The shocked undertaker fainted at the sight of the 92-year-old woman opening her coffin without any help

Mar 25, 2015 12:53 GMT  ·  By

Earlier this week, an undertaker working at a funeral home in Germany fainted and fell to the ground when witnessing a woman presumed dead opening her coffin unaided and starting talking to him.

When he finally regained consciousness, the undertaker alerted authorities. An ambulance was sent to the funeral home and both he and the woman received proper medical care.

Just hours later, however, the woman started feeling ill and passed away, this time for good. Needless to say, her family was left quite shaken up by the entire affair.

Mistakes happen, some are worse than others

It is understood that this bizarre incident played out in the city of Gelsenkirchen this past Monday. Early that day, the unidentified 92-year-old woman, who was living at a retirement home, was found lying in bed, motionless and unresponsive.

Her caretaker alerted a doctor who, after a quick examination, concluded that she had passed away. The 92-year-old's family was informed of her death and the body was sent to a local funeral home.

Here, the elderly woman was put in a coffin and an undertaker was entrusted with preparing the body for the memorial service that was to follow. The thing is that, as it was soon to be revealed, the 92-year-old had no business lying in a coffin.

Apparently, it was while the undertaker was making the final arrangements for her funeral that the woman opened first her eyes and then her coffin. “Where am I?” she asked, looking confused.

The sight of the elderly woman opening her coffin and asking questions about her whereabouts proved more than enough to cause the undertaker to lose consciousness. When he recovered, he contacted authorities and told them about the incident.

The woman died for good later that day

Despite being rushed to a local hospital, the 92-year-old woman started feeling ill and passed away later that day, sometime in the afternoon. Once again, her body was transported to a funeral home.

Police officers in the city of Gelsenkirchen in Germany say that, at least for now, it is unclear why the 92-year-old was mistakenly pronounced dead by the retirement home doctor who examined her. An investigation is ongoing.

Apparently, authorities and the woman's family aren't the only ones having trouble coming to terms with this odd occurrence. “This is terrible and inexplicable,” retirement home director Lother Burger said in a statement, as cited by Opposing Views.