Tourists in South Carolina made a gruesome discovery while exploring an island off the state’s coast last week, officials said.
The tourists were in Jeremy Cay, a beachfront part of Edisto Island, when they found what they at first believed to be fossils — only to realize they had discovered human remains, officials said in a news release. The tourists, who have not been identified, then called the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office and the Edisto Beach Police Department.
Officials secured the scene, then launched an investigation. Early indications from the investigation “suggest the remains may originate from a long forgotten burial site,” the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said.
The remains were found in an area that had once been known as Edingsville Beach, the sheriff’s office said.
During the 19th century, Edingsville Beach was a settlement of about 60 homes, according to the Edisto Island website. The area was a popular vacation destination for wealthy Southern families, with homes overlooking the sea and a nearby marsh. There were also several churches, a schoolhouse and other communal buildings.
But over the decades, weather and erosion took their toll, and by the time the Civil War began in 1861, the settlement and the rest of the island were mostly uninhabited. In 1885, a massive storm destroyed most of the homes there. The remaining structures were demolished when another hurricane hit the area in 1893.
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The newly-found remains were recovered by the Colleton County Coroner’s Office. They have been transported to the Medical University of South Carolina for forensic analysis and identification. The sheriff’s office said it is working with the coroner’s office and other agencies to “determine more about the remains and their origin.”
Colleton County coroner Rich Harvey told Newsweek that the remains included a skull and several separated bones. They might date back to the Revolutionary or Civil War, he said.
Bones have previously been found on the island, officials said. In 2015, a Pennsylvania tourist found several bones near the northern part of the island. Shortly afterwards, a former ranger visiting the island found a skull with some teeth still attached. That skull was dated to between 1865 and 1870, officials said.
Broken tools, china and building materials from the settlement’s heyday have also been known to wash up in Jeremy Cay, according to an essay shared by the Jeremy Cay Homeowner’s Association.
Last week, skeletal remains found on New Jersey beaches were identified as those of a 19th-century schooner captain.
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