Incredible Tale: The Woman Who Lived to Tell Her Own Funeral

How would you react if you attended a funeral where the deceased suddenly greeted you with a smile? While this might sound far-fetched, it indeed happened some time ago. Recently, this story has come back into the limelight due to new discussions surrounding it.

According to NEWS18, Essie Dunbar was just 30 when she was declared dead following an epileptic seizure. She was pronounced dead and scheduled for a funeral the next morning to allow her sister, who lived far away, to attend. As expected, her sister was delayed and arrived only after the burial. She requested to see Essie despite the burial, and unlike practices in Israel, at that time in the U.S., it was still permissible to reopen graves even in non-emergency situations.

What happened next was both unusual and frightening: The grave diggers lifted the coffin, and upon opening it, were astonished to find Essie sitting up and smiling. The shock caused the diggers to stumble backward into the grave, one even breaking ribs as his colleagues fell on him.

Essie's sister could hardly believe her eyes and fled, with other funeral attendees following suit. Essie emerged from the grave herself.

Though this story is being reported again, it happened over a century ago in the town of Elko, South Carolina, back in 1915. The article didn't clarify why she was mistakenly pronounced dead, but it did mention Essie became quite a local celebrity afterward, living another 47 years until she passed away for good in 1955. Initially, there were fears she might pull a similar stunt, but no such event occurred. "A final farewell was indeed held for the woman from South Carolina," read newspaper headlines the following day.