TAMPA, Fla. — Geologists spent Wednesday afternoon on the King High School campus on North 56th Street in Tampa conducting a subterranean scan of a field to determine if graves are buried are on the site.

“For something like a grave what we’re looking for is a change in the electrical properties of the surrounding soils and the actual grave itself,” said Mike Wightman, president of St. Pete-based GeoView. 

GeoView was hired by Hillsborough County Public Schools to scan the field after a former county employee contacted the school board about a cemetery potentially buried beneath the southeast part of the campus.

City records dating back to the 1930s appear to validate that claim. A 1937 resolution indicated leaders wanted to use five acres of that land for a potter’s field-type cemetery. 

Maps from the 1930s, 1960s and 1980s show little to no development of the area where the cemetery is believed to be buried. 

King High School opened in 1960. 

Data collected from the scan will be placed in a three-dimensional program for analysis. Preliminary findings could be presented to the board as early as next week.