Pallor Mortis seen in Pablo Bartholomew’s photo of the Bhopal Gas Disaster of 1984
The first stage of decomposition “Pallor Mortis” translates to “paleness” [pallor] “of death” [mortis] and generally occurs 15-25 minutes after death. Postmortem paleness of the skin is usually seen more immediately in those who are anemic and/or have less melanin in their skin and therefore were more pale in life. Pallor Mortis is caused due to lack of capillary circulation within blood vessels which run throughout our bodies. The constant flow of blood through a living being gives the skin a good amount of its color and “lifelike” quality. During Pallor Mortis, blood stops its flow and begins to sink to lower parts of the body due to gravity. This pooling of blood becomes more evident in the fourth stage of decomposition, Livor Mortis. Unfortunately, Pallor Mortis is little to no aid in determining time of death due to its sudden onset and is only able to indicate whether the death took place more or less than half an hour before discovery of the body. During the stage of pallor mortis, we also see a thin film appear over the cornea of the deceased if eyes are open. While this is not caused by lack of blood circulating throughout the body, it occurs within a few minutes of death. The paleness seen in pallor mortis can also be caused in life by shock, heart failure, a vitamin D deficiency brought on by lack of sunlight, vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels) and homeostasis, which occurs in extreme cold. Check out the NEW BOOK by The Post-Mortem Post’s Head Writer ‘Horrible History: Mass Suicides’ AVAILABLE NOW on Amazon Kindle!
Ancient Egypt is widely recognized for their advanced process of “mummification” which successfully prevented natural decomposition. These purposefully preserved “anthropogenic mummies” have been found in various ancient civilizations throughout the world and were created by exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, extremely low humidity and/or lack of air. Spontaneous Mummification/natural embalming can occur under the same conditions. The oldest known natural mummification was observed in a 6,000 year old severed head discovered in South America in 1934 which was found to be of the Incan Civilization. Most people are familiar with the image of a “normal”, dried up mummy, a body which did not go through the process of Putrefaction due to dehydration of the corpse; However, there are many variations on spontaneous mummification/natural embalming which you may not be familiar with.
1. Consistently Cold Corpses Mt. Everest, located in the countries of Nepal and Tibet is the highest mountain in the world and a frozen graveyard for over 200 bodies of climbers who perished during their expedition. Due to the severe temperatures and extremely high altitude, bodies of those who die on Mt. Everest are usually unable to ever be recovered. The persistent subzero temperatures prevent these bodies from fully decomposing and are used today as markers for climbers on their way to the peak. Take for example the body of George Herbert Leigh Mallory.
Body of George Herbert Leigh Mallory on Mt. Everest. Courtesy of Atlas Obscura.
Mallory and his companion died during a British expedition to the peak of Mt. Everest in 1924. Unfortunately, no one knew what happened to the two explorers until a team searching for their remains discovered Mallory’s corpse on May 1,1999. Despite having died more than 70 years prior, his remains were found in almost pristine condition, preserved by persistent subzero temperatures. If you make the death-defying trek to the peak of Mt. Everest, make sure to stop by and visit George Herbert Leigh Mallory.
2. Bog Bodies Peat bogs, also known as “alkaline mires”, are wetlands abundant in mosses and wonderful environments in which to naturally preserve a corpse. In fact, the “Tollund Man”, considered to be the most well-preserved pre-historic corpse to have ever been discovered was found in a peat bog on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark.
The Tollund Man
The Tollund Man, discovered in 1950, most likely lived between 375 BC and 210 BC during the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Although his body has shrunk and his arms and hands (aside from one finger) have skeletonized, his facial features were preserved perfectly. The right side of the Tollund Man’s body, which was fully submerged in his alkaline grave, shows less skeletonization and shrinking than the left. He was discovered wearing a pointed cap of sheepskin secured to his head with two leather straps tied beneath his chin, a leather belt and a leather noose around his neck. It was determined the noose had been cut from the remainder of the rope with a knife. Indentations found on the front of the Tollund Man’s neck indicate he died by hanging. It is unclear why he died by hanging (execution, suicide, etc.) and whether or not his body was intended to be preserved by the bog. Today, the Tollund Man is on display at the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark.
3. Soap People Adipocere, also known as Saponify is an incredibly uncommon and fascinating form of postmortem preservation which occurs in an alkaline and/or warm, airless environment containing moisture. Saponification is a modification on Putrefaction in which the body’s fat converts into an acidic, insoluble soap which inhibits the growth of bacteria necessary for the body to putrefy. Generally, at the time of death a body contains 0.5% fatty acid, but inadipocere, levels of fatty acid rise to 20%. Within three months, bodies that saponify will contain 70% fatty acid. At first, saponified bodies will smell strongly ammoniacal. Curiously, people who have examined saponified bodies note that this smell will eventually wear off, but will return once more if the body is exposed to fresh air for two minutes or longer. Fresh adipocere appears soft, moist, white and translucent. Eventually, the body will become very brittle appearing to be hard, dry, cracked and will take on a yellowish color. Some internal organs may saponify as well, others will become similar to parchiment paper. Although the body may eventually decay if environmental conditions alter, usually the corpse will remain in a state of adipocere for at least a few decades after being relocated. A human body takes approximately 3-6 months to saponify completely, but it can begin to form in three weeks, given the right conditions. While it is unconfirmed, reports from India claim saponify has begun to form in as little as 3-4 days. The most well-known example of adipocere is the “Soap Lady”, whose saponified body was exhumed in Philadelphia in 1875.
The Soap Lady. Photo courtesy the Mutter Museum.
Originally believed to have been an elderly victim of the 1790’s Yellow Fever Epidemic (due to her lack of teeth), it was discovered in a 1987 X-ray that her clothing contained buttons and pins which were not manufactured in the United States until the 1830s. It was also determined this toothless woman was much younger, having died no later than her 40s, possibly as young as her late 20s. The Soap Lady is currently on display in Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum.
4. Volcanic Ash
In 79 AD (most likely August 24th, around noon) Mt. Vesuvius erupted destroying the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. While Herculaneum was immediately incinerated by the initial pyroclastic surge, at least 1,150 citizens of Pompeii were encased in a porous pumice shell leaving behind a macabre cast of their position at the time of death.
