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The land was first a graveyard and opened in 1825 and was known as The Upper burial Grounds, it closed in 1864 due to overcrowding. Over the next 3 decades the graveyard gradually became a total eyesore. It was neglected and vandalized. The headstones even became bases for ball games. In the late 1880’s the church transferred the ground to the council and in 1893 it was changed to a public park. At first the land was going to be landscaped and to plot out the locations of the graves. But this, the public strongly disagreed with, so it was agreed the graves would be moved. But this was met with many problems, many markers had disappeared or disintegrated, some graves were really shallow, whilst others were incredibly deep with many caskets and there were signs of grave robbery, the workers would not take these conditions no more and refused to continue. So the second part of the conversion was started. The ground was leveled and landscaped and it was completed to make it a public park. It opened in 1894 as Frontenac Park, it was renamed McBurney Park in 1965. It is thought that thousands of bodies remain buried under the grounds. A memorial cross was erected to help remind people of the ones that are still buried there.As the years continue more and more paranormal incidents are being reported, maybe it is due to the fact that the graves are beginning to come through the grass and the people buried there can no longer truly rest in peace.
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