The Ghosts of Fernald's Dark Past, Part One | Grave Talks CLASSIC

This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE!

The Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center carries one of the most troubling histories of any institutional facility in the United States.

Once home to thousands of developmentally disabled children and adults, the center became the site of deeply controversial and unethical experiments. Historical records reveal programs connected to the eugenics movement and studies in which children were unknowingly fed cereals containing radioactive isotopes.

Rather than the care and rehabilitation many families expected, life inside Fernald often reflected the darker attitudes of the time.

Today...