Bodies in Pompeii
Many people are under the impression that the bodies of those killed in the destruction of Pompeii remain encased in the pumice however, this is false. While their skeletal remainsare inside, the soft tissue decomposed and eventually leaked out of the hardened ash. In 1864 Giuseppe Fiorelli was serving as executive director of excavations at Pompeii. He instructed his team to not remove bones of the volcano’s victims and to instead pour plaster into the pockets of ash left behind where the soft tissue had once been. After a few days the plaster hardened, leaving us with 150 “statues” of Vesuvius’s victims immortalized in the final, terrifying moments of their life.
5. Incorruptible Corpses
Until rather recently, the Catholic Church considered “Incorruptible Corpses”, bodies that do not decompose after death, to be a miracle. Once upon a time, holy figures which remained immaculate long after their demise quickly gained Sainthood. While lack of decomposition is no longer officially considered a “miracle” in itself, there is still the belief within Christianity that these faithful few whose earthly bodies are spared decomposition are still in some way touched by God. There have been many claims that these bodies smell sweet and floral and at times appear better postmortem than they did in life… Those of us who are not quite as full of… “The Holy Spirit” realize there are legitimate scientific reasons behind these bodies that for whatever reason, do not putrify. In modern times, it has been discovered that some of the tombs used as a resting place for devoted Catholic nuns and priests are more conducive to natural embalming than others. Temperature, moisture and even architecture all influence the tomb’s ability to naturally preserve a corpse. One of the most famous Incorruptible Corpses is that of Saint Paula Frassinetti who was buried in one such a tomb in 1882.
Body of Saint Paula Frassinetti. Photo courtesy of The Order of The Good Death
In 1906 her body was exhumed to be moved to another location. At that time it was discovered that St. Paula’s body had only slightly decomposed in 24 years time. In light of this, her corpse was displayed at Saint Onofria, the Dorothean motherhouse in Rome, Italy. Unfortunately, after her body was removed from its original tomb, St. Paula did begin to decompose. In an attempt to keep her body in its state of incorruptibility, Sisters at the convent washed St. Paula Frassinetti with acid which slightly melted her skin. It did, however, prevent any furtherdecomposition. Incorruptible Corpses often receive such treatments in an effort to maintain the body. Her corpse remains on display to this day and those who have handled the body of Saint Paula Frassinetti claim she is still quite flexible.
Kendrick Johnson with parents, Kenneth and Jaquelyn.
-This article contains GRAPHIC IMAGES which may not be suitable for some-
On the evening of January 10, 2013, 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, a sophomore at Lowndes High School did not return home from school. The following day at 9AM, his body was discovered inside a rolled up wrestling mat in the gym of his Valdosta, Georgia high school. The grisly discovery was made by two sisters, daughters of the Superintendent, Wes Taylor. The girls were sitting in the gym near an area full of rolled up mats when they noticed a pair of feet inside one of them. The mat was moved from its vertical position to the floor, horizontally, by teachers at the school. The cause of death was determined to be accidental/positional asphyxia (AKA postural asphyxia), meaning Kendrick’s body was in such a position within the mat that he was unable to breathe and eventually led to his death. According to the medical examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the boy went into the mat head-first to retrieve his shoe, was unable to get out, and eventually died with a pair of headphones still in his hand; However, Kendrick’s parents, along with the majority of the population do not believe what investigators claim happened. The Johnsons hired a private pathologist who easily came to the conclusion after exhuming the young man’s corpse that Kendrick Johnson died due to blunt force trauma to the neck and was rolled into the mat following his death in an attempt to hide the body. Students at Lowndes High School said Kendrick had shared a pair of Adidas for gym class with another student who stated Kendrick would, “Go to the mats, jump up and toss the shoes inside the middle of the hole.”, but the question remains; Why would anyone go inside the mat to retrieve the shoe? Yes, teenagers do dumb things, but the fact is the evidence does not add up. Aside from evidence of blunt force trauma noted in the second autopsy, which was blatantly obvious even to the casual observer in crime scene photos, the shoes he was last seen wearing were found on him, next to his feet.
Kendrick Johnson’s feet and the shoes he was last seen wearing inside gym mat where his body was discovered.
Crime scene photo of Kendrick Johnson, postmortem.
If Kendrick Johnson went into the mat after his shoes as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims, how did the shoes end up on him? It doesn’t take an FBI agent to figure out there is absolutely no way the GBI’s version of the story is correct. Someone would have had to have placed Kendrick’s shoes inside the mat after Kendrick was inside it. Not to mention, Kendrick Johnson’s shoulders measured 19 inches across, whereas the opening of the mat was only 14 inches wide when the body was discovered. Although signs of postmortem bloat were evident, this was not the cause for the 5 inch difference as his shoulders measured 19 inches across in life. As we know, it is physically impossible for a 19 inch object to fit inside a 14 inch opening; Also, it does not take an FBI agent to figure that one out. During the second autopsy, it was also discovered that Kendrick’s organs had been removed and disposed of, his body was stuffed with newspaper. The funeral home which prepared the boy’s body claims his organs were removed by the GBI’s coroner because they had been, “Destroyed through natural process” and were “Discarded by the prosecutor before the body was sent back to Valdosta [to the funeral home]”. It was determined that while the funeral home did no wrong-doing in filling his body with newspaper, they had not followed the “best practice” (while it is not unusual for organs to be removed from a corpse due to liquefaction of organs, usually the body is stuffed with sawdust, cotton, or some other material less disrespectful to the deceased than old newspapers). The State of Georgia claims, however, they did turn over Kendrick’s organs to the funeral home in question. This is only one of a laundry list of inconsistencies in the case. On the morning Kendrick Johnson’s body was discovered, investigators requested the surveillance video from the school’s motion detecting cameras. These videos were supposed to be handed over that very morning but were not given to police until five days later. In November 2013, 290 hours of surveillance footage from 35 cameras in the vicinity of the school’s gymnasium were released to the public. It was discovered that two of the cameras were missing footage; One had one hour and five minutes cut, the other was missing two hours and ten minutes. Although these cameras were motion activated, the footage was cut out of the tapes, as opposed to the camera failing to record at that time. This is obvious evidence that the tapes were tampered with by the school before being handed over to investigators. What is seen on the tapes is a Lowndes High School student crisscrossing through the hallway outside of the gym on the day of Kendrick Johnson’s murder. Kendrick had previously suffered racial harassment from this student seen erratically crossing the hallway outside the gym, who is even changes his clothing at one point on the video. Complains of harassment were ignored by the school, despite the fact that this student had attacked Kendrick on a bus trip to a football game earlier in the year and on one occasion prior to that. It is said the student in question “had a history of provoking and attacking” and most interestingly of all, this student, Brandon Bell, is the son of a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There were also rumors that Kendrick had a sexual relationship with Brandon Bell’s older brother, Brian’s, ex-girlfriend; Allegedly, this prompted GBI member Rick Bell to encourage his two sons and six of their friends to attack Kendrick Johnson on the bus during their football trip. The investigation into Kendrick Johnson’s death was nothing short of corrupt, to say the least and Sheriff Chris Prine has been nothing short of an utter asshole (to put it as nicely as possible) in speaking with those who question the “accidental death” B.S. Police did not wear protective footwear during the investigation, which are worn not to protect the officers’ shoes, but to protect the crime scene from potential contamination. Law enforcement did not allow Kendrick’s parents to ever identify his body, which is routine, and the coroner was not called to the scene for six hours. In investigations led by… anyone, ever, who is not corrupt and trying to hide information, the coroner is called immediately. The coroner who worked the case said the scene had most definitely been compromised, adding that the report they had written on Kendrick’s death was changed by law enforcement. Both failing to wear protective footwear and failing to call the coroner are illegal in the State of Georgia. The coroner also asserted that despite the fact police were notified that the scene should be sealed off as a murder investigation due to signs of bruising on Kendrick’s face and neck, it was ignored and foot traffic in the surrounding area continued as usual. A pair of shoes and Hollister hoodie not belonging to Kendrick was discovered in the gym next to the mat his body was inside, but the items were not taken into evidence and were all but ignored.
Shoe NOT belonging to Kendrick Johnson found in gym. Blood splatter is visible on the toe.
Blood on the scene was also looked past by investigators. Blood could be clearly seen beneath the mat in which Kendrick’s body was discovered and blood was on the shoe he had supposedly dove in to retrieve. More blood was found on a vertical beam inside the gym and a trashcan in the gym’s restroom was full of bloody paper towels. Investigators and school employees dismissed the blood saying it had come from a female student who had injured herself in the gym the day before. The blood in the trashcan was tested and found to not be Kendrick’s, yet there was no further investigation into who the blood did belong to. No female student ever came forward to say she was this “female” who had reportedly injured herself.
Blood on vertical beam in gym, evident in crime scene photos.
Regardless of whether or not the blood belonged to Kendrick, when blood is present at a crime scene, in actual investigations, those sort of things are not overlooked, no matter how inconsequential they may end up being to the investigation. Police on the case claim 25 students from the wrestling team, including Brandon Bell, were not at the school when Kendrick went missing due to a competition in Macon, Georgia. They claim the wrestling team members were excused from classes at 11:32 AM on January 10th to make the 152 mile trip, which would have taken approximately 2 hours and 11 minutes. However, there is video evidence that at least some of these 25 wrestlers, including Brandon Bell, were at the school cafeteria from 11:32-12:02 and three separate school documents show evidence that the wrestling team actually departed at 4:00pm. The school did eventually admit the bus was running late and did not leave for the wrestling competition until 12:30 PM (noon) on January 10, which confirms they had, for some reason, attempted to convince police and the public that the bus had departed immediately following lunch, one half hour prior than it actually did (according to their story now, which may be subject to change as most the information from LHS on this case has). According to police, the wrestling coach’s cell phone records indicate the team was in Cordell, Georgia at 1:53pm, which is 85 miles north of the school and more than an hour away. Quite frankly, all that indicates is that the wrestling coach’scell phone was in Cordell, Georgia at 1:53pm, or perhaps that the investigators working on this case pulled that out of their ass like much of the “evidence” presented in an attempt to validate the offensively false claim that Kendrick’s death was accidental.
Shoe which Kendrick Johnson allegedly went into the rolled up gym mat to retrieve, covered in his blood.
Following his death, many African-American students at Lowndes High School were instructed by school staff to not speak with police. These students were threatened that if they did, they would not be allowed to graduate, despite the fact that most Caucasian students at the school were required to speak with police regarding their memories of that day. In fact, Brian Bell and his brother Brandon, a graduate of Lowndes High School, were the only Caucasian students who were forbidden from speaking with police due to their FBI daddy, Rick Bell, swooping in and threatening hell and high water if anyone made his spoiled brat boys do anything they didn’t want to do- like speak to police about a murder in which they appear incredibly suspicious. Luckily for Brian, Brandon, Rick, and mother, Karen Bell, being a spoiled brat with racist tendencies is not a crime, but as more information is uncovered in this case, there may only be so much having a father in the FBI can do to protect you. Afterall, take a look at Robert Durst; Money and Power can take you a long way in America, but there’s only so far you can go until enough of the public takes notice and begins to demand law enforcement does the dame instead of turn a blind eye.
Wounds and blood clearly visible on Kendrick Johnson’s fingers.
One person who has most certainly not turned a blind to this case is Adam Floyd, who was a teacher at Lowndes High School when Kendrick Johnson was murdered and left the school shortly afterwards to work at the Valdosta Daily Times has become the lead writer on the Kendrick Johnson story. Jaquelyn and Kenneth Johnson, Kendrick’s parents, filed a $100 million dollar civil suit on January 12, 2015 against local and state federal officials, Wes Taylor (School Superintendent of Lowndes County), Valdosta-Lowndes crime lab, Police Chief of Valdosta and multiple Sheriff’s deputies, state medical examiner, Georgia Bureau of Investigations and its five agents, FBI agent Rick Bell, and three of Kendrick’s classmates [names undisclosed, most likely the Bell Brothers and a friend involved in the bus trip attack]. Quite frankly, the investigation (or lack thereof) into the BLATANTLY OBVIOUS MURDER of Kendrick Johnson disgusts me in ways I cannot express. I sincerely hope Kenneth and Jaquelyn Johnson are successful in their lawsuit against any and everyone involved in their son’s death and the coverup which followed it. Hopefully in the process, the true story of what happened to Kendrick Johnson will come to light and he will receive justice.
