Murder on the Trail


Over the Labor day weekend, my sister and I did what we've been doing all summer, we went for a hike. Again, we found another new to us trail. If anything,  COVID made us more adventurous.


The trail was the North Branch Central Canal Trail.  It had some slight inclines and declines, wondered along the river, through some fields and over some wooden bridges.  It was a fairly easy trail but my calves certainly felt it at the end of 7 plus miles ( 3.5 miles out and 3.5 miles back). 


Although the view was stunning, that was not the most interesting thing we saw on this hike!

It's odd that we did not notice anything weird on the 3.5 miles out the trail, it was only until we were on the way back that we noticed it.


The bones!  Now, we did see a random bone before we came across this pile.  It was one of the larger bones and we didn't know right away if it was a human bone or from an animal.  Once we came across this pile, we knew it was  definitely animal bones.

Well, maybe this was just random, and it was an animal that a predator had got. 


But then, we came across this other skeleton, that looked like all the bones were in tact.  This picture is not a great representation of what we saw because it is a screen shot from my sister's phone, but you could see all the ribs, the spine, the head, the jaw, and even every tooth was in place.   

It looked as if it was untouched, except all the skin and guts were removed.  It had to be a fairly large animal, ( but not as large as a deer).   Had they both been animals that were attacked by others, and then picked apart by vultures or other predators?  What kind of trail were we hiking on?  This wasn't even a trail that was deep into the woods.  I'll share some video and more thoughts on what we think these bones might be on my IG stories, so check for those in the next day or two if you are interested. 

Well, I've always had some interesting running stories, so it should come as no surprise that I find some interesting things while on a hike! 

Oh, and if you want to hear about a "human murder scene" that I came upon during my run a few years back, check out this blog post  RUNNING THROUGH A REAL LIFE DATELINE MYSTERY.

What are some odd things you've come across on your runs or hikes lately? -M


14 comments:

  1. Ooh that would have freaked me out! You do find some interesting things out on your hikes! Thanks for the link up

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    1. Yes, I;m always finding something out of the ordinary...lol

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  2. Oh wow! That would have freaked me out. Now I keep thinking about what type of animal it was - I'm going to check out your IG stories too.

    Thanks for the link up!

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    1. I am still wondering myself what type of animal that might be.

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  3. Yikes! That's picked clean. Luckily I haven't seen that on the "trail" here. Just lots of downed trees (and last weekend a car that came off Lake Shore Drive! Not good!)

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  4. I saw something that looked almost exactly like your photos in my neighbor's back yard. It's at a place where he mows very seldom next to a little woodlot. I walk by that spot after almost every run. It is creepy! I wonder what happened to these animals. It might be a possum or a raccoon, I thought.

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    1. Yes, that's a good guess. It had to be something much larger than a rabbit.

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  5. EEK!!!! Animal(s) or not, the bones would have had me doing an about face and leaving the scene LOL

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    1. The rest of the trail seemed safe so we continued to the end!

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  6. A few years ago my husband & I came across a carcass on a hike with the dogs. I forget what it was now, maybe a rabbit. Those bones are picked clean, though -- that is definitely kind of unsettling! Otherwise it looks like a lovely hike.

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    1. I wonder if it was picked clean from birds or other animals?

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  7. Yikes! Last week I came upon a dead bird on the bike path, but I figured he was electrocuted by the high power lines overhead. I'm grateful I haven't come upon any skeletons!

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  8. I guess I'd rather come across the skeletons, that way I don't really know what animal it was. Seeing dead animals makes me sad.

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