Resolved NJ - Alpine, Bag of Human Bones, Stateline Lookout Overlook, Jul'19 - N/A

[thesensitivechild]

Could someone have robbed a grave?

 

[LadyL]

@ In the Details - I'm sorry but you are mistaken, my posting is for Alpine, New Jersey, if you look at the home addresses you will see they clearly say New Jersey. The Map provided shows very distinctly the Hudson River splitting the NJ and NY.

I worked for 18 years in Bergen County, New Jersey before our office moved and have customers in that area so am very much aware of the demographics.

[QUOT="Inthedetails, post: 15208419, member: 117884"]Across the river (and not too far upriver) from NYC, where Santeria is definitely practiced in public parks.

As I also stated in my previous post if you go a few towns away Santeria is very much practiced. As is evident in the Botanica stores, where you can buy all sorts of supplies for the practice.

your original link is different from the one you posted here
the original one is indeed California

 

[LadyL]

this story is really creepy
I wouldn't feel comfortable working or visiting there

 

[LadyL]

Sorry, but when I clicked on the link, it was clearly California. Not sure what happened with the link for me, but that's what I saw - tried it twice. (I live nearby too so I don't really need the info anyway - will be helpful to others though.)

jmo

Edited to add: I seem to have upset you with my link-glitch reporting, and for that I am sorry.

no you were right
the original link shows California

 

[Inthedetails]

no you were right
the original link shows California

Thanks, LL.

 

[JrzyGirl70]

Sorry, but when I clicked on the link, it was clearly California. Not sure what happened with the link for me, but that's what I saw - tried it twice. (I live nearby too so I don't really need the info anyway - will be helpful to others though.)

jmo

Edited to add: I seem to have upset you with my link-glitch reporting, and for that I am sorry.

Not at all... All good. Crazy computers LOL! When I click on the link I posted in the original site it takes me to the Zillow Alpine NJ site that I took a screenshot of..

 

[kaen]

There's a good chance it will turn out to be far less nefarious then it seems. A few years back they were doing an excavation at a London house where Ben Franklin lived when he was a Diplomat in the UK and in the basement they found human bones. People freaked out and started to wonder if one of America's founding fathers was a serial killer. But after an investigation they found out why there were bones in Franklin's basement and as it turns out there was nothing nefarious about it. Franklin had allowed his basement to be used by medical students for illegal autopsies. The British government had banned performing autopsies because they considered them sacrilegious and Franklin realizing the benefits of autopsies allowed them to be performed in his basement.

That crazy Ben. Anything for science.

I can concur with the Santeria practice in the area.

I hope LE can give the person whose bones these were a resting place and any closure needed for the family.

 

[LadyL]

I've never heard of Santeria
if it was connected to that, why would they leave the bones hanging on a doorknob?
sick thrill?

ETA: I just googled - I see it's similar or the same as voodoo

 

[Inthedetails]

While it's true that Santeria uses bones, fetuses, etc in their practice, more common are things like dead animals, feathers, sea shells, coconuts, animal blood, etc in casting spells. I used to work in Loss Prevention on the West Side of Chicago, where Santeria was relatively common. One day I came to work only to find a bunch of 5-gallon buckets filled with blood and organs. We couldn't tell if they were human organs (some were large), so the Homicide Unit got involved and the Medical Examiner as well. They organs were discovered to all be from dogs, and the blood was from goats and chickens. The practitioner lived several blocks away from the store, and one of our employees had recently dated the man and then broke up with him - which he clearly did not respond to well. This kind of thing happened a few times after that involving totally different people, but it was strange; these folks had odd things wind up happening to them... Anyway, years later and I'm police in the Florida Keys; my partner and I get a call about coconuts, dead seagulls and chickens, seashells, etc all arranged on a resident's porch - which was covered in blood. My partner who was White but who had grown up in a Cuban community (where Santeria is common) said to me, "oh no - we can't touch that otherwise we'll be cursed". I agreed! Both of us had seen this before - an again, as unbelievable as it may sound, those on the receiving end of a Santeria curse or anyone who touches the cursed objects seems to be quite negatively affected. So, we called the waste management team out there - they did not touch anything, instead using various devices to pick up the coconuts, birds, etc to discard them! They said to me, "yeah, we're not stupid - we're not touching that stuff and getting cursed"!

