Mystery bones from Civil War-era home's attic to be buried in old-fashioned ceremony

When a girl playing treasure hunt reached underneath a floorboard of her family's historic Michigan home last January, she had no idea of the mystery she was about to unearth -- four partial sets of human remains dating back more than 100 years that authorities say could be connected to the Underground Railroad.

Months after their discovery, the still-unidentified remains will be laid to rest Saturday in a 19th century-style ceremony in Union City, about 65 miles southeast of Grand Rapids. A horse-drawn hearse will carry the bones of two males and two females from the First Congregational Church to their final resting place -- a donated cemetery plot at Riverside Cemetery -- while townspeople dressed in period clothing look on.

"It's a real mystery. It’s odd that somebody would keep different bones like that from different people."

- Martin Chard, town historian

But for the residents of Union City, the story behind the bones is far from being laid to rest.

"It's a real mystery," said town historian Martin Chard. "It’s odd that somebody would keep different bones like that from different people. There's not a full body there at all -- there's no head, no feet, no hands."

Bryant and Teasha McIntosh recently purchased the three-story home, which was built in 1839 and which once served as a hideout for slaves escaping by way of the Underground Railroad.

The home -- the second oldest in Union City -- was originally owned by the family of John D. Zimmerman, a local blacksmith and stationmaster for the Underground Railroad, who concealed slaves inside his home and helped them flee to Canada. At the time, Union City was designated "Station No. 2" of the secret network that assisted slaves in their quest for freedom.  

The mystery of the bones unfolded last winter when the McIntosh family began to restore the home that was in desperate need of repair.

Bryan McIntosh said he was drilling a hole in the ceiling of his daughter's bedroom one day when an old book fell from behind the wall. The discovery of the book prompted McIntosh's two teenage daughters, 13 and 16, to scour the home for other artifacts -- including a search of the attic.

On Jan. 12, one of the girls reached with her hand beneath one of the attic floorboards and felt an object.  

"She thought it was a doorknob," Lt. Chris Mathis of the Union City Police Department told FoxNews.com. "When she pulled it out, she saw it was a bone."

The startling discovery prompted the family to tear up all the floorboards in the attic. Four partial sets of human remains and an 18th-century corset were found hidden beneath, Mathis said.

Were the four individuals victims of a crime, or were their partial remains placed there after their deaths?

"That's the million-dollar question," Mathis said. "Just the fact that they're underneath the floorboards is strange."

"It's hard to think of a reason that isn't a nefarious one," he said. "But there's nothing that suggests a crime, either."

The bones -- which included a lower jaw with teeth, vertebrae and ribs -- were sent to Michigan State University's forensics lab where it was determined they dated back more than 100 years and "were a collection of anatomical specimens from different individuals."

Once forensic anthropologists determined that no current crime had been committed, they abandoned efforts to uncover the age and race of the individuals.

"That's where the investigation stopped," said Chard, whose wife, Emily, coincidentally lived in the home as a young girl in the 1960s. "The expense of trying to figure out anything else outweighed any advantage."

"It definitely would have been interesting to know the race of them," he said. "Then you could surmise whether there was any connection to the Underground Railroad."

Zimmerman, originally from Fairfield, Conn., moved with his family to Union City in the spring of 1838. His home soon served as a hiding place for slaves seeking refuge. 

Mathis said hundreds of thousands of slaves went through the Zimmerman home on their way to Canada.

"They were, of course, all undocumented," he said. "And we don't know how many."

Mathis also said the corset found with the bones was "not typical garb for a slave to have," though noted that it could have been a "hand-me-down" given to a slave along the way.

Chard said one theory being considered is that the remains were placed there because the town cemetery may not have been completed.

"People would bury someone in the backyard of their home," Chard said. "I don’t know if someone got dug up partially, possibly by an animal ... Maybe they [the homeowner] decided to keep a bone of each person."

A second theory suggests the remains belong to slaves who could not be buried next to white people.

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Last Resort's Autumn Reeser on What's to Come for Kylie Sinclair: "People Around Her are Dying"

Since the end of her time on The O.C. as the amazing Taylor Townsend, Autumn Reeser has been plenty busy with roles in series like Entourage, No Ordinary Family and Hawaii Five-0. Now she’s part of IGN’s favorite new fall TV series, Last Resort, playing Washington D.C. power player Kylie Sinclair – who finds her life turned upside down, after the submarine being used to test her new stealth technology becomes the focal point of a far-reaching conspiracy.

During my recent visit to the set of Last Resort in Hawaii, I spoke to Reeser about her new role and the dangers that Kylie faces as she moves forward.

IGN TV: You’re a few episodes into production now. What have you been learning about your character?

