Ancient skull sent to mayor's office

Associated Press

It was just another Wednesday at Honolulu Hale until Mayor Jeremy Harris' secretary opened a package addressed to her boss.

Wrapped in newspaper inside the box was a human skull.

"This is the strangest thing we've ever received," said Vicki Borges, Harris' executive assistant.

The package also contained a note from the anonymous sender, apparently a former Marine who had been stationed in Hawai'i in the early 1950s, Borges said.

The man said in the note that he had taken the skull and now wanted to return it, she said.

The sender wasn't sure where the skull came from, but he believed it was from the Bellows area of Windward O'ahu, Borges said.

Police took the skull to the city medical examiner's office, where it was determined to be ancient. More tests were to be conducted.