50 yrs later, found dead locked in trunk

[AHunter3]

The following story was related in two thorougly different contexts*, and I'm wondering if it is either counted among the lesser known urban legends or has some basis in fact—

Young woman likes to play hide-and-seek in her large house with her friends, family, companions. She does so, in fact, on the very eve of her wedding, dressed in her wedding gown. She opens a long-unused trunk in a room in the house and slips in. The trunk latches closed and she cannot get out and is unsuccessful attracting attention. Those who look for her do not find her. Those involved explain that they were playing hide-and-seek and she was hiding. She never shows up for the wedding (of course), people wonder if she got hurt somehow looking for a hiding place, but no clues turn up, a mystery unsolved. Fifty years later, someone for some reason opens the trunk and finds her skeleton, still dressed in bridal gown, mystery solved.


* mentioned in passing in Alfred Hitchcock's movie Rope; and described in identical terms as a true story in a narrative on a Vincent Price CD of spooky tales and ghost stories.



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Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post

[prleone]

Hey, A.,

I'm a long time fan/scholar/buff of urban legends. I know I've seen this story somewhere, Probably in Jan Harold Brunvand's work. Cecil has quoted him many times in Straight Dope collums, I'm sure he has a website, try his name, I guess.

Anyway, the trunk story has many urban legend elements. For instance, the number fifty, a magical/religious number is there, giving us a long, hard time and general ignorance.

No, names, no places, no dates, in a film by Hitchcock (much like "Four Rooms" using The body in the Bed story, dating back at least 40 years), and on a Vincent Price CD of Ghost Stories. Followed by the fact that her friends and family who said they were playing hide and seek never found her, never checked the trunk, and was never bothered by the smell of the fifty year old corpse. Must've been an airtight trunk later used as a casket.

Seriously, Check with Jan. If I find his website I'll post it. Urban legends aren't as fun as the rumors. It's like going to a business party, talking alone with a co-worker in private for an hour and friends ask you what happened. You say, "Nothing". And nothing DID happen, for real. They say, "Yeah, RIGHT!". See what I mean? If you ever collected pull-tabs for a cancer patient, found a razor blade in your Halloween candy, or lost a kidney on a one night stand, I've got those facts, let me know!

Peter

[Nickrz]

All I can say is,they must not have looked very hard. The smell would have been tremendous.

[typertrphy]

Hah! I say, Nick. Hah ! What if....the case was in Sedona, and the dessicating factors of very low humidity coupled with a gentle breeze DRIED her out ( sad state for a bride to be, but let's not get crude here ) whilst all the while wafting her...um...pungent scent away on the desert winds? Hmm? What THEN???

Typer :)

" If you want to kiss the sky you'd better learn how to kneel "

[SanibelMan]

Okay, so they called off the search early (they didn't care enough to have the police or anyone else search the house thouroughly) and didn't bother to clean out her stuff after they thought she was dead? This reeks of being a UL.

[omniscientnot]

Why is Arizona a sad state for a bride to be (in)?
Why is Arizona a sad State for a bride-to-be?

[BenDover]

I do believe that if I were locked in a trunk I could scream loud enough to attract SOMEONE'S attention, especially if people were searching for me!

Sheesh!

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I have as much authority as the Pope; I just don't have as many people who believe it! - George Carlin

[DougC]

- - - Okay, so maybe it was a waterproof trunk and deafness ran rampant in both families. - MC

[Mojo Rising]

Here's a recent story about a body that was trapped in a chimney for as long as five years: http://www.phillynews.com/daily_news/99/Oct/04/local/CHIM04.htm

[Nickrz]

What's the twat doing cavorting around in her wedding gown, anyway? I take it the groom must not have been present, since it's bad luck for him to see her before the ceremony, (in the gown) right? He must have become the prime suspect. Poor schmuck.

[moriah]

A trunk large enough to hold a human body was not checked when a hide-and-seeking bride could not be found in the first hour of her disappearance, let alone for the wedding day?

Complete and utter bullshit.

An urban legend, too.

Peace.

[prleone]

Perfect, Moriah. Short and sweet... kudos!

[Persephone]

I've read all of Jan Harold Brunvand's books, except for his latest, and I don't recall this story. It's been a while since I read his early stuff, though. Or maybe it's in the new book. :)

That doesn't mean it's not a crock, though. No freaking way they couldn't find that chick inside of an hour or so. No way. This story has UL stamped all over it.