Photos courtesy The Valdosta Daily Times, New York Daily News and CNN.
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‘The Most Beautiful Suicide’, originally released on May 12, 1947 in LIFE Magazine
Sixty-nine years ago today, May 1st 1947, Evelyn McHale committed suicide by jumping from the 86th floor observation deck at the Empire State Building around 10:40 AM. The 23-year-old woman landed on a United Nations Assembly Cadillac Limousine that was parked on 34th Street approximately 200 feet (61 meters) west of 5th Avenue. Despite having fallen 1,050 feet (320 meters), her body appeared to be intact, even serene, as though she were sleeping. Her ankles are folded in a lady-like pose appropriate for the time, a gloved hand clutching her pearls, the only sign of damage is a tear in her hose. In contrast, the limousine her body rests on is crushed and broken glass surrounds the young woman. A patrolman named John Morrissey spotted a scarf drifting down from the Empire State Building which was shortly followed by Evelyn’s body. Her body landing atop the car created a cacophonic crash which alerted bystanders to the spectacle. Photography student Robert C. Wiles was across the street when he heard the loud, crunching of metal marking Ms.McHale’s suicide. In awe of her body’s unscathed appearance and leisurely posture, he snapped a photo approximately four minutes after her death. The photo was entitled “The Most Beautiful Suicide” and originally appeared on a full-page spread in the May 12, 1947 edition of Life Magazine with the caption, “At the bottom of the Empire State Building the body of Evelyn McHale reposes calmly in grotesque bier, her falling body punched into the top of a car.”. Unfortunately, not much is known about the life of Evelyn McHale, nor is there much known as to why she felt the need to take her own life.
Evelyn McHale
Evelyn was born on September 20, 1923 in Berkley, California to Vincent and Helen McHale. She was the 6th child born to a family of 7 children. When she was still very young, Evelyn’s mother, Helen, left the family for “material reasons” and her parents got a divorce. Her father retained full custody of the children and moved them to Washington, D.C. where he worked as a bank examiner. The family later moved to Tuckahoe, New York where Evelyn attended high school. After graduation, she joined the Women’s Army Corps and was stationed in Jefferson, Missouri. Eventually, she made her way back to New York State, living with her brother and sister-in-law in Baldwin, Long Island and got a job as a bookkeeper. Evelyn met Barry Rhodes, who was attending Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and had recently been discharged from the Air Force. They became engaged and were set to be married in June 1947 at Barry’s brother’s home in Troy, New Jersey. McHale had even been a bridesmaid in Barry Rhode’s younger brother’s wedding. On April 30, 1947 Evelyn took the train from New York to Easton, PA to visit Barry on his 24th birthday. On the morning of May 1, everything seemed normal, according to Barry Rhodes. He took his fiancé to the train station, kissed her good-bye, and at 7AM she boarded a train heading to Penn Station in New York City. Barry later told investigators, “When I kissed her goodbye, she was happy and as normal as any girl about to be married.”. Less than four hours later, Evelyn McHale was dead.
1947 article on the suicide of Evelyn McHale. Though her age is listed as ’20’ she was in fact, 23.
Detective Frank Murray discovered a few personal items belonging to Evelyn which were left behind on the observation deck: a tan (or gray, reports vary) cloth coat which was neatly folded and placed n the observation deck wall, a brown make-up kit filled with family photos, and a black pocketbook containing a suicide not. The note Evelyn McHale left, the only explanation of why she leapt to her death read, “I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family- don’t have any service for me or remembrance for me. My fiancé asked me to marry him in June. I don’t think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me. Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”. Despite her near perfect appearance, according to reports, when her body was moved she “fell apart”, the impact having liquefied most of her organs. Ultimately, her body was identified by her sister, Helen Brenner. However, her final wishes were respected in that she was cremated, and there is no grave for Evelyn McHale. Whether she would be pleased by it or not, the entire world remembers Evelyn McHale, as she was immortalized for her serene suicide. Evelyn was the 12th person to ever jump from the Empire State Building since its completion in 1931. She was one of five people who jumped from the building in a three week period, an event which prompted the construction of a 10 foot tall (3 meters) wire mesh barrier, and the employment of guards trained to spot jumpers, in an effort to prevent any more suicides at the location. If you enjoyed this article, please donate $1 to The Post-Mortem Post so we can make massive improvements to the site; If everyone who reads this article today donates just $1, we will surpass out goal.
George Herbert Leigh Mallory was an English mountaineer born in Mobberley, Cheshire, England on June 18, 1886. During Mallory’s 3rd expedition to Everest in 1924 he, along with his climbing partner, Andrew “Sandy” Irvine went missing and never returned.
George Mallory (right) and Andrew Irvine
In 1999, a team of climbers searched Mount Everest for the bodies of the two lost explorers who may have in fact been the first people to have ever reached the mountain’s peak. During this expedition, the team discovered the remains of George Mallory on May 1st with a rope, which would have at one time connected Mallory and Irvine to one another, still tied around his waist.
Mallory’s body as it was discovered on Mount Everest. The team who went in search of him buried Mallory after documenting evidence of his identity.
He was discovered at 27,000 feet (8,230 meters), in the Death Zone and only 800 feet (150 meters) short of the summit. He was found to be mummified by the consistent subzero temperatures on Mount Everest and his body was fused to the mountain itself. He was identified by a tag inside his clothing with the name “G. Mallory” sewn onto it. It is possible that the body, believed to be Mallory’s, is actually that of Andrew Irvine who perhaps borrowed his climbing partner’s shirt on the day of his fatal climb. However, experts are nearly certain the body does belong to George Mallory. The guiding rope found tied around Mallory’s waist appeared as though it had been cut off with a knife. This piece of evidence led the team to believe Mallory had suffered a fatal fall while tied to Irvine.
