Skull found in Whidbey storage unit was Native American

Published 1:30 am Monday, June 11, 2018

By Jessie Stensland / South Whidbey Record

CLINTON — A human skull found with a jumble of stolen goods in a Whidbey Island storage unit was Native American, according to the Island County coroner.

Clinton resident John Norris said he was happy to finally get an answer to the mystery of the skull’s origin. It was a question on his mind ever since he submitted the winning bid in a storage unit auction at Waterman Self Storage on South Whidbey last fall.

Among the items he purchased was a small, broken skull.

“Everywhere I go everyone asks me about the skull,” he said.

After finding it in a paper sack, Norris turned the skull over to Island County Coroner Robert Bishop, who sent it to the state forensic anthropologist. It was analyzed and determined to be ancient Native American remains, so it was turned over to the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation for proper handling, according to Bishop.

Norris, a longtime “picker,” said he’s bid on a lot of storage units over the years, but this was the first time he came across human remains.

“I found just about everything else,” he said. “You name it, it’s been in there. Things you don’t want to know.”

For this storage unit, he won with a $1,200 bid and discovered what seemed like a treasure trove of jewelry, memorabilia, guns, coins and antiques. They turned out, however, to be stolen items. Norris said the storage unit had been used by “tweakers” who burglarized homes.

Norris speculated that the skull might have been taken during a burglary, but he will likely never know for sure what it was doing there.

Norris said he alerted police to the stolen goods and ended up giving most of it — including a trumpet and antique glass decor — back to the owners.