Widow finds dead animals on grave

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A Florida woman visiting the grave where her husband was buried in late August found what appeared to be the remains of a Caribbean religious ritual.

They included a dead chicken in a cardboard box, goat hoofs in a plastic bag and another bag with four decapitated puppies, the Tampa Tribune reported.

"I think it's some kind of religious thing," said the widow, who did not want her name used. "We don't know the reason why they picked my husband's grave, other than it was a fresh grave with flowers still on it."

She said that when her stepson visited Oak Grove Cemetery in Tampa Sunday everything was as it should be, so the objects were placed there some time between then and her visit on Wednesday.

Mozella Mitchell of the University of South Florida said the Yoruba Tribe of Africa had religious beliefs that involved animal sacrifice, often to communicate with the spirit world. She said Santeria and Voodoo both developed in the Caribbean as a blend of Catholic and West African beliefs and practices.