Angulated fracture observed by the team who discovered Mallory’s body
Andrew Irvine was able to sever the rope which connected them and continue on the journey. Of course, Irvine perished on the mountain as well, though his remains have never been discovered. Unfortunately, neither was discovered the camera Mallory and Irvine had taken on their 1924 expedition. It is believed this camera, if found, could contain evidence that at least Irvine, or perhaps both men, had reached the peak before their demise. Although Mallory had explored the mountain on two previous occasions, the expedition in 1924 was his first attempt at summiting the mountain. Mallory, who was 37 at the time of his death, believed the 1924 expedition would be the last to the mountain, citing he was becoming too old; He confidentially proclaimed he and Irvine would reach the peak. Mallory was quite a popular man in the early 20th century, Lytton Strachey, a friend of Mallory’s (who seemingly had a steaming hot bromance with him) wrote in 1909, “Mondieu! -George Mallory! …He’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face- of incredible- the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print, the youth and piquancy of an unimaginable English boy.” In 1914, ten years before his death, George Mallory married Ruth Turner and together had three children. When he died, he left behind his wife along with their two daughters, aged 9 and 7, and a 4-year-old boy. Mallory was well-remembered for his courage, a memorial to Mallory and Irvine at the Chester Cathedral in Chester, England reads, “To remember two valiant men of Cheshire, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Corman Irvine who among the snows of Mount Everest adventured their lives even into death ‘Ascensiones in corde suo disposuit'” (translates to “Ascensions in his own heart” in Latin). George Leigh Mallory is believed to have died on the 8th or 9th of June in 1924.
The following is an excerpt from a documentary on the 1999 Mallory and Irvine expedition. Watch the team discover George Mallory’s body 75 years after he went missing on Mount Everest and give him a long-awaited “Death Zone” burial.
The body of “Green Boots” inside “Green Boots’ Cave” in the Death Zone of Mount Everest. One of the few photos in which his boots actually appear to be green.
The Everest Disaster of 1996 refers to a blizzard that occurred on May 10th & 11th which led to the loss of eight lives. The blizzard caused the deadliest day and deadliest year on Mount Everest until the 2014 Mt. Everest avalanche which resulted in 16 casualties. The Nepal Earthquake which occured in April 2015 and caused an avalanche on the mountain that killed 19 people is now holds the record for the deadliest day in the mountain’s history. On May 10, 1996 a team of six Indian climbers from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police expedition were attempting to summit when the blizzard began. Just short of the peak, three of the six chose to continue with the summit while the others returned to base camp. Climbers Subedar Tsewang Samanla, Lance Naik (Lance Corporal) Dorje Morup and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor contacted the three team members who had returned to base camp via radio to notify them they had reaced the summit and would be descending shortly. The three men left prayer flags, Khatas (traditional Tibetan Buddhist ceremonial scarfs) and placed pitons (metal spikes used in mountain climbing as anchor points to prevent a fall and aid in climbing) atop the mountain. Samanla, who was the leader of the expedition instructed Dorje Morup and Tsewang Paljor to begin descent as he remained behind to conduct a religious ceremony from the mountains peak.
Tsewang Samanla
Tsewang Paljor
What happened next remains a mystery; All that is certain is that the three men died in the 1996 Everest Disaster. The team did not make any additional radio contact with their team members at base camp and never returned. Evidence suggests they may have never even made it to the actual summit, appearing to have stopped 430 feet (150 meters) short due to confusion from poor visibility. A team of Japanese climbers their summit may have seen one or more of the Indian climbers but failed to assist them because they were unaware the three climbers had been reported missing. The Japanese team claimed during their descent they saw a person on a fixed rope and a second unidentifiable object which may have also been a human. One team member from the Japanese expedition even greeted another unitentified climber, possibly a missing member of the Indian expedition. Although the Japanese team aided the unitentified climber in transitioning to their next set of ropes, the climber did not otherwise seem to be in need of assistance. Eventually, a body was discovered under the overhang of a boulder along the Northeast Ridge Route at 27,890 feet (8500 meters), near Camp 6. The corpse was found lying next beside a rucksack with clothing intact but no gloves on.
Oxygen bottles lying next to Green Boot’s body.
Green boots worn by the deceased climber led people to refer to him simly as “Green Boots” and the limestone alcove he was discovered in as “Green Boots Cave”.
Green Boot’s Kolflach boots appear to be more yellow than green in many photographs. This is most likely due to lighting. Over time, the boots may have faded as well.
People have long believed the body in the small cave was that of Tsewang Paljor who had been wearing a pair of green Koflach boots when he was last seen alive.
An article published in the Himalayan Journal in 1997 put forth the theory that the body is actually Dorje Morup and Paljor’s body was never discovered. According to Morup’s team he “refused to put on gloves over his frost-bitten hands” and during the ascent, before the group spilt up, he was already struggling and “was finding difficulty in uncoiling his safety carabiner at anchor points”. Check out the NEW BOOK by The Post-Mortem Post’s Head Writer ‘Horrible History: Mass Suicides’ AVAILABLE NOW on Amazon Kindle!
Francys Yarbro was born on January 18, 1958 in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1992 she married Russian mountaineer Sergei Arsentiev and together, they summited many peaks in Russia including ‘Peak 5800m’.
Francys and Sergei Arsentiev
The Arsentievs became the first people to ascend this peak, naming it “Peak Goodwill”. Francys became the first American woman to ski down Mount Elbrus and had summited both its east and west peaks. Francys dreamt of becoming the first American woman to climb Mount Everest without the aid of an oxygen bottle and on May 17, 1998, Francys and her husband, Sergei, set out to make it happen. Francys’s son from a previous relationship, who was eleven at the time, had final say as to whether his mother would go on the expedition to Mount Everest and attempt to summit without the aid of an oxygen bottle. During the 1998 expedition, Francys and Sergei made several attempts to summit which were aborted due to dangerous weather conditions. Finally, on May 22, 1998, Francys became the first woman from the United States to ascend Mount Everest without the aid of an oxygen bottle. Unfortunately, the couple had summited very late in the day and were forced to spend the night in the Death Zone (above 8,000 meters/feet) without supplemental oxygen. At some point in the evening, Francys and Sergei became separated; It is believed Francys was experiencing snow blindness, possibly oxygen depletion, and wandered off without him. When Sergei awoke on the morning of the 23rd to find Francys was gone, he made his way down the mountain to base camp.
