Tourists find suspected human skull on Cape Breton beach

Three Ontario tourists were taking a walk along Big Glace Bay Beach in Cape Breton last Thursday when they found something odd.

“Oh, that just looks like a ball,” Peter Rellinger’s wife said, as she, her husband and a friend looked at the object.

Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a skull. Rellinger, who lives in Peterborough, Ont., thinks it might be human.

"It was almost like looking at somebody, almost missing the bottom part of their jaw,” he said.

One side of the skull. (Courtesy: Paul Rellinger)

The trio called police, who picked up the skull -- along with another bone the group found.

"[The police] said it could be somebody from here. It could be a fisherman from the middle of the ocean who fell overboard, who knows how long ago," Rellinger said.

With post-tropical storm Fiona just having hit, staff at the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) wondered if the discovery might have been the result of coastal erosion from a seaside graveyard.

"Cliffside cemeteries [are] an interesting one,” said the EAC’s Will Balser. "What we saw with Hurricane Fiona or Dorian … you're losing several feet, or several metres, of depth in a single hour-long event.”

It turns out there is a cliffside cemetery on the other side of the water from where the skull was found, on the grounds of a church in nearby Donkin, N.S.

The skull resting on the beach. (Courtesy: Paul Rellinger)

While that's just one of several possible explanations, losing places of eternal rest to erosion is becoming more common, said Balser.

"Especially along river valleys or in coastal areas. We're seeing graveyards that were never even marked in the first place literally appearing out of the cliffs,” Balser said.

While they await further word, the group who found the skull says it's an unforgettable -- and spooky -- vacation memory.

"I think this would become a more memorable event for us if we do find out who it was, or what happened,” Rellinger said.