Autumn Reeser: Oh my goodness, I love Kylie. Kylie has this great inner conflict with wanting to do what she’s always done, which is be self-serving and serve the money, basically. That’s been her god for years. She’s ambitious, and that’s all she’s really had to worry about. She’s been good at business, and all of the sudden she’s finding herself with a moral center -- and it’s very confusing to her. She’s trying to make the right choices, and that’s such a fun conflict to play because sometimes she wants to and sometimes she doesn’t. She’s a good guy and a bad guy; she’s a little of both.

IGN: It’s a nice duality that I think the pilot establishes well, because you have that first scene with her, with her so excited about what’s happening with her tech, but then she has that switch when she goes to the Admiral and she thinks that he attacked his own daughter's sub and is so horrified. You see that she’s definitely not 100 percent coldblooded.

Reeser: Right, exactly. I think that’s what I love about that scene, is that it surprises her. Her emotions surprise her. She hasn’t needed to be moved by much in life, and all of the sudden the world is on the brink of World War III, and she’s finding it to be a distressful, uncomfortable feeling. I think the majority of us would say, “No s**t!” But Kylie hasn’t been affected by much. There’s a line where a character says to Kylie, “Nothing touches you,” and that’s been true for most of her life. Now, all of the sudden, life is dangerous for her. People around her are dying, and she’s not safe.

Autumn Reeser in a scene from this week's new Last Resort:

IGN: Yeah, I would imagine that she’s putting herself in some pretty direct harm by digging into this conspiracy.

Reeser: Yeah, there are people who are very invested in keeping the reasons that we nuked Pakistan secret.

IGN: At this point, who are you working with? This show has a very large cast, but people are in very different places.

Reeser: [I’m working with] a lot of our guest star cast. There are a couple recurring people, Darri [Ingolfsson] from the pilot and Bruce Davison. I got to work with my friend Assaf [Cohen], who came over; it was a nice treat to work with a friend. I don’t want to say who else, because I don’t want to spoil it.

IGN: At the TCA press your this summer, I think it was Shawn [Ryan] who said that you guys in D.C. will get to the island eventually. Are you hoping it’ll be your turn soon?

Reeser: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about ways that Kylie could get over there. My guess is that it wouldn’t be until Season 2 -- knock on wood. I have my theories about how she would end up over there...

IGN: Is it funny for you that you’re here on set with your co-stars, but you don’t actually have scenes with them?

Reeser: Yeah, it can be kind of strange. I can feel on the outside sometimes, but certainly the cast is so warm and wonderful. I try to see them as often as possible. Daisy [Betts] also has a young son, so we try and get them together. Jessy [Schram] and I also see quite a bit of each other.

IGN: Have your character and Jessy’s character had any interaction together?

Reeser: I don’t know what I’m allowed to say on this. I will say we do both live in the D.C. area, so that wouldn’t be out of the question…

IGN: Are Shawn [Ryan] and Karl [Gajdusek] giving you any hints as to what’s to come?

Reeser: I have a general idea of Kylie’s character arc throughout the season. I know where I wanted Kylie to start, because I have an idea of where she’s going to end this season. But it is still a surprise to me on a week-to-week basis. I’m waiting on episode 106 right now. Literally every time I get [a new script], I read the whole thing on my phone because I can’t wait until I get home to read it on my computer. People are like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “Shh, I’m reading episode 105 -- in tiny, tiny print, but I can’t wait.” It’s exciting. They continue to keep you on the edge of your seat.

IGN: The response to the pilot has been very strong. I’m sure you knew it was high quality, but it must be nice to see that people are responding to it.

Reeser: It’s really gratifying because things don’t always end up on the screen how you imagine them in your head and how you see them on the pages. It’s amazing that anything ever does because there are so many people involved in making a film or a television show. It’s nice to see it reflected as a lot of us see it in our head.

IGN: The show has such a big, gripping concept. The only thing people wonder is, “Wow, that’s so huge! How do you sustain that in the long run?”

Reeser: Right, right. Exactly, and I wondered the same thing. I had to do some press for the show before I had read any of the other episodes [past the pilot], and I found it really difficult because people were asking me these in-depth, provoking questions and I couldn’t answer. They’d be like, “What will see on a weekly basis?” I literally answered, “I don’t know,” because I hadn’t read any of the scripts. I had wondered the same thing that a lot of the critics and audience wondered, which is how do you sustain this? What happens in the next episode? And I think the best way to think about it, now that I’ve read six episodes, is the world’s on the brink of World War III. There are a lot of stories that can come out of that. That is a very provocative position that we find ourselves in in the fabric of the show after the pilot. There you go. That’s rich soil to build a story in.

IGN: As you continue to be in contact, what does Bruce Davison's character, Admiral Shepard, make of you? He’s also trying to figure out what’s going on, and his daughter’s life is at the center of it.

