On the list of Airbnb horror stories, which is a growing genre of nightmare non-fiction, “finding dead body in the backyard” has to be high. A group of friends who rented an Airbnb in Palaiseau, France, discovered exactly that on their rented property near some woods, according to AFP. Police suspect foul play.
To really add a flair of “WTF” to this grisly tale, the body was already in an advanced state of decomposition. The body is a woman wearing a dress with no shoes, and a “ring with a large stone” on her finger.
Here’s a picture of the lovely-yet-macabre listing and the woods in question:
Un cadavre d’une femme retrouvé dans sa maison louée en Essonne : «Je suis éberlué» https://t.co/IyJDFf9PD0 pic.twitter.com/rfGP5nx7ne
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) February 29, 2016
In an interview with Le Parisien (Google Translate), the owner mentions that a half-built home near his property tends to draw a strange crowd, concluding with “there are bottles,” I guess meaning that drunk idiots hang around there a lot. The owners also mention that they wouldn’t have known about the body for about a month since they have been travelling.
Although this is arguably less horrific than other tragic stories of gruesome accidental deaths of Airbnb renters, it’s a serious issue that this fast-growing share economy is widely under-regulated compared to hotels and more traditional bed and breakfasts.
Lack of regulation alone, however, usually only accounts for shoddy plumbing or an unmentioned annoying neighbour — it’s hard to argue that its responsible for a seemingly random dead body in the backyard.