The Herrin Massacre took place in Williamson County Illinois in 1922. A chance meeting between a historian looking for the gravesite of a WWI vet killed in the massacre and a geospatial scientist initiated the mapping of the Herrin Massacre Potter’s Field and the entire Herrin City cemetery. The project took approximately four years to complete, mostly because of researching the data that was not previously digitally recorded or was missing completely. Data was input into a sql database and a custom enterprise geodatabase was created and shared through use of various services via ArcGIS for Server.
A GIS model was created from an old hand drawn map using known dimensions. This model was used as a template since it was just the conceptual drawing. Using data created and recorded over the history of the cemetery, the team was able to map the routine of each of the sextons over the years to approximate the location of the potter’s field.
Detailed typography, headstone outlines, and satellite imagery were processed in ArcGIS 3D Analyst. This gave the team the ability to locate unmarked sites by analyzing the subtle changes in the ground surface.
Though these combined processes, the team was able to sumise the lot in which the potter’s field was potentially located. Their continued research and proven geographical, historical, and geospatial data was enough evidence to convince the city to allow excavation. On Nov 12, 2013 the first vault and coffin were discovered and confirmed based on historical accounts describing the coffins and photos taken prior to burial.
What I found most interesting about this article was the use of new age technology to bring back the past. Even though the records were missing, the team was able to analyze the available data to correctly locate burial sites that lay unnoticed for nearly 90 years. Being able to analyze subtle difference in ground depression to find the unmarked graves could not have been accomplished using just satellite imagery or aerial photography.
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