Found a bunch of fancy handles, a engraved plate & then(Yikes)-some "long" bones...

[Darkflight]

I was working some dirt piles the county has been piling up for the past few years. I didn't find any coins but I did fing some very ornate-silver plated-hardware & handles.I thought it was a victorian style bathroom fixtures then I found some vertabrae. Then a likely femur bone. Then 3 dentures & some skull fragments...
YIKES!!

I called the local PD & they verified it was human remains & started putting up caution tape. I was showing the officer the stuff I found. I wiped off the plaque & it became a lot clearer-it read "At Rest".That explained the ornate handles etc... A coffin had been dug up from an unmarked early grave. BTW it was the same officer involved with my dog / owner assault.

Now the county gets involved to see where the dirt came from. Turns out they were from a pioneer graveyard that was being "moved". I really hope they figure out where the remains belong.

I am tempted to contact the media in that regard-any input???
Also-by the side of the road-on gravel!-was a 1902 20 cent IndoChine coin in very good shape. It had been holed for a necklace & had a few edge dings from the gravel-but otherwise it looked like it was just dropped.

By the online value guide $120.00 in good shape-wich its not but hey-I found it while waiting to give information to the chief.

 

[Finder82]

That silver coin looks pretty, well found.

 

[jim tn]

Now that is an experience!!! Neat coin. What is it made of? I'm not sure on the media thing. Could put the county in bad light, maybe, and perhaps wouldn't be pleased with you??? Or, something could come out like, "guy metal detecting digs up casket and remains." Just my thoughts, anyway. Good luck. HH jim tn

 

[Darkflight]

Yep-it's a keeper of a story alright. At least it wasn't a dumped body. The coin is .900 silver & other than the hole & dings-it looks new. I thought it was fake-nope,just recently dropped most likely.(edit to add coin info)-Check the front-right lower side. What is up with the tail on Lady Liberty(forked tail-look closely)-Apparently thats what these coins are infamous for.

I'm easily bored so I asked if I could detect while waiting for the chief. It was in plain view on the side of the road. I'd wager a jogger dropped it as it is a poular area for that.

I agree with the media thing-I don't want to make waves. But the hard part is are they going to actually do the RIGHT thing .Ascertain the identity of the remain(s). I'd wager there are more than one as the 2 upper dentures were not from the same person. I wear them & couldn't help but notice one had an almost flat front. Also-there were other bones that I didn't identify as human in the other piles.

Frankly I think they have a bit of a problem on thier hands.

 

[Darkflight]

There's a bit more to the story...Seems the county has had "issues" with various pioneer graveyards they were caretakers of. So I'm concerned about the county doing the right thing-like I said.

So I had to do an oil change on the wife's car. Decided to drive by when warming the oil for the change. The yellow tape was gone & not a soul there.

I contacted the Oregonian reporter who did the previous story. They called right back & I told them the story.

I just got off the phone(2 hours later) with the reporter & she assured me the remains had been cleared up & re-interred.I smell smoke but hey-I'm not pushing the point there. The piles looked un-disturbed to me.

So there is going to be a small story tomorrow. Guess I'll have to buy the paper-Birdie needs new liner anyhow...

Cheers!

 

[BusDigger]

That's pretty low for them to do that, they had to have known they were 'dozing-up a Cemetery. We had one here near the Indian Camp which was once the center of town, which was filled and paved-over. How much time passed from when you discovered these things, until you were told it was all "taken care of"? Sounds like it all happened today? No way they could have recovered all the remains, or any possessions which were there.

Send them all a copy of the movie "Poltergeist"

Smitty

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

That is so sad about the grave. There is more of this that goes on than we know about. Some of it is by mistake but others are deliberately done and by greedy Realtors, developers, and drunk with power bureaucrats. Sometimes the head stones or markers are just simply hauled off and buried. Ventura California has for example an old Cemetery that is now a Park. In it is a Civil War Medal of Honor Veteran and the dogs are crapping on his grave. In Texas, I have family in a small family cemetery that is on land now owned by a Lawyer. We have Deed access to it and he must allow us to it. In Texas though it is illegal, there have been small family cemeteries disappear on land now owned by other people. Just dig a hole and shove the monuments into and bury them. What cemetery?

Recently, I discovered in Tarawa, the Marine and Navy graves have been desecrated, built on top of, and some sites are waste dumps. The federal government did nothing to protect those graves and did not exhume and repatriate them as they had claimed to have done. The whole thing is a complete mess with our War dead on Tarawa.

 

[LuckyDig]

I just finished reading the article in the Oregonian about this under the headline " Of grave concern to treasure hunter", it was on the back page of the "Metro" section. Looks like you found this right down the road from where I work at and its a keeper of a story for sure. They had a nice quote from you at the end of the article, well said !!