Reeser: I think the Admiral and Kylie are constantly in a dance of, are you friend or foe? Are we on the same team? Are you lying? That’s the world that Kylie and the Admiral are living in. They don’t know who to trust. Nobody in this show knows who to trust, especially the people in Washington, where people in very powerful positions are very invested in keeping all of this behind closed doors. So anything or anyone that’s a threat to that finds themselves in danger.

IGN: Is it as awesome to work here in Hawaii as we all imagine it to be?

Reeser: Yes. You may now be jealous. [Laughs] No, we are completely spoiled. I wake up every day, and I am so grateful to be here. I know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I don’t take it for granted. This is my dream job. It’s amazing. I love living here, I love it. It can be hard after you’ve lived here for awhile, I’ve heard. But so far -- and maybe it’s just the time in my life with having a small child -- it was a good time for me to leave LA, and I feel like I’m only just now processing all of these monumental changes that I’ve been through in the last three or four years - getting married, having a child. I think my life in LA is so busy and so hectic.

I’m so used to, just when I think I’ve got my feet under, something else [coming up] - You know, “I’m going to go to Vancouver for the month. Okay, great!” There’s just never any time to process. And here, there has been. I’m reading again. I don’t have cable. I feel like my mind has some breathing room, and it’s a really good thing because having a small child can be so all-consuming that you don’t have a lot of processing or thinking time. Because I have no nightlife here, I have more processing and thinking time, you know? I’ve worked it out that way. I’m an hour outside of Honolulu. Not only am I on a remote island, I’m in a remote part of the remote island -- and I like it that way! It’s good. It’s letting me focus on this job and the personal questions that this character is bringing up for me. I hope we’re on for years so that you guys can come out and visit again and again!

Last Resort airs Thursdays at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

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State Department issues warnings in Sudan, Tunisia

WASHINGTON –  The State Department on Saturday ordered the departure of all family members and non-essential U.S. government personnel from its embassies in Sudan and Tunisia and warned U.S. citizens against any travel to the two countries due to security concerns over rising anti-American violence.

"Given the security situation in Tunis and Khartoum, the State Department has ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel from both posts, and issued parallel travel warnings to American citizens," said department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

In Tunisia, the warning advised Americans that the international airport in Tunis is open and encouraged all U.S. citizens to depart on commercial flights. It said Americans who chose to remain in Tunisia should use extreme caution and avoid demonstrations. On Friday, protesters climbed the walls into the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, torching cars in the parking lot, trashing the entrance building and setting fire to a gym and a neighboring American school that is now unusable.

In Sudan, the warning said that while the Sudanese government has taken steps to limit the activities of terrorist groups, some remain and have threatened to attack Western interests. The terrorist threat level remains "critical" throughout Sudan, the department said. It noted that U.S. officials are already required to travel in armored vehicles and to get permission to travel outside Khartoum, where crowds torched part of the German Embassy and tried to storm the U.S. Embassy on Friday.

A U.S. official said on Saturday that Sudan's government is holding up the deployment of an elite Marine team that the U.S. planned to send to Khartoum to boost security at the embassy.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton worked the phones on Saturday, calling top officials from seven countries to discuss the situation following a wave of protest and violence over an anti-Muslim film that has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in recent days. An obscure, amateurish movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a pedophile sparked the outrage.

On Tuesday, protesters in Egypt breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and then well-armed extremists attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Since then, protests over the video have spread to more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. While most were peaceful, marches in several places exploded into violence, including Tunisia and Sudan.

Clinton on Saturday spoke to the prime minister of Libya, the president of Somalia, and the foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Nuland said.

With Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur, Clinton spoke about the importance of bringing the consulate attackers to justice, Nuland said. The prime minister "expressed confidence that the attackers would be brought to justice, noting that the government was already starting to take action," she said.

With the Egyptians, Turks and Saudis, Clinton thanked them for their condemnations of the violence and spoke of the need to ensure security at diplomatic missions, Nuland said. Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr also "agreed that while the film may be offensive and reprehensible, it cannot be used as justification for violence," Nuland said.

Clinton's calls and the State Department travel warnings came as President Barack Obama paid tribute to the Americans killed in Benghazi in his weekly radio address and denounced the anti-U.S. mob protests that have followed.

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Batman #0 Review

Batman #0 is kind of a strange beast. It seems to serve as a precursor to the upcoming Death of the Family in that it explores the old Red Hood and his gang – where Scott Snyder suggests that this is indeed a pre-chemical bath Joker -- but it ends with a disappointing “to be continued in 2013” without any resolution. To that end, on its own, Batman #0 doesn’t really feel like a complete story, instead just snippets of some great character moments for Bruce Wayne, Alfred, and Jim Gordon. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in here, but I suspect this issue will read better once the full context is known.

