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If I had to guess what it’s like to be a mortician, I’d imagine it involves quite a bit of dissociating. Being surrounded by inevitability and grief all day, every day has to be daunting for the mind and the soul, and I certainly don’t envy them.

So imagine our surprise when a user asked the internet if there were any moments funeral directors simply couldn’t forget, and the replies were filled with knee-slapping and shocking stories.

Read more: Reddit

#1

Two funeral directors in black suits having a friendly conversation outdoors near a pond with greenery in the background Not a funeral director, but a preacher's kid.

Dad used to do "walk-on" funerals - services where the deceased didn't belong to a church, so the funeral home would just hire him to fill in. He'd talk to whoever was available and make a short sermon/eulogy out of the information they gave him. There are . . . a LOT of stories from this. I'll just do one:

It's a private viewing, funeral is tomorrow. Dad sits next to Widow, who is sitting by casket.

Dad: "I'm so sorry for your loss. Was he a good husband?"

Widow: "No."

Dad: ". . . oh. Was he a good father?"

Widow: "No."

[long pause]

Dad: "Did he . . . was he important to his community?"

Widow: "No."

[longer pause]

Dad: "I'm sorry, but what exactly do you want me to do tomorrow for his service?"

Widow: "Bury him.".

LifeGivesMeMelons , freepik Report

Penny Fan
Community Member
11 minutes ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mu dad was on the roster at the local crem. He was asked to do a funeral once I our little market town. He turns up and its like a scene out of the Godfather. Men in long black coats and shades, very tense atmosphere. He get through it and gets some big money tucked into his hand via handshakes. He asks the crematorium staff what was going on, it turns out it was a load of actual gangsters from a city 60 miles away (the one where the Beatles came from) and this was the most neutral territory that could be found for all parties concerned...

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    #2

    Animated scene of a young lion cub held up by a dark-furred animal, capturing a memorable moment from the film. Another family of the deceased. My grandmother's service was going normally, hearing about her life and so on, and to end it the celebrant said she was going to read a poem she thought my grandmother would have liked. Awesome, everyone's interested.

    She begins, in a very dramatic voice with intense emotion and plenty of pauses to let it really sink in:

    *From the day we arrive... on this planet.*

    *And blinking... step into... the sun*

    At this point I realised what was happening. So did my brother, on one side of me, and my partner, on the other side. My partner squeezes my hand. My brother makes a kind of choking noise. The rest of the family are oblivious. The celebrant continues:

    *There's more to see... than can ever... be seen.*

    *More to do than can ever..... be done*

    My brother's foot starts twitching violently, my partner's kind of frozen, I'm staring at my lap and desperately trying to stay composed because this woman is doing *a dramatic reading of a song from The Lion King at my grandmother's funeral*.

    She read through the whole song. Including the chorus. Including, at the very end:

    *It's the circle.... the circle........OF LIFE.*

    The rest of the family are either silent or quietly sobbing, touched by the emotional "poem". My partner is staring into space, presumably trying to dissociate. My brother's foot is tapping so fast he might be having a seizure. I'm holding my breath so I don't start howling with laughter.

    We made it into the car on the way to bury her before my partner and I absolutely lost it.

    After the burial was done we got in the car to go home, and by then I was pretty sad again. My partner turned to me and very grandly began: "Under... the sea. Under...... the SEA. Darling, it's better... down where it's wetter....... take it..... from me."

    I knew she was a keeper before then but my god, no one could have said anything better at that moment. We spent the entire car ride home dramatically declaiming Disney songs.

    My grandmother would have loved it. She would have been laughing until she cried. It was so terrible that it became wonderful. Thanks for the last amazing memory, Nana.

    thirdonebetween , DisneyMusicVEVO Report

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    #3

    Funeral directors carrying a wooden coffin outdoors with flowers, recalling wild things they still remember. 300 pound guy in casket. 6 of us carried him up steep granite steps into the church. Casket got turned around in church. Leaving, the body slid to the front of the casket as we went down the steps and took all six of us down. Broken leg for me and one other guy. Third guy with a serious back injury. Two ambulances.

