A British mother says she was ‘traumatized’ when she found a rotting corpse during her morning run while on holiday in Menorca.
Emma Elliott, 39, from Hexham, Northumberland, vowed never to go to a beach again after the shocking discovery on May 17.
She was on a week’s break with her partner Lee Brogden, seven-year-old son Bobby-Lee and cousin Lee, 17.
She had decided to go for a jog along the beach of Arenal d’en Castell when, five minutes later, she saw a giant jellyfish stranded on the beach.
Upon closer inspection, she realized it wasn’t a sea creature, but a rotting corpse.
Police are investigating the body Emma found on the beach of the Spanish island of Menorca
Emma left on the beach for the tribute where they found the dead body, with her partner Lee and son Bobby-Lee
The family left a tribute at the spot where the body was found, with a cross, a letter and a flower
Stunned, Emma rushed back to her hotel room to tearfully tell machine operator Lee what she had found.
The couple went to the beach with a hotel employee and stuck a stake in the sand to prevent the body from floating out to sea before Lee called the police.
Since coming across the remains, Emma said she suffers daily panic attacks and nightmares and refuses to go alone on the beach again.
She said: ‘It happened on the fifth day of our vacation. Up to that point we had had a really nice time.
“We went to the beach, on the paddle boats and to the discos at night.”
Emma woke up early and wanted to use the hotel gym. But when she found out it was closed, she decided to go for a run around the beautiful marina, about five minutes away.
She said: ‘I was jogging half way to the marina and thought I would turn back as the sea was a bit choppy but I decided to keep going as it seemed safe to do so.
“Four steps later I looked to my right and there was a dead body on the beach.
“I had to look three times before I realized it was a body. At first I thought it was a jellyfish because it was so translucent.
‘[You could see] where he had struggled to catch his breath underwater. I could see his whole face and body.
“On the lower half of his legs I could see his bones and they were all pointing the other way.
“His arms were twisted the other 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 lower half was completely decomposed, but his upper half was not, so that I could still make out his face and his body.”
“For example, he still had his nipples. It’s stupid things that you look at when things like this happen.
She said she couldn’t see anyone else on the beach and sprinted back to the hotel, where she found her partner.
“I was so panicked and kept repeating “corpse, dead body.”
“I cried at first and couldn’t catch my breath when I first found him.”
Emma wrote a letter to the man who appeared to have drowned, left it on the beach as a tribute
Emma said after running back to her hotel room, she and Lee, along with a manager, went to the beach and then reported the discovery to police.
She said that the Spanish police took a statement.
“They promised to let me know who the man was and where he came from, but they still haven’t let me know, so I haven’t been able to rest my mind.
“I need to know this to close it. It’s not something you see every day and the man was seriously decomposing.”
She said she was “traumatized” by what she discovered on the beach and said it ruined the rest of her £1,650 family holiday.
Emma said: ‘After I found the body on vacation, I was down all the time and couldn’t think about it.
“I had really bad panic attacks and I seem to be getting more and more.
“Maybe that’s because the shock of what happened has worn off.
‘I still have panic attacks now and the doctors have had to prescribe me sleeping pills.
“I keep having nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night.
‘My partner also had to see the body and he can’t sleep well either.
“I’m not eating very well right now and could barely eat during the holidays because I just felt sick.
‘We booked the holiday through Jet2. They initially offered counseling and I had a trauma counseling session while on vacation.
“I’m just a little traumatized by what happened.”
Before flying home on May 19, Emma visited the beach again with her family to leave flowers and a note to personally close herself to the incident.
Despite returning to Arenal d’en Castell beach to pay her respects, she said she won’t be jogging or going to the beach alone any time soon.
Emma said, ‘After I found the body, I didn’t go 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 flowers out, so we went out to buy some and wrote a note to put on the beach.”
A spokesperson for Jet2 said: ‘We are sorry to hear about Ms. Elliot’s experience.
“We can confirm that our teams have been in regular contact with Ms. Elliot during her stay and have made every effort to support her, including by putting her in touch with our guidance service.”
The Guardia Civil – the local police – has been contacted for comment.