Why Was Benjamin Franklin’s Basement Filled With Skeletons?
Repairs on Franklin’s old London house turned up 1,200 pieces of bone from at least 15 people
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-was-benjamin-franklins-basement-filled-with-skeletons-524521/
For nearly two decades leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin lived in London in a house at 36 Craven Street. In 1776, Franklin left his English home to come back to America. More than 200 years later, 15 bodies were found in the basement, buried in a secret, windowless room beneath the garden.
In 1998, conservationists were doing repairs on 36 Craven, looking to turn Franklin’s old haunt into a museum. “From a one-meter-wide, one-meter-deep pit, over 1,200 pieces of bone were retrieved”—remnants of more than a dozen bodies, according to Benjamin Franklin House. Six were children. Forensic investigations showed that the bones dated to Franklin’s day.