and in local news...

[rivendellrose]

So, hypothetical situation:

You and your spouse/partner/roommate-thing go on a vacation to a nice, sleepy little island full of... oh, artists and writers and musicians and soon-to-be-out-of-work naval employees (...a whole other story, there...). While there, you go for a nice walk on the beach. And on that nice beach, you find... a human skull.

Do you:

a) Immediately turn the skull in to local authorities.
b) Leave the skull where it is and immediately report it to local authorities.
c) Take it home with you to your hoity-toity suburb and then keep it in a plastic bag in your garage for three months before turning it in to your local authorities.

If you guessed "c," you are apparently have a lot in common with the Mercer Island couple who really did find the skull of a murder victim whilst they vacationed on local Whidbey Island. And then brought it home with them. And didn't turn it in until months later. No, really. And I would really like to have a chat with you about a few things, primarily the concept that human remains are not ever to be removed from anywhere by non-professionals, and a little thing that archaeologists (and, I believe, also crime scene investigators) like to call "provenance." Seriously.

The mind just boggles.

Comments

[websandwhiskers.livejournal.com]

.. . some people have a hard enough time treating other people like people while they're alive and walking around; I think getting them to respect the remains of people may be a lost cause. When you think about the number of folks who like to act like other living folks were put on the Earth purely for their amusement/convenience . . . yeah, a skull (OMG best souvenir ever!) is probably out of luck.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Which... I mean, yes. But it's not like skulls frequently turn up on beaches, you know? Someone kind of has to die for them to get there, and they don't normally show up on beaches when a person dies of old age or something, right? So why the hell didn't it occur to these idiots "gee, this might be a MURDER VICTIM"? As it of course has turned out to be!

If they'd found an old skull that had, I don't know, washed out of a graveyard, I'd be upset, but I wouldn't be quite so... I don't know, this poor guy got killed and it took three extra months for the cops to have his skull to aid in the investigation, because these idiots didn't think of taking it to the police! That's just insane!

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Wow...people are so...wow. And, a Mercer Island couple. That just sort of figures, doesn't it?

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

WTF? That's appalling! I hope the couple get charged with something :S