In an unusual funeral ceremony locals and members of a charity took part in giving an honorable burial to a three- year-old girl. The girl is believed to have died under unknown circumstances century and a half ago and was buried for all that time under a house in San Francisco.
Not a massive attendance but people did attend the ceremony from all over California to pay their respect to the child; she is given the name Miranda for official purposes however her real name could never be known.
When discovered buried under the house the blonde hair and skin of the girl were perfectly preserved, and instantly gave an impression of a child without any further probing into matter.
The event was emotional for over a hundred people present at the ceremony and for those people who made the funeral possible.
Four men belonging to a charity respectfully lowered the cedar-wood casket into the grave, while hundreds of people rained flowers on the casket. In the 10 am memorial, the speakers played ‘The Trumpeter’s Lullaby’; only befitting for the funeral of the unknown girl.
Michael Dunn from the charity ‘The Garden of Innocence’, who made the whole affair possible, said that the long forgotten body of the child has brought many people together today. He added that participation of the local community in this ceremony and many others like it shows the amazing side of humanity and gives hope for the future.
It is rather a peculiar thing to find a body in a casket buried under a house, especially when the body belongs to someone who had lived in the recent centuries and not thousands of years ago. However, Miranda’s body was not supposed to be at the place where it was discovered.
The site used to be a massive cemetery in San Francisco called Old Fellow’s Cemetery in the 19th century with more than 30,000 bodies buried in it belonging to 19th and some 18th century. However in 1920’s authorities decided to relocate the whole cemetery to a different place and the bodies were removed and reburied at the new location; however, Miranda’s body was left behind for no known reasons.
Miranda’s body was then rediscovered by some construction workers in San Francisco under Ericka Karner’s house. Ellisa Davey from the charity ‘The Garden of Innocence’ then contacted Karner after hearing the news of the discovery; The Garden of Innocence serves the noble cause of giving proper burials to unidentified remains of the children discovered accidently or during some official excavation.
Speaking about the pre-burial arrangements for Miranda, Davey said that it was perhaps one of the hardest jobs she undertook during her time at the charity. Partly because the body was so perfectly preserved; and partly because of the strong emotional response many locals exhibited towards the young child.
All the material used in the funeral ceremony was donated by various people some of whom took part in the actual ceremony. Although the burial is accomplished, an extensive DNA testing is being carried out to find out the true identity of Miranda.
The headstone on Miranda’s grave is shaped like a heart and says ‘The child loved around the world; if no one grieves no one remembers.’ The space for her name on the headstone is deliberately left blank for her real name that DNA testing may reveal later on.
Image: ktla.com