Boy walks into abandoned house, finds hanging body

I, like most other kids in my neighborhood, liked to test limits. The more we were not supposed to do things, the more tantalizing those things became. Nothing held our attention so much as a huge creepy and seemingly abandoned house down the road from us. We circled back and forth on our BMXs, frightened and fascinated…who among us would have the cajones to defy the parental ban, and our own ghoulish imaginations, to venture within past the overgrown lawn, broken front door, and “No Trespassing” warning signs? After these occasional sojourns escalated to questioning each others possession of gender-specific anatomy, we all ventured within to find….well, nothing. Broken floorboards, water stained drywall, and lots and lots of spiders.

Not so lucky (unlucky?) was a 12 year old boy from Dayton, Ohio who ventured within his neighborhood’s creepyhouse, only to find the stuff out of a kid’s nightmares.

The adventuresome tyke poked around the empty decaying residence only to find hanging in a closet the mummified corpse of the house’s former resident, Edward Brunton. I can’t help but imagine that it’s going to have a bit of an impact on the poor kid for some time to come.

Apparently, Brunton had been hanging in the closet for 5 years. He bought the house in 2009 and died, presumably taking his own life, shortly after. Neighbors said they didn’t even realize anyone was living there and never remember even seeing Ed. As to the corpse’s mummified condition, the town’s coroner said that the closet protected him from decomposition, animals, insects, and sunlight.

I realize it’s because of my own fascination with the macabre that this seems more like fun to me (I know, I have a problem) but I suspect this kid will grow up to be a horror fan. Or a serial killer. Either way, a horror movie’s gonna get made.