2 people are buried on a runway at a major US airport where hundreds of planes land every day, and many people have no idea
- When Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia had to expand Runway 10 during WWII, they came across a family burial site with hundreds of graves.
- The family's descendants okayed the move of all but four graves.
- To this day, two graves remain at the edge of Runway 10 and 28, while two more sit somewhat off to the side.
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There are terrifying airport runways, and there are terrifying airport runways.
While Runway 10 at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia may not be a particularly difficult or scary landing, it does involve touching down on a pair of graves.
Read more: 15 of the world's most terrifying airport runways
Like many airports, Savannah Airport was built on former farmland. Farmland often comes with ancient burial sites and family plots, and most airports simply deal with it by moving any graves they find to nearby cemeteries.
But when Savannah Airport needed to expand Runway 10 during WWII, it was met with resistance from descendants of the Dotson family.
Believing that their ancestors wouldn't have wanted to abandon the land they worked so hard to cultivate, these descendants insisted on keeping their family's matriarch and patriarch put. The family plot is estimated to have had around 100 graves, including those of former slaves, and all but four were moved to a nearby cemetery.
The graves of Richard and Catherine Dotson, the farmers who originally owned the land and died in 1884 and 1877 respectively, however, sit on the edge of Runway 10 and 28, while two more graves, of relatives Daniel Hueston and John Dotson, can be found nearby, in the brush.
Richard and Catherine's graves feature markers. "At rest," says his, while hers says, "Gone home to rest," according to The State.
Apparently, these graves are the only ones in the world embedded in an active 9,350-foot-long runway. And, of course, they're not without their spooky stories.
"It's said, that if you are coming in to land just after sundown, two figures will appear just along the north side of the runway," regional airline captain Lisa Ruedy wrote, according to The State.
Family members are allowed to visit, though they are not permitted to leave flowers. It is an active runway after all.
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