Countless folks are obsessed with the macabre. Even though most of these obsessions are fairly innocent, such as fixating on criminal cases or even visiting quirky museums, few take it farther than that. And though I’m a firm believer in different strokes for different folks, desecrating graves and farming out human remains is a line I definitely don’t think should be crossed … by anyone, ever.
Alas, CNN reported that Pennsylvania man Jonathan Christ Gerlach, 34, apparently seriously crossed that line. A months-long investigation into break-ins at Mount Moriah Cemetery, where at least 26 mausoleums and vaults have been forced open since early November, came to a head after Gerlach was arrested. His home and storage unit in Ephrata were filled with more than 100 human skulls, mummified hands and feet, long bones, two decomposing torsos, and more skeletal items.
“They were in various states. Some of them were hanging, as it were. Some of them were pieced together, some were just skulls on a shelf,” Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse told the outlet.
Gerlach was behind bars on a $1 million bond, CNN noted.
The Mirror US reported that officers saw the skeletal remains in his car at the cemetery they were monitoring, noting there were “numerous bones and skulls in plain view in the back seat,” Rouse explained in a statement about the situation. After Gerlach was taken into custody, he reportedly confessed that he had stolen at least 30 sets of human remains.
“Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life the other night. This is an unbelievable scene,” Rouse shared during a press conference, per The Mirror US. “I grieve for those who are upset by this, who are going through it, who are trying to figure out if it is in fact their loved one or their child, because we found remains that we believe to be months-old infants among those that he had collected.”
The district attorney went on to say that some of the remains were over 200 years old while others were more recent, even sharing the detail that one set of the remains still has a pacemaker attached.
Gerlach faces over 500 charges that include multiple counts of criminal trespassing, burglary, abuse of a corpse, intentional desecration of a public monument, venerated object, and historic lots and burial places, and more.
The investigation is ongoing as police have yet to determine if Gerlach sold any remains or why he wanted them. However, they are currently looking into a Facebook group titled Human Bones and Skull Selling, ABC 6 reported. A photo of Gerlach holding a skull was posted in the group and he was reportedly tagged in the group post.
“Very simply, detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones at this point, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from, and how many we are looking at. It’s going to be quite some time before we have a final answer,” Rouse said, per the outlet.
