Exploring Forest Home Cemetery - FINDING HISTORY AND BONES

Today's adventure takes us to Forest Home Cemetery located only several miles west of Chicago. This massive cemetery was once an Indian burial ground and goes back centuries. The first non-Native American was buried here in the 1830's. Of course, with a cemetery this old and this big, you're bound to come across some interesting things and, indeed, I did. I found a very old mausoleum that had been desecrated by grave robbers many decades ago. Unfortunately, they didn't care about the body that was in there and there's skeletal remains scattered about. I also found another mausoleum whose remains can be seen inside a cracked and broken coffin. Plus, the monument to the Haymarket riots, the monument for the International Order of Odd Fellows, and much more. So please join me as we explore Forest Home Cemetery.

[@melanieiwasko6010]

Oooooh! Fisk coffins! 29:22. 👍🏼

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

Yes!

[@giggles8458]

I am sure you all heard of Legendary General Winfield Scott. Extremely Overweight and Unable to Mount a Horse during the Civil War. The soldiers had to help him to get on the horse. He was mentioned in the Indian monument. Thank you for the tour. thank you for the photos, and thank you for the history.

[@bmfilmnut]

Very interesting! I lived through my teenage years right down the road in Riverside but I never knew about this cemetery. I'm 74 now and I live about 25 miles west of the cemetery. I'm going to visit it soon. It mausoleums remind me a bit of those in New Orleans. Thanks for posting this.

[@SerenitySueGraveyards]

Thanks, for this, i love mausoleums, the fisk coffin is amazing to see, always sad to see vandalism, especially to graves, mausoleums etc. Shame on them

[@GraveVisitations]

Nice find with the coffins. Sad to see it vandalised tho 💔

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

Very sad. I was surprised to see that.

[@tonyahaley6900]

It looked like the tree near the toppled stones had split. That may explain why they were knocked down. Thanks for the tour!

[@quebot1111]

United Ancient Order of Druids.

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

Thank you! They had a very unique monument!

[@quebot1111]

Yes they did. I really enjoy your videos@@MiddleAgedBaldGuy

[@shellybeals2806]

Thank you for sharing, very interesting! I hate seeing the graves disturbed and uncared for😢 Something to be said for being buried in the ground and not a mausoleum.Just don’t know what is wrong with people to do something like this 😡

[@whipflair3710]

29:45 that old style can though lol

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

Right? Looks like it was from the 70's.

[@mr.b3168]

Lived in Maywood for half my life. Passed by this place all the time. Moved to California..... Too bad it was me being homesick that got me into local ILLINOIS history. Now I can't check it out lol.

[@dano8203]

Enjoyed your video! It’s sad of the grave robbing/vandalism. You think the cemetery would have repaired the mausoleum and reinstalled the bones.

[@shellys7660]

Kudos to you for pronouncing that native American indian name like a boss!

[@janetslicer3637]

Very nice tour Bryan.

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

Thanks 👍

[@walkabout16]

In Forest Home Cemetery, where silence reigns, I ventured forth, where history remains. Beneath ancient oaks and gravestones of stone, A journey of discovery, I walked alone. Amidst the leaves that whispered tales untold, I sought the stories of lives once bold. Beneath the canopy of nature's dome, I sought the past, a place to call home. The headstones stood like guardians of lore, Their inscriptions etched in history's core. Names and dates, the passage of time, Echoed in verse, a rhythm and rhyme. "Middle-aged bald guy," one marker proclaimed, A curious epithet, by which he's named. In this forest of history, a unique find, A tribute so human, it tugged at my mind. With reverence and wonder, I knelt down low, To honor a life from long ago. A man, not just a tagline to see, A piece of a puzzle in history's decree. In these sacred woods, where memories repose, I pondered the lives beneath the leaves' close. For in Forest Home Cemetery, where the past is sown, We find history and bones, a world overthrown. The lesson I learned, amidst nature's embrace, Is that every life has its unique trace. In the stillness of this eternal dome, We unearth stories, finding history and home.

[@wesleyjohnson2284]

A great job showing this cemetery thank you

[@barbaraharshman9460]

Beautiful cemetery!

[@dm607]

I had many wow moments with you Bryan. Loved the mausoleums, hope the thief is having a miserable life! Thank you for another amazing walkabout. Deb of Oz.

[@smilinacha]

Hey bud, just discovered your channel and love your videos! Liked and sub’d! I know it would be a bad idea, but I’d love to take a Dremel tool to that first grave marker you were looking at and freshen up all those letters 😊.

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

Thank you!

[@larryborkstrom3580]

It's a shame someone did that to a deceased person the cemetery should pick them up put them back in wall and brick it up and let them rest in peace

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

They really should.

[@gregh6719]

IOOF -Independent Order of Odd Fellows...UAOD - United Ancient Order of Druids.

[@beth952]

Have you ever been to Bonaventure Cemetary? Atleast look it up, it's the most beautiful Cemetary in the United States.

[@MiddleAgedBaldGuy]

I have not. Is that located in Georgia?

[@beth952]

@MiddleAgedBaldGuy yes sir, in the outskirts of Savannah. I'm enjoying your vids.

[@roybrooks]

Grave robbery is a possibility. But another, possibly more likely, reason that the one niche is open is that the remains were removed by the family, put in a new casket or coffin, and moved to another grave location. It looks like some boards from an older wooden casket or coffin, and the niche cover, are in the niche. The original casket may have collapsed by the time the remains were moved. The stone (?) vault on the floor of the mausoleum may have been moved by the family from another location. Or the family just decided to put the casket or coffin inside a vault on the floor rather than put it in a niche. The boards on the floor suggest, to me, that at one time there were two or three wooden coffins or caskets on the floor as well but collapsed over time. The bones may have come out of one of them. There might be more bones or bone fragments underneath some of those boards.

[@jeffreyyoung4104]

Sadly, most of the damage done in Mausoleums is from animals other than humans! While there is vandalism done by humans in some cases, the vast majority of it is actually done by wild animals. If you look at the bottom of the rusted out door, you can see the opening is large enough for foxes, squirrels, and other scavenger animals, but some animals are opportunistic, looking for places to hibernate and will cause damage to any structure not sealed up well! In the case where all of the crypts are in use, they may place a casket into a metal or stone vault placed on the floor, or raised by legs or a table. If the legs or table is made of material that can decay, the container may fall and the contents spill out onto the floor, and if animals can get inside to the deceased, then their bones can be scattered and removed by the animals. The vault where the sealed plaque is missing, it could have fallen out, due to improper installation, or natural erosion due to weather and time. Once the plaque is off the crypt, the animals then have access to the coffin and remains and they can be scattered just as if someone had tried pulling the coffin out. And in this case, it looks as if the coffin is mostly still in the crypt, and only a little amount of material is on the floor. Just because a coffin is protected from natural decay of ground burial, a wooden coffin will still decay, unless it is treated with special preservatives, and plastic trays and bags are used to protect the remains from leaking and decaying the wood. Metal coffins will also decay from the remains if not treated for the decay of the body, it just takes longer for the metal to corrode. It takes special situations for bodies to mummify naturally, and most Mausoleums do not support those conditions and are made to drain any fluids to the back of the crypt to dry out over time, or they have drains to route the fluids to the ground, depeding on when they were made, and the laws changed. Any Mausoleum that has openings to the outside, and all of them do have vents and windows, if the window and doors are just metal bars, then many animals can get in, but the bars keep humans out, unless the bars or locks fail. Which is why many people opt for cremation rather than burial today. They don't want their remains to be messed with after the body is buried. With the cremation the ashes can be treated in many ways, including making a diamond from the remains!