Latest news with #burialsite
WIRED
21-07-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Mark Zuckerberg Is Expanding His Secretive Hawaii Compound. Part of It Sits Atop a Burial Ground
Jul 21, 2025 7:00 AM Meta's CEO has become one of the biggest landowners in Hawaii, growing his property's footprint and erecting new mysterious buildings. Photo-illustration: Jacqui VanLiew; Getty Images As a child, Julian Ako would visit his maternal great-grandfather's home near Pilaa Beach in Kauai, Hawaii, where he and his family would gather edible fungi that grow on kukui trees and collect seaweed and fish from the reef. For about a decade, that land has belonged to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is constructing a massive compound at an estimated cost that exceeds $300 million. WIRED can now reveal that Zuckerberg's property is atop a burial site: Ako's great-grandmother and her brother were buried on the land. After months of discussions with a Zuckerberg representative, Ako was successfully able to gain access to the property and identify and register the graves with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, though he was not able to locate remains of other ancestors, who he believes could be buried on the property. In a report shared with WIRED, the state agency also confirmed 'the probability (based on oral testimony) of additional burial sites.' Visits to Ako's family's graves are coordinated by the team at the Zuckerberg ranch. Ako, who sits on the Oahu Island Burial Council, worries about what might happen if further burial sites are discovered, because of the extreme secrecy surrounding the compound. While NDAs are not unusual on billionaire construction projects, the scale of Zuckerberg's compound has resulted in scores of local workers being forbidden from sharing what they're doing and who they're working for. 'If all of the workers have signed these nondisclosure agreements, then basically they're sworn to silence,' Ako says. 'If they uncover iwi —or bones—it's going to be a challenge for that to ever become public knowledge, because they're putting their jobs in jeopardy.' Asked about these burials, Zuckerberg representative Brandi Hoffine Barr acknowledged that the estate had been made aware of the family burial plot in 2015, which Hoffine Barr says they fenced off and maintained. She adds that their workers are bound by regulations that require reporting of inadvertent discoveries of iwi. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has quietly expanded his footprint on the island with a massive new land purchase, WIRED can reveal. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg purchased 962 acres of prime ranchland under a Hawaiian-sounding LLC across the road from the existing compound, which one person close to the sale estimated cost more than $65 million. This purchase, previously unreported, will increase his Kauai holdings from about 1,400 to more than 2,300 acres—placing him among the largest landowners in the state. Development inside the ranch continues, as Zuckerberg has spent millions adding several new strange buildings to an already massive far from Ako's fishing spot, Zuckerberg has commissioned another three major buildings on previously purchased land. According to planning documents released to WIRED under a new public records request, they range in size from 7,820 to 11,152 square feet—nearly 10 times larger than the average home in Hawaii—and two are projected to cost between $3.5 and $4 million each. These new buildings differ from the opulent mansions on the other side of the ranch, with few fun amenities and only one dedicated common space, a lanai larger than 1,300 square feet. Two of them seem designed to accommodate as many bedrooms and bathrooms as possible, and feature 16 of each between them, lined up like a motel or boarding house. As always, security is tight — with each new property featuring cameras, keypad locks, and motion detection devices. Hoffine Barr described these new buildings as short-term guest housing for family, friends, and staff. This goes along with previous development across the ranch: two mansions with a total floor area comparable to the size of a football field, a gym, a tennis court, several guest houses, ranch operations buildings, a set of saucer-shaped treehouses, an elaborate water system, and a tunnel that branches off into an underground shelter about the size of an NBA basketball court, outfitted with blast-resistant doors and an escape hatch. Recent documents also show plans for a new water pump building, to go along with two existing pump buildings and an 18-foot-tall water tank. Satellite images of the property also show dozens of buildings that have not yet appeared in public records requests. Based on counting bedrooms in the planning documents we've seen alone, WIRED estimates that, when complete, the property could comfortably house more than 100 people. The Meta CEO's Kauai activities attracted international attention following a December 2023 WIRED investigation, based on planning documents and interviews with workers, that estimated the total cost of his compound development as at least $270 million, detailed strict enforcement of nondisclosure agreements, and described doomsday bunker-ish qualities of the project. According to some prepping companies, the report sparked an increase in bunker sales. Since then, Zuckerberg's presence on the island has only continued to grow. Last January, Zuckerberg announced his intention to raise premier cattle on beer and macadamia nuts on the ranch, but it seems likely that he has bigger plans. For locals, the question remains—what the hell is this guy up to? Zuckerberg first bought into Kauai—the oldest and smallest of the four major Hawaiian islands—in 2014, when he grabbed 700 acres in a quiet oceanside