Dead body mistaken for Halloween decoration

A passerby discovered a dead body while initially considering it a Halloween decoration in the parking lot of a Maryland shop.

According to the United States (US) media report, the issue came to light after an unidentified person called emergency services- 911- after seeing what they believed to be the Halloween decoration in the parking lot of a closed bar called the Rustic Inn in White Marsh, outside of Baltimore.

Police responded and discovered the dead body, which had “trauma,” according to the report.

“Right now, the only information that we have is that the body has suffered some sort of trauma,” Jennifer Peach, of the Baltimore County Police Department, told the local media.

“We don’t have a lot of information at this point,” Peach said. “So we’re asking anyone who may have seen or heard anything in the area last night or overnight hours to give us a call and let us know.”

The identity of the victim was not immediately.

In a similar incident, police in Spain have arrested a man spotted dumping a human head by a recycling bin after discovering the body it belonged to in a nearby flat.

The alarm was raised after the suspect was seen carrying the head poking out of the bag before discarding it and running away.

Witnesses at first mistook the incident in the city of for a sick Halloween joke, with local reports saying the man had even shown the human head to some passers-by including children.

Police in the south-west city of Huelva near Spain’s border with Portugal were alerted around 3:00 pm yesterday after members of the public realized the head was real.

The arrest was made in a nearby flat just after 9:00 pm where officers also discovered the body of the dead man, described as a friend of the detainee who was aged around 50.