Walter woke up in a body bag/ Pic: (Youtube)
A Mississippi family thought they were preparing to say goodbye to a loved one. Instead, they were called in the middle of the night with words they never expected to hear: he was still alive. Walter Williams, a 78-year-old farmer and grandfather of 15, had been declared dead after being taken to hospice care with congestive heart failure. Nurses were unable to find a pulse at around 9pm, and he was pronounced dead later that evening. What followed would become one of the most unsettling medical errors in recent memory.
Pronounced dead and sent to a funeral home
After his death was confirmed, Williams’ body was transferred to Porter and Sons Funeral Home in Lexington, Mississippi. He was placed inside a body bag and moved into the embalming room, where staff began preparing him for embalming, a process that involves invasive procedures and the use of chemicals to preserve the body. At that point, no one believed there was any possibility Williams was still alive.The moment everything changed came inside the funeral home. According to Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard, staff noticed something deeply alarming just before embalming was due to begin. Speaking to CNN, Howard said: “We got him into the embalming room, and we noticed his legs beginning to move, like kicking. He also began to do a little breathing.” Williams was immediately removed from the body bag and rushed back to hospital. Howard later added: “Every case I do is a learning experience.” He said the incident reinforced one lesson above all: that “miracles can happen”.
Family told the unthinkable
Williams’ nephew, Eddie Hester, had been present earlier that night and watched as his uncle was prepared for removal. Recalling the moment later, he said, “I stood there and watched them put him in a body bag and zip it up. That was at 10:30pm, and at 2:30am, my cousin called me and said ‘Not yet’ and I said ‘what do you mean not yet’. He said, ‘Daddy still here’.”The shock rippled through the family. Howard later told the BBC that they were left “just in a state of shock” after learning Williams was still alive.Williams briefly returned home following the incident, and relatives noticed a difference almost immediately. His daughter, Martha Lewis, described the moment her father spoke again. “Seemed like he had more life in him again. And then we had just stopped talking, he told us ‘what did you all stop talking for?’ Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus. It was not my daddy’s time.”Reflecting on those unexpected days, she added, “I don’t know how much longer he’s going to grace us and bless us with his presence, but hallelujah, we thank him right now.”For Howard, who had worked as a coroner for more than 20 years, the episode remained without precedent. He said he had never encountered anything like it.
A possible explanation, and a final goodbye
Later reporting pointed to a possible explanation involving Williams’ pacemaker. Coroner Dexter Howard said he believed the device may have briefly stopped and then restarted, a theory shared by funeral director Byron Porter, who was present at the funeral home when the discovery was made. As staff prepared to move Williams to the embalming table, Porter told local station WLBT, “We were getting ready transport him to the embalming table when we noticed he was moving, and had activities.”Williams survived for just over two weeks after the incident. On 13 March 2014, he was pronounced dead again following further heart complications. This time, there was no reversal. His nephew Eddie Hester confirmed the news to local station 16 WAPT, saying simply: “I think he’s gone this time.”
Reflecting on the days Williams was given back to them, Hester added, “It was a two-week miracle for me and I enjoyed every minute of it, and my family did too.” When the same coroner and funeral home director arrived to confirm his death a second time, Hester recalled the family’s reaction with a trace of disbelief and dark humour: “The same coroner and the same funeral home director came this time, and when they got there, I said, ‘I thought y’all were going to send somebody else,’ and we laughed about it. Everybody laughed.” Go to Source
