Man wakes up inside body bag at funeral home

LEXINGTON, Miss. — Workers at a Mississippi funeral home say they found a man alive and kicking when they opened a body bag.

Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard calls it a miracle that 78-year-old Walter Williams is alive.

The coroner was called to Williams’ home in Lexington, a community north of Jackson, where family members believed he had died.

Howard says Williams had no pulse and was pronounced dead Wednesday at 9 p.m.

Early Thursday, workers at Porter and Sons Funeral Home were preparing to embalm Williams when he started to kick in the body bag.

Family members were called and Williams was taken to a hospital. Howard says he believes Williams’ pacemaker stopped working, then started again.

“I asked the coroner what happened, and the only thing he could say is that it’s a miracle,” Holmes County Sheriff Willie March told WAPT News.

Family members say Williams, a farmer, told them he’s happy to be alive.

“I don’t know how long he’s going to be here, but I know he’s back right now,” Williams’ nephew Eddie Hester said. “That’s all that matters.”