Waking Up at Your Own Funeral

One of life’s greatest mysteries is definitely what happens after we die. Some people believe in reincarnation, others believe we go to a heaven or another kind of afterlife, and still others believe we simply cease to exist. But there’s one thing most of us can agree on: once someone dies, they usually don’t come back.

I say usually because, well, I don’t want to upset all the fictional vampires, zombies, and ghosts out there. But sometimes, real people have actually come back from the dead without needing to drink blood or glow in the sunlight. Here are some truly incredible cases of individuals who were thought to be gone but miraculously returned to life.

The Brazilian Boy

This story is just heartbreaking. According to the Brazilian TV network SBT, a two-year-old boy named Kelvin Santos suffered complications from pneumonia and was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m. on a Friday.

His body was given to his grieving family, who held an open-casket wake for him later that night. Those attending the wake were stunned when the boy began to stir and move inside the casket. Right before his funeral was set to begin, Kelvin sat up and asked his dad for some water.

His father, Antonio Santos, said everyone started screaming. They thought a miracle had happened. But then, Kelvin simply lay back down as he was before. They couldn’t wake him up; he was dead again. Kelvin was rushed back to the hospital, pronounced dead a second time, and this time, he did not wake back up.

She Came Back to Life and Cooked a Meal

In China, 95-year-old Li Xiufeng was found on the floor of her home by a neighbor, Chen Qingwang, a couple of weeks after she had fallen and hit her head. The neighbor tried to wake her, but she had no reaction. She checked for breath and determined Li was gone. Since Li lived alone, Ms. Chen and her son took it upon themselves to prepare the funeral according to local Chinese customs, which meant Li was laid in a coffin and not buried for several days, giving family and friends time to pay their respects.

Luckily, that tradition was followed. The day before the burial, the coffin was found to be empty! Everyone started freaking out and went searching for her. Guess where they found her? In the kitchen, she was cooking herself a meal. Li reportedly told the villagers, “I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry and wanted to cook something to eat.” The only unfortunate thing is that, according to local customs, many of her possessions were burned because everyone thought she was dead.

A Waiter Wakes Up at His Own Funeral

A 28-year-old waiter named Hamdi Hafez al-Nubi from Egypt suffered a heart attack at work and was pronounced dead. According to Islamic tradition, his body was washed before he was to be buried. Right before he was going to be lowered into the ground, a doctor was there to sign his death certificate and realized that his body was still warm.

The doctor checked his vital signs and found that Hamdi was still alive. The doctor first revived him and then had to revive his mother because she fainted after she found out her son was alive. That’s definitely a good fight, though. There are bad things, and there are good things, and that’s a good one!

A Woman Has a Heart Attack at Her Own Funeral

This one has a weird kind of irony. A 49-year-old Russian woman named Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov was declared dead after she collapsed with chest pains. When she woke up again, she wasn’t in a hospital bed but lying in a coffin, surrounded by friends and family paying their respects. She, understandably, freaked out, screamed, passed out again, and was rushed to the hospital. Her husband said they saw her eyes flutter and immediately took her back, but she only lived for another 12 minutes in intensive care before she died again, this time for good.

A Scientific Explanation?

There’s a term for this phenomenon: The Lazarus Syndrome. It’s named after Lazarus, who in the Bible was raised from the dead by Jesus. This event has been documented at least 38 times since 1982, but researchers believe the number should be much higher.

There is no concrete answer for why this happens, but doctors often think it is mainly caused by the built-up pressure from performing CPR. Of course, that doesn’t explain the cases where CPR wasn’t performed. I really think we may just have to chalk this up to something we don’t, and possibly never will, understand.

These individuals are incredibly lucky, not just that they came back to life, but that they came back when they did. Can you imagine waking up during an autopsy? Or realizing you are buried alive? That truly sounds like a nightmare.

While we’re on the topic, a truck driver named Sal Vasquez in Powell County, Kentucky, took a picture of a car accident he was passing by. This picture seemed to capture an image of the soul leaving the body of the crash victim, who later died in the hospital. It looks like a grayish, shadowy figure shaped like a man, literally floating up from the crash site. I know someone died in that case, and I don’t want to make light of the matter, but it’s a truly interesting and compelling photo.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Why do you think sometimes people come back?