Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Mumsnet classics

Relive the funniest, most unforgettable threads. For a daily dose of Mumsnet’s best bits, sign up for Mumsnet's daily newsletter.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

With a human skull in the garden?

640 replies

Slippersandacuppa · 07/05/2016 20:45

Because I've never been in this situation before.

We've been tidying up the garden and have piles of rubble all over the place. One of our rickety old fences borders a graveyard (very old belonging to ancient church) and I'm assuming the skull sort of drifted under our fence and has been near the top of the soil for a while. I hope.

I've googled but can't seem to find much info. I'll be contacting the parish council on Monday but wondered if it warrants a call to 101 (or whatever it is) to register it just in case it's not a graveyard wanderer Confused

Anyone had a similar experience?!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
33
zzzzz · 08/05/2016 18:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

zzzzz · 08/05/2016 18:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

shinynewusername · 08/05/2016 18:14

No clue on sheep/cow anatomy, but I still don't think the femur looks human - the shape of the head is all wrong and it is too thick to be that of a child but too short to be that of an adult.

Love that I'm digging up (!) my memories of anatomy lectures to debate this on a Sunday pm though Smile

Ouriana · 08/05/2016 18:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

shinynewusername · 08/05/2016 18:03

Human ischium - the ring shaped bit at the bottom

With a human skull in the garden?
shinynewusername · 08/05/2016 17:55

whoops - sorry - multiple femurs!

shinynewusername · 08/05/2016 17:55

Pictures of human femur and ischium attached.

With a human skull in the garden?
With a human skull in the garden?
TheHobbitMum · 08/05/2016 17:54

Absolutely place marking, fascinating!

shinynewusername · 08/05/2016 17:51

Are you an medic or similar, Ouriana? Cos I'd say the femur/pelvis is definitely not human unless the owner had some weird deformity I've never heard of. In a human, the femur and ischium (ring bit of the pelvis) are separate bones, whereas in this specimen they are continuous.

Ouriana · 08/05/2016 17:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ouriana · 08/05/2016 17:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Natsku · 08/05/2016 17:08

I imagine she wouldn't have been so excited if she had been faced with an actual dead body.

LuluJakey1 · 08/05/2016 16:39

I found a body on a beach when I was at university. Out walking with my flatmate while staying at her parents' house and taking the dog out. Body of man on beach, washed in by tide. He turned out to be homeless. It was very sad.

Natsku · 08/05/2016 16:32

Oooo placemarking to find out what happens to YS!

When we were teenagers my friend was always talking about finding a dead body on the beach whenever we would walk there. Never found out of course but didn't stop her going "argh dead body!" every time she turned a corner or went over a mound of stones.

AudTheDeepMinded · 08/05/2016 16:07

Pooka, walking? blimey that would freak me out. Although I suppose a nice beach walk is a treat whatever state you are in.

Pooka · 08/05/2016 14:28

I've found bits of skeletons walking by the coast, where erosion has pushed graveyards to the edge of the cliff. Dunwich. If you find any bits you can take them to the church and they will be reburied in consecrated ground.

zzzzz · 08/05/2016 14:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MardAsSnails · 08/05/2016 14:20

I've both found a recently deceased body on the beach - drowning victim - and worked on a project where old bones were found. But we were excavating in a graveyard, where it was known that there were unmarked graves, so it wasn't much of a shock. The lads still didn't want to work on it though, all the big 'ard contractors staff refused to back after the first lot had been found as it freaked them out.

The poor drowning victim freaked me out though, saw him be washed up Sad

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 08/05/2016 13:54

Fascinating! If you're next to a graveyard, I suppose it could have been a person who committed suicide or something, I think they were often buried in unhallowed ground, just outside graveyards in olden times? Rather than a migratory skull from the graveyard, I mean.

I have a skull, but mine is a plaster one, painted to look like the real thing. I bought it in an antique/junkshop years ago, and it's called Horace (a nod to Horatio from Hamlet - didn't want to go with Yorrick because too obvious, so tangented off a bit). I use him to keep my headphones on. Grin (Better than those perspex see-through jobs!)

PhilPhilConnors · 08/05/2016 13:47

I grew up in a big, very old historical type house, my sister and I were digging in the garden and found some human bones (definitely very old). We also found a very old brooch which made its way into a local museum. No skull though.
We covered them up again and never played in that part of the garden again!

Original poster
Slippersandacuppa · 08/05/2016 13:37

Do I get some sort of prize if I deftly turn this into a parking thread?

Got home to find a car blocking our drive. Doesn't bother me too much but it gets on DH's nut. So he goes into the church to ask the little old disabled lady to stop blocking our drive. Blush

Maybe they're the ones who lobbed YS over the fence at us.

OP posts:
MiffleTheIntrovert · 08/05/2016 12:45

Finding a "recent" body is definitely not pleasant, especially in a house with heating on. It certainly gives you an insight into what really happens to bodies after death. For this reason I am going to be cremated.

I do think the Jewish custom of burying their dead within 24 hours if possible (and in a plain wooden box) is sensible.

Original poster
Slippersandacuppa · 08/05/2016 12:44

Catz Sad

OP posts:
Original poster
Slippersandacuppa · 08/05/2016 12:43

Here

With a human skull in the garden?
With a human skull in the garden?
OP posts:
Original poster
Slippersandacuppa · 08/05/2016 12:42

Forgot to say that he seemed quite happy overnight. Didn't move an inch (thank crumbs the dogs didn't get him).

Wakeup Credit must go to you for the first part of his name! I was too distracted by Benedict Scrummyback in Hamlet to pay attention to any skulls

Marypoppins Here are photos of the two bits of bone from the boys' creation for your friend while I await confirmation that I'm not going to get arrested for posting pics of YS's head. I'm thinking hoping sheep?

OP posts: