Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Florida thrift store finds human skull among donations
Not The Bee ^ | June 13, 2026 | Harriet Rigby

Posted on 06/13/2026 6:31:22 PM PDT by Red Badger

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office is asking the public for help in locating the person who donated a real human skull to the Jericho Ministries Thrift Store in Brooksville, Florida, last month.

Corporal Michael Terry said that while the Sheriff's Department is looking for answers, it does not suspect criminal activity, telling the Hernando Sun,

Nothing criminal in nature. We just want to ensure the people who donated realized it was a real skull, not a prop. [We're] thinking it might have been passed down by a family member.

Even with that caveat, I don't think the person who donated it is likely to come forward.

The question remains: Who would just happen to have a real human skull lying around their house?

Some speculated that the skull could have been used for educational purposes, but the thrift store employee who found it, Jared Veals, had a different hunch.

He said he knew right away that it was the real deal, telling the Hernando Sun,

I could tell by seeing where the upper mantles [SIC] met. On the front of it, it said ‘Okinawa 1945 Marine Division,' so I think it was a war trophy.

What a disturbing war trophy.

This isn't an unheard-of phenomenon, with an Arizona Goodwill also coming across human remains in their donations a few years back.

notthebee.com

Human skull found in Goodwill donation box

Man, isn't the news just great sometimes? Like this story about a human skull that was dropped off at a Goodwill in Goodyear, Arizona.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine; History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: 1945; brooksville; fl; humanremains; jerichoministries; marines; okinawa; skull; thriftstore; usmc; worldwarii

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last
To: Red Badger

That’s interesting…
I might know where that could have come from, from a barn of a nearby widow who passed away last summer- a long time donor and shopper at Jericho who was married to a Navy vet ; maybe he had served on Okinawa. She mentioned Okinawa in a conversation we had but that was a very long ago chat when she was showing me some Japanese embroidery she had.


21 posted on 06/13/2026 7:24:04 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cableguymn

and still voting


22 posted on 06/13/2026 7:27:33 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

,,, there’s a market for everything.


23 posted on 06/13/2026 7:34:10 PM PDT by shaggy eel (A long way south of the border.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Florida had the best thrift shops than any other place I’ve lived. But I’ve never run across human remains. Gross.


24 posted on 06/13/2026 7:35:51 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam ( "Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away". - B. Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

25 posted on 06/13/2026 7:36:36 PM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MayflowerMadam

You gotta get there early before the good stuff is all gone.............


26 posted on 06/13/2026 7:36:43 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Years ago, an elderly neighbor cleaned out his basement and gave me a box of things he thought I’d want. Old ammo, a silencer, beer tap handles, and other collectibles, At the bottom of the box was the top of a skull. Shocked was not the word but I asked him the story. He came from a family of cops and somehow one ended up with it from a medical school. A john doe donor used for instruction.

The macabre thing that creeped me out, it had clearly been used as an ashtray. I gave it back.


27 posted on 06/13/2026 7:44:51 PM PDT by bleach (Donaldus Magnus 2024-2028 A.D.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

A bit of skull-duggery there (rimshot).


28 posted on 06/13/2026 7:47:52 PM PDT by MoochPooch (I'm a compassionate cynic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Hamlet’s?


29 posted on 06/13/2026 7:52:42 PM PDT by GingisK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

30 posted on 06/13/2026 7:53:57 PM PDT by HYPOCRACY (There is no gravity. The earth just sucks. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MoochPooch

You hit it right on the head!.........................


31 posted on 06/13/2026 8:02:16 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Ezekiel

Perfect time to toss in the “skull of Julius Caesar” joke.


32 posted on 06/13/2026 8:16:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is just a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Who would just happen to have a real human skull lying around their house?

There are collectors of human bones. A skull is quite valuable.

33 posted on 06/13/2026 8:21:55 PM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PLMerite
Possibly one of these guys.


34 posted on 06/13/2026 8:30:13 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (The tree accused of killed Sonny Bono was planted.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Clearly the previous owner wasnt using it.


35 posted on 06/13/2026 8:34:51 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (You choose; a world without dogs or a world without muslims.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fai Mao

Kinky!


36 posted on 06/14/2026 1:09:45 AM PDT by chopperk (,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Some kid would spend a years allowance to own that.


37 posted on 06/14/2026 2:51:29 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger; MayflowerMadam
You gotta get there early before the good stuff is all gone.

Yeah! I got there late once, and all I could score was a human pelvis.

Made a good planter, though!

Regards,

38 posted on 06/14/2026 3:44:05 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: PLMerite
Probably the remains of some poor Japanese soldier.

Oh those poor Japanese... /s

39 posted on 06/14/2026 3:45:18 AM PDT by sit-rep (START DEMANDING INDICTMENTS NOW!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: alexander_busek

“Made a good planter, though!”

LOL! I’ve seen some strange plantersN but that would dop them all.


40 posted on 06/14/2026 3:50:03 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam ( "Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away". - B. Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson