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“Painfully Awkward”: 39 Of The Worst And Most Chaotic Funeral Stories People Have Shared
Article created by: Indrė Lukošiūtė
Funerals are solemn events to remember someone who has passed on. It’s when the person’s friends and loved ones gather to find comfort and strength in a time of grief. Some choose to see it as a celebration of life and a way to keep fond memories flourishing.
It’s never a place where inappropriate or entitled behavior is welcome, yet it unfortunately still happens. And as these stories prove, some people seem to have no limits when it comes to their rudeness.
From doing illicit substances behind tombstones to callously disrespecting the deceased’s body, these accounts disappointingly show how horrible some human beings can be.
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#1
My uncle died and at his funeral my cousin (his son) was crying. Some old timer uncle came up to him and said “stop crying you’re a man you’re embarrassing us”. I never wanted to slap someone at a funeral more than at that moment.
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#2
Priest called the deceased 'full of sin' and refused one of his final requests that his dog's ashes be buried with him.
His son didn't care and snuck in his dog's ashes with him anyways.
#3
Not a funeral but when my grandad passed and we went to view his body at the crematorium my aunt started stealing from the facility the second the employees back was turned. Just shoving anything that wasn't nailed down into her purse and pockets. Unbelievable. And yes we called her out and made her put it all back.
#4
A few years back, when the uncle of my mother died my young cousin (8) cried a lot at the funeral.
It took some time but eventually he calmed down and his parents went for a little walk with him for some distraction.
But then he noticed that his first name was written on one of the tombstones. He mentions it loudly and one of the bystanders said:
''Yeah its already reserved for you''.
He immediately started crying again...
#5
My Mom passed 2 days before my first child was born. I didn’t get pregnant again till 11 years later so I was 5 months pregnant with my second child when my Father passed. Someone came up to me at the funeral and said to me, “ You should stop having kids, it’s bad luck for your family”.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
My mom’s mom diеd when I was three days old. I’ve always thought that musta been crazy mega-hard, but it only dawned on me a week ago that my ma never talked about her folks, and had only one photo of ‘em. Yeah, cameras weren’t exactly commonplace for farmers, but still, I’d have thought she’d have more than just the one not-very-good photo. Now I wonder whether she was LC or NC with ‘em.
#6
This is really hard for me to write in words the pain I witnessed, gone through.
In Highschool we were always the same 4 guys together. Jonas, Blake, Matthew and I. 4 nerds spending the days together, every, single, day. We had a very nice bond together and we went along very well. We jokingly said " We'll stay together, in touch, forever and beyond until death splits us".
2 of the 4 died, in 2010, in a car crash. (Blake and Jonas). They were on their way to Matthew's, for his birthday. Jonas had previously told Matthew he wouldn't miss his birthday and 100% would attend. Circumstances being he died and the party never occured.
Matt and I were just demolished to the fact the quatuor was now a duo. We missed our friends terribly, and I still do.
This is where it gets really hard.
During the funerals, Matt came to me and said "Do you remember what we werr saying in Highschool? That we'd always be together, around each other no matter what?" I replied "Of course I do."
He walked towards the two coffins laying next to eachother and drank a liquid that made him collapse. He was called dead when the paramedics arrived. (I'm sorry, I don't feel like writing any more details to this. It's already very painful to write).
The quatuor is now a solo.
I will probably seem like a bad person, but when we did that promise in Highschool, I thought it was real, but I wouldn't have done what Matthew did. He took it very seriously and respected the promise. I wouldn't have added more pain to the broken hearts/families by ending myself to respect a promise.
They are now buried in the same cemetery, few stones from eachother. I visited them 5 times a year minimum (during each individual birthday + the crash day + Funerals day).
Sorry for my bad english.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
Jesus. That poor fellow. I really hope he’s getting some therapy because both the pain of the loss and the guilt about not keeping the promise sound as if they’re eating at him, and I really hope he gets help before he’s irreparably harmed. 😞
#7
He handed out his business cards at his stepdaughter’s funeral. There was very nearly a fistfight!
#8
I went to the funeral of a coworkers fincee, the girls ex showed up and as people were lined up to say goodbye we all witnessed him lean into the coffin and kiss her on the lips.
I will repeat myself, the ex boyfriend of the deceased woman kissed her dead body at her funeral... In front of her fiancee. Her brothers quite literally threw him out.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
I kissed my dеad podiatrist on the lips. I kissed my dеad partner on the lips. I kissed my dеad grandmother on the cheek because I couldn’t reach her lips. I didn’t know this is apparently verboten in some places. Should I carry some kinda weapon leat someone takes umbrage? Geez. People are so weird about sooo many things.
