Just read in the local paper (Kansas City Star) an article lifted from the Chicago Tribune about a Adolph Stec who was found dead in his chair, four years after his demise. His death had apparantly gone unnoticed by friends, neighbors, or family.
He was only recently found after his “vacant” property had been auctioned off. A newspaper from 1997 at his side was used as a means of estimating his time of death.
This sounds conspicuously like some SPAM I’ve recieved about a very similar thing happening to a man in Germany.
Could this Chicago Tribune article be a hoax as well?
Or is life imitating SPAM?
I can’t locate this particular story on my usual sites for this sort of thing, and the Sun Times is a real newspaper. So maybe this was just an especially unpopular fellow.
But for future reference, there’s a great site called Urban Myths and Folklore, on which you can find all the current virus hoaxes, bogus “true” stories, and urban legends. It’s very entertaining, and I always consult it when I get one of those stolen-kidney, little-boy-who’s-dying, AIDS-infected-telephone, don’t-blink-your-headlights kind of emails. I’ve debunked hundreds (ok, maybe not HUNDREDS) of those dumb chain letter emails – hopefully saving millions (ok, maybe not MILLIONS) from junk in their inboxes.
And once in a blue moon, when a particular virus email or attempted fraud is true, they will direct you to the appropriate site, be it the Secret Service, or Semantec. It’s really worthwhile. Find the URL below:
About 5 years ago, here in Nashvegas (sorry, don’t have a cite, but it was broadcast on Channel 5 News). Some old guy was a shut in and his neighbors rarely saw him. People were used to helping him out and taking care of him, so they did things like cutting his grass for him, etc. What finally tipped people off was, again, seeing his property up for auction for non-payment of property taxes and so they called the cops, who found his body in the bathtub. He’d been dead for only about a year or so. Hope I don’t go out like that.
I can’t comment specifically on the OP’s story, but in general, just because a story appeared in a legit newspaper doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true any more. It’s a sad state of affairs. See this American Journalism Review article on how the news folks can be led down the wrong path by information they find on the 'net.
Same sort of thing happened in my town. An old man passed away inside his home, and remained there along with some dead cats and some feral cats. His sister continued to pick up his mail, pay the bills, and arrange for the exterior of the property to be maintained.
When it all came to light, there was an autopsy which determined that he died of natural causes, and after dying had been the food source for the cats.
His sister is being invetigated for fraudulently cashing his pension cheques (which may be why she hid his death).
The owners of the building across the street have had many of their tennants move away, and are having trouble finding new ones, so they are sueing the sister. My old law firm was involved in this action.
The fellow’s son, who also lives a the other end of town, has been threatening to sue the town for not looking in on his father. This one really leaves me shaking my head.
I’m in Chicago, and that story appeared on the news. I can’t remember which channel, but there were interviews with whitnesses and I think with police officials. Between that and the paper, it sounds legit.