Fake ‘body’ found in Greene County
Halloween may be a little less than two months away, but for the Cumberland Township police and a frightened U.S. Census worker, Friday certainly presented them with a trick that was definitely no treat.
After receiving a report that a body wrapped in a tarp had been discovered behind a home, police arrived at the scene to discover that the “body” was nothing more than a Halloween decoration.
Officer George DeVault said he received a call around 3 p.m. from 911 concerning a woman who reported what she thought was a body on the back porch of a residence on Glades Run Road.
When DeVault arrived at the house, he said he found a female Census worker who was visibly shaken.
“She was terribly frightened and crying,” he said. “She said she knocked on the front door and nobody answered, so she went around the back to knock on the back door, and that’s when she saw what appeared to be feet sticking out of the rolled up tarp. She then called 911.”
DeVault said he unwrapped the tarp and quickly determined that it was a decorated mannequin.
“The appearance of the mannequin was awful,” he said with a laugh. “Its head had been scalped; it was visually disturbing and eerie, and the feet sticking out looked very realistic. Once we realized that it was merely a decoration, we were able to begin calming the poor woman down.”
DeVault said he did not need to file a report, but he will never forget the incident.
“I guess Halloween came a little early for us,” he said. “That woman, however, did the right thing by calling it in. I’m just glad she’s going to be OK.”