A Brazilian bricklayer reportedly killed in a car crash shocked his mourning family by showing up alive at his funeral.
Relatives of Ademir Jorge Goncalves, 59, had identified him as the victim of a car crash in Parana state in southern Brazil, police said.
As is customary in Brazil, the funeral was held the following day, which happened to be the holiday of Finados, when Brazilians visit cemeteries to honour the dead.
What family members did not know was that Goncalves had spent the night at a truck stop talking with friends over drinks of a sugarcane liquor known as cachaca, his niece Rosa Sampaio said. He did not get word about his own funeral until it was already happening.
A police spokesman in the town of Santo Antonio da Platina said Goncalves rushed to the funeral to let family members know he was not dead.
"The corpse was badly disfigured, but dressed in similar clothing," said the police spokesman, who talked on condition of anonymity. "People are afraid to look for very long when they identify bodies, and I think that is what happened in this case."
Ms Sampaio said some family members were not sure the body was Goncalves. "My two uncles and I had doubts about the identification," she told O Globo newspaper. "But an aunt and four of his friends identified the body, so what were we to do? We went ahead with the funeral."
The police spokesman confirmed there were doubts: "His mom looked at the body in the casket and thought something was strange. She looked and looked and couldn't believe it was her son. Before long, the walking dead appeared at the funeral. It was a relief."
The body was correctly identified later, the police spokesman said, and has already been buried in another state. He declined to release the actual victim's name.
Steptoe and son anyone? ;)
I'd have thought most people appear at their own funerals!
A grave mistake alright.
Quote from: Puckoon on November 05, 2009, 02:52:29 PM
Quote from: Rudigar on November 05, 2009, 02:48:12 PM
A grave mistake alright.
[/quote
Bury your head.
Did they get the money back on the coffin? What? Someone had to casket.
Late for his own funeral!
LAds, ye are flogging this to death.
Quote from: muppet on November 05, 2009, 04:13:31 PM
LAds, ye are flogging this to death.
We work hard, we've urned the right to have a laugh.
I would say manys as man wish he was dead after coming back from a rip of drink
Quote from: Rudigar on November 05, 2009, 04:15:56 PM
Quote from: muppet on November 05, 2009, 04:13:31 PM
LAds, ye are flogging this to death.
We work hard, we've urned the right to have a laugh.
Dead right, on the graveyard shift now
I now have a new ambition.
Quote from: Hardy on November 05, 2009, 07:02:27 PM
I now have a new ambition.
It probably time to let go the lifting Sam dream.
Well ... get a motion passed at Congress to allow specialist freetakers like in American football ... then lose a few pounds and practice, practice, practice.
No, the dream is not over yet.
Quote from: Rudigar on November 05, 2009, 04:15:56 PM
Quote from: muppet on November 05, 2009, 04:13:31 PM
LAds, ye are flogging this to death.
We work hard, we've urned the right to have a laugh.
Remember man that thou art dust(y) looking, where the hell have you been?
Thought this was gonna be another Finnegans wake story