A man in Simpson County is using a special radar to find unmarked graves.

As our Laura Rogers tells us, it's helping people learn more about their ancestry and uncover hidden histories in Kentucky communities.

At first glance, you might think Billy Wilkerson is a new dad.

It looks like a muggy, of course, like a baby stroller.

It's not, however, new life he's tending to today, but lives long past.

It's important for people to understand that in order for us to know about our history, we have to go and see the history of our families.

History like that.

At Octagon Hall, built in 1847, the historic property once served as a safe house for soldiers during the Civil War.

We know after the Civil War, the soldiers that was being treated as wounded, the union came through and dispatched them.

Wilkerson is using ground penetrating radar to find what he believes are nine unmarked graves of those soldiers.

What the data shows is different layers of soul underneath our feet here, of course.

It goes from from an inch all the way down to 43 feet.

When Wilkerson finds a target.

He marks that spot.

When it comes to burials, especially in an older style burial.

Like what we're on right now.

It shows like cross sections to where?

Like the ground was disturbed, like it was dug up.

He also recently scanned the Caldwell Slave Cemetery on Octagon Hall property, finding unmarked graves There as well.

WILKERSON Services are becoming more popular.

The Jeepers is taking off here recently.

I've actually got cemeteries and churches that have been asking for me to come out and scan their cemetery.

He estimates he is scanned around 20 cemeteries in Kentucky and Tennessee.

It's kind of heartbreaking in a way, because we have let our cemeteries deteriorate.

People just lost cemeteries.

Cemetery Preservation Committee and Hopkins County recently requested his services.

We went up there to search for a mass grave from 1918 during the Spanish Flu.

We actually was able to locate the mass grave and it was 18 and a half feet long by 13 feet wide.

Wilkerson says this work has made him feel closer to his own community.

I fell in love with this place.

I'm always learning something new of our history of our town, just about every day.

For Kentucky Edition.

I just love it here.

I'm Laura Rogers.

Billy Wilkerson offers the services in exchange for a donation to the Simpson County Historical Society.