Customer makes a gruesome discovery among Halloween items in an antique shop

A man has made a remarkable discovery in an antique store in Florida. While browsing among the old things, he found a human skull among the Halloween items, writes The Washington Post.

Source: The Washington Post, Telegraph

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Beth Meyer, 61, the manager of Paradise Vintage Market in North Fort Myers, had already put the skull up for sale in the Halloween department in September, along with a lot of other rarities. The object was still in the display case when a man walked into the antique store last Saturday. He was immediately fascinated by the skull, which he says is “real and very old.” The anthropologist told Meyer that the skull probably belongs to an indigenous inhabitant of America.

Garage box

The woman had found the skull in April in a garage box, the contents of which she had purchased from a sick man in September 2022. He claimed that many stones were stored there. “That is my specialty,” says Meyer in an interview with the newspaper The Washington Post. Instead of stones, however, she found a pile of rubbish, including a skull. She ultimately decided not to display it in the store until this fall.

Beth Meyer says she already suspected it was a real skull, since she often works with fossils. However, the woman had no idea that it could be a Native American skull. She planned to sell the item for $4,000, almost 3,750 euros. (Read more below the post)

Not a suspicious situation

Meyer, together with the anthropologist, contacted the police, who then came to look at the skull. After all, Florida law prohibits the sale of human remains, but this is not strictly enforced. In this case, the officers quickly determined that it was not a suspicious situation.

The skull has now been taken to the local pathologist for further examination. If it is indeed a skull of an indigenous inhabitant of America, it will not be allowed to be sold. A legal text from 1990 prescribes that such human remains must be returned to descendants.