What Would You Do if You Found a Child's Coffin in Your Basement?

@celticeagle (194550)
Boise, Idaho
October 8, 2026 2:19pm CST
In 2016 during the renovation of a home in the Richmond District of San Francisco workers dug up a small coffin in the basement. It was a 3- and 1/2-foot-long metal coffin. In it was the mummified remains of a 2–3-year-old girl wearing a white dress and holding a few flowers in her hands. Her hair and nails were still intact. It was speculated that it had been buried sometime between 1870 and 1890. History of the area uncovered that in 1901 the laws in San Francisco changed and it was no longer lawful to have cemeteries within the city limits. This meant that about 150,000 bodies had to be moved outside the city limits. A non-profit organization, Garden of Innocense, which helps children's bodies in cases like this be humanely buried elsewhere. They gave the unknown child the name of Miranda Eve and she was buried in a nearby cemetery. As research continued in the case it was found that the child's name was actually Edith Howard Cook. She had died October 12, 1876, of an illness called 'marasmus' which is severe malnutrition.
4 people like this
4 responses
@JohnRoberts (106942)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Oct
That's something from a CSI episode.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (194550)
• Boise, Idaho
7h
Sounds like it.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (140997)
• Marion, Ohio
8 Oct
Poor child.
2 people like this
@noni1959 (13182)
• United States
9 Oct
I remember hearing about when it happened. The house sat on the Odd Fellows Cemetery, and her body was accidentally left behind during the movement of bodies. DNA later helped identify her through a relative. If I am remembering right, she was suspected of having a chronic infectious disease that broke down her immune system and brought on the malnutrition. She was just under 3 years old. It's so sad.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (194550)
• Boise, Idaho
7h
Yes, I have posted on this story years back. It fascinated me how this one was left behind when others were moved.
@JudyEv (389201)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Oct
Wow, what a story. Poor little Edith, dying of malnutrition.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (194550)
• Boise, Idaho
7h
It seems so strange to me nowadays.
1 person likes this