Tuesday, November 13, 2012

OLD OLALLA CEMETERY/''STARVATION HEIGHTS VICTIMS''

This is the cemetery where the victims of Starvation Heights are laid to rest. This cemetery is only marked by the grave markers. There is no parking at this cemetery but the entrance is located across the road from a fence.

History

Linda Burfield Hazzard was the first doctor in the United States to earn a medical degree as a "fasting specialist." In 1908 she published a book, Fasting For The Cure Of Disease, promoting fasting as a cure for virtually every ailment, including cancer. She created a "sanitarium", Wilderness Heights, in Olalla, Washington, where inpatients fasted for days, weeks or months, on a diet of small amounts of tomato and asparagus juice and occasionally, a small teaspoon of orange juice. While some patients survived and publicly sang her praises, more than 40 patients died under her care, most from starvation. Local residents referred to the place as "Starvation Heights". In 1912 she was convicted of manslaughter for the death of Claire Williamson, a wealthy Australian woman, who weighed less than 50 pounds at the time of her death. At the trial it was proved that Hazzard had forged Williamson's will and stolen most of her valuables. Williamson's sister, Dorothea, also took the treatment, and only survived because a family friend showed up in time to remove her from the compound. She was too weak to leave on her own, weighing less than 60 pounds. She later testified against Hazzard at trial. Hazzard was sentenced to 2 to 20 years in prison, which she served in the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla. She was released on parole on December 26, 1915 after serving two years, and the following year Governor Ernest Lister gave her a full pardon. She and her husband, Samuel Christman Hazzard, moved to New Zealand, where she practiced as a dietitian and osteopath until 1920. In 1920 she returned to Olalla, Washington and opened a new sanitarium, known publicly as a "school of health" since her medical license had been revoked, and continued to starve patients until it burned to the ground in 1935; it was never rebuilt. Linda Burfield Hazzard died in 1938 while attempting a fasting cure on herself.



PICTURES OF OLD OLALLA CEMETERY - THEY SAY THIS IS WHERE THE VICTIMS OF HAZZARD LAID TO REST.

These are photos of what lies in the ground in memory of the victims of this madwoman. They are saying that the headstones of the victims were removed due to popularity of the public in search of researching and playing around. Taking the original stones away will make it less likely for those to come up. However, these victims now have no names, but we came up with respect and curiosity of our evidence. Here below are some photos of the stakes.