    GalwayBoy603 , pressmaster Report

    You probably need a special kind of sensitivity to be a mortician. After all, as they’re often on the front lines of grief and loss, funeral directors are at high risk of developing mental issues. And yet, some of these stories feel like they’ve been pulled straight out of a comedy book, filled with morbidly hilarious timing that no one, not even a full-time mortician, could hear without cracking a smile.

    After all, it’s not every day that we see “Circle of Life,” the grand anthem from The Lion King, cited and quoted as a poem during a wake. Or that a 19-year-old granddaughter would quite literally claim that funeral directors had removed her grandfather's legs, who seemed shorter in the casket. Stranger things have happened, but that’s definitely not common practice (in fact, it’s very much illegal).

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    #4

    Person holding a makeup brush applying blush with cosmetic tools on a white table, related to funeral directors' wild things seen. I have a second-hand story from a funeral director friend. She did lovely makeup on a younger lady who was in bad shape. An older relative got very upset at the wake because the body "was wearing too much makeup" and used her thumb to rub it off, pulling loose some of the corpse's skin and dislodging her eye.

    cthulhus_spawn , freepik Report

    #5

    Woman in black standing beside a coffin in a funeral home, evoking wild things funeral directors still remember. OK. Weird story here. Not a funeral employee, but attended as family of deceased.
    My great uncle was a member of a catholic holy order for 70-ish years. He worked out of Wisconsin, main location: Massachusetts.
    He was well respected and important in his order, so instead of having the services at his location they "honored" him by having him blessed his inturnment at the main location. OK, enough world building.
    So huge, I mean huge cathedral. Absolutely beautiful, indescribable. My uncle, in his casket, up front. It was a simple wooden box as dictated by his vow of poverty.
    After the sermon and heart wrenching tributes about his compassion and years of service, the family was allowed to approach the casket to say our goodbyes.
    When a casket is open it hits a body near the waist. My uncle was only showing his upper chest. Weird? But whatever. When it was my turn at the box I noticed it seemed too short. So I stretched out my arms to "measure". This horrified my mother who grabbed my arms and pinned them at my sides. I then said to her "they cut his legs off". My uncle was 6'7 after old people shrinking. There was no way he fit in that box. My mom went from inconsolable to laughing hysterically. She then told her siblings waiting in line behind us. The whole family was rolling.
    After I returned to my seat, a brother from his order pulled me aside and reassured me his legs were in there, next to him. A larger casket was expensive and my uncle refused any luxury.
    I wish I was a child when this happened. I was 19.

    Veronicon , syda_productions Report

    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    1 hour ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Many businesses cut their clients' legs out from under them.

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    #6

    Multiple lit candles glowing softly in a dark room, evoking a serene atmosphere for funeral directors to remember. Not a director, just a mourner: at the funeral for the father of my friend’s wife, there was a near unexpected live cremation of one of his daughters.

    What happened was this: in the chapel, someone made the mistake of setting out a silver tray covered with those little tea light candles. They had all heated each other and melted into a flaming hazard.

    Some of the staff grabbed the tray and were hauling it out the door to toss it in the snow, when they passed close to my friend’s wife’s sister. Unfortunately, this lady had done her hair up in a fancy do for the funeral - using tons of hairspray.

    This instantly caught fire in the most spectacular way. Flames shot up halfway to the ceiling, as the distinct aroma of burnt hair filled the venue, while her screams filled the air.

    Fortunately, one of the guests near her reacted quickly and tossed his suit jacket over her head, smothering the inferno before she was seriously hurt. Half her hair was gone, but she had so much hair the rest insulated her head from harm.

    Malthus1 , freepic.diller Report

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    Aside from the mental health risks, one thing we tend to forget is the stress that comes with providing such an emotionally demanding service, sometimes within a short time frame. A 2024 study found that funeral directors are often expected to prepare a funeral within as little as 24 hours, checking all the boxes for the families, making it a particularly high-stress job.

    This also means irregular hours and on-site calls are common for funeral homes and their employees. And if a service isn’t properly organized, unexpected incidents can happen, like someone’s hair catching fire due to hairspray, for instance. Accidents do happen, of course, but sometimes they’re just the result of very poor planning from the funeral director’s side.

