In Savannah, Georgia, an airport hides a strange secret. Imagine landing, the plane’s wheels brushing the runway… without knowing that two people lie beneath. This isn’t a movie, nor an urban legend. It’s a striking reality that begins with a farm, a family, and an unusual decision.
A farm transformed into an airport: the roots of the mystery
Before airplanes soared into the skies from Savannah/Hilton Head Airport , the land was a quiet farm owned by Richard and Catherine Dotson, a 19th-century farming couple. These pioneers, born in 1779, had spent their lives farming the land in the heart of what was then known as the “Cherokee Hills . ”
When they died in the late 1800s, they were buried on their property, as was common at the time. The family cemetery contained more than 100 graves, including those of their relatives, former farm workers, and freed and unfreed slaves .
World War II changes everything
In 1942, as the world plunged into war, the U.S. military sought to expand its infrastructure. Savannah became a strategic base. The Dotson land was requisitioned, with the consent of their descendants. More than 100 graves were moved to the famous Bonaventure Cemetery , but the remains of Richard and Catherine remained.
Why? Because the family wanted to honor their last wish: to rest on their land. So, rather than uproot them, the authorities made a surprising decision.
Tombstones… on the tarmac
Today, the names of Richard and Catherine Dotson are engraved on Runway 10, the one that sees thousands of planes fly over each year. Two flat slabs barely mark their location. And yet, they are indeed there, embedded in the asphalt , frozen between sky and asphalt. These are the few graves in the world integrated into an active runway.
And that’s not all: other tombs remain
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