Animal Bones Discovered at Apparent Ritual Site

Call Mulder and Scully. At about 4 p.m. Tuesday, children walking behind the former Hungarian Club building on Old Raritan Road in Clark stumbled across animal skulls and bones, part of what appeared to be a ritual site, Clark Police Chief Denis Connell said. 

About 100 feet away from Old Raritan Road, in a field of overgrown grass and weeds, a goat or lamb skull sat atop a five-foot structure shaped like a stick-figure. Beneath the structure rested a rock slab marked with an X inside a red circle. Animal bones were staked in the ground, along with two smaller animal skulls, an American flag, a white construction helmet, tires and a rusted metal bucket. White feathers dotted a path that led to the site. 

The .77-acre property, purchased by Union County with Open Space funds in 2008, now a park, is one of the county's lesser-used parks. It is most often used by fishermen headed to a nearby creek. Finding animal remains and other oddities in little-used parks and similar areas is not altogether uncommon, Connell said.

Because the property is county-owned, the Union County Police Department is leading the investigation, Connell said. The department could not be reached for comment as of press time.