Yes, I have encountered items left in parks - though never covered blood, but perhaps blood was included with some dead birds I've seen - I honestly don't remember.

The items I've seen are displayed in a specific way, from my observation, and the specific placement has meaning is what I'm assuming. I have seen items displayed in bags and when I tried researching at one point, I learned that colors have specific meanings. That's why I'm wondering about the color of the bag the bones were found in.

Animals, animal parts, fruit, colored stones....those are the things I recall encountering in public parks. I'm by no means an expert at all - just someone who has seen things in parks.

The person who left the bag on the door is working with LE ... not sure what that tells us. Did that person find the bag in the park and hang it on the door? (That is my guess - that the person was walking through the park in the early morning, found the bag, and then left it on the door so someone would find it and deal with it.)

jmopinion at the moment - could change as we learn more, of course

edited for clarity.

 

[Tony1902]

I’d consider Palo Mayombe sects, much more underground than Santeria. But then they would have more than likely been in a ceremonial pot.

 

[Inthedetails]

I’d consider Palo Mayombe sects, much more underground than Santeria. But then they would have more than likely been in a ceremonial pot.

Hmm...that religion looks like it's practiced by people from the Congo. Is there a Congonese population around the park location? Not that I know of, but perhaps others have more accurate info than I have.

I'm nearby, though, and know large Dominican populations are also nearby, and Santeria is practiced actively by some in that community.

Not that Santeria is definitely the case here. Just seems like it to me, at this point.

jmo

 

[JrzyGirl70]

Wondering if this could be the remains of Patricia Viola, who went missing several years ago from Bogota. Several years ago a foot (positively ID'd from DNA) washed up on shore in Queens NY but no further remains have been recovered as far as I can find

 

[Gardener1850]

Authorities: Bones found in bag hanging from snack stand door identified as human

Jul 05, 2019

ALPINE -

Authorities say bones in a plastic bag found hanging on the door of a snack stand at a scenic overlook in Alpine have been identified as human.

According to Bergen County prosecutors, a positive identification of the remains found Monday at the Stateline Lookout overlook hasn't yet been made.

The remains will be sent to a lab for identification and compared with records of missing persons.

Authorities: Bones found in bag hanging from snack stand door identified as human

 

[Gardener1850]

The Bergen County Medical Examiner’s Office has been tasked with analyzing the bones, while the prosecutor’s Cold Case Unit will be working to investigate and identify the remains.

Dr. Zhongxue Hua, who serves as the county medical examiner, would not comment as it is an ongoing investigation.

“(An) individual who left the bag of remains on the snack stand door was located and directed law enforcement officers to the location where the remains were found,” Musella said. “Additional bones and some personal items were discovered at the site.”

It’s unknown if the person who found the bones is a suspect in the investigation. CNN has reached out to Musella for further comment.

Human bones found in a bag hanging on the door of a New Jersey cafe

 

[coffeeandacig]

How odd... There's a 30 second video posted on Google Maps posted last month. It seems to be focused on their (the cafe's) display case filled with animal bones.

 

[azure]

I'm guessing that someone came across a set of human bones and personal items from a transient who passed of natural causes, and then they decided (for some reason) the best thing to do was to gather the bones and hang them on the door of a local business. Perhaps that person was also a transient?

 

[Hazelnutty]

Cold chills. Goosebumps. Things my old brain can't comprehend.

 

[da fino]

I'm guessing that someone came across a set of human bones and personal items from a transient who passed of natural causes, and then they decided (for some reason) the best thing to do was to gather the bones and hang them on the door of a local business. Perhaps that person was also a transient?

that's the vibe i'm picking up. or at least the that person that found them and hung them on the door was homeless and not of very sound mind.

 

[coffeeandacig]

I may be wrong, and my knowledge of Santeria is limited, but I think it it was a "curse", the bag of bones would be placed on the roof of the building rather than hung on a door.

 

[Inthedetails]

I may be wrong, and my knowledge of Santeria is limited, but I think it it was a "curse", the bag of bones would be placed on the roof of the building rather than hung on a door.

The person who put the bag of bones on the door was someone who happened upon the bones elsewhere in the park and put them on the door. That person has been in touch with LE and directed LE to the place where the bones and other items were found.

My knowledge is also limited about Santeria, but I've seen a few displays left in parks and they weren't on a roof, fwiw.

jmo