Mystery surrounds discovery of bones
Following yesterday’s discovery of bones believed to be humans in Morant Bay, St Thomas, there is plenty of speculation as to whom they belong to.
The discovery was made about 9 a.m. during a demolition exercise which was being carried out by a team from the St Thomas Municipal Corporation. According to police reports, one set of remains was found in a coffin inside the building, and two other skulls were found elsewhere in the dilapidated structure.
The structure is said to have once served as a Lodge building. An elderly resident, who lowered her voice as she spoke, said that the last of three lodges that operated in the area in the past closed about seven years ago.
Councillor for the Morant Bay Division in the St Thomas Municipal Corporation, Rohan Bryan, said that he was “wowed” by the discovery.
“I saw other weird items like an old slavery pot, and something like a cold stove looking thing and a white enamel basin. A gentleman there said it is what they used to do some sort of steaming out… I don’t know but I can only say what I saw. But all I know the police confirmed that they were real skulls, not dolly heads,” he said.
The caretaker of the building said that he was as surprised as everyone else.
“I had no idea those were there. Those sections of the building were not accessed by me given the state of the building and for fear that it would tumble down,” he said.
Head of the Roads and Works Department of the municipal corporation, Odel Felix, said that the risky building had long been listed for demolition under the Dangerous Structure Act.
“We served a notice on the building for it to be demolished. There were no occupants and the owner for the building couldn’t be located so we put up a notice just to notify the public that it’s going to be wrecked,” he said. Felix also noted that in the past, vendors illegally used sections of the structure, and it was occasionally occupied by a man believed to be of unsound mind.