No, the ‘bones of children’ were not discovered on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island

Shortly after Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, a rush of conspiracy theories proliferated the internet. 

Now, another disturbing theory has surfaced on Facebook: That children’s bones were found on Epstein’s private island.

The island, Little St. James, is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands and has been dubbed "Pedophile Island" and "Orgy Island" by locals, according to reports.

The post, which has received over 4,500 shares since Aug. 22, reads:

"The bones of CHILDREN have been found on Epstein’s island. MY QUESTION?? Why isn’t this in headlines on EVERY major network?"

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

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As is typical with fabricated internet conspiracy theories, the significant discovery wasn’t in the headlines of "EVERY" major news network because it didn’t happen. 

The false rumor has been shared in various other viral social media posts, as well, and appears to have originated in an Aug. 13 article posted by conspiracy website whatdoesitmean.com.

The headline of that article? "FBI Divers Recover Human Bones In Waters Off Epstein ‘Orgy Island’ As ‘Deep State’ Meltdown Accelerates."

The website, and author "Sorcha Faal," are known to spread disinformation by including existing fragments of legitimate news in their stories (in this case by writing that Epstein owned an island and the FBI raided the premises) and then use that as a base to construct outrageous fake narratives, claiming to be the first to break the story with no credible sources.

A group of FBI investigators did raid Epstein’s island on Aug. 12, but there were no reports of human bones found anywhere, including below "Epstein’s satanic temple," as the article claims. 

News organizations around the world have reported extensively and in great detail on the Epstein case, so the fact that no credible media outlet revealed any of this information further points to it being fabricated.

We rate this statement False.