Back from the dead! Thai woman wakes up knocking inside her coffin on way to cremation

Temple workers in Thailand got the fright of their lives when a woman they believed was dead started moving inside her coffin. The staff at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi just outside Bangkok, were preparing for the cremation of an unnamed woman when the supposedly deceased person came back from the dead. Here's what happened.

Back from the dead

According to a SCMP report citing Pairat Soodthoop, the general and financial affairs manager of Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, the temple staff had prepared for a routine cremation when the shocking incident happened. A video on the temple's Facebook page shows a 65-year-old woman who looked pale and still in a plain white coffin. Her family had already said their goodbyes. Nothing seemed unusual. Then the coffin moved.

Soodthoop, said the first sign was a soft knock from inside the box. At first, he thought he had imagined it. But then it came again. He told the family to open the coffin, just to be sure. “I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he recalled. “I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.” The moment the lid was lifted, it became clear that she had been trying to get attention for a while, trapped in the darkness and silence.

How did the family assume she was dead?

Her brother, who had driven more than 500 kilometres from Phitsanulok province, explained that she had been bedridden for two years. Her condition had recently worsened until she stopped responding altogether. After she appeared to stop breathing for two days, the family assumed the worst.

He had planned to take her body to a hospital in Bangkok, because she once said she wanted to donate her organs. But without a death certificate, the hospital refused to accept her. The brother then turned to the temple, which offers free cremations for those who cannot afford them. Again, he was told that the proper paperwork was needed.

While Pairat was explaining the process of getting an official confirmation of death, the knock that changed everything sounded from inside the coffin. Temple staff rushed the woman to a nearby hospital. The abbot later said the temple would cover her medical expenses.