WATERVILLE, Maine – 

A haunted house in a small Maine town was shut down by police this past weekend after it was discovered that the proprietors were using real dead bodies as part of their displays.

Maureen and Carl Taylor have been running the haunted house for over 10 years, but this year guests say something “just wasn’t right.”

“I went through, and it smelled weird, which I thought was just those fog machines or something; they smell pretty bad sometimes,” said patron Mary Clarke. “But the further you went in, the worse it got, and then there were no fog machines. I walked right past what I thought was a prop body, but when I looked really closely, there were maggots coming out of the eye sockets. I nearly screamed!”

The Taylors say that they have “no idea” how the dead bodies got inside, as they have been using the same store-bought props for the last decade. Police are questioning the Taylors, as well as other locals who visited the house. They say there were no reported break-ins at the morgue, and the local cemetery does not have any freshly dug-up sites.

“It’s a real mystery, but these bodies just appeared out of nowhere,” said Police Chief Christopher Davis. “It’s really just disturbing. Last I checked, dead guys do not get up and walk away by themselves.”

Police say that the Taylors are not suspects in any sort of cadaver tampering, but that they will be charged with criminal neglect, among other charges, for letting unknowing people that close to processed dead bodies.