...after seven years. Maybe it's the lack of sleep talking, but that's quite sad

That is so depressing.

That's a big "OH SNAP!" but then again, I'm afraid the same will happen to me someday. Poor fellow.

I lol'd

But seriously, it stinks that he had no family to look for him.

Impi should have found him sooner.

He didn't have a landlord?

No one noticed the smell?

There was a similar case in finland a few years ago, the man had been dead for 13 years.

Nah, they would've suspected me if I had "found" him.

The Gestapo strikes again!

The same thing happened a number of years ago to a guy in Canada. (I think it was in Canada)

Only the guy in canada had only been there 5 years. But due to the way he kept the temperature in his apartment he was actually mostly mumified.



PS, these stories are both pretty awful.

This happened twice already in 2007 here in quebec, though it was about 1 and 3 years. Both cases were reclusive old men. In one case, all neighbours had thought he'd been place in a retirement home. The other they simply thought it was as normal,considering they only saw the man 3 times in the span of 5 years being neighbours.

The problem is that he was in such conditions he somehow got mummified. Mummies don't smell.

The landlord question is a valid one, I think. Do these people just live in abandoned buildings?

Perhaps he owned the place, in which case he had no landlord.

If he were in the US, though, the IRS would have found him and charged his family the death-tax, post haste.

Man, it's funny to think that NO ONE could need your for seven years.

No utility bills to be paid?
No taxes?
No other financial commitments, etc?

Apart from the obvious that not a single friend, relative, co worker, neighbor was there. But how would he avoid bill collectors and the tax man?

That's so cool. I hope that's the way I go.

On a secondary note: I need to find this rent-free apartment in Essen, Germany.

The utilities probably just shut him off. They don't care why you stopped paying. They'll just stop service and hand it off to a collection agency. Similarly, in the US at least, when he stopped collecting his mail, and his box filled up, the postman also wouldn't care. He'd just send it all back Moved Left No Address.

As for mummification - no, mummies don't smell. But that's after the process, and only if they stay dry. It would be damn near impossible, no matter what his thermostat was set at, to avoid any rot at all. And, if the power went off, or the furnace wore out (It would, if it ran continuously for seven years) he would rot right quick. Maybe he caulked everything so no air could get in or something.

But the article says 'decomposed' not 'mummified'. It would have stank something awful.