Horry County Coroner Robert Edge said he receives 5 to 6 urns a year after they were found washed up on shore.
An unlucky Myrtle Beach goer stumbled upon an urn filled with human remains, a common occurrence in Myrtle Beach.
Once the remains had been found, Myrtle Beach Police handed them over to the Horry County coroner, Robert Edge, according to ABC 15.
"Maybe somebody wanted to bury this at sea and they went out and dropped it off and if there was an air pocket in it it caused it to float back in," said Edge, reports ABC 15.
This is not an uncommon occurrence. Edge said his office receives five to six urns a year that people find after they've washed up on shore, reported WBTW.
“They just think they are placing their loved ones where they think they would like to be for the rest of eternity and I guess it’s a psychological thing,” said Edge, according to WBTW.
Unfortunately for those found washed up, there’s no scientific way to identify the remains within the urns.
According to Edge, most funeral homes put a tag inside the urn which holds information about whose remains it is, but for the washed-up urns, no such tag were found, reported the AP.
Edge hopes the remains found on the beach will be claimed, but if not it will join the other unclaimed remains in a mass burial that the coroner's office does once they run out of space, according to the AP.
