A BRITISH plumber was left shocked by the grim discovery of bones buried beneath a customer’s house – which came with a bizarre backstory.
Jonathan Betts was remodelling a bathroom for a customer in Plymouth, Devon last week when he stumbled upon the hidden remains after removing the old flooring.
The 36-year-old says he found remains – including a jawbone – buried in the dirt below and informed the homeowner, but later conducted his own research to find out whether they were indeed human.
Shockingly – and perhaps thankfully – Jonathan discovered that the bones likely once belonged to a pig that had been killed and buried below the house as part of an old superstition to ward off bad spirits.
Video shows Jonathan in amongst the rubble and dirt underneath the customer’s bathroom, as on-screen text reads: “When you’re digging up a customer’s floor under a bathroom”.
Jonathan films the debris around him before honing in on a broken bone that he has set aside, as he explains: “So, I’m digging up here and I’m finding bits and thinking we were digging up a dead cat, child or human in my little trench that I’m doing.”
However, Jonathan then bends down and plucks an otherwise unnoticed bit of debris from the rubble in front of him.
Pulling it from the dirt and holding it close to the camera however, the item is revealed to in fact be a jawbone, complete with several teeth.
Jonathan can be heard letting out an exasperated sigh of dismay as he places the jawbone next to the other bones as he asks: “Can anyone tell me if this is an animal?
“I’m hoping it’s a dog, kind of.”
The clip then cuts to a collection of items that Jonathan seemingly unearthed during his renovation works.
Included in the items are a broken glass goblet and various pieces of pottery, as well as countless dirty old bones that all appear to belong to the same skeleton.
Despite suggestions from viewers that the remains may belong to a horse, a cat or indeed a human, Jonathan conducted his own research and thankfully reckons the bones belong to a pig.
Jonathan took to social media on Saturday to share the shocking saga, writing: “Can anyone tell me if this is a human or an animal?”
The post received over 17,900 likes and more than 730 comments from users left equally horrified and intrigued by the bones Jonathan stumbled upon.
One person claimed: “I am very sure that these are human remains.”
Another said: “Years ago, people buried horse heads and cat skeletons under floors to keep away witches.”
A third commented: “Dentist here; not human. Bigger animal though, not cat or dog sized.”
A fourth added: “Hope it’s not a child. Might be human.”
Speaking to Jonathan today he said: “So, I started a new bathroom remodel last Tuesday.
“After I removed the toilet and floor covering, I found that sub-flooring below was massively rotten and discovered the joists had just been fitted onto soil.
“I made the customers aware (who have been on holiday) that I will need to dig out the soil to try and find some solid ground to concrete in an ore formed lintel.
“I must mention that this is an old cottage in Plymouth, so I had to dig deep. So, I let the customer know I don’t usually work weekends, but I will to push the job on and that’s when I started to find bones.
“As you can imagine I started to stress out, especially when I found a jawbone with teeth.
“In the back of my mind, I knew it was an animal as the teeth didn’t look like ours, but I was still sketching out as I really did not want this job to be shut down.
“Twenty or so bones/bottles/marbles etc later, I found another jaw and saw the front long tooth.
“At first, I was horrified. After a quick Google search (and to my pure joy) I discovered the bones to be from a pig.
“Once I realised it was a pig, though, I’ve been laughing non-stop – especially at the amount of attention it’s received.
“[The homeowner was] shocked just like me, although the husband is finding it hilarious.”