Sergei Arsentiev
After failing to find her there, he gathered oxygen bottles and medicine and set off on his own to find his wife. Meanwhile, Francys encountered a Uzbek team of climbers the same morning who were in the final stretch of their summit. According to the team, she was frostbitten and appeared to be half-conscious, deprived of oxygen and unable to move on her own. The Uzbek team administered oxygen to Francys and carried her down the mountain with them as far as possible. Eventually, they had depleted their supply of oxygen and were too fatigued to continue the rescue effort. The team left Francys with a few oxygen bottles and returned to base camp without her. On their way, they encountered Sergei, who was on his way back up the mountain (in the direction Francys lay alone), in search of Francys. It was the last time Sergei Arsentiev was ever seen alive. The following day, on the morning of the 24th, another team of Uzbek climbers, along with British climber Ian Woodall and Cathy O’Dowd of South Africa noticed Francys on their way to the summit.
Cathy O’Dowd and Ian Woodall at Mount Everest’s peak in 1996. Photo courtesy Cathy O’Dowd’s private collection.
She was discovered where she had been left the previous evening, clipped to a guide rope on the mountain, lying on her side. Russian-made oxygen bottles were lying next to her, Sergei’s rope and ice axe were found nearby, but no Sergei. It was Cathy O’Dowd who insisted she and her team abandon their own summit attempt to tend to Francys. Ian Woodall came to the aid of Cathy and Francys as the remainder of the team continued with the summit. Cathy O’Dowd, who first approached Francys, discovered her lying in an inverted ‘V’, which caused Francys to appear as though her spine were broken. She was jerking in an unnatural way and had no motor control, her skin appeared waxy and white. She had removed her gloves and although her purple dow jacket was stikl on her body, her arms were not inside the sleeves. No visual signs of trauma were present and her unnatural positioning was found to be caused by muscular limpness. As they attempted to re-dress her, she did not assist, nor did she fight she only repeated, “I am an American. I am an American.”. O’Dowd and Woodall quickly realized she was not talking to them. As Cathy O’Dowd put it, Francys’s though and speech patterns were like that of a “stuck record”. The same Uzbek team who had assisted Francys previously passed by . When Cathy noticed them, she asked they come help but they responded, “We tried to help yesterday. We left her with oxygen. She is too far gone to help.”, and advised they leave her before leaving themselves. Cathy O’Dowd and Ian Woodall remained with Francys for over an hour and the decision to leave her was a difficult one which was only made after much discussion.
Body of Francys Arsentiev. Photo courtesy of GoreGrish.com
Ultimately, they knew there was nothing the two of them could do to help and that Francys’s best chance was for them to return to base camp, find assistance, and return with a team. Francys begged, “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.”, after one again assuring her they would return, Francys’s last word to them were, “Why are you doing this to me?”. Although they did return a they had promised, it was too late. Francys died on May 24, 1998 at the age of 40. In 1999 Jake Norton, a member of the Mallory & Irvine expedition team discovered the body of Sergei Artsentiev nearby the location of his wife’s body. He had perished farther down the mountain’s face and believed to have been attempting to rescue Francys when he sustained a fatal fall. Ian Woodall lead an expedition in 2007 known as “The Tao of Everest” which aimed to discover and burry the bodies of Francys Arsentiev, “Green Boots”, and David Sharp. Cathy O’Dowd, who married Woodall in 2001 played an integral role in “The Tao of Everest”. It was she and Ian who eventually rediscovered the area in which they had left Francys Artsentiev, reached her body which rested on a steep slope and gave her a proper Death Zone burial. Her body was wrapped in an American flag along with a note from her son.
They then lowered her body further down the mountain’s face and out of sight from the main path. In 1999 Cathy O’Dowd returned to Mount Everest and became the first woman to summit the mountain from both its north and south route.
The body of Alexander Morrison covered in slates from the roof which fell on top of his remains after the fire.
The body of Ginette Kazmierczak
Jeannie Saffin The only known case of Spontaneous Human Combustion which was witnessed was that of Jeannie Saffin of London, England on September 15, 1982. Jeannie Saffin was 61 years of age but had the mental capabilities of a six year old and lived with her 82-year-old father, Jack Saffin. While in the kitchen, Jack noticed a bright flash out of the corner of his eye. Turning to Jeannie to ask if she had seen it as well as, Jack Saffin noticed his daughter was on fire, sitting perfectly still with her hands in her lap. Don Carroll, Jack’s son-in-law entered the house just in time to see Jeannie in flames. Jack and Don rushed her to the sink in an attempt to stop the fire from consuming her but it was too late. Jeannie went into a coma and died eight days later. The flesh on her face, hands and abdomen had entirely burnt away to the subcutaneous fat. Don Carrol claims he saw flames coming from Jeannie’s mouth and said she was “roaring like a dragon” although no burns were found in Jeannie’s mouth. While perhaps Mr. Carroll was exaggerating just a bit, many instances of supposed spontaneous combustion witnessed in the 1400s-1600s claim similar phenomenon. One example is the case of Polonus Vortius, a knight in Milan, France who died sometime between 1468-1503 during the reign of Queen Bona Sforza. The parents of Polonus Vortius claimed he drank “two ladles of strong wine” then vomited fire and was consumed by the flames. At the time of Jeannie Saffin’s death the only source of ignition was the pilot light in the gas stove. On the day of the incident, she was wearing nylon which investigators blame for her death. Jack Saffin had earlier emptied the ashes from his pipe before reloading it with fresh tobacco. Investigators theorized an ember fell on Jeannie, remained there for quite some time as Jack reloaded his pipe, only later to set Jeannie’s clothes on fire when Don Carroll entered the house and a gust of wind stirred the ember. Technically this would be possible but it is a bit of a stretch to explain away the incident. Jeannie Saffin’s official cause of death was recorded by coroner, Dr. John Burton, as “broncho-pneumonia due to burns”, reportedly due only to the fact that when Jeannie’s family attempted to explain the spontaneous combustion they had witnessed, he replied “No such thing.”.
More recently, “Spontaneous Human Combustion” had been reported as an official cause of death. Check out the NEW BOOK by The Post-Mortem Post’s Head Writer ‘Horrible History: Mass Suicides’ AVAILABLE NOW on Amazon Kindle!
