA military cemetery. But across the road hidden behind the cemetery keepers office is Plot E. Plot E is out of bounds and reserved for the 'Dishonored Dead'.
A single cross shared amongst the 94 graves of USA servicemen who were all executed by hanging or firing squad for rape or murder (well one was for desertion and he was later sent back to his family in another country).
The cross has been intentionally positioned with its back to the grave of the cemetery where the honorable servicemen are buried.
Each grave is now only marked by a number and until recently it was not public knowledge who was buried under each number marker. This is because the plot is not meant to exist or be acknowledged and the people buried here are not meant to be seen as people but numbers.
All of the dead were originally buried all over Europe, in the locations their crimes were committed. However, they were exhumed and hidden here.
All but one of these graves has a horrific story, some involving children: 15-year-old Elizabeth Green, who was raped and strangled by Corporal Ernest Lee Clarke (grave 68) and Private Augustine M. Guerra (grave 44) at Ashford on 22 August 1944, and 7-year-old Patricia Wylie, who was raped and strangled by Private William Harrison (grave 62) in Northern Ireland on 25 September 1944.
The resting place of Private Blake W. Mariano, guilty of the following:
Accompanied by another American private, Mariano went out drinking. After finding a well-stocked cellar, the two men quickly became inebriated on cognac, at which point they went looking to complete their evening.
They found what they wanted in an air raid shelter under the town's castle. Huddled there were 17 villagers, two of whom were children.
Mariano pointed his rifle at a young woman called Elfriede. Aged just 21, Elfriede worked in an office, and had a fiancé who was away fighting. Mariano took her outside and raped her. After he had finished, his companion did the same.
Still not sated, Mariano returned to the shelter and chose a 41-year-old woman called Martha. When it became apparent that she was menstruating, Mariano shot her. It would take Martha until the following morning to die.
In a final act of savagery, Mariano selected one more woman, a 54-year-old shopkeeper called Babette, who he also raped. His 'entertainment' now over, Mariano finally returned to his tank.
Taken from Wiki.
Each story is now documented and researchable online. I'm not sure if there is any other place with so many murders all buried together...
And just over the road the honorable dead.
A picture perfect USA military cemetery. But across the road hidden behind the cemetery keepers office is Plot E. Plot E is out of bounds and reserved for the 'Dishonored Dead'.
A single cross shared amongst the 94 graves of USA servicemen who were all executed by hanging or firing squad for rape or murder (well one was for desertion and he was later sent back to his family in another country).
The cross has been intentionally positioned with its back to the grave of the cemetery where the honorable servicemen are buried.
Each grave is now only marked by a number and until recently it was not public knowledge who was buried under each number marker. This is because the plot is not meant to exist or be acknowledged and the people buried here are not meant to be seen as people but numbers.
All of the dead were originally buried all over Europe, in the locations their crimes were committed. However, they were exhumed and hidden here.
All but one of these graves has a horrific story, some involving children: 15-year-old Elizabeth Green, who was raped and strangled by Corporal Ernest Lee Clarke (grave 68) and Private Augustine M. Guerra (grave 44) at Ashford on 22 August 1944, and 7-year-old Patricia Wylie, who was raped and strangled by Private William Harrison (grave 62) in Northern Ireland on 25 September 1944.
The resting place of Private Blake W. Mariano, guilty of the following:
Accompanied by another American private, Mariano went out drinking. After finding a well-stocked cellar, the two men quickly became inebriated on cognac, at which point they went looking to complete their evening.
They found what they wanted in an air raid shelter under the town's castle. Huddled there were 17 villagers, two of whom were children.
Mariano pointed his rifle at a young woman called Elfriede. Aged just 21, Elfriede worked in an office, and had a fiancé who was away fighting. Mariano took her outside and raped her. After he had finished, his companion did the same.
Still not sated, Mariano returned to the shelter and chose a 41-year-old woman called Martha. When it became apparent that she was menstruating, Mariano shot her. It would take Martha until the following morning to die.
In a final act of savagery, Mariano selected one more woman, a 54-year-old shopkeeper called Babette, who he also raped. His 'entertainment' now over, Mariano finally returned to his tank.
Taken from Wiki.
Each story is now documented and researchable online. I'm not sure if there is any other place with so many murders all buried together...
And just over the road the honorable dead.