    #7

    Person holding a pink glazed donut, illustrating one of the wild things funeral directors saw and still remember. Not a funeral worker, but an attendee.

    My grandfather passed from a combination of old age, bleeding disorders, and lukiemia. During the viewing, my grandmother is standing at the head of the casket trying to maintain composure and appear like she isnt an emotional wreck.

    My uncle (their only son) wanders up to the casket, leans over and goes, "Dad, you want a donut?" With said cream stick donut in hand. We all lost it laughing, even grandma.

    That single moment of levity made the entire day brighter and brought closure. And yes, pap would have had three donuts, claimed to have had only one, and hidden a box to take home with him.

    mirado_shadar , freepik Report

    #8

    Two children running joyfully down a wooden hallway, capturing wild moments funeral directors still remember. Not a director but worked with an outside catering company that did funerals often. One time had a little girl like 7yo decide she didn’t like the reception room and snuck into the back and ran up and down the hall, past the staging room with a dead body clearly on display but not ready for viewing.

    Also the amount of people who would get mad at the shrimp cocktail running out when you only ordered 50 shrimps and then demanding more to be cooked. Like bro, there’s only one oven here and it ain’t for food.

    FluffDuckling , The Yuri Arcurs Collection Report

    #9

    Vintage earrings with blue gemstones and pearls on a dark background, related to wild things funeral directors saw. Not a funeral director, but when my grandmother died, we had the funeral at the church. We had picked out her clothes and jewelry. She had an expensive pair of earrings and my mother and aunt were arguing over them, so my uncle and my grandfather decided she should be buried with them to keep peace in the family. My grandmother had asked for a full church service and at the very end the pastor asked if anyone wanted to speak. My mother stood up in front of a full church and said that she wanted the funeral director to remove the earrings before he closed the casket....he did. My mom walked up to take them, but my uncle, who was the oldest, stood up and said nope...he took them and I have no idea what happened to them after that. My mother stayed mad about that for years.

    Heavy_Front_3712 , Lena Chert Report

    sturmwesen
    Community Member
    1 hour ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would've gone with King Solomons solution. each gets one

    It’s particularly difficult to find a silver lining in this line of work, especially when dealing with those who are grieving. After all, experts warn people about the health and emotional issues that come with grief. Cognitive impairments caused by changes in brain chemistry can quite literally alter a person, and it isn’t easy to run a business around that.

    At the same time, not everything is bad news. According to recent reports, American life expectancy has increased, and on top of that, early 2025 data shows that terminal cases related have decreased compared to 2024. Ultimately, while this could mean less business for funeral homes, it may also give funeral directors a much-needed break from all that stress.

    #10

    Older man wearing a red beanie and glasses, writing in a notebook while reflecting on wild things funeral directors saw. At one funeral an artistic looking guy showed up and sat down by the open casket and drew a caricature of the deceased person on display inside, and then offered to sell the drawing to the bereaved family. They were very taken aback and didn't know how to react, but politely complimented the drawing and paid for it, but then immediately afterwards came to me and told me what happened and were upset, they also didn't know the guy. I spotted the guy hanging around near the snacks table and told him to leave. He said he does the open casket caricatures to lighten the mood at funerals and give people something to remember the deceased by, but I told him that cashing in on people's grief and especially doing so uninvited just isn't acceptable. I try to have better access control at the venues from now on.

    sloUkrest , freepik Report

    #11

    Thanksgiving dinner spread with roasted turkey and side dishes, evoking wild things funeral directors saw memories Not a funeral director but...

    We catered one where a woman's husband died. This lady from their church showed up at the funeral luncheon with her own van full of food because "*our* food wasn't made with love".

    She had fried chicken, hotdogs, baked beans, a whole giant sheet cake, like 5 massive deli trays, fruit and veggie platters, a bunch of ice cream & toppings, mashed potatoes, chili, macaroni salad and potato salad, all sorts of cookies & chips and crackers, about 20 gallons of Hawaiian punch...

