The secrets behind a passageway of human bones discovered in a Żejtun church are close to being revealed after studies were carried out to determine their age and origin.

More than 50 years after the bones were discovered under the roof of St Gregory's Church, they remain a subject of mystery and fascination. 

According to village folk tales, these passages were used by locals to escape and evade raids by Ottoman corsairs, and early theorists connected the ossuary to the 1614 Ottoman raid that devastated Żejtun. 

Later studies however showed evidence that the bones had previously been buried and exhumed from a cemetery in the area that may have been destroyed.

Studies carried out by researchers on the bones began last year to determine their age and origin. The results of these studies are expected to be presented to the public next spring to mark the feast of St Gregory, which is celebrated on the first Wednesday after Easter.

Cultural society Wirt iż-Żejtun said in a statement that the bones had been returned to the secret passage and installed on perspex sheets in order to preserve the fragility of the remains. Every single bone in the ossuary has been catalogued and given an identification number thanks to a new tagging system introduced at the site.

The subject of much mystery and intrigue, the existence of the passageways were long rumored by locals but attempts to discover them were unsuccessful until the find in 1969.

John Mary Debono, a member of the Zejtun Historical Society, has been credited with the discovery and workers have also spoken about finding the bones.  

John Mary Debono, a member of Żejtun Historical Society, pictured in 1989, who is credited with discovering the passages. Photo: Times of Malta archive

During the 1600s, as the Knights of Malta defended the islands from attacks by the Islamic Ottoman empire, the church had a strategic location on high ground. 

The openings in the church’s three secret corridors could have been used to monitor activity in St Thomas bay and the Marsaxlokk harbour, which prior to the construction of the Wignacourt-era towers were left unprotected.