Why ‘Dead and Undiscovered’?

This site was not born out of a taste for the macabre, but because a few years ago the end of the street where we lived began to smell with a strange, unfamiliar, sickly sweet smell that grew over a couple of days.

It became clear that a neighbour in an apartment opposite – someone we never knew -  had died and lain undiscovered for several weeks until the immediate neighbours complained to the landlord about the smell.

First, a black car labelled ‘private ambulance’ parked outside and the smell was several times worse – presumably when the apartment door was opened. Shortly after they had removed the decomposed corpse, a clean-up team in white coveralls arrived.

Sad circumstances

How sad that, whatever the circumstances of the neighbour’s death – whether it was quick or full of suffering – no one knew, and no one discovered the situation until any semblance of dignity had gone.

Dedication

This website is, therefore, respectfully dedicated to the memory of our unknown neighbour, and all people who have lain undiscovered for some time after death.

It’s a way I can mark their memory and point out how to prevent this happening to other people who live alone and rarely have contact with others.

Steve Hards
April 2009
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