A human skull (not the one found in L.A.) (Photo: S S./flickr)

In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Compton, officers from the sheriff’s department paid a visit to Omi Relekun, a religious shop, to investigate complaints of animal cruelty. The shop runs Santeria religious ceremonies, which sometimes involve the sacrifice of chickens or goats.

The sheriff’s department is still looking into those initial complaints. But now, according to the Los Angeles Times, they have a new question to answer: Where did the shop obtain its human skulls?

In the process of searching the store, the investigators found an intact human skull and eight containers, used in ceremonies, that they believe may also contain human skulls. In California, it’s possible to possess a human skull perfectly legally, and no one’s suggesting these skulls were obtained by killing people.

The sheriff’s office is now responsible for finding out where the skulls came from. If, just for example, they came from a #Boneghazi-like situation, where a person on the internet was collecting bones from cemeteries, that wouldn’t fly. 

Bonus finds: Debris that is not MH370, fancy old coin

Lost: $160,000 worth of cheese

Every day, we highlight one newly lost or found object, curiosity or wonder. Discover something unusual or amazing? Tell us about it! Send your finds to sarah.laskow@atlasobscura.com.