A British mother says she was left ‘traumatised’ when she found a rotting corpse during her morning run while holidaying on Menorca.
Emma Elliott, 39, from Hexham, Northumberland, vowed never to go to a beach again after the shock discovery on May 17.
She was on a week-long break with her partner, Lee Brogden, seven-year-old son, Bobby-Lee, and nephew, Lee, 17.
She had decided to go for a jog along the Arenal d’en Castell beach when, five minutes in, she spotted what she thought was a giant jellyfish stranded on the shore.
On closer inspection the full-time mother realised it was not a sea creature but a rotting corpse.
Police investigate the body Emma found on the beach, on the Spanish island of Menorca
Emma (right) is pictured on the beach , in front of the tribute left at the spot where they found the dead body, with her partner, Lee, and son, Bobby-Lee Brogden
The family left a tribute on the spot where the body was found, with a cross, a letter and flower
Stunned, Emma raced back to her hotel room to tearfully tell machine operator partner Lee what she’d found.
The couple, along with a hotel staff member, went to the beach and stuck a pole in the sand to stop the body drifting out to sea before Lee called the cops.
Since stumbling across the remains, Emma said she’s been suffering daily panic attacks and nightmares and refuses to go on a beach on her own again.
She said: ‘It happened on the fifth day of our holiday. Up to that point we had been having a really nice time.
‘We had been going to the beach, going on the pedalos and the discos at night time.
Waking up early, Emma wanted to use the hotel’s gym. But finding it was shut, she decided to take a run along the beautiful marina, about five minutes away.
She said: ‘I had jogged halfway along the marina and thought I would turn back because the sea was a bit choppy, but I decided to continue as it looked safe to do so.
‘Four steps later, I looked to my right and there was a dead body lying on the beach.
‘I had to look about three times before I realised it was a body. I thought it was a jellyfish at first because he was so translucent.
‘[You could see] where he had been struggling to catch his breath underwater. I could see all his face and his body.
‘At the bottom half of his legs, I could see his bones and they were all poking the opposite way.
‘His arms were also turned the opposite way too but his full face was there and I can’t get the image out of my head. It all seemed to happen in slow motion.’
She added that ‘his bottom half was all decomposed but his top half wasn’t so I could still make out his face and his body.
‘He still had his nipples for example. It’s stupid things you look at like that when things like this happen.
She said she could not see anybody else on the beach and sprinted back to the hotel, where she found her partner.
‘I was so panicked and kept repeating ‘dead body, dead body’.
‘I was crying from the shock at first and I couldn’t catch my breath when I first found him.’
Emma wrote the man who appeared to have drowned a letter, left as a tribute on the beach
Emma said after racing back to her hotel room, she and Lee, along with a manager went to the beach and then reported the discovery to the police.
She said the Spanish police took a statement.
‘They promised to let me know who the man was and where he was from, they still haven’t let me know so I haven’t been able to put my mind to rest.
‘I need to know this to get closure. It’s not something you see every day and the man was seriously decomposing.’
She said has been left ‘traumatised’ by what she discovered on the beach and said it ruined the rest of her £1,650 family holiday.
Emma said: ‘After finding the body on holiday, I was down all the time and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
‘I was having really bad panic attacks and I seem to be having more and more.
‘Maybe this is because the shock of what happened has worn off.
‘I’m still having panic attacks now and the doctors have had to prescribe me sleeping pills.
‘I keep having nightmares and I’m waking up in the middle of the night.
‘My partner also had to see the dead body and he can’t sleep properly either.
‘I’m not eating very well at the moment and I could hardly eat on holiday as I just felt sick.
‘We booked the holiday through Jet2. They offered counselling initially and I had one session of trauma counselling while on holiday.
‘I’m just a bit traumatised by what went on.’
Before flying home on May 19th, Emma revisited the beach with her family to leave flowers and a note to give herself personal closure on the incident.
Despite returning to Arenal d’en Castell beach to pay her respects, she said she won’t be jogging or going to a beach alone any time soon.
Emma said: ‘After finding the dead body I didn’t return to the beach for the rest of the holiday.
‘The only time I went back was on the last day with Lee and my son.
‘No one had put any flowers down so we went out and bought some and we wrote a little note to put down on the beach.
A spokesperson for Jet2 said: ‘We are sorry to hear of Ms Elliot’s experience.
‘We can confirm that our teams were in regular contact with Ms Elliot throughout her stay and did all they could to support her, including putting her in touch with our counselling support service.’
The Guardia Civil – local police – have been contacted for comment.
