The Turklebaum Syndrome

From Colfax, California comes a report of another real-life incident echoing the fictional story of George Turklebaum, a New York proofreader (supposedly) who lay dead at his workdesk for five days (supposedly) before coworkers discovered he'd kicked the bucket. The urban legend came to life for the first time last January, you may recall, when employees at a government office in Helsinki found out they'd been working alongside the corpse of a fellow tax auditor for two days without realizing it. In the latest incident, authorities were notified on Monday, March 31 that the body of 60-year-old A. Thomas Homer, editor of the Colfax Record, had been found crumpled on the floor of his office by a secretary — but only after at least two other people, including a janitor who cleaned the office the day before, had noticed him lying there without being alarmed. "The fact is, everyone thought he was asleep," Sheriff's Sgt. John Addoms told AP. Apparently, Homer was well known for keeping odd hours and working alone. An autopsy determined he had died of heart failure.