A few years ago, a young man who called himself Stephen became a fixture in Manhattan’s Riverside Park. Locals started noticing him sitting on the same park bench day after day. He said little and asked for nothing.
When Stephen’s body was found in 2017, the police were unable to identify him, and he was buried on Hart Island. Then, one day, a woman who knew him from the park stumbled upon his true identity, and his backstory came to light.
This is the first episode in our new series The Unmarked Graveyard, untangling mysteries from America’s largest public cemetery. Each week, we’re bringing you stories of how people ended up on Hart Island, the lives they lived and the people they left behind.
When Nazis Took Manhattan
March of the Bonus Army
The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton
The Infamous Words of George Wallace
The Final Frontline
Quarantined in the Pizzeria
Lockdown in Lockup
Home is Where You Park Your Mini Van
The Words of Renault Robinson, Then and Now
Love at First Quarantine
Love from Six Feet Apart
Centenarians in Lockdown
Soul Sister
The Long Haul: Busman's Holiday
History Had Me Glued to the Seat
Voicemail Valentine
My So-Called Lungs
The Teenage Diaries Revisited Hour Special
Thembi's Diary, Revisited
The Last Witness
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