[C K Dexter Haven]

Wasn't there a newspaper story recently about a groom's body found in a trunk? But this wasn't a "sneaked in to hide", this was a guy murdered by his wife and put into a trunk, the trunk put in a storage shed. The woman paid the storage fees for years (20+, IIRC) but then slipped up and didn't pay. The stuff in storage was auctioned off and some woman bought the trunk, opened it and found the ... er... remains.

Still sounds pretty much urban legend-ish to me, but was just in the news in the last few weeks. (Being in the news doesn't make it true, of course.)

It wasn't a trunk, it was a barrel. Some poor pregnant day-worker was killed by her boss, who stuffed her in a barrel in his crawlspace, around 1972. New owners of the house discovered her--amazingly well preserved--a month or two ago, and the now-elderly previous homeowner killed himself.

And remember that drag queen from the film "Paris is Burning?" She had a body in her closet, in Harlem, for about 20 years, too, which wasn't discovered till after her death about five years ago.

[Nickrz]

"Just another kid in the crawl"

[Diceman]

We just had a very real hide-in-a-trunk case at Michigan State Univ. About two semesters ago, some guy became trapped in an unplugged freezer in an unused room in the basement of a dorm. They just found him a week ago. Nobody knows how he ended up in there. He went to the same church as that football player who just tried to kill himself, which makes for a creepy connection.

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"I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms." -The Secret of Monkey Island

[Harmonious Discord]

CKDextHavn: Wasn't there a newspaper story recently about a groom's body found in a trunk? But this wasn't a "sneaked in to hide", this was a guy murdered by his wife and put into a trunk, the trunk put in a storage shed. The woman paid the storage fees for years (20+, IIRC) but then slipped up and didn't pay. The stuff in storage was auctioned off and some woman bought the trunk, opened it and found the ... er... remains.


I just saw the story in the last few weeks. The wife even left a note on the storage shed offering to buy back the contents from whom ever purchased the contents.

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I'm only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.

[prleone]

Dice,

It's not real. This is an old story too. It reminds me of the "you get a 4.0 if your roommate dies" crap which is still circulated.
It's real if you can find 1.) Dates of both instances, 2.)Name of "some guy" and "that football player" 3.)name and location of "that creepy old church.

[prleone]

Phobia, same steps for your story too.

1.)Name of woman 2.)read it, where? pulication? quotes from detectives who reported on this murder and 3.)WHAT DRUG OR STUPIDITY LESSON DID SAID POLICE TAKE WHERE THEY NEVER INVESTIGATED THE WIFE OR HER BELONGINGS?

Much luck. Anyway, those people flashing their lights behind you aren't trying to kill you, their trying to tell you there's a man in your backseat trying to kill you. Sheeesh!

[Diceman]

prleone: Believe me, this one was real. About two weeks ago, I was travelling past Wonders Hall when the news crews, police, etc., were there. I stopped, asked what was going on, and was told that a body had been found in a freezer in the basement. A picture of the cops removing the body was on the evening news and in the campus paper. I don't remember the guy's name, but his first name was one of those black African-esque names. They're saying that no foul play was involved, and that he must have accidently gotten stuck in there. In any event, he was last seen alive in January, IIRC, so he was entombed for about nine months.

The football player was Dimitius Underwood, who recently became a rookie for the Miami Dolphins. He tried to kill himself by slitting his own throat (!), but didn't succeed. The media tried really hard to make something of the fact that both Underwood and the dead guy went to the same church (in Lansing, MI) and called said church a cult. That whole angle seems to have petered out, though, and now I suspect it never had anything to stand on in the first place. The two events were most likely unrelated.

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"I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms." -The Secret of Monkey Island

[prleone]

OK, Dice, I agree with the story on the unrelated church/football thing. Good fact-
finding on that. And I agree with you on number one, but still....
The reason these dumb, unexact legends get passed around is because the truth is usually damned boring. Humans just seem to be more attracted to a suicide related to a cult, than just the reality.
It'll always happen. If you're at a party, talking for a long time, alone (privately) with a woman who has a slutty rep., your friends ask what happened. Truth: nothing. When you tell them, they say, "We believe you"?

Great reply, man. Thanks.


Pete