MI Teen Accidentally Hangs Himself at Haunted Hayride Attraction

It sounds like a scary urban legend but unfortunately, it really happened.

20 years ago this month a 14-year-old boy of Sparta Township in Kent County died after he accidentally hung himself while trying to scare people at a haunted hayride attraction.

Caleb Rebh was working at a horse farm where they featured haunted hayrides during the Halloween season. He was really excited about his job because he loved Halloween and loved going around scaring people.

He was jumping out and scaring people one night when he decided he wanted to kick things up a notch. So he switched with another worker who had been at a station with a skeleton hanging from a noose tied to a tree. Caleb decided to take the skeleton decoration down and place himself in the noose instead.

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According to reports, as he let go of the rope with the noose around his neck, the tree whipped back and pulled the rope tight, choking him as his feet remained on the ground.

Customers and coworkers saw him struggling to free himself but thought he was just acting. Because no one thought that he was truly struggling, they did nothing. When medical services finally arrived, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner ruled that asphyxiation was the cause of the boy's death.

It was a terrible tragedy that could have been avoided. If only one person had stepped in to help Caleb, he'd probably still be alive today.