Tourists find human skull on Big Glace Bay Beach

An Ontario couple visiting Cape Breton got more than they bargained for when beachcombing in Big Glace Bay, N.S.

Paul Rellinger Jr., his wife, Olivia, and another friend were looking for shells and sea glass on the beach on Oct. 6. The couple were in the area visiting friends and decided to check out the beach at the end of their vacation.

That's when they found a human skull.

"Her friend had pointed out something and said, 'Oh, that looks like a ball or something,'" said Rellinger.

"I took a walk closer towards it and I bent over.… It was not a rock. So I kind of went to the other side and I go, 'Guys, I think I think this might be a skull.'"

Rellinger was also surprised to find it appeared to be human. It is fairly common to find animal remains on beaches.

"It wasn't a fully intact one, it was more the top half of the skull," he said. "But you could see the eyebrow bones, the orbital bones, the skull fusion lines from the plates in the skull."

The group called Cape Breton Regional Police, who sent officers to the scene. Rellinger said the officers seemed a bit skeptical at first, until they saw the bone.

Rellinger said he understands the initial skepticism, saying police probably get lots of similar calls.

Police had the group show them around the area, including spots where they had found other bones. A spokesperson for Cape Breton Regional Police confirmed three bones, including the skull, were bagged and sent to the medical examiner's office. 

The medical examiner's office is not commenting on the case with an investigation underway.

Joseph Parish is a professor of anthropology at Cape Breton University. While he couldn't comment on this specific incident, he noted people should avoid picking up human remains if they find them.

"This is both the respectful thing to do and the scientifically important thing to do. The surrounding context of the remains is important to investigators to determine information about the case, such as whether or not it is a forensic case or an archeological case," he said. 

Parish said remains can also become contaminated by handling them.

"This can then lead to a court summons thereafter for someone who has now become involved in a forensic case, and no one wants to be wrongly associated with human remains in this way."

Other discoveries

Finding human remains on the shoreline or near other waterways in Cape Breton has happened a few times in recent years, partly due to erosion at coastal cemeteries.

In 2014, human remains were found in Ingonish. In 2020, a human jaw was found near Uisge Ban Falls and was believed to have washed up from a nearby cemetery.

Rellinger, who is now back home in Peterborough, said he and his wife won't soon forget this recent discovery.

"You don't go on vacation expecting this type of thing, especially around here. To say it was a memorable experience is probably an understatement."