Will 800 Babies Tossed in a Septic Tank Finally Be Laid to Rest?

Catherine Corless is an Irish historian in Tuam, County Galway. She spent many years researching the church records for Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home and found that something didn’t quite add up. According to death certificates she discovered, nearly 800 babies and toddlers had died there between 1925 and 1961 from issues like whooping cough, premature birth, gastroenteritis, and respiratory infections, but only two of them actually had burial records. What happened to the remaining children? 

Advertisement

The home itself was run by Catholic nuns and served as a place where unwed pregnant women were sent to give birth in secret during the early twentieth century. However, once they had their babies, they were forced to give them up, often without consent,

Continue reading