You’d think by the time you’re lying in a coffin in the back of a ute, your day couldn’t get much worse. But for one 65-year-old Thai woman – and the poor souls at the Buddhist temple where she was delivered – things were only just getting started.
In a story that sounds like it’s been ripped straight from a horror film, the woman was brought to Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a temple outside Bangkok, by her brother, who believed she had died two days earlier. She’d been bedridden for years and eventually became unresponsive, leading her distraught brother to assume she had passed. As you do, he gently placed her in a white coffin, loaded her into the back of his pickup, and made a 500-kilometre trek to Bangkok.
She had even expressed a desire to donate her organs – an altruistic wish the hospital couldn’t oblige because, inconveniently, her brother didn’t have a death certificate. That’s bureaucracy for you.
So off he went to the temple, which offers free cremation services. But again – no certificate, no fire. While temple staff were kindly explaining the paperwork required to send someone off respectfully, they heard something you never want to hear when standing beside a coffin.
Knock, knock.
And it wasn’t a monk making a joke.
“I was a bit surprised,” temple manager Pairat Soodthoop said, in what may be the understatement of the century. They opened the coffin and found the woman moving – eyes fluttering, hands shifting – very much not cremation-ready.
She’s now in hospital, alive, recovering, and probably very confused.
The temple has offered to cover her medical expenses. And you have to admit – that’s a pretty decent customer-service policy.
One of humanity’s oldest fears
Now, let’s get something straight: being buried – or cremated – alive is one of the oldest and most primal fears we humans have.
Before modern medicine, it happened enough to keep 19th-century coffin makers in business designing “safety coffins” complete with bells, flags, and breathing tubes for anyone who woke up after being declared dead. (Talk about a rude awakening.)
And believe it or not, incidents still happen today.
Other real cases of near burial or cremation
Ecuador, 2023 – Bella Montoya
A 76-year-old woman declared dead after a stroke shocked her family when she started knocking from inside her coffin during her wake. She lived another week in hospital before passing away officially – this time confirmed.
India, 2021 – Man Wakes Up Minutes Before Cremation
A 45-year-old man in Karnataka was placed on a funeral pyre after doctors said he had died from a severe fever. As the family prepared for rites, he suddenly began breathing. He was rushed back to hospital – alive.
USA, 2014 – Woman Declared Dead Wakes Up in Body Bag
In Mississippi, a 78-year-old woman woke up in a funeral home bag hours after being pronounced dead. The mortician nearly fainted. She survived another two weeks.
Clearly, mistakes, while rare, do happen. And they stick with us because they remind us how fragile – and occasionally how bizarre – life can be.
The Lesson? Check Before You Chuck
Thailand’s health authorities are now reviewing the case, but the takeaway for the rest of us is simple:
You’re not dead until someone with an actual certificate says you are.
And maybe – just maybe – give Uncle Bob a second check before anyone orders flowers.
Because the only thing worse than shuffling off this mortal coil … is waking up halfway through the paperwork.
and AAP
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