    It was an *insane* amount of food. There had to be enough there to feed over 300 people, and this was a small funeral with like 50 attendees.

    She was walking around yanking people's plates out of their hands and piling them full of the food she'd brought and chewing them out when they tried to tell her no thanks, she tried to throw away all the food we'd brought, and then tried to tip over the table of sandwiches we had set up (luckily she was a tiny old lady and couldn't budge the table) then she tried to claim my coworker tried to strangle her.

    After that she was finally told she needed to leave immediately, so she screamed a bunch of cuss words at everyone in earshot, then stormed outside and dumped *all* that food in a big heap in the middle of the church parking lot and drove off in a huff.

    The whole thing was just surreal.

    Huggable_Hork-Bajir , freepik Report

    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    1 hour ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Oh, those church ladies. Bless their hearts.

    #12

    Older man with gray beard outdoors drinking water from a blue bottle, reflecting on wild things funeral directors saw. Co worker being extremely hungover - passing out and falling into the grave while closing prayers were being recited . Florida heat/humidity can be a thing . Myself and clergy with a couple family are helped to pull him out. Embarrassing to say the least. Family never found out how the hangover detail- chalked it up to the extreme heat. They consoled him. Didn’t get fired or reprimanded- dad owned the FH. Good Time lol.

    a_real_flake , freepik Report

    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    1 hour ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The one time I had a hangover, finding myself in a grave would have been welcoming.

    Of course, despite all the intensity that comes with being a mortician surrounded by grief, the stories shared by funeral directors and attendees show that even in the darkest moments, there’s still some light to be found. Whether it’s a funny family member or a particularly bizarre moment, undertakers truly see just about everything.

    In fact, some of these stories include simply bizarre and downright absurd moments, from a wake being delayed because the deceased person’s goldfish had been forgotten at home, to someone releasing a dove at a funeral only for it to be immediately snatched by a hawk. Two birds, one stone, you could say.

    #13

    Coffin in wooded cemetery with funeral directors and attendees holding umbrellas during an outdoor funeral service. Not a funeral director but heard it from one…

    Two unrelated very old ladies died within 24 hours.

    Open casket was held for the first one, pretty standard with crying relatives etc., she is buried.

    Open casket for the second, at the same funeral home.
    It starts of typical with crying relatives, etc.

    But at some point one of the relatives says “That is not her.”.

    A few others look closer, she has funeral make up so it is hard to say, but they agree that is not her.

    More discussion, funeral director is called in, he assures them this is her.

    Well, she was missing a leg, this ought to be pretty easy to prove.

    They check the lady in the casket and find TWO legs.

    Now they KNOW it is not her.

    Much confusion, it took them until the next day to figure out the bodies had been switched.

    Lawsuits followed.

    Redsquirreltree , cottonbro studio Report

    #14

    Open grave in a foggy cemetery with frost-covered grass, illustrating wild things funeral directors saw and remember. I was escorting the family in a limousine that day from the funeral home to the church, cemetery, and the wake.

    There’s probably room for 6 comfortably but 8 of the family members wanted to ride in limousine. 2 of them were on the bench seat next me which was crowded yes, but they lost a loved one so it honestly didn’t bother me.

    On the way to the cemetery they were all reminiscing about their mother who had passed (96 years old) which is always nice.
    Then they started talking about the pictures that were displayed around the funeral home which featured the deceased.
    The lady next to me mentioned a photo from a vacation to the Bahamas when they were young and that their uncle (who had also passed away) loved seeing her in that pink bikini. She kept saying he just couldn’t take his eyes off of me.
    It was super awkward for me and one of the family members kept trying to move away from that conversation but she kept coming back!

    So we get to the cemetery on a clear but cold early afternoon in late February.

    The grave side service goes well and the family is given the opportunity to pass by the casket which had just been lowered into the ground one last time before they leave.

    Well that same lady leans over the hole, says a few things to her mother then walks over to the dirt that was dug out for the grave and picks up a volleyball sized chunk of now frozen dirt and tosses it down onto the casket.

