Builders find skeletons beneath home

POTTERS BAR, England, April 21 (UPI) -- A Potters Bar, England, woman says workers building an addition on her cottage have discovered 10 skeletons beneath the floor -- and they expect to find more.

Catherine McGuigan said a group of five workers discovered the first of the bones while digging beneath her dining room three weeks ago, The Daily Mail reported Monday.

"The men said they had found what they thought was an old pipe but when they pulled it out of the ground they realized it was bone," she said. "Then they looked down and there in the earth was a skull and the rest of the skeleton."

McGuigan said more skeleton discoveries followed and the current total stands at 10. However, she said she has been told there may be as many as 40 skeletons buried under the home.

Police were initially called to investigate, but the bones were found to be more than 100 years old and research performed at the local library revealed a Quaker burial ground used to exist in the space now occupied by the cottage, McGuigan said.

The unclaimed bones have left McGuigan with another problem -- disposing of them. She said she has been told it could cost more than $60,000 to cremate the bones in a manner that would be satisfactory to Quakers.