1,000 bodies found on University of Mississippi land

JACKSON, Miss., Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Officials at the University of Mississippi Medical Center were planning to build a new parking lot until they found 1,000 bodies buried at the proposed site.

They believe the bodies were patients from the old Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum, which opened in 1855 and occupied the site until 1935.

The cost of moving the 100-year-old remains from the unmarked graveyard would be about $3000 per body, making the total around $3 million.

"We can't afford that," Dr. James Keeton, dean of the medical school, told the Clarion-Ledger.

The medical center is reviewing their construction plans and considering building the parking lot at another location on campus.

[HuffPost Live] [Clarion-Ledger]