By Tim Binnall
A renovation project on a property in Maine took a spooky turn when a mysterious marble bust was found buried in the ground. The eerie find reportedly took place in the small community of Brownfield when a backhoe digging in a resident's yard unearthed the weird piece which resembles the head of a middle-aged man. The bust was subsequently brought to the attention of the town's historical society, who posted pictures of the discovery on their Facebook page.
According to the organization, the head appears to have been broken off of the shoulders upon which it once sat and looks to have "taken a bullet or hammer impact" on the left side, which may have occurred when it was removed from its base. The residence where the bust was found dates back to 1830, but an investigation by the group into the history of the property did little to solve the puzzle surrounding the piece.
"It doesn't appear that any of the previous owners of the house would have been affluent enough to have a statue made of them," the historical society said, "or to have purchased one for display in their home." Theories for the origin of the bust have centered around the possibility that it was stolen long ago or that it could be a lost work from renowned 19th-century sculptor Franklin Simmons, who grew up in the area.
While the origin of the bust is undoubtedly an intriguing question, the more tantalizing mystery may simply be why someone buried it in the backyard of the property. To that end, the current owner of the site has opted to keep their name and location secret from the public, perhaps in an effort to prevent 'treasure hunters' from visiting the spot in search of other oddities. For their sake, we hope that there was an innocent reason for why the bust wound up where it did and not some supernatural explanation, since it certainly looks like something that would be buried in the ground because it was haunted.