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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[–] zymagoras777@lemmy.world 8 points 6 hours ago

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

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 9 points 6 hours ago (5 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.

[–] Broda@szmer.info 1 points 23 minutes ago

It actually does, telomeres shorten, this is one of the most important reasons why we, you know, age.

[–] hessenjunge@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 29 minutes ago* (last edited 29 minutes ago)

You don’t, the „journalist“ just made that up instead of searching for a minute finding details that would have enabled them to write a proper article.

There’s even an extensive Wikipedia article outlining known facts and atrocities - dumping the bodies is probably the least atrocious thing they’ve done.

There is even a Tuam Home Survivors website listing the names of the deceased and how they were uncovered by the historian.

Apparently this week they started a new dig to uncover the bodies as they found some but not nearly all of them.

It took me just a couple of minutes to uncover the info and write a tiny bit of that down. This is how journalism dies.

[–] RamenDame@lemmy.world 1 points 4 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 6 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 6 hours ago

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

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 8 hours ago (3 children)
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[–] 52fighters 5 points 7 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 10 points 6 hours ago (3 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?

[–] hessenjunge@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 25 minutes ago

There’s an extensive Wikipedia article outlining known facts and atrocities - dumping the bodies is probably the least atrocious thing they’ve done.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 hours ago

Raises. It raises the question.

[–] 52fighters 1 points 6 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 5 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.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 4 points 7 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 6 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 6 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

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

The answer is the sponsors of this podcast!

Edit: Also, sharks would never do that, though. None of you have any reason to fear u-them.

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 9 hours ago (11 children)

religions don't deserve to exist.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 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 5 hours ago (1 children)

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

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

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

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Do you think they had a valid and good reason to hide 800 dead babies in a septic tank?

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

It wasn't a septic tank.

It was a structure with 20 compartments which was originally designed as some kind of sewage management system but was never used as such.

So your question is really, do I think they had a valid and good reason to bury 800 infants, who had died from various bacterial and viral infections over a long period of time.

The obvious answer to that is yes.

It was a refuge for mothers and children. There's no indication of any abuse or neglect of the deceased at this time. I'm sure there are many valid criticisms to be made about this time and this place, and certainly there are valid criticisms to be made about religion, but this refuge is not the baby murder facility you're looking for.

There's a snopes article with a lot more information which challenges the assumptions you're making:

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

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 2 points 8 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 10 hours ago (3 children)

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

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[–] buttnugget@lemmy.world 53 points 16 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 16 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.

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 20 points 16 hours ago

My brain took a moment to register the word infant. As in the child was already born.

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