Back From the Dead

Man appears alive at own funeral
By BRADLEY BROOKS - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — 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 Sunday night 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 honor the dead.

What family members didn’t 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 told the O Globo newspaper. He did not get word about his own funeral until it was already happening Monday morning.

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 as he wasn’t authorized to discuss the case. “People are afraid to look for very long when they identify bodies, and I think that is what happened in this case.”

This has to be the coolest feeling in the world to get to go to your own funeral. If I was this guy I wouldn't have told my family even if I knew they thought I was alive. It would ruin the surprise of showing up at your own funeral. That Jameson's commercial is even better where John Jameson shows up at his funeral with that keg of whiskey.