#9
Uncle was a defense attorney in south Texas. His funeral was a small service with mostly family and a few friends. However, as everyone was leaving a large groups of bikers were waiting in the parking lot. Turns out he had been a part of the group for some time in his younger years and they had come to pay respect. They shook his wife's hand, gave their condolences, and drove off as a group. He was a pretty laid back/goofy guy, great with kids, so it was mostly crazy to just find out about that part of his life. I also was always impressed that they came to show support, but without interrupting a very personal ceremony. Showed a lot of character.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago (edited)
I suspect they may also have given her a wad of money. I keep hearing stories like these (I’ve dated a couple motorcycle racers, and while they weren’t from the US, both seemed to know dozens and dozens of people in biker gangs), and the way they were portrayed on “Sons of Anarchy” seems very much in line with the people those fellows knew. They treated each other as if they were extended family, even though they struck me as kinda racist, or maybe it’s that they really didn’t like the fellows’ bikes as they were Japanese. They have a higher rate of death just because of what they do, and it seemed there was a funeral in one or the other every month. 😰
#10
At the end of my grandmothers funeral, the priest pulled my grandfather aside and asked for more donations. My grandfather has donated thousands over the years to the church, the fact that the priest asked at my grandfathers wife’s funeral is disgusting. I didn’t know however till we left, otherwise I would have prob punched him.
#11
Everyone was late for my gran's funeral. There was a meet up at a pub beforehand and because nobody had seen each other in years we all lost track of time. When I tell this story people are always shocked but it is what she would have wanted. She lived to make people happy. She was buried with a bag of weed and everyone had to agree they wouldn't dig her up to get to the weed if they were desperate. Again, in my family circle this is very normal and funny but to others, maybe not.
Afterwards everyone came back to my mum's house. One of my gran's lifelong friends (and village nutcase) got too drunk and started threatening people who didn't cry at the funeral with a smashed bottle. My mum told him to leave, then he just gave everyone at the house a hug, arranged to have drinks with people, said God bless and left. I was 8 years old and this was the norm. I love my family.
#12
One of my students' mother died. I went to the funeral with the principal and the student's integration aide. After the funeral her father walked up to her and her grandmother and said "I want her out of the house by tomorrow morning". She was 11 years old.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
Life brings out the аsshole and, apparently, the evil in a lotta people.
#13
Watched my cousin’s horrible ex husband demand that his son not cry or show emotion at his grandmother’s (my aunt) funeral or else he would call him weak. Luckily, my dad was there and told him otherwise. The guy only showed up to the funeral anyway because he was constantly hounding my cousin about how much money my aunt had left her.
#14
I took my ex to my grandma's funeral, even though he met her once, for moral support as it was a very unexpected death and I was super close to my grandma. Now, my ex likes to cosplay/dress up as rock stars. That being said, I told him to please tone it down. It's not the time or the place to show up dressed as Alice Cooper or Nikki Sixx.
So, while he does tone it down SLIGHTLY, he still shows up dressed in a big theatrical black trench coat (despite it being the literal middle of summer) with a red button down that was left half unbuttoned and a bunch of giant cross necklaces. Not to mention a little Nikki Sixx makeup to top it all off. I remember asking him if he'd please reconsider changing into something that wasn't as intense. He got mad and accused me of being like his controlling mother. Now, I supoose his outfit doesn't sound bad but in context, it was embarrassing as duck. My grandma was a little old, God fearing lady, and she of course had a group of friends she went to church with. Not to mention all the people she went to school with, most of which probably thought the Beatles were dressed too strange to be big hits. So, he was being whispered about and glared at the entire time. Which he loved because any attention was good attention in his eyes.
He also signed her funeral book as 'Alice Cooper'.
#15
I had a fit of hysterical laugh at my father's funeral just about the time people started to gather at the mortuary.
In my defense, my mother had a nervous breakdown (my father died 4 days after we found out he had lung cancer), there was a lot of horrible stuff surrounding the funeral organization, my mom just flipped, my siblings were 15 and lost so I was at 23 left to handle it all.
I kinda lost it.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
I don’t judge people who struggle with funerals, save for people who wanna be the center of attention (like the аsshole dressed like Alice Cooper) or аssholes going around telling boys and men it’s not “manly” to cry. I’ve had giggle fits at several funerals (in each case, the dеad woulda joined in were they able because of the same senses of humor) and my ex-husband and I jumped like bunnies in the car in the middle of a funeral then felt terribly guilty until someone told us HIS PARENTS HAD DONE THE SAME! They were very VERY uptight, traditional Chinese people so that really blew out minds and we no longer felt bad after we learned that!
