SALEM, S.C. (WHNS/Gray News) - Police say a woman died after she fell down a well shaft under the floor of a 100-year-old home in South Carolina.
Deputies say 83-year-old Dorothy Louise Downey arrived at a house located on Park Avenue Sunday to visit and assist her daughter in moving.
As she was walking in the kitchen, Downey stepped onto the weakened floor and fell through into a well shaft.
Downey’s daughter crawled under the house to try and locate her mother, but she could not find her, deputies said.
According to Oconee County property records, the house was originally built in 1920. Deputies say the family knew the floor was rotten, but it’s unknown if the family knew about the well shaft.
The coroner ruled Downey’s death as accidental.
The Salem Fire Department and Oconee Emergency Services extricated the woman from the well at around 5:45 p.m.
The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate the incident.
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triumph110 on November 28th, 2023 at 14:46 UTC »
I live in an area that has a lot of mines and mine shafts. Someone bought a house and was renovating. Tore the floor out of a bedroom and someone had just built the house around a mineshaft. It went way down. Now in my area if you buy a house there is a Mine Disclosure Form the seller has to fill out.
Lemosopher on November 28th, 2023 at 13:34 UTC »
100 years ago a guy said "it'll be alright. Just build the house on top, no need to plug the hole."
Azmoten on November 28th, 2023 at 13:14 UTC »
Wow. Imagine just walking through your house like any other normal day then suddenly falling almost the equivalent of four stories to your death. Nightmare fuel.