We’re back with another edition of Urban Legend: Fact or Fiction. In this chapter, we are going to talk about the horrors of the modern-day office. Did a person really die at work only to be discovered days later?
The Story
Managers at a publishing firm are trying to figure out how no one noticed a deceased employee sitting at their desk for 5 DAYS. George Turklebaum, had been working as a proofreader at a multinational firm for 30 years. One Thursday morning he suffered a heart attack in the open-plan office that he shared with 23 other employees.
While his death was apparently quiet, and we hope it was painless, no one noticed until Monday morning. One of his co-workers made the unfortunate discovery when they realized his paycheck from Friday was still sitting next to him, and that he was seated in the exact same position.
The firm’s managers and employees describe the deceased worker as dedicated. “They were always the first one in each morning and the last to leave at night. So no one found it unusual that they were here so much.” They also say the late employee mostly kept to themself.
Variants
This one has a rather robust spin-off where someone notices their blind neighbor’s pipes have frozen. When they go to check on him they find his mummified remains sitting in front of a TV that is still on. Turns out he had passed years before, and no one noticed.
[Writer’s note; I swear I remember the blind man version of this tale cropping up first and going viral in the late Myspace/early Facebook era. However, all sources indicate that the deceased employee version is older.]
Themes – Blind Man Version
As the name suggests, in the blind man variant of this tale, the deceased is always a blind man who is discovered in front of a turned-on TV at least one year after their death. The discovery is made by either a neighbor or emergency services that have been summoned by them. The cause for alarm is almost always a burst, often frozen, pipe. However, there are some variants that use his mail piling up. The reason the pipe and TV are so important in this version is to show that the man still had his utilities turned on after all this time.
No one wants to think that it’s possible for someone to be so isolated from society that they could die with no one noticing. So we often push away these fears by saying “Work will notice if they don’t show up,” or “Bill collectors can find anyone.” But this scenario covers both of these things.
Now that we are in the age of autopay it’s easy to see how someone could go a year or more without having to interact with a person to pay bills. Making that element significantly less of an issue than when this tale originated in the early 2000s. But the issue still remains if the person isn’t working, how is there money to pay these bills? In this case, we assume that since the man is blind he is receiving benefits. Benefits he would only stop getting if he was reported dead.
Themes – Office Version
The case of our deceased office worker is significantly more straightforward. We spend most of our time, and probably experience the most stress, at work. So it stands to reason that the odds of dying in an office, possibly from something stress-related like a heart attack, are higher.
Not being discovered, however, is a much less believable element. And while we again hope that dying alone with no one noticing for days on end is impossible. Many office environments are incredibly isolating. It’s also easy to write off behavior that would be a red flag in a friend as quirky or slightly annoying behavior in a co-worker.
Things like not responding to an email; “well they are just busy” or “went on vacation without mentioning it.” If people aren’t actively stopping by someone’s desk on a semi-regular basis it’s easy to write off somebody being in the same position for a long period of time, as well. Since they probably work at a computer that they’re sitting at in the same position most of the day.
Putting all these factors together you could see how this is eerily possible.
Is it Real? – Office Version
Sadly, both versions of this urban legend have happened, several times over. However, the office worker variant started as a hoax published in the supermarket tabloid, Weekly World News, on December 5th, 2000. It was picked up by several major news outlets, like The Guardian, that presented it as real.
However, in 2004 fiction became fact when an unidentified tax professional working in Finland died at his desk and no one realized for 2 days. The 60-year-old passed away in his office while checking tax returns. Since he had his office door closed, “People thought he wanted to work in peace and no-one disturbed him,” according to a government official.
On Friday, August 16th of 2024, Denise Prudhomme passed away at her desk at a Wells Fargo office. The 60-year-old’s death was not discovered until 4 days later. Her cubicle was on the third floor of the building, away from high-traffic areas. The particular Arizona branch she worked at also had most employees working remotely, drastically cutting down physical office staff. But still… 4 days, 2 of them being during the work week… folks, check on your co-workers.
Prudhomme’s story soon went viral online. Often being held up as an example of how little companies care about the lives of their employees.
Is it Real? – Blind Man Version
In 2007, the second version became real when workers called the police to the home of Vincenzo ‘Vinnie’ Ricardo due to concern over a burst pipe caused by the freezing temperatures. Police found his mummified remains sitting on the couch with the TV still on. Ricardo was also blind and had passed away more than a year before he was discovered.
Ricardo’s house sat off a main road and was shaded by several trees which made it hard to see if there was activity going on inside. One neighbor did come by occasionally to help him pay bills but those visits stopped sometime in 2005. “I needed to go to work [one day] and he wanted me to stay,” April Cowden told Newsday (via Fox News).
“He hasn’t been heard from in over a year. That’s the part that baffles me,” said neighbor Deanna Devon. “Nobody sounded the alarm.” “We heard he had family somewhere nearby, but he was estranged from them,” she added. Given the time period the urban legend popped up, it’s clear that Ricardo’s death was the inspiration.
Pop Culture
Normally we use this space to discuss fictitious examples of these urban legends in pop culture. But, as you can see, these tales are all too real. Instead, we’ll be listing documentaries on the subject. These films cover how things like this can/do happen to countless people, and others focusing on specific cases.
- 2003 “A Certain Kind of Death” – Directed by Grover Babcock and Blue Hadaegh this documentary offers an unblinking and unsettling look at what happens to people who die with no next of kin. Looking at several cases where the deceased body was undiscovered for long periods of time.
- 2011 “Dreams of a Life” – written and directed by Carol Morley. In this film, Morley sets out to look at the life of Joyce Vincent. Vincent died in her bedsit in North London in 2003 and her body wasn’t discovered for three years. The story was widely covered with most reports focusing only on her tragic death and not the life that came before it.
- 2012 “Death Unexplained” Episode 1 – this BBC One series examines several deaths being handled by the coroner’s office for inquests in West London. Among these cases is a man identified as “Fred” who passed away in his apartments months before he was found. The episode looks at the investigation into his death as well as how his funeral is handled with no next of kin.