At 5:19am on September 13, 1967 emergency services were called when a concerned citizen walking to work noticed a bright light coming from inside an abandoned home at 49 Auckland Street in Lambeth, South London. When the fire department arrived at 5:24am they discovered the burning body of Robert Francis Bailey, a local homeless alcoholic. One of the responding firefighters reported, “When we entered the building he [Robert Francis Baily] was lying on the bottom of the stairs half-turned on his left side and his knees were drawn up as though he was trying to bend the pain from his stomach”. Baily had been conscious as he burned to death and there was evidence to suggest he had been convulsing in agony as the fire consumed him. He had bitten into the post on the stairs which was made of solid mahogany and his teeth were embedded so deeply into the wood that his mouth had to be pried open by the fire department in order to remove his body. The firefighter described what he had witnessed, “There was about a four inch slit in his stomach and the flame was emanating from that four inch slit like a blow torch. It was a blue flame. The flame was actually coming from the body itself. From inside the body. He was burning literally from the inside out. And it was definitely under preassure. And it was impinging on the timber flooring below the body, so much so that the heat from the flame was charred into the woodwork.”. The only fire damage in the house was on the floor, directly below where the body had been burning. Aside from the abdomen where the fire had originated, Robert Francis Bailey’s clothes were intact and unaffected by the fire. The fire department put out the flames almost immediately, originally believing Bailey may still have been alive; The job required the use of several fire extinguishers and was incredibly difficult. Robert Francis Bailey’s original cause of death was determined to be “asphyxia due to inhalation of fire fumes” but after reviewing the case further his death was deemed to have been due to “unknown causes”.
Michael Faherty
The home of Michael Faherty
Seventy-six year old MichaelFaherty was found dead in his home in Clareview Park, Ballybane, Galway, Ireland on December 22, 2010 after his neighbor, Mr.Mannion was awoken by a fire alarm and noticed smoke coming from Faherty’s house. The official cause of death for Michael Faherty was “spontaneous combustion.”. Quite frankly, of all claims of SHC I find it very odd that this is the one investigators chose to officially name as a real case of spontaneous human combustion.
The body of Michael Faherty
While no accelerants were found and the fire that consumed Mr. Faherty had only damaged the floor directly beneath and the ceiling directly above the body, he was found with his head next to an open and active fireplace. A lead official working on the case stated, “The fire was thoroughly investigated and I’m left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion for which there is no adequate explanation.”.
Dr. John Irving Bentley
From 1925-1953 John Irving Bentley had worked as a family physician in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. He had suffered a fractured hip in 1947 which affected his mobility and had caused him to be infirm in his senior years. Dr. Bentley remained in Coudersport where he was friendly with many residents which he had served as physician to before his retirement. On December 4, 1966, ninety-two year old John Irving Bentley received visitors who left at around 9pm that evening.
The home of Dr. John Irving Bentley
The following morning, Don Gosnell, meter reader with the North Penn Gas Company arrived at Dr. Bentley’s two-story home on Main Street and let himself in, as usual due to the ninety-two year old’s immobility. When he entered the house, Don Gosnell noticed a light blue smoke and a strange smell which was “somewhat sweet, like starting up a new oil-burning system.”. After going into the basement to read the meter he saw there was a pile of ash on the floor. Concerned about the strange conditions in which he found the home, he set off to search for Dr. Bentley. Don Gosnell found the upstairs bedroom filled with smoke and in the bathroom he discovered the doctor’s remains.
The body of Dr. John Irving Bentley
All that was left of John Irving Bentley was the lower half of his right leg, still wearing a slipper and his walker on top of a 2 1/2 by 4 foot hole burned into the floor. Dr. Bentley’s ashes had fallen through this hole and into the basement. Terrified, Don Gosnell ran back to the gas company screaming, “Doctor Bentley’s burned up!” and coworkers later said, “He [Don Gosnell] looked as white as a sheet.”. Aside from the hole burned into the floor, there were few signs of fire damage. The nearby tub was nearly unscathed and the rubber tips on Dr. Bentley’s walker were intact. Found inside the bathtub was Dr. Bentley’s burned robe and in the toilet were the remnants of “what was apparently a water pitcher.”. The official cause of death was recorded as “death by asphyxiation and 90 percent burning of the body”. It is theorized that Dr. Bentley had set fire to himself in his bedroom with his pipe and went into the bathroom in an attempt to extinguish the flames, becoming unconscious before he could do so. While this theory is plausible considering Dr. Bentley was an avid pipe smoker and his robe showed signs of multiple previous accidents with hot ash, his pipe was found sitting neatly in its stand by his bedside as though it had not been used anytime recently. The fire which consumed Dr. Bentley is estimated to have burned at 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, a common element of supposed cases of spontaneous human combustion.
Helen Conway On the evening of November 7, 1964 Helen Conway was babysitting the two children of her daughter and son-in-law overnight at her home in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The following morning at 8:42am Helen Conway’s granddaughter, Stephanie delivered a book of matches to her invalid grandmother upstairs upon request. Very shortly thereafter, Helen Conway’s neighbor who was leaving for church noticed an odd glow coming from inside the upstairs window of 527 Argyll Road and came to the house to investigate. The heat was so intense she was unable to make it upstairs and called the fire department. As firefighters searched the smoke-filled room at 8:48am one of them stuck his hand “into something greasy” which tuned out to be the remains of Helen Conway.
The body of Helen Conway
All that was left of her were her legs from the knee-down. Her lower legs and feet were unburnt but blistered. Two blisters broke on her leg during examination; they were wet but did not leak fluid. This is a clear indication that the 51-year-old widow was alive as she burned. Her left arm, which had burned down to the bone still had a bracelet eerily dangling from it. The only major signs of fire damage was on the chair Helen Conway sat in as she burned to death. A telephone sitting on a nearby table had begun to melt but a pack of cigarettes on the same table were not affected. Sheets on the bed in the adjoining bedroom were spotless but the television set sitting on a dresser had melted while a highly flammable doll sitting next to the TV was nearly untouched. Helen Conway was a very heavy smoker and was a bit careless with her cigarettes. Multiple cigarette burns were found on furniture in her bedroom. One theory suggests Helen Conway lit herself on fire while smoking. As the chair she sat in became progressively charred the top broke off and fell backwards, taking the upper portion of Helen Conway’s body with it. Investigators believed “The Wick Effect” was the cause of her death. The Wick Effect is a commonly use to explain potential spontaneous human combustion. Under this theory, the human body is basically an inside out candle with clothing acting as the wick and human fat as the ignition. While it has been proven to be an explanation for some believed cases of SHC, it takes seven hours to destroy a human body. Obviously, this explanation would be highly feasible if it weren’t for one teeny tiny little detail… The fire that consumed the majority of Helen Conway’s body and burned at 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit began and ended in six minutes. No accelerants were used; Her death was originally considered to be foul play due to the rate and intensity at which the fire burned.
