10 Incredible Stories of People Declared Dead Who Lived

The line between life and death isn’t always clear. Sometimes, even medical professionals can mistakenly pronounce someone dead when they’re still alive. It sounds shocking, but it happens more often than you might think. Get ready to be amazed by these incredible stories of people who survived their own reported deaths.

10 Timesha Beauchamp

In August 2020, 20-year-old Timesha Beauchamp was declared dead and sent to a funeral home in Michigan. An employee was about to embalm her when he unzipped the body bag and saw her staring back at him! The family’s attorney stated that if her eyes hadn’t been open, they would have started the embalming process. Paramedics had declared her dead after being unable to revive her when she stopped breathing. She was later hospitalized in critical condition. The city of Southfield, Michigan, faces a $50 million lawsuit for wrongful death, with the lawsuit claiming that oxygen deprivation in the body bag caused brain damage.

9 Analia Bouter’s Newborn Baby

Analia Bouter’s newborn baby was believed to be stillborn and was kept in an Argentine morgue for 12 hours. Fifteen minutes after the child’s birth on April 3, 2012, the baby was placed in a coffin and left in the refrigerated morgue. During a prayer, Analia and her husband opened the coffin and found their baby breathing. The premature baby was then declared to be in critical but stable condition. The couple named their daughter Luz Milagros, meaning Miracles. Five hospital employees were suspended due to this near-fatal mistake. The hospital administrator couldn’t explain how obstetricians, gynaecologists, and a neonatologist all concluded the baby was stillborn.

8 Charles Crawford

The New York Times reported on January 21, 1901, about a man taken to the morgue alive. Charles Crawford, who had shot his wife and then himself, was pronounced dead and taken to the morgue. Joseph Murphy, an assistant, discovered Crawford was still alive. After being transported to St. Michael’s Hospital, a brief examination led to the conclusion that Crawford was dead. However, at the morgue, the assistant saw Crawford was alive and speaking. The article noted that Crawford would have surely died in the cold morgue had he not been rescued. He was lucky Murphy was there, as no doctor was on duty at the hospital when he arrived.

7 Walter “Snowball” Williams

At 78, Walter “Snowball” Williams woke up inside a body bag after being declared dead at his home in Lexington, Kentucky, in February 2014. He tried to kick his way out, and the next morning, funeral home employees were shocked to find him alive. He was taken to a nearby hospital and declared to be in stable condition. The coroner stated that Williams’s faulty pacemaker caused the incorrect reading. His family celebrated his return from the “dead.” Williams, who was scheduled to be embalmed, was also thrilled to be alive.

6 Valdelucio de Oliveira Goncalves

Two hours after being declared dead from respiratory and multiple-organ failure in August 2014, 54-year-old Valdelucio de Oliveira Goncalves was spotted moving inside a body bag. Goncalves, diagnosed with terminal cancer, was discovered by his brother, who had come to dress him. His feet were tied, and his nose and ears were plugged with cotton. The Menandro de Farias Hospital started an inquiry into the incident. Hospital directors would meet with the team who saw the patient to clarify what had happened.

5 Larry Donnell Green

Larry Donnell Green was declared dead, placed in a body bag, and transported to the morgue before anyone realized he was still alive. Green, 29, was struck by a car in Franklin County, North Carolina, in January 2005. His parents said he suffered irreversible brain damage, leading to significant medical bills. The family sued the county medical examiner and former emergency workers for negligence and emotional distress. Paramedics involved were suspended with pay. Green was moved to Duke University Medical Center in critical condition. Medical examiner J. B. Perdue found him alive while certifying his death. Franklin County Manager Chris Courdriet admitted to a terrible error and pledged to correct the problems to prevent future incidents.

4 Premature Baby

A premature baby didn’t appreciate being in a morgue refrigerator. The infant started crying and moving when undertakers removed him from cold storage at a hospital in La Margarita, Mexico, on October 22, 2020. The baby was born only 23 weeks into the mother’s pregnancy. The child’s father urged the baby to keep fighting. The baby was then admitted to an intensive care neo-natal unit. Miguel Angel Flores, the owner of Funeraria Flores, was amazed the baby was still alive after six hours inside the refrigerator, which was normally used to store amputated limbs. An investigation of the incident is ongoing.

3 South African Man

After suffering an asthma attack in July 2011, a 60-year-old South African man was presumed dead by his family. Instead of calling paramedics, they called a local mortuary. Awakening more than two hours later inside a refrigerated compartment, the “dead” man began screaming. Terrified mortuary workers fled. They returned with reinforcements and opened the compartment, finding the confused and shivering man. An ambulance was called, and after six hours of observation at the hospital, he was declared stable and sent home. Sizwe Kupelo of the Eastern Cape Health Department remarked on the dangers of keeping a live person in a refrigerator designed to prevent corpse decomposition. The government reminded citizens that only qualified medical authorities should pronounce someone dead.

2 Rosa Celestrino de Assis

Sixty-year-old Rosa Celestrino de Assis spent several hours inside a body bag in a refrigerated morgue at Hospital Estadual Adao Pereira Nunes while being treated for a lung infection. Her daughter, Rosangela Celestrino, was called to identify the body. When Rosangela hugged her mother, she felt her breathing and screamed that her mother was alive. Others gave her disbelief looks. Rosa had been pronounced dead at 7:20 pm on September 23, 2011, during tests. At 10:00 pm, Rosangela found her alive, and she was taken to the intensive care unit. The nurse who initially suspected Rosa’s death was fired, and the doctor who pronounced her dead resigned.

1 Tom Sancomb

Unable to reach her 46-year-old boyfriend, Tom Sancomb, for two days, his girlfriend asked police to check on him. Police found Sancomb collapsed. Paramedics didn’t try to resuscitate him, noting he was cold and in rigor mortis. He was declared dead at 2:10 am on May 19, 2015. Forensic investigator Genevieve M. Penn called Sancomb’s brother, John, with the news. John requested an autopsy to determine the cause of death. At 3:00 pm, the team transporting Sancomb to the morgue saw him breathing and moving. His pulse returned, and he was taken to Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s report was heavily redacted, and the hospital refused to disclose information due to privacy laws. His brother reported that Sancomb’s condition was improving daily.

These incredible stories highlight how thin the line between life and death can be. From morgue refrigerators to body bags, these individuals experienced the unimaginable and lived to tell the tale!