#16
Grandpa of my SO. Had over 10 kids, they're all present. He had gotten cremated, but the kids had decided that they wanted to inter the urn some place meaningful (I forget where). So, they all drive there, and then the men proceed to argue as to how to dig a hole (where it should go, how deep, who gets first dibs at digging etc). They finally get it done. they all took turns digging. By the time that they are done, under the harsh midday sun, they are all drenched in sweat in their formal wear. Then one brother decides that it is his job to lower the urn as far down the hole as possible, as just dropping it in seemed too undignified. However, he lowered it too far, because he fell head first in the hole. Only his legs and lower body are sticking up and he can't get out. The other brothers grab his legs to hoist him up. Meanwhile, the sisters are laughing their heads off.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
How big a hole did they make?! Even gargantuan people are reduced to a small amount of ash since we’re largely water, so a post-hole digger is all anyone needs to bury some ashes. These people were obviously ash holes.
#17
My nan told my dad at his own father's funeral that her pain was much greater because she had lost a husband, while he had only lost his dad. As if grief is a competition.
She is a bad person anyway, and not even blood related to us so we just kinda don't associate anymore
Edit:
She called my dad last night, claiming that she and my grandad had a baby in 1999 and the baby died when it was five. But she's full of nonsense, just making up lies in hopes we'll associate with her again.
#18
I grew up in an apartment above a family owned funeral home. When I was 5 I walked into the middle of a funeral service accidentally in just my whitey-tighties and a cowboy hat. They laughed, I laughed, my dad gave me the belt haha good times.
#19
A local boy died after being hit by a car while riding his bike. I think he was like 11/12 at the time. His sister, known to all to be very attention seeking, immediately was doing news interviews which just seemed odd, considering he had died earlier that day, but whatever, people grieve differently I suppose. But then at his wake, she took a few photos of him in the casket and posted it to her public Instagram story. It was super bizarre and just bad taste.
#20
This is a story my father told me from when he was a child in the 1940's
There was an AME church beside the farm where he grew up in rural SC. The church had no electricity. There was a funeral there one evening and the church was lit throughout with candles. The church building had existed since just after emancipation and was in really bad shape. The flooring had been severely damaged by termites. During the funeral, the floor gave way making the casket tumble and the body fall out. Everyone ran out of the church in terror. Making matters worse, the candles that were on the casket fell to the floor and set the church on fire. The whole community watched outside as it burned to the ground.
#21
My Uncle died. He was gay. My Grandmother couldn't handle that.
My Uncle left a letter to be read at his funeral. I don't know if my grandmother planned it all alone or what, but gets to the part that says, "And to my Nieces and Nephews, I want you to know..."
And instead of reading what was there (I know cause me and my dad helped my uncle write it), she went on this huge, insane tangent with tons of swearing about how "none of us should be like him, commit his sins, etc. that he died of aids as a punishment." that was the most homophobic and hateful few minutes I can ever remember hearing.
It was so disrespectful to everyone, and so terrible. She was an ugly person.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
And no one stood up to correct what that miserable witch said?! 😰🤬 I understand it’s very difficult for a lotta people to go up against someone awful, especially in public, but it would just k**l me that so many people would be left with the wrong (and BAD) idea about the dеad one. Even though I don’t believe in any of the superstitions surrounding life and death, I have a feeling I’d be fearful that some gruesome payback would await me when I diе if I didn’t try to undo the damage this homophobic, hateful gunt did.
#22
Her ex told us about all the great things she did in bed and what a loss for mankind that is.
In present of her boyfriend.
#23
My Mother in Law took a photo of a wine glass during the lunch we had after, and she posted it on Facebook. Guess what her caption was?
“Life is Grand.”
It was my mother’s funeral.
#24
Not at a funeral but at my auntie's wake, a dude approached my little sister and hit on her. She was 12 years old.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
When Ryan O’Neal hit on Tatum, it was also at a funeral, wasn’t it? I’ve often wondered why so many of us feel frisky at funerals, and my theory is that our brains simply have put up with enough grief that they decide to put a temporary moratorium on the sad and so squirt a lotta s**y hormones into us so we can have a respite from the bad. Brains are weird, wonderful, and sometimes goofy!
#25
My minister once told a story. He was waiting in a room off the sanctuary before the funeral when he heard scuffling noises. When he went to investigate, the brother and sister of the deceased had pulled the body out of the casket and propped it between them. They explained that they didn’t have a recent photo of the three of them and were delighted he showed up to take the picture.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
My first thought was “No way! Who’d grab and pose a corpse?” and then I thought that if someone I loved diеd and I didn’t have a photo, I might try to get one somehow, though since their eyes are sewn shut, I’m not sure it’d be a GOOD photo to have. 😕 But I can totally believe there’re people out there who might do something desperate like this (though the time to do it woulda been before the eyes were sewn shut and the heavy makeup applied). (shiver)
#26
The rabbi giving the eulogy claimed he knew my grandfather really well and often had conversations with him on his deathbed.
