Why is it that we are more shocked by what happens to dead babies than to live ones? The story that almost 800 dead babies were buried in a disused sewage tank outside Tuam
in rural Ireland turns out to be problematic.
It is certain that 796 babies did die under the care of nuns in a home for unmarried mothers there between 1925 and 1961 and that is in itself a shocking statistic. But what gave the story wings was the claim that their bodies had been dumped in a septic tank, widely attributed to Catherine Corless, the local historian who uncovered the scandal.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/jun/11/horror-mass-baby-grave-ireland-instinctive-religiosity
It is certain that 796 babies did die under the care of nuns in a home for unmarried mothers there between 1925 and 1961 and that is in itself a shocking statistic. But what gave the story wings was the claim that their bodies had been dumped in a septic tank, widely attributed to Catherine Corless, the local historian who uncovered the scandal.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/jun/11/horror-mass-baby-grave-ireland-instinctive-religiosity
