South Carolina beachgoers find skeletal remains that may be linked to "long forgotten" burial site from the 1800s

Tourists in South Carolina made a gruesome discovery while exploring an island off the state's coast last week, officials said. 

The tourists were in Jeremy Cay, a beachfront part of Edisto Island, when they found what they at first believed to be fossils — only to realize they had discovered human remains, officials said in a news release. The tourists, who have not been identified, then called the Colleton County Sheriff's Office and the Edisto Beach Police Department. 

Officials secured the scene, then launched an investigation. Early indications from the investigation "suggest the remains may originate from a long forgotten burial site," the Colleton County Sheriff's Office said.