How hundreds of babies and children ended up in a mass grave in Ireland

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🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

Anna Corrigan grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She thought she was an only child, until she was in her 50s and discovered a family secret. Corrigan found documents showing her mother had spent time in one of Ireland’s so-called mother and baby homes — places where single women went to give birth. And that she had given birth to two sons there. Two brothers that Corrigan never knew she had.

It's part of a sad history in Ireland that is now being unearthed, literally. Scientists believe that nearly 800 babies and children are buried in a mass grave behind one former mother and baby home in Tuam, Ireland.

NPR’s Lauren Frayer reports on the work that forensic scientists are now doing to bring those remains to light.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is me and this is me making my Holy Communion.
0:06.0	Anna Corrigan, pages through family photos, looking back at her childhood in Dublin, Ireland, where she still lives today.
0:13.0	An only child, I was born on the 1st September, 1956, so it'll be 70 next year.
0:19.0	Or at least she thought she was an only child.
0:22.5	It wasn't until Corrigan was in her 50s that she discovered a family secret.
0:26.9	This is John's birth certificate.
0:30.5	He was born on Friday 22nd February, 1946.
0:35.4	Corrigan discovered that she had two older brothers who were born before her mother got married.
0:41.3	Her mother had never mentioned them.
0:43.4	And while researching her family tree, Corrigan found documents showing her mother had spent time in one of Ireland's so-called mother and baby homes,
0:51.8	places where single women went to give birth.
0:54.8	This is the actual slip that was written to admit my mother to the home.
1:00.9	To the matron, please admit, Bridget Tollon, 26 years of age of comfort.
1:06.2	Conditions inside these homes were often poor, and thousands of babies and children died there. Corrigan's
1:12.6	mother died in 2001 without ever telling her daughter about her connection to that history.
1:18.5	I never knew what she was going through. And then the fact that I didn't know my brothers,
1:23.1	I mean, that was, I was deprived. Consider this. There are thousands of stories just like Anna Corrigans, of families whose loved ones
1:32.7	suffered and died in Ireland's notorious mother and baby homes.
1:37.1	Forensics experts are now unearthing some of that history.
1:43.3	From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang.
1:47.6	This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.
1:52.3	When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with
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