Dead body mistaken for Halloween decoration
Frederica, Delaware
October 28, 2005 – 11:42AM [The Age]The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, US authorities said.
The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road yesterday, state police said.
The body, suspended about 4.5 metres above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.
State police spokesman Jeff Oldham and neighbours said people noticed the body at breakfast time but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.
“They thought it was a Halloween decoration,” Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The Wilmington News Journal.
“It looked like something somebody would have rigged up,” she said.
- AP