    BAM!!!!! It left a nice size dent in the top of the casket. Awkwardness back again ten fold. Everyone kind of looked around at each other kind of stunned and at that point I started to walk back down to the limousine.

    Helped the family in and off we went to the wake. I was invited to attend but unless I know the family I rarely attend and politely declined.

    They were a really nice family just had a few moments of awkwardness that I had never encountered lol!!

    Helpful_Conflict_715 , Strauss Western Report

    #15

    A group of funeral directors and mourners gathered outdoors, recalling wild things they still remember from funerals. Dad was a funeral director and I'd regularly help him out around the FH. I'll never forget the time that I went with him to transport a body ~300 miles to another state. This was pre internet days so as far as we knew the address we were given was to another FH. We also weren't given a specific time to be there either.

    You might see where this going, but we certainly didn't expect to pull up to a mausoleum with a crowd of mourners waiting for the main attraction to show up. Said crowd had been waiting about 2 hours by the time we showed up. Now obviously there should have been better communication here, but in hindsight we also probably shouldn't have stopped and ate on the way either.

    squall862 , The Yuri Arcurs Collection Report

    All of this just goes to show that the way people express love and honor someone’s memory is changing. Experts say the funeral industry itself is shifting, with cremation now more popular than ever. But that’s not all: themed funerals have also been on the rise, as more people embrace the idea of turning funerals into celebrations of life.

    Whether it’s movies or hobbies that are involved in a funeral, what might seem odd at first is often simply a way to honor who someone was while they were alive. Maybe a poetic rendition of “Circle of Life” isn’t that strange after all. So, what unique stories do you have from your own life experience?

    #16

    Man in black coat holding red roses in a cemetery, reflecting on wild things funeral directors still remember. I won't comment in anything specific out of confidentiality. I can tell you that I've been hit on more than once by the widowed husband DURING THE FUNERAL, I've had families try to fist fight while making arrangements, and for one funeral, we had to have police on standby because we had a gang murder victim. I loved my job, but left the industry after 9 years (though working during Covid should count double the time).

    J9mortician , freepik Report

    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    1 hour ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    No surprise about widowers hitting on female funeral directors. The bereaved figures "Well, those dishes ain't gonna wash themselves."

    #17

    Man in black coat holding white tulips and using smartphone outside, illustrating wild things funeral directors saw moments. Not a funeral director, but the preacher at my grandpa’s funeral legitimately had dementia and went off topic for the entire service. Some of his greatest hits included:

    - Ranting about how much people use their cell phones.

    - Ranting about gay people (my grandpa loved me, his gay grandson, and would have been very upset by this)

    - Randomly talking about 9/11 and how there are “no elevators in hell”.

    - Ranted about liberals (my grandpa was a lifelong democrat and union member)

    - Talking about how women are so much more beautiful than men.

    He didn’t talk about my grandpa once. We all probably should have said something but we were all in collective shock about how inappropriate he was being.

    Goodeyesniper98 , savandreameta Report

    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    1 hour ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If there are no elevators in hell, this preacher should be prepared for a long hot walk down the stairs to the level where the place reserved for him is.

    #18

    Glass bottle filled with amber liquid on wooden surface, symbolizing unique items funeral directors have encountered. We deal with so much weird stuff that I don’t think there’s any one thing that we think is “wild” anymore. One thing recently that did make me go, “Well how about that.” was during a committal service the family created what they called a “potion”. Don’t ask me the ratios, but it was Dr Pepper, Fire Ball Whiskey, Pickle Juice, and Hot Sauce. They poured it into the decreased’s mouth to bring him back to life, then passed this chalice around for everyone to take a sip. I didn’t try it.

    TeenWolf1787 , akiromaru Report

    #19

    Blue luxury sports car parked on a city street, illustrating unusual moments funeral directors still remember. When Jonas Salk died, I worked for El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego where he is buried. When his widow and her entourage came in to make arrangements and she was looking at our Lincoln Towne Cars, she turned to the director and said, those will do for the secondary family, but we will bring our own cars for the immediate family. Okay.......on the day of his funeral, five Bentleys rolled up the drive and started my love affair with the most gorgeous cars I have ever seen.