stretch near the small town of Kilauea for roughly $100 million. The purchase was incomplete however, as hundreds of locals maintained kuleana rights to four parcels within Zuckerberg's property. These rights, afforded to descendants of previous landowners, would have allowed them to cross Zuckerberg's land. In 2016, Zuckerberg moved to consolidate his holdings by filing 'quiet title and partition' lawsuits against these kuleana descendants in order to clarify ownership of the land. He later abandoned these suits under public pressure, but the legal process continued under a kuleana descendant Carlos Andrade, whom Zuckerberg supported in an op-ed in the local newspaper. Andrade eventually won sole ownership of the land at auction, during which some believed he was backed financially by Zuckerberg. (In that 2017 op-ed, Zuckerberg wrote that Andrade, who died in 2022, could continue his quiet title action and pass down the kuleana rights because he had 'lived on and cared for these lands for more than forty years.') By spring 2021 his compound had expanded further, with the addition of more than 560 acres of ranchland in total, some of it abutting Larsen's, a nudist beach. Later that year, he added another 110 acres which contain the Kaloko Dam, an infamous earthen dam and reservoir that collapsed in 2006, killing seven people. The 2025 land buy is Zuckerberg's largest thus far in total acreage, situated on the mauka , or inland, side of the road across from his initial purchase. Public records list the Mary Lucas Trust Estate as the seller, descendants of an early British adviser to King Kamehameha I. The trust had leased its lands to sugar plantations before they were restored as pasture land for cattle in the 1970s by cousins and former trustees Jimmy Pflueger and Paul Cassiday. In recent years, the trust has been selling off significant chunks of its lands. Though the total purchase price is not listed, a source close to the sale estimated it was at least $65 million, and property records place the land's market value at around $75 million. Hoffine Barr confirmed that the billionaire had purchased additional ranch land, but did not comment on the size or price. It's unclear what the CEO intends to do with his new acquisition, but the source also described the parcel as 'great cattle grass,' so it seems likely that Zuckerberg's husky, beer-filled cows may soon be roaming its 962 acres. 'Mark and Priscilla continue to make a home for their family and grow their ranching, farming, and conservation efforts at Ko'olau Ranch,' says Hoffine Barr. 'The vast majority of the land is dedicated to agriculture—including cattle ranching, organic ginger, macadamia nut, and turmeric farming, native plant restoration, and endangered species protection. After purchasing the ranch, they canceled the previous owner's plans for 80 luxury homes.' With the new buildings and new land, Zuckerberg's total investment in his compound now exceeds the entirety of the $311 million fiscal year 2024 Kauai operating expenses budget. This dramatic influx of wealth has led to inevitable changes in the community. On one hand, Zuckerberg has given millions to local nonprofits, including recent donations to build a charter school and an affordable housing nonprofit near the compound. His construction projects provide good-paying jobs. But there remains a lot of skepticism toward the recent trend of billionaires buying up Hawaiian lands. As more of the defunct sugarcane plantations that own huge slices of Hawaiian land begin offloading their assets, more new-money billionaires have been buying in. In 2012, then Oracle CEO Larry Ellison bought almost the entirety of the smaller island of Lanai for $300 million, which he has been developing into a luxury resort destination. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former TV presenter and businesswoman Oprah Winfrey both have outposts on Maui. And Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been secretly buying up large swaths of the Big Island for unclear purposes. Billionaires pay top dollar, driving up property values. Driven partially by an influx of wealthy mainlanders during the Covid-19 pandemic, Hawaii housing prices have skyrocketed, leaving home ownership out of reach for local renters. 'If our island has any hope of remaining Hawaii, this kind of activity has got to stop,' professor of Native Hawaiian studies at the Kauai Community College Puali'i Rossi tells me, when I mention the new Zuckerberg land buy. 'Eventually Hawaii isn't going to look like Hawaii anymore—it's going to be a resort community. Are we really thinking about 100 years from now, what this island is going to look like?' On a damp Sunday afternoon during the February wet season, a few pickup trucks pass through the main gated entrance outside Zuckerberg's compound on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Backhoes and bulldozers rest in the red mud outside the tall stone walls, constructed in 2016 to keep out prying eyes. It's a relatively quiet day, but security is still alert. As I take a picture of the guard shack from the road, a woman's head pops out. 'Hoi, don't do that,' she says. 'They don't like that. They're very private.'
Irish Times
10-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
VHI 360 Health Centre officially opens in Galway, expanding VHI services in the west of Ireland
Family members of children believed to be buried at the former mother and baby institution in Tuam have spoken to the media ahead of the excavation of the site.
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
'Minister Lawless, take action': Adult Education Teachers protest outside Dáil
Family members of children believed to be buried at the former mother and baby institution in Tuam have spoken to the media ahead of the excavation of the site.
