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The cremains of the previous owner were in the garden of our house. I talked to the neighbor, he said the guy had no relatives and loved the area, and would want the ashes sprinkled around, not just buried.
Eventually, I got around to that, sprinkling ashes here and there. When done, I happened to look at the label on the bag; it had the name of a woman. Someone mixed up the ashes.
I would not take that on at all! Does your friend want the house? What did he/she think? If I wanted the house, I'd leave it to the previous tenant, owner, or police need to handle. Yikes! LOL
My friends bought a house with remains and they didn’t belong to the previous owner. They were stolen in a robbery with a bunch of other stuff. She was going to disperse them in the woods. We stopped her and tracked down the funeral home who found her very grateful daughter.
A friend asked me to look at a house that she was thinking of buying. It's a nice, 4 bedroom 2.5 bath colonial built in the 1950s or 60s.
We split up at a certain point, and I walked into an upstairs closet. It was nice, and spacious with well plenty of storage.
I noticed a cardboard box on the floor. The lid was open. It was about a foot high and six inches wide, I picked it up, out of curiosity. It was pretty heavy, or heavier than I expected. The cardboard lib had the name of a funeral home on it. I set it down and looked inside. There was a black plastic box with the name of a woman.
It became obvious that this was the remains of a woman, packed inside a budget urn. It looked like a small filing cabinet. It didn't look particularly old.
It was shocking on many levels. Who would leave a dead relative in the closet of a house that was empty and for sale? She does not belong to the seller, who never heard of her and told us to "get rid of it". His advice was to pour her remains in a lake.
We are doing no such thing. I feel sorry for this abandoned woman. I am fairly sure that it's illegal for anyone who is not a licensed mortician to dispose of human remains.
We don't recognize the funeral home. It must be out of town. I unsuccessfully tried to find an obituary of the woman.
What are your thoughts?
That is quite odd that the owner did not know of it. Is it possible that he did not spend much time in the house? Maybe bought it as a second residence or something? I find it unexplainable still that he didn't know of it. Sounds like he just said that because maybe he wasn't sure what to do with it either.
Yes, it is illegal to my knowledge to dispose of human remains, like on public property. However, if no one knows then they're not going to be able to do anything to you. I believe it was a funeral home director who told me you wouldn't believe how many people's ashes are poured out on golf courses even though it is illegal to do that.
If I liked the house, it wouldn't stop me from buying it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheena12
It was a rental property and he lives out of state.
Oh, that seems to explain it then. Like Chas said, I would think for sure it was one of the renter's relatives. I'm guessing the owner hired someone to clean it out and they're the ones who didn't know what to do with it (could possibly involve superstitions about disturbing the remains of the dead perhaps?).
I'd opt for, if your friend does end up buying it, to contact the police as some others have suggested.
I bet it's not that uncommon for people to wind up with the ashes of a relative they don't really have much of an attachment to. I nearly wound up with the ashes of someone who wasn't even related to me when the person who claimed them from the funeral home became homeless and left some things with me for storage. Uh, yeah, take those with you when you leave ok!
A friend asked me to look at a house that she was thinking of buying. It's a nice, 4 bedroom 2.5 bath colonial built in the 1950s or 60s. We split up at a certain point, and I walked into an upstairs closet. It was nice, and spacious with well plenty of storage. I noticed a cardboard box on the floor. The lid was open. It was about a foot high and six inches wide, I picked it up, out of curiosity. It was pretty heavy, or heavier than I expected. The cardboard lib had the name of a funeral home on it. I set it down and looked inside. There was a black plastic box with the name of a woman. It became obvious that this was the remains of a woman, packed inside a budget urn. It looked like a small filing cabinet. It didn't look particularly old. It was shocking on many levels. Who would leave a dead relative in the closet of a house that was empty and for sale? She does not belong to the seller, who never heard of her and told us to "get rid of it". His advice was to pour her remains in a lake. We are doing no such thing. I feel sorry for this abandoned woman. I am fairly sure that it's illegal for anyone who is not a licensed mortician to dispose of human remains. We don't recognize the funeral home. It must be out of town. I unsuccessfully tried to find an obituary of the woman. What are your thoughts?
Do whatever you want. They left the box behind on purpose.
Location: As of 2022….back to SoCal. OC this time!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sheena12
It was shocking on many levels. Who would leave a dead relative in the closet of a house that was empty and for sale? She does not belong to the seller, who never heard of her and told us to "get rid of it".
Wowzah, Sheena! I wouldn’t buy a house from that seller or through the realtor. Somebody is super lazy & not doing their job. All rentals & homes for sale are supposed to be thoroughly cleaned….especially when they are empty!^^ If your friend wants to buy the house, I wouldn’t sign @ closing with the body still there.
Why does the seller think it’s up to somebody else? AND who would be so inhuman & say “get rid of it”. IMO if the seller doesn’t care about ashes left in his home….he never cared about maintenance in the home. I would run from that house…as far & fast as I could.
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It looked like a small filing cabinet. It didn't look particularly old. 
