Four adolescent boys discovered the one hundred year old corpse of Martha Price after breaking into the Captain Reginald Price House as a Halloween “prank,” police said. The boys found the corpse encased in one of the house’s walls. The boys also found Martha Price’s missing brooch, which has become a thing of legend to the Mystic Island residents.
Police Chief Andrew Asner said that the four boys will not be charged with breaking and entering. “The shock of what they stumbled upon should be enough punishment for their behavior,” Asner said. “The boys were pretty shaken up, thinking that the corpse had actually burst from the wall on its own.” The four boys claim that the corpse exploded from the wall, although police say the boys most likely broke through the wall themselves. “We have no idea how the kids found the exact spot where the corpse was hidden,” Officer Gerald Orvac said. Fire Chief Bruce Scope said that it is possible that gases from the decaying body built up over the past hundred years and suddenly exploded.
The story of Captain Reginald Price and his young bride Martha is well known among island residents. Legend has it that upon discovering his wife’s infidelity, Captain Price encased his still-living wife in one of his house’s walls and hid her cameo brooch. The four boys said they broke into the house as part of a bet to find the brooch. Despite stories that the captain kept the brooch after his wife’s murder, only to hide it in the house later, the brooch was found in the corpse’s hand, indicating that it was buried with Martha Price. One of the boys was treated at Mystic Mercy Hospital for shock and minor scrapes and bruises.