Photo: Getty Images
Authorities in Ohio have released new information about a box of human bones found in a garage last week. A concerned neighbor stumbled across a box of bones in his neighbor's garage after hearing children making noise in an alley outside his home.
When he went outside to investigate, he noticed his neighbor's garage door had been left open. When he went to check out the garage, he saw a box with what appeared to be human remains inside and called the police.
The Mount Healthy Police Department investigated the grisly discovery and determined that the bones were about 100 years old and belonged to a group known as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The group, which was founded in the 19th century and had a lodge in the city, used the bones in initiation rituals.
Mount Healthy Police Chief Vincent Demasi told WLWT that the remains were likely purchased by the group from prisons in the state. He explained that in the 1800 and 1900s, prisons would sell unclaimed cadavers.
Officials said that when the group sold the lodge, the new owners packed everything up and stored it in the garage.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows still exists today and has more than 40 lodges throughout Ohio. Penny Castle, grand secretary for the Grand Lodge of Ohio, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the group does not use actual bones for their rituals anymore.
"The ones I've seen have been plastic or paper-mache," Castle said. "The ones years ago may have been different."