Fishermen Find Possible Prehistoric Remains Near Grand Lake

Human remains were found near the Grand Lake and it's believed they are prehistoric.

The Grand River Dam Authority has secured the area and the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's office is on scene.

Rob Harvey has been fishing at Bird Hollow since he was a kid.

He has heard stories and legends about the area but never really paid any attention.

Property manager Ted Hale says he heard stories, too. They've heard Bird Hollow was a military post road, a ferry crossing, a place where a circus once stopped and that the area was one big Indian camp.

Both thought those were just stories.

Until now.

Harvey was fishing on Sunday and Hale went to say hello.

"I was coming back through and something caught my eye," Hale said.

"The guy says, ‘hey check this out,'" Harvey said. "Looks at it, ‘Whoa, I think whoa those are human remains.' I thought it was kinda freaky, you know?"

What they thought were arrowheads, turned out to be bones. Very old bones.

" You could tell it was a skeleton, and you could see the teeth sticking out of the ground," Harvey said."Start brushing around, there were finger bones. Started finding little pieces of bone. That's when we stopped. There's too much there. Call the sheriff."

"These may actually be prehistoric human remains," Justin Alburty, Grand River Dam Authority spokesperson, said.

GRDA secured the area. The State Medical Examiner's office, archeologists and anthropologists moved in to figure out the who, what, where, why and when.

"It's an interesting story," Alburty said. "What we want to do at this point. Figure out what we have here with as much respect and dignity as we can for wherever these remains belong."

Harvey and Hale said the discovery is a first.

"It was kind of a shock at first," Hale said. "But once I realized what I had, I realized I had something of significant value and interest."

Harvey said: "Yeah it is kind of neat. As a kid growing up and hearing them old timers talk about those stories, just kind of blow them off. But now, I kinda think they are right. I think there's some burial grounds in there."

Now they say they just want to know how old the remains are, and the story behind them.

The site was blocked off and we weren't allowed to get any closer because they believe they will find more remains there.

Harvey said he's seen the erosion.

He says about five years ago that particular area was 2- to 3-feet higher with dirt, and it's just washed out over the years, which is why the remains turned up now.