BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — Thrift stores can have a myriad of items for treasure hunters: clothes, shoes, knick-knacks, a human skull, perhaps?
A Florida thrift store has a mystery on its hands: Who donated a human skull in a bin?
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office is trying to find out who left a skull that they may have thought was a fake, WTVT reported.
They said the skull was donated at the Jericho Ministries Thrift Store in Brooksville, Florida, on May 16, WFLA reported.
When workers realized it was real, they contacted the county sheriff, the Hernando Sun reported.
Officials have not been able to confirm the identity, the gender of the person who was donated or how they died.
It is also unknown how the person or people who donated it obtained the skull.
The sheriff’s office told the Sun it appears to be from the World War II era.
“Nothing criminal in nature. We just want to ensure the people who donated realized it was a real skull, not a prop,” Corporal Michael Terry told the newspaper. “[We’re] thinking it might have been passed down by a family member.”
“I could tell by seeing where the upper mantles met. On the front of it, it said ‘Okinawa 1945 Marine Division,’ so I think it was a war trophy,” store employee Jared Veals told the newspaper. Veals was one of the workers who found the skull.