Buried secrets. Episode 01 Hardin Cemetery disaster

Summary: It was a flood of biblical proportion rampaging for two months, cutting a swath across 9 Midwestern states killing 50 people and destroying or damaging 55,000 homes. Hardin, Missouri, population a little over 600, was a small, close-knit farming community. Residents watched over each other and their history by taking exceptional care of the local cemetery where their ancestors rested. What the inhabitants of this small Missouri town came to realize was that the Great Midwest Flood of 1993 would have the ability to unearth the dead as the Missouri river flowed three and a half miles over its banks. The floodwaters ate through the Hardin cemetery, unearthing hundreds of headstones, vaults and caskets, sending them through the streets and fields of Ray County. As the disaster unfolded, a special team comprised of local volunteers and forensic anthropologists, pathologists and other specialists brought together by DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team) came from as far away as Washington, D.C. in a massive effort to recover, identify, and repatriate the hundreds of individuals exhumed by the floodwaters. On this episode of Skeleton Crew, Dr. Elizabeth Murray and some members of this unique crew will re-explore the extraordinary efforts that were undertaken to once again bring to rest the displaced remains, and provide closure for the living.