A seemingly ordinary cleaning job in Japan took a dark turn when professional cleaners unearthed a decade-old mystery hidden beneath heaps of trash.

The incident took place after a Japanese man, who was living in the garbage-filled house, had tasked a group of professional cleaners with tidying up his neglected four-bedroom house in Kyoto.

The home had been left in a state of complete neglect and disarray. It was aptly dubbed a “garbage house,” which is a term in Japan for homes so cluttered and filthy they emit foul odors and harbor pests.

What began as a simple cleanup of a “garbage house” in Kyoto led to the shocking discovery of a decade-old mystery

Image credits: Szabolcs Toth / Pexels (Representational Image)

The homeowner decided to call the cleaning crew because he was preparing to move to a different location for a new job.

For a long while, the man had been living alone in the house without his family members. His mother had mysteriously vanished nearly a decade earlier, and his father had passed away a few years after her disappearance.

His sister, meanwhile, had moved out for work.

When the cleaning crew arrived, they were armed with eight workers and a plan to finish the job in seven hours. But just three hours into the assignment, they uncovered something disturbing beneath piles of old blankets and bedding.

Underneath heaps of trash, professional cleaners stumbled upon real skeletal remains that belonged to the homeowner’s long-missing mother

Cleaners hired by Japan man to tidy house find ‘missing’ mother’s remainshttps://t.co/kdGzKepQb0

— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) August 20, 2024

What initially seemed like a model skeleton quickly proved to be the real deal. The discovery was so unsettling that the workers immediately alerted the homeowner.

The man, grappling with the horrifying possibility that the remains were his mother’s, contacted the police.

Officials eventually confirmed that the skeletal remains indeed belonged to the homeowner’s long-missing parent.

It was revealed that she had a habit of disappearing for days on end and was known for her reclusive behavior, even at home. She barely spoke to anyone, and this could be why his mother’s death went unnoticed, the son said.

The foul stench permeating inside the house may have masked the smell of the body’s decomposition

Image credits: Boris Hamer / Pexels (Representational Image)

“It’s possible that my mother came back after a few days away and no one in the family noticed,” he was quoted saying by the South China Morning Post.

It also seemed like no one had detected any telltale signs of decomposition due to the overwhelming stench of garbage throughout the house.

“How can someone live in a house so filthy and smelly that they don’t even notice the smell of a decomposing body?” asked a stunned social media user. “Every time I read news like this, I’m stunned.”

Others also expressed shock, with one saying: “I remember people who push for marriage and having children often say if you don’t get married and have kids, no one will know if you die alone in your room. Well, this woman was married and had two kids, yet look what happened.”

The full cleanup of the house cost 500,000 yen, which is more than $3,400

Image credits: Mustafa Kalkan / Pexels (Representational Image)

Kouki Nishioka, the owner of the cleaning company involved in the incident, said his workers were also initially taken aback by the discovery, but they were used to what he called “lonely deaths.”

“Initially, the workers were shocked upon discovering the bones, but they managed to adapt more quickly than normal people,” he said,

“This is because we receive at least 10 orders a month to clean up after ‘lonely deaths,’” added the business owner.

The cleanup of the “garbage house” had wrapped up in February at a cost of 500,000 yen, which is more than $3,400.

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