1. He mispronounced his first and last name every time he said it.
2. My grandfather spoke almost no English, the rabbi's only language besides prayer-Hebrew.
I guess compared to a child falling out of a casket during a fight, this isn't crazy, but I found it dishonest and disrespectful as hell.
#27
My brother is a Protestant non-denominational minister who is the on call minister for our local funeral home when a family doesn't have a preferred one of their own.
He's told me some crazy stories, but the one that comes to mind is when he was called at literally the last minute for a Catholic funeral. Being Protestant he knew absolutely nothing about conducting a Catholic service and was pretty nervous. This was compounded by the fact that the funeral home didn't have time to give him any info on the deceased other than he was male and relatively young, 20-30ish.
When my brother arrived for the funeral he met the mother of the deceased and tried to make small talk to maybe get a few more details that might be useful in his message.
During his conversation he asked the mother if the deceased had been ill very long, presuming if their had been some accident the funeral director would at least have tipped him off to that.
The mother proceeded to tell my brother that her son had actually been in perfect health, but had died from a self inflicted gunshot during a game of Russian roulette.
Sharing this information with my brother seemed to reopen the wounds and the mother left sobbing in hysterics.
He went on to bluff his way through the Catholic funeral the best he could, but he said he was never more glad for a funeral to be over with.
#28
Attendee but not so crazy as amusing. We're in the church for my great grandmothers funeral. Pastor comes in and starts going off about Madeleine this and Madeleine that. After several minutes, I had to shift and take a peek at the coffin to make sure we were at the right funeral. Great grandma hated her birth name and always went by her middle name.
#29
At my grandfather's funeral one of the choir members essentially threw a tantrum and ended up interrupting one of my uncles who was giving a speech just because she wasn't given any food. The thing is there wasn't any food at the funeral to begin with.
#30
2 different situations
1. When I was 10 at my grandpa’s funeral, a relative told me I was “lucky” for being so young because now I’ll never remember/miss my grandpa
2. At my Grandma’s funeral, her neighbor asked us if he could stop by the house that day and “take some stuff off of our hands”
No offer of money. Just wanted free stuff.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago (edited)
Both my maternal grandparents were dеad before I was born (well, my maternal grandmother diеd when I was three days old), but I was ten and eleven when my paternal grandparents went, and I remember both events vividly, especially because my grandmother diеd at our home after suffering horribly with stomach cancer and was just 65 pounds when she diеd. I *wish* I couldn’t remember that! What kinda dummy thinks a ten-year-old wouldn't remember that?! I was too frightened to hug her when she was dying because I thought I’d catch her cancer, and it still eats at me more than fifty years later that I couldn’t hug my dying grandmother. I’ll bet she wanted nothing more than a hug, ‘’cept maybe a pierogi. 😞😞😞
#31
My uncle relentlessly flirt with a funeral home employee.
While at his dad's funeral.
She was obviously deeply uncomfortable and he was so narcissistic he thought she was interested.
#33
Was working a funeral/ burial service in Vermont and the next of kin decided to have doves released at the burial site (yes that's a thing). When they were released, a hawk flew out of nowhere and DESTROYED one of the doves. My co-worker and I had to usher ourselves to the hearse because we were laughing so hard.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
I can imagine! I’d have also burst out laughing if I’d seen that! Folks *hafta* know something like that is a possibility, and they do it anyway? 😆
#34
My great aunt keeled over at my grandfather's funeral.
She died of a heart attack in front of his casket.
#35
My neighbor worked at a funeral home. Part of her job was selling the coffins.
One of her customers had inquired about the cushioning inside, and she informed her of the material. The customer was concerned about this and when my neighbor asked why, she said that she was allergic to it.
#36
Not AT a funeral, but I used to work at a store that sold funeral things, like headstones, flowers, caskets, etc. A couple came into the showroom and wanted to look around. Everything was going fine, until they found a casket they liked. They wanted to know if it could be wired for a tv and radio. They wanted to know if we could repaint parts of it. They also wanted to know if we could make it bigger, as *they didn't think they both could fit in the standard size*. I (of course) had no idea, but offered to go find out. They said never mind, and that this one would probably fit the both of them. Then they asked if they could get inside to try it out. I politely told them no and excused myself to get a manager, who promptly removed them from the store.
#38
The gentleman had a large family and all of his siblings got up and made it all about themselves, dredged up old family drama, made it clear that they resented his wife, etc. It was so painfully awkward.
Binky Melnik 6 months ago
An entire family composed of people with absolutely no shame? 😳 How awful! That’d be the ONE time I can think of where it’d be appropriate to worry about “What will people think?!” of their behavior.
#39
I had a friend that was notorious for one-night Craigslist hookups with soldiers from the local army base. When he died, a handful of men in the military, that none of us knew, came to the service. His parents have no idea he was even gay.
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