In an unexpected turn of events, a skull was recently returned to Vienna’s St Stephen’s Cathedral, accompanied by a heartfelt letter. Franz Zehetner, the cathedral’s archivist, was astonished when he opened a parcel addressed to the cathedral and discovered the skull inside. The package also contained a letter from a man in northern Germany, who confessed to stealing the skull as a young tourist nearly six decades ago. The man explained that he had taken the skull during a guided tour of the catacombs beneath the cathedral, which house the remains of approximately 11,000 individuals from the 18th century. In his letter, the remorseful tourist expressed his desire to make amends for his youthful indiscretion as he approached the end of his life. Franz Zehetner remarked on the touching nature of the man’s wish to rectify his past mistake, noting that the skull had been carefully preserved over the years, despite the irregularity of its removal. The identity of the skull remains unknown, and it has since been re-interred in the cathedral’s catacombs. St Stephen’s Cathedral has long been a resting place for both the common people and members of Vienna’s elite families, with many of the remains dating back to the 18th century.