Mary Reeser Around 8am on July 2, 1951 Pansy Carpenter went to deliver a telegram and a cup of coffee to her tenant Mary Reeser. After discovering the doorknob to her home was burning hot, Pansy asked for the help of two painters working nearby to assist in opening the door. When they finally entered, the three were met with a gust of hot air. The home showed some signs of fire but Mrs. Reeser was nowhere to be found. There was a bit of a bit of smoke and a small fire still burning on a beam which separated the bedroom from the kitchenette. Emergency services were called and discovered the body of Mary Reeser. All that remained of her was her left foot still wearing a black satin slipper, a charred liver fused to a fragment of vertebrae and a shrunken skull which was approximately the size of a teacup.
The remains of Mary Reeser
The 170lb. woman had been reduced to a pile of remains weighing less that 10lbs. Dr. Wilton Krogman, the leading American forensic expert on the subject of death by fire at that time was called in to study the case. In 25 years of working in his field, Dr. Krogman was baffled by the shrunken skull. In deaths by burning, the skull expands from the heat and literally explodes. While it is not uncommon for the skull to shrink in claims of SHC (one of many elements that makes these cases so intriguing), it is absolutely unheard of in any burning deaths outside of these rare phenomena. The chair Mary Reeser was sitting in at the time of her death had been burned until all that was left of it was some coils from its interior but a nearby pile of newspapers was untouched by the fire. A mirror on the wall had cracked due to the intense heat and many appliances in the home had melted; Otherwise, the home was generally unaffected by the fire which is estimated to have burned at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Local investigators in St. Petersburg, Florida were so stumped by the case that Police Chief J.R. Reichert sent a box of evidence to J. Edgar Hoover containing glass fragments found in the ashes, a section of carpet, the unburnt shoe from Mrs. Reeser’s remaining foot and six “small objects thought to be teeth” along with a note which read, “We request any information or theories that could explain how a human body could be so destroyed and the fire confined to such a small area and so little damage done to the structure of the building and furniture in the room not even scorched or damaged by smoke.”. The case of Mary Reeser was so astounding J. Edgar Hoover even discussed the case with President Harry S. Truman before replying to the St. Petersburg Police. On August 8, the FBI ruled Mary Reeser’s death to have been due to “The Wick Effect” saying that Mrs. Reeser had taken her regular dose of sleeping pills and fell asleep while smoking a cigarette in her armchair. They claimed the rayon nightgown, robe and bedroom slippers she was last seen alive in the previous evening by her son and a neighbor acted as a wick and her body fat kept the fire going until she had been completely consumed. Those who worked on the case up-close-and-personal strongly disagreed with the FBI’s explanation. Experts asserted there is no way a fire started by a cigarette could create a blaze of that intensity. Dr. Wilton Krogman vehemently protested the FBI’s theory and said throughout his life that the case, particularly the shrunken skull, haunted him. As previously mentioned, the Wick Effect takes seven hours to consume a body. While there is no way to know for sure when the fire that killed Mary Reeser began, we get a pretty good idea from a clock in the room which stopped at 2:26am, presumably due to the heat from the fire. Pansy Carpenter, Mrs. Reeser’s landlady said she awoke that morning to the smell of smoke at around 5:00am. She believed it to be caused by the water pump in the garage overheating again. She got up, turned it off, and returned to bed. If the fire began shortly before 2:26am and raged on until just before Pansy Carpenter entered Mrs. Reeser’s apartment, that would be approximately seven hours; However, the FBI’s theory doesn’t quite add up. If Mary Reeser took sleeping pills on a regular basis, one would assume she took them quite a bit earlier in the evening.
Mary Reeser
Remember, this was a 67-year-old woman in 1951 whose landlady delivered coffee to at 8am. Unfortunately, there are no records of what time Mrs. Reeser’s son and neighbor left her home that evening, but the details given by Pansy Carpenter imply that Mary Reeser was up and out of bed by 8am every morning. For that to be possible when using medication to sleep, Mrs. Reeser would have to take her pills by midnight each evening, no later. If she had, in fact, taken the pills at her usual time and fallen asleep while smoking it would mean the ember which supposedly fell into her clothes remained inactive for about two hours before starting a fire which grew to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Some put the time of the clock stopping between 4:00am and 4:20am (we’re going with 2:26 because that time is cited in books and I trust books more that the internet) and if that is the case, there certainly would not have been enough time for Mary Reeser’s body to be destroyed to the point it was by way of the Wick Effect. More bizarrely, why would J. Edgar Hoover consult the President on the matter, not simply inform him of it. All these little details that don’t quite make sense in addition to the fact that no one working on the case outside of the FBI agreed with the Wick Effect theory in the case of Mary Reeser makes it one of the most intriguing examples of SHC to this day. One theory considered in an attempt to “logically” explain her death was that Mary Reeser was murdered… using cremation equipment; However, that theory was let go when it left no explanation for the melted appliances. Check out the NEW BOOK by The Post-Mortem Post’s Head Writer ‘Horrible History: Mass Suicides’ AVAILABLE NOW on Amazon Kindle!
On Monday December 13, 1920 Jason and Jimmy Garret were playing outside when they discovered a treasure map pinned to a tree with a knife. The brothers rushed inside to notify their parents of the discovery. Mr. and Mrs. Garret believed their sons were telling a tall tale and sent them back outside; The Garret brothers did not return home. After their disappearance, family and investigators were unable to find this “treasure map” the young boys claimed to have found the last time they were seen. It is believed Jimmy and Jason went off in search of the treasure on their own but instead of leading them to riches, it lead them to a twisted killer who had left the map in hopes of luring children to their deaths. Although Jason and Jimmy Garret were never seen again, one year after their disappearance, a photo of the two boys lying in a grave with a skeleton was slipped under the front door of their former home. This terrifying tale, which has made its rounds on the internet, most likely has no truth behind it. Whether the story is a false or not, the photograph leads one to wonder the real reasons behind the capture of this fascinating photo.
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