A 149-foot Doric column in Fort Greene Park marking a crypt containing remains of 11,500 Revolutionary War prisoners who died aboard British prison ships — more than died in all Revolutionary War battles combined.
Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, NY 11205
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Fort Greene Park is a free public park. The monument and crypt exterior are publicly accessible at all times.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved park paths; the monument requires climbing 99 steps on a wide granite staircase
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1908 · Commemorates 11,500+ American Revolutionary War prisoners — more deaths than all Revolutionary War combat · Crypt contains bone fragments collected from Wallabout Bay shoreline burials · Designed by McKim, Mead & White (Stanford White); bronze brazier by Adolph Weinman · Dedicated November 14, 1908 by President-elect William Howard Taft · Visitors' center lists approximately 8,000 known martyrs by name
From 1776 to 1783, the British anchored at least 16 prison ships in Wallabout Bay, the tidal inlet off Brooklyn's shore that is now part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The ships held captured American soldiers, sailors, and civilians — men taken in battle, at sea, and in raids. Conditions were calculated deprivation: prisoners were crowded below decks in spaces designed for cargo, fed rancid provisions and water boiled from the East River, and denied adequate clothing, ventilation, or medical care. One survivor's account describes 300 prisoners confined in such heat that they were all unclothed, with the sick 'eaten up alive' alongside the dead. The HMS Jersey, the largest and most notorious of the ships and nicknamed 'Hell' by inmates, lost five to ten bodies daily, which were thrown overboard or buried in hasty shoreline graves.
Historians estimate more than 11,500 Americans died on the prison ships — a figure cited on the monument's dedication plaque, though some estimates reach 18,000. The death toll exceeded American combat fatalities for the entire war. Remains washed ashore along the Brooklyn waterfront for years after the war, and as late as the 1800s construction crews were still uncovering bones. Local residents and veterans' groups collected the remains repeatedly, moving them from temporary sites until they were finally consolidated in a vault in Fort Greene Park.
The monument was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White (White was assassinated in 1906 before its completion, and the firm completed the work). The 149-foot Doric column rises from a 100-foot-wide granite staircase with 99 steps and is topped by an eight-ton bronze brazier sculpted by Adolph Weinman. The crypt below contains bone fragments in 20 slate boxes. President-elect William Howard Taft dedicated the monument on November 14, 1908, before a crowd of approximately 20,000. A visitors' center at the monument's base displays artifacts and British War Department records listing approximately 8,000 known martyrs by name.
Sources
The Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument carries no established paranormal tradition despite the exceptional scale of its historical tragedy. No published accounts describe ghost sightings, unexplained phenomena, or paranormal investigations at the site. The monument functions in the dark tourism landscape as a place of solemn commemoration rather than haunting.
The historical record is grim enough to sustain the site's weight without embellishment: prisoners described dying men being eaten by vermin below decks; bodies were thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves that eroded with every tide, scattering remains along the Brooklyn shore for decades. The Fox News headline calling the monument 'haunting' uses the word in its literary rather than paranormal sense. For visitors drawn to places where mass death has left a physical mark, the crypt's 20 slate boxes of collected bone fragments represent one of the most direct such encounters available in New York City.
Climb the 99-step granite staircase to view the 149-foot Doric column and bronze brazier designed by McKim, Mead & White. A visitors' center at the base displays artifacts and British War Department records. The crypt entrance is visible below the column.
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