Skeletons in the closet? How a Canadian junk company discovered human remains (PHOTO)
When you work in the junk removal service, you come across some cool finds like an antique typewriter or vintage KFC sign. But a human skeleton, what’s the likelihood of that?
JUSTJUNK franchise owner Gareth Roberts has a story for the ages.
While speaking with Daily Hive over the phone, Roberts recalls the time the company came across a human skeleton while on the job in St. Catherines, Ontario. Roberts says the team was called to clear out the basement of a residential home when they stumbled upon a box with the remains inside.
“It’s spooky and it’s macabre,” Roberts says, unable to confirm the exact date the skeleton was found. “It wasn’t a pile of bones. It was whole, all connected with copper.”
The skeleton – which the JUSTJUNK team refers to as “Bone Man” – is almost 200 years old. Roberts says the history is that it was a medical skeleton from the mid-Victorian era (between 1850 and 1870).Â
How it landed in a Canadian basement is anyone’s guess.
JUSTJUNK CEO Mike Thorne posing with Bone Man.
“They would take real bodies off the battlefield and sell them to England as ‘medical skeletons,'” Roberts says. “Back in the day, that was the only way to learn about the human body. They didn’t have fake plastic ones like we have now.”Â
Roberts says the team took great care of Bone Man — even taking him out on media tours in the early 2010s. No one ever gave the skeleton an actual name, though.
“I didn’t wanna name him. That would be creepy,” Roberts reveals.
The company continued to make creepy discoveries over the years. One time, Roberts explains, he came across “a ton” of animal cages with nothing but snake skin inside. “Yeah, we were out of there!”
But, as Roberts points out, nothing holds a candle to the human skeleton.
Bone Man’s final resting place (if you can call it that) is the company’s head office in St. Catherines. Roberts says people have shown interest in getting their hands on the skeleton but he’s considered a part of the company.
“He’s good where he is now.”
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