Theresa Lewis

When we were teenagers, we spent a summer up north in Quebec. Other than swimming, there was little else for us to do. Almost every day, two of my sisters and one of my brothers would go for a long walk along the country roadside to see what there was to discover

On one such walk, we discovered a man’s clothing deep down in a ravine. We found a plaid shirt, a pair of denim overalls, and some boots. We all slid down to get a closer look. We wondered why someone would throw his clothes into a ravine. Once we were down there, we found a stick and started poking around. To our complete shock, we found bones. There was no head, nor were there any hands and feet. We did find leg and arm bones as well as a rib cage. We wondered if the bones were animal or human. Without a head, we couldn’t tell.

There appeared to be only one course of action that could solve that mystery for us. After much coaxing, we got our brother to agree to try the bones on to see if they fit. There was still some tissue on the bones so the rib cage was pretty much still in tact. After working at it for a few moments, we were certain that the bones were definitely those of a man. The bones fit my brother like a vest.

We went home and called the police. Within moments, a police car with two officers pulled up to the house. They listened to our story. When we were finished telling the officers what we had found, they asked us to show them exactly where the bones and clothes were.

We took them to the spot. One of the officers asked us why we thought the bones belonged to a man. We thought it was a fairly reasonable question so we told them it was because our brother had tried them on and they fit. The two officers looked at each other then back at us. Needless to say, as seasoned as they were, they never expected that answer.

One of the officers, who looked as though he was about to vomit, asked us why we did such a thing. We said that without a head it would be difficult to tell if the bones were animal or human. We didn’t want to call the police for nothing and waste their time. We had to be sure. With that, the police ordered us to go back home and to leave the investigating to the professionals.

We never found out the results of their investigation, but I will just bet that it made for some interesting conversation back at headquarters.