6Comments
Forget creaky floorboards and corners filled with cobwebs, this is the stuff of real unnerving, creepy haunted houses.
A team of construction workers found an estimated 1,000 teeth – yep, human teeth – in the wall cavity of a commercial building in Valdosta, Georgia in the US, as reported by local newspaper The Valdosta Daily Times. They even posted a photograph of the loot on their Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.
“Somebody found the tooth fairy’s stash,” one commenter joked.
Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that this is the tooth fairy’s secret hideout. It’s still unclear how or why so many teeth were placed inside the wall’s cavity, but there are some big clues laying around that could help crack the case.
A member of the local Historical Society told the Valdosta Daily Times that the first tenant in this century-old building was a dentist by the name of Dr Clarence Whittington. An old receipt from 1928 also shows that the building was home to another dentist, Dr LG Youmans, who practiced tooth extraction. It also seems like no coincidence that similar discoveries have been made at other former dentist offices in towns in the southern US, such as Greensboro and Carrolton.
In fact, just a few months ago, thousands of teeth were discovered while workers were constructing a subway tunnel Australia, which is now believed to have once been the site of a dentist.
“We’re trying to put puzzle pieces together, so what we’re thinking is that the dentist that was above the drug store was the Dr Youmans that we have the receipt from,” Valdosta Main Street director Ellen Hill told the Valdosta Times.
Nevertheless, the question remains, why the hell were medical professionals sticking teeth into wall cavities? It must be said that sticking teeth in gaps between walls is not currently considered standard practice for dentists. Extracted teeth are considered a potentially infectious material and are normally disposed of in medical waste containers.
However, in the days before biohazardous trash, it’s likely that the dentists slipped the teeth in the wall cavity as a cheap and easy means of disposal. As bizarre as it might sound, people often report finding dozens of rusty razor blades in between wall cavities when they’re doing some renovation work. This is because old school medicine cabinets used to feature a small slot where people could dispose of their old shaving blades. For some ridiculous reason, these slots never actually led anywhere and often used to just led to the wall cavity behind the cabinet.
It’s perfectly reasonable to assume that these dentists might have been taught a similar method of “disposal” for their extracted teeth – or let’s hope so at least...
