WORKERS renovating a lawyer’s office along Hayes Street last month may have unwittingly dug up new material for ghost stories nannies love to tell children regarding the old cemetery across Xavier University’s Lucas Hall.
On October 18, lawyer James Judith was told by workers doing the renovation of his office that they accidentally found human bones six feet underground as they were laying the concrete foundations of his office.
"While the workers were digging for the foundations, they accidentally dug up some human bone fragments, a frayed leather belt and two beer bottles (which were accidentally hit and broken) with one of it bearing the embossed print: Dai Nippon Brewery Ltd. and the other R &Co.15," Judith said.
Immediately, Judith became interested with the dug-up bones. Even if the bone fragments were broken as well as the bottles found, he thought that he should ask for the help of the city's Historical and Cultural Commission to identify exactly what his workers have uncovered.
"I actually asked them 'why did you break the bottles and the bones?’ I realized that they would not have known what to do since our objective is to fix the office and not to dig up old bones," Judith said.
Judith sought the help of Xavier University's Dr. Erlinda Burton, president of the City Historical and Cultural Commission.
"Upon her examination, Dr. Burton told me that the finds were indeed human bones and that the bones could be that of any body during the American period from 1898 to 1945," Judith said.
Judith made several more investigations as to what or to whom exactly did these bones belong to. He found that the brand names printed on the bottle, Dai Nippon and R. & Co. 15 are of a Japanese brewery founded in 1906.
"By only looking at these bottles, one would really be puzzled as to what or who is this person buried here, is this really American? Or it can be Filipino or Japanese, or even a Spaniard," he added.
Later, Judith also discovered that the Lucas Hall of Xavier University, which is just across the street from his law office actually served as a camp for the Imperial Japanese Army. He remembered a conversation with his friend, the late Fr. Bill Nicholson, SJ that the Hall was actually further used by the Japanese Army as an interrogation room or maybe even a torture chamber.
"With this information and the fact that the former city cemetery is just a few paces from here, I hope that the National Bureau of Investigation (to which I also plan on turning over these remains) or the Historical Commission can shed light about the story behind these bones," he said.
For now, Judith intends to dig deeper into this mystery by further examining what more could be hidden in the ground under his office. He said that it is quite strange why his worker failed to find other bone parts such as the skull. So far the bones were from the torso area of the human body he noted.
"As to ghosts, my fellows here in the office and some of my clients have indeed felt and even seen ghosts that they said inhabit this property," Judith added.
When asked, his secretary said that indeed, one client outright told them that three people had been buried under Judith’s office. Another one she said told of seeing a lady in a bloodied Spanish-era-styled gown. However, Judith and his staff preferred to shrug the stories off.
"Though, these recent bones discovery, the history of this area, combined with the ghost stories of my clients and officemates really had me wondering if indeed, they could all be telling the truth all this time," he added.
Judith's office is a 103 square-meter lot which he has been renting from a Flor Garcia since 2002. Before him, Judith said that Garcia owned and lived in the lot since 1997 after purchasing it from a Mrs. Dizon whose family has been living there since the 1950s.
"That is really as far as I know about the ownership of this property but now, I plan to really fix it to become a better office for me," Judith said.
With the end of All Souls’ Day celebration, Judith said he will continue the renovation of his office with hopes of further discoveries of the buried person's identity or story would finally come to light.