FREDERICA, Delaware (AP) -- 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, authorities said.

The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday 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.
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Well... the police can't be blamed for this. I mean they are not psychic.

Wow, this is awful. At least they took it down before Halloween.

OMG That's just awful!

Wow, that must just suck. To go through all of the trouble to kill yourself in a gruesome and public manner, only to be ignored.

The moral of the story? If you want attention for your dead body left in the public view, never kill yourself near holloween...or call the suicide prevention hotline...either way.

You know, that almost sounds like a set-up in a film like Scary Movie. Sadly ironic.

I THINK ITS JUST WRONG 2 KILL URSELF BEFORE HALLOWEEN CAUSE IT MAY TAKE TIME 2 FIND UR BODY, U IMAGINE UR BODY ALL ROTTEN AND BAD SMELLING[attachmentid=19994]

Please use proper english when posting and turn off your Caps Lock, thank you.

Typing in all caps is similar to screaming in the online world.

imagine if it never got called in then it started rotting there :s

Commiting suicide in a public place is just selfish. If you really were contimplating suicide you would do it where you could be found but not in full view of the public.
I've also heard an urban myth suprisingly similar to this aswell.

Thats INCREDIBLY ... funny

Gosh She must really hate Halloween

any pic? imagine it rotting so bad it's head broke off and fell on someones car!

such beautiful taughts

Most suicides occur near Christmas...that makes me sad

This is pretty rediciolous (Sp? not in spell checker), did the thought of her body being mistaken for a halloween decoration ever run across her mind?

Thats just awful

LMAO!!! That is so funny!

If you think this suck, it isn't even close to bad as one of actor.

There was this actor who have to play role where he got hanged. He was in front of a huge crowd and when he was "hang" he was surprise to find that the rope actually tighten around his neck. So he statr to fuss and kicks while all crowds laugh as they watch him. After the show was over they found out that the actor was dead.

Just imagine strangling to breath and trying to tell crowd in front of you that you're really hanging

Apparently Halloween is the best time to dispose of any dead bodies you may have in your freezer. Because people ignore the strange occurrence of people loading bodies into the boot of the car, because they presume its Halloween stuff.

As this case shows. Very sad.

I actually find this type of thing quite distressing. She probably has family who have to deal with this now...

Thats sad and funny at the same time.

Hmm, this reminds me of something that happened a long time ago(My bro said he saw it on the news when he was maybe 12)on the south side where some dude found a mangled body of a woman that was on a curb and the guy thought it was a Haloween costume(It was the day after haloween) and then he took a few more steps to find blood on the curb, which then he realized that it was someone run over by a car. It traumatized the guy.
it's just sad that someone mistakens a dead body for decoration or costume

crypto

EEEeeew!!!

That's just creepy! But I guess it is very fitting for the time of the year. Might acutally be a good way to get away with muder. Kill someone & hide the body in plain sight...it might never be noticed! Reminds me of "Idle Hands" now that I think about it!!

I just find it odd, cause most people who commit suicide want attention, but she seemed to "hide" her actions some, by using the cover of Halloween. Weird!!!

40nrockinon

Edit: Useless Post

Or love it .

If a person is contemplating suicide don't kill yourself in a public place. Children and families should not have to leave there houses to see a dead body, of a person, who decided to kill themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. Have a little decency for everyone else.



It's bad when somebody wants to kill themselves in public.



An accidental death in front of a audiences that thought it was part of the show. It is really sad, because the strangulation could have been prevented.

In the end, it just sucks.

Too true. I could completely picture something like this happening in a movie like that.

Do you think the stress of loud kids knocking on her door at all hours of Halloween night just finally got to her? I know it can get a bit annoying at times..

But on a serious note, this is a very terrible thing to happen. Kids could be traumatized for life because of this. Very selfish of her.

yeah, also very poor planning on her part, heck! I'de probably mistake the corpse for a decoration!

thanks a lot lady for rotting in public, hopefully no one got sick.

