12 People Whose Bodies Weren"t Discovered For Years

I think I can safely say that this is by far my worst nightmare. Dying alone in your home, undiscovered for years at a time.

It’s not the undiscovered part that scares me, but the loneliness of each of these scenes. In every case, people just seem to lose touch with those they care about – and who care about them. I can honestly say it would be heartbreaking to feel that if I died, no one would find me. For years.

Instead of feeling brought down by these stories, I hope they bring you up. I hope they inspire you to reach out to those you care about, but also to those who maybe you’ve forgotten over the years. Whether they’ve become loners or not, you could be changing someone’s life.

1. A woman and her daughter’s bodies were found by police, with the mother not seen for 30 YEARS!

Pauline and Caroline Bessett were found both dead by police after coming to inspect the mother’s home, which they believed was about to collapse. The mother became a recluse in her 40s after her husband died, neighbors said. The daughter hadn’t been seen in six months, and neighbors remembered flies swarming the home in July of 2013. Police believe they died in June. Police were unable to find any clues to the daughter’s death, but didn’t believe it was suspicious.

2. Police are still baffled over a mummified Michigan woman.

It sounded like Pia Farrenkopf had a pretty great life, one where family members were used to not hearing from her for years at a time, according to the Detroit Free Press. The family would suddenly receive a postcard from Ireland, Italy, Amsterdam, or Austria from her travels. So when they heard that Farrenkopf’s body was found in her home five years after her death, it must have been quite a shock. Her body had mummified and was frozen to the backseat of her car in her garage. Police still haven’t solved her case, and believe it was either a medical cause or suicide.

3. Chattanooga brothers died together, but there’s no signs of foul play.

Andrew and Anthony Johnson kind of weirded out their neighbors, who rarely saw them unless they were gardening wearing surgical masks. The 63-year-old men were found by police in 2014, bodies decomposing in their recliner chairs. They believe they had been there since 2011.

4. An Australian woman’s body was found after EIGHT years.

Natalie Wood (no, not that Natalie Wood) was a bit of a recluse. She had lived in the home since 1924, and moved in with her brother and his wife for a few years until 1997 when she moved back into the home. Her brother was then diagnosed with dementia. Wood later told her brother that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and communication slowly stopped. She was found in 2011 eight years after her death, with police believe she died a few months after the diagnosis. This is pretty sad, but 7 is heartbreaking.