When most people go to a golf course, they expect to unwind with some fresh air and just get in a relaxing round of golf. What they don’t expect is to stumble across something straight out of a true crime documentary. But that’s exactly what happened at Pine Oaks Golf Course a few days ago.

In a shocking and horrifying incident, the Johnson City Police received a call on Thursday evening about a human skull that had been found in the woods just off the course at the Pine Oaks Golf Course in Johnson City, Tennessee. Located near Buffalo Road, Pine Oaks is typically calm and peaceful. But soon after this horrifying discovery, the calm was disrupted as investigators arrived at the scene to uncover what, or who, had been left behind.

Police confirmed the discovery in a news release, stating that officers arrived shortly after the report came in and cordoned off the area. The skull was soon examined by experts at the William L. Jenkins Forensic Center at East Tennessee State University, who determined it was indeed human. “Officials with the William L. Jenkins Forensic Center at East Tennessee State University determined the skull to be human,” the release stated. “The skull was taken to the Center for further examination.” 

The next morning, on Friday, the Johnson City Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division returned to the site, this time with a cadaver dog from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. The team scanned through the area, hoping to find more clues, remains, or evidence that might tell them who the person was, how long they’d been there, or, more importantly, what had happened. But after an extensive search, no additional remains or clues were found.

There are so many questions looming in the air about whose it was, and how it ended up there, and so on. But the Johnson City Police Department has remained tight-lipped, offering little beyond confirmation that the investigation is ongoing and promising to release more information as it becomes available.

And as if one bizarre golf course incident wasn’t enough, another strange case unfolded earlier this year in Des Moines, Iowa, but this time with explosives involved.

Another golf course, another bizarre incident

In July, 41-year-old Michael James Valento turned the peaceful Waveland Golf Course into a crime scene after planting not one, but two pipe bombs on the property. According to the police, Valento detonated the first device on July 3, while the second was still live, and was discovered a week later by players on the course.

The bomb squad safely detonated it after evacuating the area and temporarily shut down the course to ensure further safety protocols were followed. Valento, who lived just a mile away, was arrested shortly after a search warrant was executed at his home.

Valento was originally hit with a string of serious charges, including arson and multiple felony counts related to the explosive devices he planted. But in early October, Valento pleaded guilty to lesser charges— two aggravated misdemeanors for possession of explosive materials, and a Class D felony for being a domestic abuser in possession of a firearm. He was initially also charged with “first-degree arson, a Class B felony & third-degree arson,” but the charges were ultimately dropped by the prosecutors in the case during sentencing.