House of 1000 1 Corpses

I've been reading a book about England and Germany in the years leading up to World War I, and it talks about how, after Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert died, she had his clothes laid out every day as if he was still alive and kept a plaster cast of his hand next to her bed so that she could hold it during the night.

That all sounds perfectly sane compared to this:

A woman in Mexico City kept the body of her dead husband by her bedside for a year until neighbors, disturbed by the smell, called the police.

It took them a whole year to notice the smell?

So, anyway, we've got a putrefied corpse stinking up the joint and the crazy lady who couldn't let go. Could things possibly get any worse than that? Why, of course they could.

Police broke down Mercedes Velarde's door on Tuesday and found the putrefied body of her husband Edmundo on the floor of her bedroom.

Authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating Velarde's claim her husband died of natural causes. They believe the man, in his early 60s, had mental problems that may have been linked to his death.

Local media reported that Velarde's son regularly helped remove worms infesting his father's body. [my emphasis]

Gah! You see, that's why you don't keep decomposing corpses inside the house. At least not without refrigeration, anyway.

The article goes on to say that the police believe that another of the couple's adult children also knew she was keeping the corpse, and that the surviving family members are being examined by a psychiatrist. That sounds like a prudent move, if you asked me.