I find this more amusing than sad..

She wanted to go out and pull one final prank.. perhaps

Ok, some of yall on here are saying that she shouldn't have hanged herself out in a public place out of respect for other people. Did you ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, someone who has gone so far as to kill themself has already gotten to the point where they really don't give a sh** what anyone else thinks? DUH! And why would you care whether or not your body was rotting anyway? YOU'RE DEAD!

*feels sick*

I find it mildly amusing as well. But sad, very sad...

that is sad .

That's the problem she doesn't care, about herself or anyone else. Because of her selfish act to take her own life in a public place, children and families were exposed to a corpse. A dead body is something a child should never see.

imagine how traumatic that would be...I don't understand how they could mistake a real body for decoration still?

well it all depends on

-time and place: its halloween, decorations are everywhere

-distance from body: may look like a mere decoration if far back enough.

and also props get more realistic and realistic.

but yeah it is sad, no child should have to see (or smell) a corpse.

The exact opposite happened a few years back at my town. Someone hung a halloween decoration off of a 200 foot radio tower. When the RCMP climbed the tower for nothing, I think they must've been fairly mad. But seriously, can't people tell the difference between a corpse and a decoration?

sad very sad and terrible to hear

Halloween won't be the same for that neighbourhood now.

Oh please...Woulda, coulda, shoulda...But didn't. First of all, you have no earthly idea what must have been going through that poor woman's mind for her to do what she did. You labeling someone as "selfish" this, and "selfish" that, is way out of line, and I see it as a copout. When you have been on the brink of suicide like myself and many others in this f***ed up world have, then you can call her selfish. Hell, I don't blame her at all. In fact, I think it was a kind of creative way to go. We've all got to go sooner or later, so I say sit back and enjoy yourself. It's a hell of a ride! And I, as well as most childless (and proud of it) Americans, are getting sick and tired of hearing "Won't someone please think of the children!" Blech! As much sick, twisted, sexually perverted, and violent garbage as kids watch on tv, not to mention witness in their own schools and neighborhoods everyday, I think a swinging corpse is the least of their concerns. Most kids would probably be trying to poke at it with a stick, instead of suddenly becoming scarred for life and have to go through years of therapy over the incident.

yup.

Poor tree........

No that was bad..not good.

question
HOW CAN U NOT NOTICE A DEADBODY? or mistake it fo a halloween decoration.
also what happened to the nabourhood watch these days?

Yes, people who are on the brink of actually taking their own life have a lot more on their minds than what other people will think. At least she hung herself rather than blowing her head off with a shotgun or something....




I agree with this, kids nowadays are exposed to so much through the media. I'm sure they'd be more traumatised by seeing dead bodies blown to pieces during war reports than a single body with a rope hanging from a tree. Kids are curious creatures, and more resiliant than a lot of people give them credit for, I know of kids when I was younger who walked miles to go see a dead dog.... None of them were traumatised...

Ridiculous

Please send the cheque to.... hehehe

That funny and sad at the same... =X

Halloween can be a very stressful time. It's hard to find a good costume. I doubt anyone had one as convincing as hers.

Some people at times do contemplate suicide. Maybe they have a good reason, but most don't, they choose suicide as a copout.



Anyone that decides to kill themselves in a public place is being selfish.



Spare me the drama.



Do you know her?



A person should not kill themselves in a public place.



Children watch cartoons all day. Seeing a corpse on C.S.I television is not as disturbing, as seeing one in real life.



Children do not want to see a dead body. If a child encounter a corpse he/she will be somewhat disturb by the sight of it.



What differences dose it make, she kill herself in a public place, where children and families were exposed to a corpse. No matter how you put it, it is going to be disturbing to a child.



Seeing a corpse on television is not the same thing as seeing one in real life.



So?

That's terrible. It's creepy to think of the passers-by who saw it, and only now realise what it was.

*Shudders*

^ I agree with everything.

I'll give you all the drama you can handle you self-righteous douche, so BITE ME.