--- description: A curious 12-year-old boy ventured into an abandoned house, hidden behind the front yard's overgrowth, in Dayton, Ohio Sunday. title: Little Boy Finds Mummified Body in Abandoned House image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt401d8f6c8f46d95e/698697e4361760ec8190ca65/118116799.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Little Boy Finds Mummified Body in Empty House Because Horror Movies Are Real by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 17, 2014 2:54 PM CUT  Mummy MummyGetty Images by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 17, 2014 2:54 PM CUT A curious 12-year-old boy ventured into a semi-hidden abandoned house in Dayton, Ohio Sunday. He then found a [mummified corpse hanging by a rope in the closet.](http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/17/us/ohio-mummified-body/index.html?hpt=hp%5Ft2 "undefined") This isn’t a viral marketing stunt for the next season of _American Horror Story_. The movie-trope occurred in real life, and the body of resident Edward Bruton is thought to have been hanging there since 2009\. Being stored in the closet may have helped prevent the body from decomposing too heavily. While the coroner suspects suicide, no official cause of death has been determined. \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/17/us/ohio-mummified-body/index.html?hpt=hp%5Ft2 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2889643/mummified-body/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2889643/mummified-body/"},"headline":"Little Boy Finds Mummified Body in Empty House Because Horror Movies Are Real","datePublished":"2014-06-17T14:54:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:51.368Z","description":"Yes, this is real life","url":"https://time.com/2889643/mummified-body/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Death","Bizarre","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt401d8f6c8f46d95e/698697e4361760ec8190ca65/118116799.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt401d8f6c8f46d95e/698697e4361760ec8190ca65/118116799.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"118116799","caption":"118116799","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2889643/mummified-body/","name":"Little Boy Finds Mummified Body in Empty House Because Horror Movies Are Real"}}]}] ```