Strange But True: Skeletons in the Basement

When most people decide to sell their home, they take some time to spruce up the place for when potential buyers visit. They clear out the clutter, dust, sweep out the dirt, vacuum, and generally make it more inviting. It makes the home much more likely to sell. A house in Louisianna just might not ever be sold because of the sellers failure to clean out some of the skeletons in their closet. Or in this case, the basement.

A real estate agent showing a house in Gibson found about 100 human bones in a corner of the basement:

James Kenny, a forensic investigator with the Terrebonne Parish Coroner's Office, says the bones found Saturday were so old that dirt had saturated the marrow inside them. He says they probably are remains of Native Americans buried long before the house was built.

Kenny says he learned that the previous residents would often find bones while mowing the lawn or doing yard work, and would put them in the basement.

Half of the split-level house is on top of a circular mound, which parish officials suggest may be an Indian burial mound.

Now Louisiana state scientists will determine what will happen to them:

“Those bones have been out there since the 1800s,” said Gary Alford, senior investigator at the coroner’s office.

Gia Imbornone, a granddaughter of the home's previous owner and neice of the current owner who is trying to sell it, had a simple explaination for why the bones hadn't been handed over to authorities before:

“My grandma was a pack rat. She had those bones, and she kept them,” said Imbornone... “She just didn’t want to get rid of them because she thought it would be wrong.”

Even so, nearly everyone has at least heard of the Poltergeist movies. Some brave soul may want to buy this home, but it may take a while!

In the meantime, when listing your home on the market, make sure you evaluate and clean every nook and cranny. Some home buyers, and state authorities, might take issue with skeletons in the closets.