Bodies found by new owners of former Funeral Home

[HavelockV]

Bodies found by church that purchased a former funeral home

It's not uncommon for a business to be sold with a sizable chunk of inventory included in the sale price. But if you're buying a funeral home, that's probably not what you're looking for.

The Rev. Reginald Burrell and deacons from Northlake Church of Christ in Gary, Ind. purchased a building that had been the home of Serenity Gardens Funeral Home until it was shut down by the state in 2006. When they went to check out the building on Sunday, the found four unidentifiable bodies -- one in a body bag, one in a corrugated burial box, and two in caskets.

Gary police and state authorities are now investigating, and charges could be filed against the funeral home's former operator.

The church that bought the building got quite an unpleasant surprise but many veterans of tax foreclosure auctions -- which is how the building was acquired -- will tell you that nothing, absolutely nothing, should be considered shocking.

Incidentally, if you're ever selling a property that has a history of association with death and destruction, state law may require you to disclose that history to prospective buyers. "Stigmatized property" laws require that certain facts must be disclosed:

*If there was a murder or suicide in the home, you probably need to let buyers know.
*If the home was the site of some sort of criminal enterprise that may have left neighbors with a negative opinion of the property and its inhabitants, disclose it.
*If the departing occupants had debt problems that may lead to harassing phone calls from debt collectors even after they're gone, buyers should know about that.
*If the home was the site of a famous event -- i.e. used in a movie, celebrity lived there -- that attracts gawkers and reporters, a person considering moving there has a right to know about it.
*If the house is "haunted," many jurisdictions require that that be disclosed.

Those "stigmatized property" laws are quite interesting. Fending off debt-collectors' phone calls would not greatly perturb me so long as my finances were in order, but I admit some of the more lurid histories would probably influence my decision when searching for a house. Would you want to be informed if these incidents had occurred in a building you are considering as a potential home?

[Pastamancer]

They closed it down in 2006 and are just noticing the bodies now? I think someone would have inspected the funeral home when it was shut down. The bodies were out of sight but I still think someone should have noticed four bodies. A shut down funeral home would be a great place to hide murder victims though.

I'd sure like to know if the house I was about to buy was a drug den or something along the lines of that. Like you said, debt collectors wouldn't bother me as long as my finances were in order but I would really not like if certain customers showed up during the night expecting the past residents of the house.

The haunting part is interesting. Can you just say your house is haunted or do you have to prove it somehow? I'm sure some people would be willing to pay a little extra for a haunted house. Claiming your location is haunted would be a good strategy to try if you are having trouble selling it.

[HumanePain]

That is funny.

I would be interested in buying the used embalming equipment, obviously the church would not need them, so they should sell them on eBay.

I read somewhere a family bought a funeral home that had an embalming room in the basement, with white tiled walls, large sinks and refrigerators and tools and everything, and they restored it all. That would make one wicked lab.

Serve dinner down there. With a nice Chianti.

[Man In Room 5]

HP, you can have the embalming equipment but I've got dibs on any embalming fluid you may find. I have Deadhead friends willing to pay cash up front.

[Despanan]

It's good to know that people are legally obliged to inform me if the property I'm buying is Haunted.

That way I don't have to wait for bitches to start talking to me through TVs before I call in a midget to deal with it.

[Still Jack]

I would want some of the funeral home stiff errr stuff too. Maybe a hearse, or an infant coffin to keep my guitar in. : D

[HavelockV]

What I would dearly like to know is how this funeral home managed to avoid prying family members and friends of the deceased from inquiring as to the whereabouts of the cadavers. Perhaps, in a grim parallel to the infamous case of the Tri-State Crematory in Gerogia a few years back, the bodies that were supposed to have been cremated were simply left to rot and the families were given urns full of concrete dust.

[Pineapple_Juice]

That's what I was thinking as well-who's family members are these and why don't they know about it?

[Beneath the Shadows]

Dear lord, there's corpses everywhere!

[Pastamancer]

I didn't think of all the calls that would come through of people worrying if there loved ones are in their proper place or not.

The Tri-State Crematory article was interesting to skim through. I bet on a windy day the smell was quite awful coming off of the piles of bodies in the woods. I liked how when the delivery person complained about seeing bodies the sheriff responded with the fact that of course there should be bodies there.

[Pineapple_Juice]

Er, whose. Goddamnit.