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Mysterious inscription on tombstone reveals Count Dracula's final resting place
A mysterious inscription discovered in a centuries-old tomb in Naples could finally uncover the long-lost burial site of Count Dracula. Researchers say the burial site, tucked within the Turbolo Chapel of the Santa Maria la Nova church complex, could belong to Vlad III, the real-life inspiration behind Bram Stoker's infamous 1897 vampire novel. Known as Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century Romanian ruler earned his grim nickname through brutal tactics, including impaling his enemies on massive stakes. Though he was reportedly beheaded in 1476, his grave has never been conclusively identified. After more than a decade of study, researchers deciphered a mysterious, Latin-like inscription on the tomb, uncovering two key words: 'Blad,' interpreted as 'Vlad,' and 'Balkan,' the region he once ruled. The marble tomb also features a knight's helmet crowned with a dragon's head, a symbol tied to the Order of the Dragon, a medieval secret society that once counted Vlad among its members. Flanking the tomb are two sphinx-like statues, which experts believe may serve a dual purpose. In Italian, the sphinxes may reference 'Tebe,' or Thebes, the ancient Egyptian city. But scholars suspect it's also a cryptic nod to 'Tepes,' the Romanian epithet for Vlad, meaning 'the Impaler.' The team began their research in 2014 after learning about a theory that suggested Vlad's daughter, Maria Balsa, smuggled his remains out of Romania following his death. Historical records suggest she was later adopted by the powerful Ferrillo family of Naples, sparking the idea that Vlad was laid to rest in what is now Italy. Maria is also believed to have arranged his burial in her father-in-law, Matteo Ferrillo's, tomb inside the same chapel where her father may have been laid to rest. The tomb sits in the small cloister of the church complex, a former monastery for Franciscan Friars and now one of the most visited religious sites in the city. What sparked the researchers' interest in the tomb was the unusual symbols carved that are not typically seen in Christian burials. Professor Giuseppe Reale, director of the Santa Maria la Nova complex, said: 'It emerges that the mysterious inscription is an epitaph in praise of Vlad III of Wallachia, widely known as Count Dracula.' In 1462, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, is believed to have impaled the bodies of 20,000 people outside the Romanian city of Târgoviște to ward off Ottoman forces. This led to him receiving the nickname Vlad the Impaler, posthumously. Vlad the Impaler was arrested for the murders and held in prison for 12 years, although the exact location and length of this captivity are disputed. The consensus is that he was imprisoned in Romania between 1462 and 1474, although other reports claim he was held in Turkey. Vlad was killed during a battle against the Ottomans in 1476. It was previously believed that Vlad was buried at Snagov Monastery, near Bucharest, but a study published in 1933 cast the first serious doubt. Researchers excavated the area and found only animal bones, no human remains, raising a red flag that the grave long believed to hold Dracula was empty. This discovery fueled decades of speculation and now lends significant weight to the recent findings in Naples, where a hidden inscription inside a centuries-old tomb may point to Vlad's true resting place, suggesting that historians may have misidentified his grave for nearly a century. For now, the tomb remains sealed off from the public as experts dig deeper into what could be the most dramatic rewrite of vampire legend since Stoker gave the world Count Dracula.
Fox News
30-06-2025
- General
- Fox News
Viking-era burial site with elite family treasures and gifts discovered, plus an 'unusual casket'
Archaeologists recently found an artifact-filled Viking-era burial site in Denmark — revealing treasures that once belonged to an elite family. The discovery was announced by Moesgaard Museum (MOMU), a regional Danish museum, in a June statement. The graveyard was found in the village of Lisbjerg, located north of the major Danish city of Aarhus. Archaeologists found 30 graves containing a vast number of burial gifts, including beads and coins. Ceramics were also found at the site, along with gold thread, scissors and "an unusual casket with beads," officials said. The site also retained the bones and teeth of the deceased. In a statement translated from Danish to English, officials noted the graves "contain a number of spectacular items that may indicate connections to the Danish royal power." They added, "Aarhus was one of Denmark's most important and oldest cities during the Viking era, serving as a center for the king and international trade … Aros and Lisbjerg were closely connected by the old main road, which ran from the Viking city to the manor." One discovery of particular interest was a silver-plated oak casket that likely belonged to a high-status woman. "Together, [the finds] paint a picture of an aristocratic environment linked to royal power, which was part of the Vikings' extensive and dynamic world." The grave contained a brooch, needle and a filigree bead, made by twisting fine threads of metal into ornate designs. Mads Ravn, head of local cultural heritage at MOMU, said the grave site is "very likely" connected to a Viking-era manor less than a mile away. He noted, "The items we have found in the graves tell us that those buried were people of high status – it could be the very family from the manor that is buried here." Kasper H. Andersen, a historian at MOMU, said the recent finds are "part of a series of previous remarkable discoveries in the Aarhus area." He added, "Together, they paint a picture of an aristocratic environment linked to royal power, which was part of the Vikings' extensive and dynamic world." The Viking Age lasted from roughly 800 A.D. to 1050 A.D. Artifacts from that era continue to be discovered throughout Europe by archaeologists and hobbyists alike. In April, Swedish archaeologists announced the discovery of an "unusual" Viking-era coffin. Before that, two curious metal detectorists found a 1,000-year-old Viking "wallet" last year.
