Sandpoint's mystery skeleton gets a new home
Bonner County Coroner Rob Beers, left, and funeral home director Dale Coffelt stand with a box containing the remains of "Bones," an anatomical skeleton once used by the Eagles aerie in its initial rituals. The pair helped solved the mystery of where the bones came from and a bit about where the individual once lived.
Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER
SANDPOINT — Who was Bones?
Little was known about "Bones," the nickname Eagles members bestowed upon the skeleton used in past initiation rituals, a common practice among fraternal organizations.
Some people suggested that the skeleton was real. Some thought it was fake. Some thought the organization might have acquired it through a former member who was a doctor. Still, others wondered if the bones were from a former Chinese resident from Hope.
Little, beyond rumors, was known about Bones.
"It appears as though the historical information regarding this skeleton is based on local legend rather than fact," Bonner County coroner Rob Beers said in a coroner's report on the case.
Stored in a former steam tunnel accessed through the club's basement, the skeleton was treated respectfully but given little thought outside of initiation when it was used as a symbol. It is hard to know, members said, how long the skeleton has been in the Eagles' possession; it has just always been around.
It wasn't until the club moved from its former First Avenue location, now the home of Grace Church, to its current location on John Hudon Lane that Bones came to mind. It was then that the skeleton was found in a storage tunnel, created out of the space left when steam pipes heating downtown buildings were removed.
As Eagles members were clearing the lodge of items no longer needed, Bones was removed from the storage tunnel and almost thrown away.
Instead, an Eagles member said he would take the skeleton home. Bones was stored in a basement for many years, still in its old casket. Recently, after the man died, his daughter found the skeleton and realized she would have to do something with it in order to sell the home.
Vicki Dawson, a member of the local Sandpoint Eagles Auxiliary and past junior madam president of the fraternal organization on the state level, knew of Bones. When the woman, a fellow Auxiliary member, came to a meeting worried about the situation, Dawson agreed to help.
Dawson carefully transferred Bones into a box due to the casket's condition. The box was stored in a shed on her property while she researched the mystery and worked with other Auxiliary and aerie members on how to proceed. Options ranged from burying the bones on a member's property to leaving the matter as is.
None of those options felt right, Dawson said.
"What if the people who buy (the property) after them and dig it up?" she asked. "Will they go after the previous people and think this is a cold case?"
It felt right, Dawson said, to solve the mystery, to provide closure on Bones' identity, and to respectfully handle the remains of what was once a living person.
"The Auxiliary has been working to finish (this project) out of respect," she said.
While the story of how Bones came to be in the Eagles' possession is lost, work to solve the mystery of the skeleton's identity began in October 2020 when Dawson contacted Dale Coffelt, owner of a local funeral home, for advice. What, she asked, did you do with a skeleton of unknown origin?
Coffelt told Eagles and Auxiliary members he'd be happy to help sort out the mystery and, with Beers' help, got to work to find the answers.
The pair quickly determined the skeleton was an educational skeleton previously used in colleges and schools to teach anatomy. Bones was probably male due to the shape of the pelvic bone. Beyond that, they didn't have many answers on Bones' origin or identity. Curious, and wanting to provide answers for the aerie and Auxiliary, the pair agreed to tackle the mystery. Coffelt and Beers had long heard a rumor that the skeleton existed with assorted legends and lore shared along with the whispered tales.
"I felt we had the responsibility to treat it … like anybody else," Coffelt said.
Beers contacted the University of Montana's Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, often used by local agencies when bones are found or they need help identifying unknown remains.
The study determined Bones was an anatomical skeleton likely imported from southeastern Asia at some point. A male, Bones was an adult between 25 and 40, between 5 feet, 1 inch and 5 feet, 6 inches in height. The skeleton shows a combination of European and Asian characteristics and could potentially be from India.
"All analyses indicate a possible mixed European and Asian ancestry, but this result should be considered with caution in consideration of the highly variable nature of ancestry-related skeletal markers and inconsistency of reference samples," UM officials said in a report of their findings. "Additionally, based on this data and the known origins of anatomical specimens, the individual could potentially be from India."
The Sandpoint Aerie was not unique in using an anatomical skeleton as part of its rituals. Many fraternal organizations used skeletons, some real and some plaster, as a reminder that death comes to all, regardless of status or money. While such specimens are now rarely used, many groups are faced with how to handle the remains. Some are buried, some are donated to museums or universities and some have even come up for sale.
Hearing about the Sandpoint Aerie and Auxiliary project, other fraternal organizations have reached out asking for advice on how to handle similar discoveries, Dawson said. With the mystery solved, the local auxiliary has been sharing the process to help others properly handle the remains.
Coffelt and Beers advised the first step to contact the local coroner or funeral home and let them know they have a biological skeleton used for education but that it is no longer needed. Such anatomical specimens can be invaluable.
"Give (the coroner's office) the first crack at it because this can really help your deputies, coroners and law enforcement," Beers added.
Beers said the skeleton will be an invaluable tool for the coroner's office to help identify bones as human or non-human and from what part of the body it comes from.
"This will definitely help with finding skeletal remains, especially if they're scattered. … It gives us an actual visual representation. We can actually take a bone found at a scene and compare it to what it might have really looked like because we know (the specimen) is real."
The pair said they appreciate the Eagles and Eagles Auxiliary for working to find the answers and for treating the remains with respect.
"I just feel lucky to live in a community where we can work together, still show respect for the dead, work with law enforcement, work with a local funeral home, work with an Eagles (aerie), and accomplish something," Coffelt said. "I guess it means a lot to me that we've been able (to find answers)."
Solving the mystery of Bones was fun, Beers said.
"It was a great case," he added.
When the project to solve the mystery behind Bones started, Eagles and Auxiliary members initially thought they might inter the remains at Seneacquoteen Cemetery with a gravestone similar to that placed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Coffelt said. There, the simple monument reads: "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God."
After meeting with Beers and Coffelt and hearing what UM forensic anthropologists had found, Eagles members voted this spring to donate Bones to the coroner's office instead of having the skeleton interred at the cemetery so it could be used for educational purposes.
They are, Eagles and Eagles Auxiliary members said, glad it can be used by the department and happy to have answers.
"Now (the mystery) is solved," Dawson said. "It's not who we thought it was. It's a person that never should have been there, so it was like cracking a cold case."