The World’s Only Active Runway With Graves Underneath Is In Georgia

When you’re dead and gone, what do you want to happen to your body? Personally, I like the idea of being turned into compost in which a nice fruit tree can be planted, but to be honest I don’t mind too much so long as I don’t mysteriously turn up in someone’s trunk. I’ve never been big on the idea of getting buried, however, unless I can be buried beneath an active runway.

Laying your corpse to rest under an active runway might not sound like the most relaxing place for your body’s final resting place, but it’s exactly where the remains of four people can be found. Specifically, the remains of Richard and Catherine Dotson, and two of their relatives, now rest below the runway at Georgia’s Savannah/Hilton Head International airport.

The pair wasn’t always buried beneath the 9,350 foot runway at the airport, and were instead laid to rest in a private plot that belonged to the Dotson family, according to the Savannah/Hilton Head International airport.

Back in the 1940s, the land around the private graveyard was claimed by the federal government to expand military facilities in the area. As operations grew further, a runway was proposed that would run right over the Dotson graveyard.

Most of the bodies buried in the plot were relocated to the Bonaventure Cemetery, reports the Savannah Morning News. The relocated bodies included around 100 people, including Dotson family members and former slaves, the site adds.

Richard and Catherine Dotson weren’t moved to the new site, however, and alongside relatives Daniel Hueston and John Dotson they now remain buried beneath the tarmac of the runaway. The graves are pretty easy to spot on the runway, as they’re the two out of place rectangles jutting out from the pristine tarmac.

Of course, the graves don’t come with upright tombstones that you might find in a normal graveyard, as that would make landings at the international airport rather sketchy. Instead, there are two small plaques on the ground to highlight the final resting place of the Dotsons. 

While the four bodies under the tarmac weren’t disturbed with the runway’s construction, the positioning might not have been a peaceful final resting place for the family, however. The Savannah Morning News adds that pilots who regularly land at the airport have all kinds of spooky stories about ghosts roaming the tarmac, but that can’t be true… can it?

Still, at least a grave under the tarmac of an international airport is a more dignified resting place than the drinks cooler of a luxury cruise ship, or a parking lot in the Midlands of England where a former king was once dug up.