That said, Snyder has a lot of fun with pre-Batman (and pre-Matches Malone, it seems) Bruce Wayne. The opening infiltration sequence is fantastic, exciting fun that is rendered with intensity by Greg Capullo, and Bruce’s musings to Alfred that he needs to do more for Gotham will give you that tingly “man, I love Batman” feeling in your guts. Especially amusing is the scene between Gordon and Wayne, each of them just as cautious as the other, both conversing rather cordially with vastly different motivations spurring them on.

This conversation plays out like the most well-acted dialogue scenes in a movie, with each character working towards a clearly defined goal regardless of the words they are actually saying. Wayne is seeking an ally on the force, and Gordon is trying to find Wayne’s involvement with shady business dealings. It’s a tense but endearing scene that showcases Snyder’s knack for scene construction.

Capullo shines once again, but is able to stretch some different muscles due to the lack of actual Batman in this issue. The bank heist, as I mentioned, is thrilling, but he also gets to dabble in some subtle character work in the aforementioned Bruce/Gordon scene. There are a lot of little facial emotions that go a long way to selling Snyder’s words, and that doesn’t go unappreciated. Also, Capullo’s inclusion of Joker’s patented flower on the jacket of Red Hood is a clever and inspired way to underline Snyder’s suggestion of who this man will become.

However, my favorite portion of this issue is actually the back-up tale by James Tynion IV and Andy Clarke. While continuity hounds will likely rub their temples at the further complication of the Robin timelines (not to mention potential ties to Killing Joke in the main story), Tynion effectively uses one of the most underappreciated elements of the Batman world – the Bat-signal – to frame a brief but impactful tale about the Batman’s influence and inspiration on these kids.

We get to see how Batman inspired the Bat-family – Dick, Jason, Tim, and Barbara – before ever actually meeting them. It’s a great framing device that works on multiple levels, including giving Tim Drake his only worthwhile, significant moment since the New 52 launched last year. Plus, Clarke’s nod to the original Nightwing costume is fantastic.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter, or find him on IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.

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The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - "Yellowjacket" Review

Warning - full episode spoilers follow.

My biggest complaint about the previous episode of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, "Ultron Unlimited," was that it didn't focus enough on the bizarre Pym/Ultron family dynamic. A major part of the problem was that Hank Pym was still in superhero retirement at the time and thus not around to confront his creation. But while that was a bit of wasted potential, at least Hank made his long-awaited return for "Yellowjacket." This episode borrowed from some classic Bronze Age Avengers material as it chronicled Pym's descent into madness and his misguided attempt to reinvent himself as a more proactive hero.

This isn't easy material for a more family-oriented superhero show to tackle, but the writers seemed to handle the challenge well. Speaking of which, the Man of Action team were responsible for this week's installment. They seemed to bring an extra dose of sly humor to the characters, particularly when it came to Hawkeye and his quips. But despite that extra dose of humor, the episode was fairly dark in tone. The writers didn't shy away from Pym's deteriorating mental state. If anything, they pushed him a step further than he went in the comics. Though he didn't get to the point of physically abusing Jan as he did in the infamous Avengers #213 (good luck convincing Disney to air that), Yellowjacket's schizophrenic desire to kill off his Hank Pym personality was arguably more extreme than it was in the source material.

All of this made for a very interesting character study. The characterization in Earth's Mightiest Heroes has always been a bit wooden and straightforward compared to some of the more ambitious superhero cartoons out there, but Hank may be the lone exception on the team. The show is immediately better off for having him back in action. And kudos to Wally Wingert for providing a Yellowjacket voice that was convincingly different from his regular Pym voice. Even for viewers who haven't read an Avengers comic, I'm sure the identity reveal was about as surprising as Senator Palpatine turning out to be Darth Sidious, but the effort was appreciated anyway. That said, hopefully Wingert can find more of a happy vocal medium if Pym really is determined to keep up his Yellowjacket persona going forward.

The one down side to this episode is that it didn't offer the resolution regarding Pym's mental state I was hoping for. Iron Man's brief outburst aside, the Avengers seemed perfectly willing to accept Hank back in the fold despite his recent misdeeds. That's to say nothing of the bizarre public reaction to Yellowjacket's debut. For all anyone was aware, Yellowjacket was caught on video giving the Punisher treatment to the Serpent Society, yet he was being praised on the news as a welcome addition to New York's costumed community. Will there be opportunity to keep exploring Hank's tenuous grip on sanity in the remaining episodes, or is this it? And is it just me, or is anyone getting tired of the Serpent Society being the de facto characters whenever the writers need a group of bad guy punching bags? The Marvel Universe is a crowded place, and surely there are some other C-Listers out there deserving of being punched in the face.

But if not as conclusive as I would have liked, "Yellowjacket" was nonetheless a strong return for Hank Pym.  With more episodes slated for the remainder of September, we'll see if Earth's Mightiest Heroes can keep building on its recent momentum.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

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