Hanged Woman Mistaken for Halloween Prop
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween (search) decoration, authorities said.
The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.
The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham (search) and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.
"They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden (search), told Wilmington's The News Journal.
"It looked like something somebody would have rigged up," she said.