When a Hong Kong woman ‘woke from the dead’ after her funeral began, terrifying friends and monks
- Ninety-one-year-old Mrs Li had been presumed dead for 24 hours before she suddenly sat up during Buddhist burial rituals in February 1964
- Well-wishers brought gifts of money, clothing and food to Mrs Li, and friends and strangers who learned of her experience donated cash
“A 91-year-old woman, presumed dead for 24 hours, suddenly sat up in bed, terrifying friends and monks who were offering prayers for her safe journey to eternal rest,” began a South China Morning Post report dated February 20, 1964.
“Mrs Li Kit […] who ‘woke from the dead’ in a Fanling nunnery a week ago is responding to medical treatment,” the Post reported on February 23.
“Mrs Li Kit was presumed dead on February 15. Her friends in the nunnery had already prepared her funeral when she suddenly sat up 24 hours later.”
She was quoted in the Post as saying, “I dreamed hazily that I was led by some Hades guards, one with the head of an ox and the other with the head of a horse. But later on, they drove me back and then I woke up.”
The report went on to explain that Li had “apparently died, and she had been dressed in traditional funeral costume. The Buddhist burial ritual began, and, although her left arm and leg twitched once, continued. Hours later, a nun went into the room and found Li Kit sitting up […]