A 65-year-old woman left temple staff in shock when she began moving inside her coffin just before her scheduled cremation at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple near Bangkok.
A video shared by the temple on Facebook shows the woman, dressed in white, subtly moving her arms and head in the back of a pickup truck, leaving onlookers stunned.
Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press that the woman’s brother had driven her from Phitsanulok province for cremation. He said temple staff heard a faint knock coming from the coffin.
“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled. I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time,” Pairat said.
The woman had been bedridden for two years, and her condition reportedly worsened two days ago, leaving her seemingly unresponsive and appearing to have stopped breathing. Her brother placed her in a coffin and transported her 500 kilometers to a Bangkok hospital, intending to fulfill her wish to donate her organs. However, the hospital refused the offer because he lacked an official death certificate.
Seeking assistance, the brother approached the temple, which offers free cremation services, but the temple also required a death certificate. It was during discussions about obtaining the document that staff heard the knocking from inside the coffin.
The woman was promptly taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, and the temple has committed to cover her medical expenses, according to Pairat.