News in Brief - Dead Man Wakes

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January 27, 2008:

An 81 year old man from Chili woke up at his own wake. Discovered not breathing one morning, it was assumed he had passed on. Instead of calling a doctor, the family called a funeral home. They were in for surprise, though, as, when they gathered to pay their last respects, the old man sat up in his coffin and asked for a drink of water.

This is actually the reason for the tradition of holding a wake. A few hundred years ago, it was not uncommon for a person to be believed dead, yet not be quite gone. To keep from burying people alive, the idea of laying bodies out for viewing arose, just in case they might wake up. Hence the name: 'wake'.

A related tradition, now disused, involved tying a string between the big toe of a corpse about to be interred, and a bell on the surface. The idea was that if somebody woke up six feet under, they could ring the bell and summon aid. Hence the term, 'dead ringer'.

The practice fell into disuse following the widespread institution of embalming. There really isn't any waking up once your blood has been replaced with formaldehyde.