Tyler Zachary Browning, 16, died September 14 at
the Westfield home of his friend Kyle Williams. Browning had apparently
suggested the boys try “horsemanning,” a practice that involves taking a photograph
in which one subject hides his or her head and another subject exposes only his
or her head, resulting in the optical illusion that the first subject has been
beheaded. Williams, who was described by Westfield High School officials as
“never the brightest student,” was apparently unclear on the simulation aspect
of the practice after Browning’s explanation, and police found Browning’s
decapitated body in the Williams’ driveway near a distraught Williams who
reportedly only mumbled repeatedly, “This wasn’t nearly as cool as he said it
would be.”