    New_Improvement9644 , romeo22 Report

    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    1 hour ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Occasionally there is a rich person who's actually earned the money he has.

    #20

    Group of people dressed in black practicing coordinated moves in front of dark curtains, evoking funeral director scenes We have a lovely guy Steve and company that has done a few family and friends funerals for us over the years. He would of known that our Nanna was our matriarch and meant a lot to us. Before we placed and screwed the lid we carried out a family tradition that he was clearly not expecting.

    When ever we are together as a whole family, we do the chicken dance. Nanna loved to watch us and join in herself. Poor Steve (funeral director) had seen a lot of things in his 30 year career but this was very clearly a first for him. Though he did his best to stay professional, he was trying so hard not to Crack up laughing.

    I wouldn't be surprised if that story has been shared a few times at after work beers.

    Turfanator , Thirdman Report

    #21

    Funeral director in a black suit talking on phone near window, recalling wild things they still remember. Not a funeral director but sat next to a family member who didn’t silence their phone. Took the call and had a conversation for about 1 minute. Everyone could hear it. And it was during a very quiet part of a Zen funeral. The gasps. The embarrassment. I was pissed and felt it was so disrespectful.

    AkaiRedInc , Dragana Stock Report

    #22

    Goldfish swimming in a small round fishbowl on a dark background representing unusual funeral directors stories. This was definitely a bit odd. Wake for 1 evening and service the following morning with internment. Family had to bring decedent’s goldfish to the wake. Next day, goldfish is at the service. But during the procession to the cemetery, the lead cars stop, driver gets out and goes to the family car. Someone forgot the bloody goldfish. A car is sent back to grab the goldfish who is still swimming happily in his bowl. Graveside wouldn’t start until the goldfish showed up fashionably late.

    Witty-Help-1822 , StudioDZ Report

    #23

    Elderly woman singing into microphone captured in a candid moment, relating to funeral directors' wild memorable experiences. My senile mother crashed the party and sang “I Got Rhythm” next to the casket in front of all the guests.

    BenovanStanchiano , Guzov Ruslan Report

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    #24

    Police officer observing a street scene with cars and officers, capturing moments funeral directors still remember. I'm not a Funeral Director nor do I work in mortuary services. But anytime the subject of wild events at a eulogy comes up, former NFL player Richie Incognito has to be mentioned.

    Apparently Incognito was going thru a bout roid rage (or he just completely lost his marbles) after his father died. He showed up to the funeral with a saw, wanting to decapitate his fathers corpse, and keep the head. The hulking 6'5" 325lbs Incognito terrified his family and funeral home personnel so much, they had no choice but to call the police.

    Ok_Athlete_1092 , Rosemary Ketchum Report

    #25

    A group of elderly friends laughing and holding coffee cups outdoors, capturing memorable moments funeral directors recall. Not a funeral director, but I attended a funeral where the mood completely changed halfway through. The family started sharing funny stories about the person who passed away, and suddenly people were laughing instead of crying. At first it felt strange, but then it made sense it felt more like a celebration of their life than just mourning. I still think about how quickly the atmosphere shifted.

    Clover_press32 , Stockimages Report

    #26

    White dove among purple flowers, symbolizing peace and remembrance related to funeral directors' wild experiences. Not a funeral director, but at my cousins wedding, my Aunt released a white dove. This was in California on a sunny day and we all watched as a hawk swooped down and grabbed the dove.

    NoPoeticJustyce , kotkoa Report

    See Also on Bored Panda
    #27

    Man wearing a black jacket holding and clinking two plain white cans outdoors, relating to funeral directors' wild stories. All during the same funeral: a can of beer was poured right into the casket (the deceased had struggled with alcoholism in their life), a fist fight broke out in the parking lot, and afterwards while cleaning up, I found a broken crack pipe in the bathroom (which explains why two dudes kept going to the bathroom during the service).

    At another funeral there were two separate instances of people blasting stuff all over a wall (one in the bathroom, the other on the wall right outside the chapel). You bet I sent the 'George Bush getting the 9/11 update' image to all the staff involved.

