Dozens of 'secret' graves are thought to have been uncovered near a derelict reform school where young boys were allegedly beaten, chained and sexually abused.

The shocking discovery of the 27 unmarked “anomalies" was made by workers last month as they prepared to clean up nearby fuel storage.

They were found yards from the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida, USA, where decades of abuse and violence is said to have taken place before it closed in 2011.

It housed male youths, some who committed minor crimes such as truancy and cigarette smoking.

It gained a reputation for rape, torture and murder and almost 100 boys are believed to have died, many in suspicious circumstances, at the school during its 111 year history.

Around 55 are said to have been buried in the grounds at the Boot Hill Cemetery, with a number since being exhumed and returned to their families.

Of the graves discovered, 31 of those are marked with white crosses.

In records, the cause of death for the boys was often listed as “unknown” or “accident”.

The new grim discovery, which was revealed by the state's governor in a letter this week, will raise even more questions and fears of more human remains.

It would put the estimated number of bodies buried at the site at 82.

A report carried out by the company who found the possible unmarked graves stated: “This randomness might be expected in a clandestine or informal cemetery, where graves were excavated haphazardly and left unmarked."

Forensic anthropologists previously uncovered far more burials on school property than the state knew about, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Jerry Cooper, 74, of Cape Coral, who says he received 135 lashes by guards as punishment one night in 1961 told the publication: “Mark my words: there are more bodies out there.

“I’m more concerned about those kids than anything else in the world.”

Bryant Middleton, of Fort Walton Beach, who was sent to the school for “incorrigibility” in 1959, added: “We’ve been trying to tell the state of Florida that there’s more bodies out there for a long time.

“I’m in possession of a list of 130 some odd boys who died at the school or disappeared and whose last known resting place we can’t find.”

A huge investigation was launched by the government following the horrific allegations.

Survivors also formed a group called the White House Boys – the name of the white cinder-block building on campus where a lot of the alleged abuse took place – to share accounts of what they suffered or witnessed.

Their horrific stories sparked a team of anthropologists from the University of South Florida to use radar technology to search beneath the ground and discover dozens of unmarked graves.

Terry Burns spent nine months at the school. He told ABC Action News: “I’d always wake up and I’d, tears would be coming out of my eyes, my pillow would be soaked with tears just thinking about it because it was like I was there reliving that again.

"We’ve always said there’s more dead boys on there.

“If they would scan that whole ground of that school, I guarantee they will find another 200 to 300 dead boys buried on them grounds.”

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