A woman in Thailand shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation.
Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video on its Facebook page, showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pick-up truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.
Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press on Monday that the 65-year-old woman’s brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated.
He said they heard a faint knock coming from the coffin.
Really loose recollection and paraphrasing;
Trace contaminations in alcohol could lead heavy drinkers to pass out in a coma-like state for potentially days at a time. Given the frequency, holding a wake to be absolutely sure it wasn’t one of these poisonings became a useful custom.
And then of course, changes and regulations mean the contaminations are weeded out of the process, but the ritual itself persists because of human habit.