Cremation of Woman Stopped After Knocks Are Heard from Coffin, Say Temple Staff
In a surprising turn of events, a woman believed to be dead was found alive just moments before her cremation at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand.
Pairat Soodthoop, the general manager of Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple, was startled when he heard faint knocks coming from the coffin. He decided to open it and saw the 65-year-old woman slightly opening her eyes and tapping on the side. “She must have been knocking for quite some time,” he remarked.
The woman’s brother had been informed by local officials that his sister had died, but he did not have a death certificate. While Mr. Soodthoop was explaining how to obtain one, the staff heard the knocking.
Once it was confirmed she was alive, the temple’s abbot insisted she be taken to a hospital. A doctor later diagnosed her with severe hypoglycemia, a condition where blood sugar levels drop dangerously low. The doctor ruled out other serious issues like respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.
According to her brother, the woman had been bedridden for two years. On Saturday, as her health worsened, the family believed she had stopped breathing. They had traveled nearly 500 kilometers (about 311 miles) from Phitsanulok for the cremation ceremony. -BBC
