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, shared 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, Nov. 24, that the 65-year-old woman’s brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated. He said they then 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,” he said. “I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”
According to Pairat, the brother said his sister had been bedridden for about two years, when her health deteriorated and she became unresponsive, appearing to stop breathing two days ago. The brother then placed her in a coffin and made the 500-kilometer journey to a hospital in Bangkok, to which the woman had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs.
The hospital refused to accept the brother’s offer as he didn’t have an official de@th certificate, Pairat said.
His temple offers a free cremation service, which is why the brother approached them on Sunday, Nov. 23, but was also refused due to the missing document.
The temple manager said that while he was explaining how to get a de@th certificate, they heard the knocking from inside the casket. They then assessed her and sent her to a nearby hospital. The temple would cover her medical expenses, according to Pairat.
65-year-old woman wakes up and knocks on coffin minutes before she was to be cremated in Thailand (video)
Watch video below.
VIDEO: 65-year-old woman woke up in her coffin just minutes before her cremation in Thailand
Relatives had brought her to a monastery for the cremation. During the final checks before the ceremony, it was discovered that she was still alive.
The elderly woman had simply… pic.twitter.com/SLEQTBTOBY
— The Elite Journal (@Delitejournal) November 24, 2025