    SisterJawbreaker , freepik Report

    #28

    Person wearing headphones recording a podcast about wild things funeral directors saw and still remember. I'm not a director, but a family friend is. He once told me about a funeral where the deceased had pre-recorded a message that started playing during the service. Everyone thought it was part of the program until the voice jokingly said "if you're hearing this, I guess I'm really gone." Half the room laughed, half the room cried.

    Loose-Ad-5724 , www.kaboompics.com Report

    #29

    Red semi truck driving on a highway through a desert landscape, representing wild things funeral directors saw. I am always mindful of the funeral after a relative's where the hearse with coffin onboard turned up on a AA (Automobile Association) lorry. First part of the funeral procession was winch the hearse off the lorry, unload the coffin and carry on the cremation as normal while the lorry removed the hearse.

    Not a funeral but when the funeral director was loading my Dad onto the dead van, the fish van turned up and stopped behind with all the bells ringing. The neighbour who was getting their delivery was utterly mortified. My Dad would have found it funny.

    Timely_Egg_6827 , CARLOSCRUZ ARTEGRAFIA Report

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    #30

    Public restroom with open green doors showing toilets inside, related to wild things funeral directors saw and remember. Nothing too crazy but my buddy got locked in the tiny bathroom at my dad’s wake for about an hour before anyone figured out where he was. The funeral director had to take the door off the hinges to get him out. It lightened the mood a bit.

    ronjoevan , Jan van der Wolf Report

    #31

    Not a funeral director but…


    my stepfather passed away extremely unexpectedly, and there was a rather large funeral held at his medium sized church. standing room only, the whole affair. The church has a parking lot directly in front, a gravel drive to some homes behind the church, and an overflow parking lot across from the gravel drive. This all borders a major road with a large school across the street.

    Parking was admittedly, screwed, and people had parked on either side of the gravel drive. This area of land is at least 35-40 feet wide, and most cars were in the culvert. The neighbor decided to call the police when he couldn’t get his lifted F-150 with extended tow mirrors down the driveway safely. Instead of thinking “oh, it’s 3 pm on a tuesday and there’s a hearse in front of this church, i bet this is a funeral that will end soon” the police chief interrupted the service and demanded people move their cars. By this point school pickup had started and traffic was terrible, so most people just left the service instead of finding new parking.

    I went and tried to talk to the neighbor, who told me i should seek mental health help, and that i wasn’t “i wasn’t showing christian love”. bro, I’m atheist and attending a funeral.

    I called the officer that responded to the original scene and he chewed out the chief, who brought my mom flowers not long after.

    Still, the hell with cops and that funeral director for letting the service be interrupted.

    -jdwhea- Report

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    #32

    Not a funeral director but my grandma’s funeral. We hired a girl to play the piano and sing, very sweet, very talented. Priest is walking up the aisle with the incense, amazing grace being sung, she’s about finished with the song when we hear a few missed keys.. not wanting to look over and make her feel bad, my mom giggles, and then it’s silent still and a few more missed keys. We look over and this poor girl is having a SEIZURE. We paused, called 911, obviously. When she came to, we had her call her parents - she didn’t have a history of seizures, but she ended up being okay, we continued on with a 35 min delay… But I still don’t know what to make of this situation that happened with my grandmas funeral lol.

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    #33

    Not a funeral director, but one of only two funny memories around the time of my husband’s death/autopsy/funeral: He had been cheating on me. He died with a BAC of 0.346 in a crash - crushed by a semi. I went to view his body after autopsy, but before funeral preparations were started. Pretty sure my in-laws told the funeral director about the cheating because I caught him watching me from another room.😁 Though he was decent enough to try to duck from my sight when I saw him. Not sure what he thought I might do to the body…but it made me giggle at a time that was otherwise horrifying.

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    #34

    I was only 12-years old and was drafted to be a pall bearer for a great uncle I had never met. At the funeral after the service they cleared the room except for the pall bearers. The funeral guys went to close the casket lid and had a lot of difficulty. They called in a third guy to literally jump onto the lid to get it closed.

    It totally freaked me out, remember I was only 12!

