Man found in his chair with the television on a year after he died.

[liberaldemocrat7]

I'm not making this up. I read this today in Newsday in New York. A man, 70 years of age died about a year ago but his body got found preserved by mummification because he sat in his living room which did not have much humidity over the past year. Yes, the television remained on for a year while his body sat in the chair. Neighbors did not notify anyone until a pipe burst recently and sent water over a second floor window over the garage in front.

Bizarre.

[cassiepriam]

1. I better go check. Might be my hubby :( nt

[Demit]

2. That's sad. But what a patient electric company, to be unpaid for a year

and still not turn off his electricity!

[rfranklin]

4. Probably had an automatice debit on his bank account....

Otherwise that electric would have been shut off.

[Chipper Chat]

8. Imagine his cable bill!

Wonder if his mail contained monthy rate-increase letters?

[regnaD kciN]

3. And here's the scary part...

...he was one of the people being tracked for the Nielsen ratings. :evilgrin:

[POAS]

5. Tuned to Fox News???

[jazzjunkysue]

18. Thank god we were tapping his phone and email. n/t.

[skids]

22. I hereby nominate you for a Duzy Award.

:rofl:

[EST]

6. Some of those game shows or american idle do seem

to run on interminably. I was thinking it might be the do-it-yourself channel with all sorts of kool ideas attached, when it occured to me he must have been watching something more like that leave it to angel show-whatever its name is-or maybe Larry King "live!"

Bored to death is common.

[PCIntern]

7. Reminds me of the old joke...

A Man calls 911 and says to the operator: "I think my wife is dead." She replies, "What do you mean you THINK she's dead?". He retorts, "Well the sex is the ssame but the disnes are piling up."

[rambler_american]

13. Likely he died

waiting for the MSM to report the truth about the Bush asministration.
The same fate could await all of us.

[Texasgal]

36. are you kidding me?

Give me a break! I am NO FAN of Bush, but DAMN...it's OBVIOUS that there was some breakdown in the "system". I am simply amazed at some of the responses here!

Am old man died...and all anyone can do is laugh and point fingers at the WRONG person. His CITY has MUCH to do with what happened to him!

[Bluebear]

28. boo

:)

[sam sarrha]

9. ....who paid his electric and water bills..??

[liberaldemocrat7]

10. I beleive they appeared on autopilot.

He may have had the companies take the monthly payments out of his bank account.

[rasputin1952]

11. One would think that a year's worth of mail would pile up and draw some

attention.

:(

[PCIntern]

14. See joke above...n/t

[kitty1]

29. He probably didn't get much mail since he was blind and alone n/t

[rambler_american]

12. Obviously not watching

Survivor.

[TheCowsCameHome]

15. Hope he had the extended warranty on the TV.

That's a lot of hours.

[bigwillq]

33. The man's dead.

Who the hell cares about an extended warranty.

[Texasgal]

37. Agreed..

I am AMAZED by some of the comments here.

Jeez.. I hope NO ONE must encounter such fate... this is a VERY sad story. People LAUGHING about it should be ASHAMED of themselves.

[Boogie]

16. What a beautiful commentary on America's consumer culture.

[malaise]

17. It's more a commentary on the state of

community, the notion of neighbourhood and the 'me only' culture.

[Boogie]

19. Yes, but you must understand this.

While seated in front of your television you are the ultimate consumer, you are consuming product information which will guide you into making more and more purchases. They don't call it programming for nothing. The fact that this guy died and nobody noticed and in fact his dead corpse was still receiving broadcast consumer signal is a fantastic commentary on America's priorities and as you stated our disconnect with our own communities and our fellow human beings. The community we now inhabit might as well be a grassy meadow next to the slaughterhouse for we are all merely grazing stock.

[malaise]

23. Good point n/t

[walldude]

35. Reminds me of Dawn Of The Dead

with all the zombies stumbling around the mall.. Welcome to DU!

[spanone]

20. Television has the same effect on me.

[DesertRat]

21. Here's the story from CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/17/death.television.reut/index.html

[Vidar]

24. Another hope for my afterlife.

[opihimoimoi]

25. Was it FOX NEWS????

[A Brand New World]

26. I'm sorry to put a damper on all the jokes but I think it's very

SAD that this poor old guy had no one in his life who cared enough about him to not even know he'd been dead for a whole year. What a lonely, pitiful life he must have lead.

[Jed Dilligan]

30. Why is being alone so pitiful?

Maybe he'd already lost all the people he loved and didn't feel like starting over. To me it would be sadder if he'd died logged in to "Love@aol" or yahoo! personals.

When did we evolve from a nation with an individualistic creed into a place where the greatest tragedy is being alone? I'd rather die alone than surrounded by ghouls and fools--the usual attendants of a deathwatch.

[bigwillq]

34. I agree with you.

It is sad. And so are the jokes.

[geomon666]

27. I guess truth is stranger than fiction.

70 year old blind man dies while watching tv and waits a year before being discovered by police investigating broken water pipes.

You can't think this stuff up.

[Canuckistanian]

31. What a sad cultural commentary

The president flies to DC, interrupting his vacation to sign the Terri Schiavo bill to save a single life.

Meanwhile, a year later, an old man dies and nobody notices for a whole year.

Will the president even acknowledge this death?

Spare me the response.

[InvisibleTouch]

32. But you must admit, not a bad way to go.

He was at home in his comfortable and familiar surroundings, engaging in a passtime that he presumably found enjoyable or at least restful, and quietly nodded off to sleep. Contrast that with the icy sterility, glaring lights, noise, chaos, and uproar of your typical intensive-care hospital ward, poked and prodded and hassled by strangers, and which would you choose? I know my answer.