this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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The home, which was run by an order of Catholic nuns and closed in 1961, was one of many such institutions that housed tens of thousands of orphans and unmarried pregnant women who were forced to give up their children throughout much of the 20th century.

In 2014, historian Catherine Corless tracked down death certificates for nearly 800 children who died at the home in Tuam between the 1920s and 1961 — but could only find a burial record for one child.

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[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

DNA analysis found that the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks gestation to 3 years.

Ok, atrocities aside, how the hell can you tell age from DNA? DNA doesn't change as you age.

[–] RamenDame@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Thank you. I asked myself same. Telomeres I guess you would need to know the length after birth. But we only have one sample (moment of death). Plus the victims bodies are probably not very good preserved. My best guess is, the text is just not accurate and they might used DNA testing for different things (sex, etc).

[–] Machinist@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Telomere length is the only thing I can think of, but that's totally a guess and I don't know much about it. Telomeres, as I understand it, are padding at the end of DNA and shorten as you age.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 hours ago

I'd guess they look at the telomeres but I don't how accurate it can be.

[–] zymagoras777@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

I love how the headline says as if this happened recently. Clowns.

[–] 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Scopes reports that the babies were buried in an adjacent structure and that the number is undetermined. An amateur published that number without evidence.

Until additional information is uncovered, it is not possible if the grave was a result of legitimate or initiate reasons.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/06/18/796-children-septic-tank-ireland/

[–] PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world 8 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

You say the number is inaccurate, which begs the question: what exactly is an acceptable number of infant remains to find in an orphanage septic tank?

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 hours ago

Raises. It raises the question.

[–] 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 4 hours ago

If you read the scopes article, the number is zero and zero is a great number. "The human remains found by the Commission are not in a sewage tank but in a second structure with 20 chambers..." How did these children die? Were they murdered? Was there a pandemic? Neglect? Famine? Over what time range was this collective grave used?

After the story in Canada that sparked the burning of multiple churches was found out to be entirely false, I'm going to wait for actual facts here.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 hours ago

Wow, what an awful but fascinating read. Really changes the perspective on this.

It wasnt a place that harmed or neglected children, but rather a place that housed the most vulnerable at a difficult time and endured immense hardship.

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)
[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Wow, thinking religion is bad just because there are more babies than you can really comprehend looking at in this septic tank, and you had to ask yourself 'wait I've read this one before'?

Bigot.

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 5 points 3 hours ago

Yeah! How many times has a religion done this?

And that first one you thought of doesn't count. Or the next 3 cause those were all recent mass graves. Or those old ones if you thought of those. So just don't count the first 20 times of this from religions that pop into your head and then tell me how often you really think this happened.

Heretic.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

This isn't the only place this has happened. More info here.

https://youtu.be/Bwabh4zbmZ4

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Thats awful, but you know who wont drown babies and hide their bodies in a septic tank?

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I swear to God if the answer is a shark....

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

Don’t get off topic. Also, that’s speciesist, and just kind of rude.

The answer is the sponsors of this podcast!

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 7 hours ago (11 children)

religions don't deserve to exist.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 hours ago

Religion is the last mental illness you can't call out or treat. When you have Mike Huckabees et al going around ushering in the End Times, we should have the power to medicate these people into a barely functional stupor.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Sure but you might be making some assumptions that don't really apply here.

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

You mean assumptions about the 800 dead hidden babies in what is a very common finding inthese settings? Those assumptions?

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

They can exist - if they pay taxes.

I'd rather they not, though.

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[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 6 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

Could have been worse, could have been atheists running the home.

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[–] buttnugget@lemmy.world 52 points 14 hours ago

If your society cannot or will not support an unmarried pregnant woman on her own, your society is a failed one.

[–] CatDogL0ver@lemmy.world 38 points 14 hours ago

Religion is such hypocrisy. No wonder people are turning away.

On one hand, they tell people don't use birth control, no abortion ; on the other hand, they don't protect them.

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