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    #35

    My friends father owned a funeral home and my friend helped him out driving families to the funeral. He said once he eavesdropped on a seemingly otherwise average family who were calmly discussing something about a haunting in one of their houses and what to do about it. He said they were talking about it in a mild, 'here we go again!' way.

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    #36

    Nothing too wild but there have been times where family tensions are high and someone threatens another family member so we have to have police present.

    There was an awkward moment when a man came in to make arrangements for his wife that had passed… and brought his girlfriend with him.

    Also before my time there was a family member that, while leaving the wake, fell down a flight of stairs, and got completely knocked out cold. Had to call an ambulance to take care of them.

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    #37

    My dad was the minister, he tells a story of rigor mortis or other post-death processes that meant the deceased had their arm contract and their elbow propped open the lid of the casket in the middle of the service. So it looked like the deceased was reanimated or something and opening the lid. Which understandably caused a stir!

    Dad being the professional he was, just rolled with it and gave a little speech about how body processes are always different, and calmed everyone down.

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    #38

    At my great aunts funeral, her eccentric best friends daughter weaved through the funeral procession to the front. Which wouldn’t of been as entertaining if her car wasn’t HAND PAINTED with a forest (complete with astroturf glued to the side of the car) on one side and a beach on the other. We had family from overseas visiting and she got to see the entire thing.

    Then she parked where the hearse was supposed to be and the driver stepped out and yelled at her.

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    #39

    Not going to win for the craziest story but this was pretty recent so on my mind. Mom died middle of a raging cold winter so just me, my brother and my husband at burial site. Also this woman showed up because she's desperate to date my brother who was also dealing with having lost his wife a few months before Mom died. Like she's crazy aggressive and my brother doesn't want anything to do with her as far as a romance. She sits in the front row at the plot and taps the seat next to her to invite my brother to sit next to her. PUHlease! You didn't know Mom and you better move off that seat because that's where I belong and my husband next to me! She's like Fatal Attraction crazy. I told my brother not to get any pet rabbits while she's pursuing him!

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    #40

    Not a funeral director, but my family works in the death industry and we sure have had some interesting family funerals.

    1. My great-grandfather died in 2004, at the ripe age of 99 years and 11 months. He was an author and historian, and a huge supporter of the arts and folk music. He was also the official Town Historian of Woodstock, NY. His memorial service was An Event, attended by over 300 people, including his friends Molly Mason, Jay Unger, and Pete Seeger. When Pete got on stage, he led a singalong of “America The Beautiful”, one of my great-grandfather’s favorite songs. He invited everyone who could play an instrument up on stage, including the kids, and lead us all through the song, including all of the more radical verses. It was an incredible surprise and I will never forget it.

    2. A few years ago, we finally had a funeral and interred my grandfather’s ashes, over *50 years* after his death. I’m not sure how it came up, but my mom and her sisters got to talking and realized they had never had any kind of funeral or service for their father, who died when they were kids. In fact, none of them knew what had happened to his remains, and their mother passed away in 1994 without telling anyone. My aunt, who works in tombstone sales, and my uncle, who runs a crematory, did some research and called around to the 4 funeral homes still in business near where they grew up. The third call was answered by a woman who started laughing when my aunt explained the situation. Then she said, “Hi [Aunt’s Name]! Yes, we have George’s cremains - I’ve been wondering if one of you kids would finally call for him. You may not remember me - I was your next door neighbor! Your father used to pee in my rose bushes every morning.” My aunt paid the outstanding bill (a little over $300 for a cremation in 1970!) and drove out to pick up his cremains the following weekend.

    3. Do you remember the John Oliver cake bear from a couple years ago? It was from Deisings, a bakery in Kingston, New York. The very same bakery that hosted my family for a double memorial service for my uncle and my great aunt *the week after* the John Oliver cake bear episode premiered. I do not have the words to describe how surreal it was to walk into that bakery to celebrate the lives of two people I loved very much, only to see a line of people holding cake bears with John Oliver’s face.

    (Yes, I did buy one. It was tasty, but not as tasty as the rest of the spread they provided for our event. Highly recommend Deisings’ catering and private dining room!).

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