WATCH: Dead Horse Bay: New York City's hidden treasure trove

NEW YORK -- On a winter day in 1953, a small legion of dump trucks lurched toward the shores of Dead Horse Bay. Their cargo was collected from the remains of bulldozed neighborhoods throughout New York: children's toys and women's stockings, dentures and newspapers, wardrobes and sewing machines, thousands of glass bottles and countless other household items.

The remnants of these flattened homes and businesses were used as landfill, sealed in the ground, never to be seen again -- or so it was thought.

Today, Dead Horse Bay is one of New York's most mysterious and polluted sites, where half century old garbage blankets the shoreline.

Watch the ABC News Digital Original below, and read the full story on abcnews.com.