Witnesses have described how they watched in horror as a man plunged to his death on a busy Fife street.
The man, described as being in his mid-30s, had clambered from a second-storey window in Cupar before grabbing Christmas lights on a nearby lamppost.
He began to haul his way along the lights before he lost his grip and plummeted to the pavement below.
Shocked onlookers described seeing a second person emerging from the window in an apparent bid to persuade the man to return to the flat just seconds before he fell.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene on the busy Crossgate shortly before 9am on Wednesday. The man, who has not been named, was put in the back of an ambulance bound for Ninewells in Dundee but could not be saved.
A probe into the incident is now under way, although there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances.
One member of the public said the man narrowly missed a female shopper as he fell.
”We actually saw the guy coming out of the window,” one eyewitness from a nearby shop told The Courier. ”He managed to climb on to the rope holding the Christmas lights and started using his hands to pull himself along them.
”It was pretty bizarre I’ve no idea what he was trying to do.”
They added: ”Somebody else then came out of the same window and seemed to be asking him to come back in. I think he was going to try and pull him back but the guy just fell and crumpled on the pavement.”
A member of staff at the nearby Spoiled hairdresser’s said several employees witnessed the incident.
He said: ”We called for an ambulance as soon as it happened.”
He added: ”The police arrived really quickly after the man fell and then an ambulance turned up a short time later.
”He was then taken away in the back of the ambulance. The whole thing was over really quickly.”
A makeshift cover made up of blankets and pillows was hastily thrown over the area of pavement where the man hit the ground.
The Courier understands the deceased may have had some mental health issues and lived a somewhat chaotic lifestyle.
News of the incident quickly spread throughout the town.
”Apparently the guy was trying to climb across the street using the Christmas lights which are attached to the lampposts,” said one man who came across the scene just moments after the incident.
”Everyone was just staring and could not quite believe what had happened it is a heck of a distance to fall on to concrete.
”It is a real shocker and certainly not the kind of thing you expect to come across on your way to work in the morning.”
He added: ”The window where the guy had come from was still open and there was just a pile of cushions and blankets covering the spot where he fell.”
Police remained on the scene for hours as an investigation was carried out.
It is understood the police have ruled out suspicious circumstances, nor do they believe the death resulted from a prank which went tragically wrong.
A spokesman for Fife Constabulary appealed for witnesses to phone 0845 6005702 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.