Family exhume uncle's corpse, share photo of him standing beside them. Graphic.

zwiebel

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A grave digger in Alicante, Spain, was asked by the niece and nephew of a deceased man to exhume him, to rebury him in a plot with his wife who had recently passed. He'd been dead 23 years.

Nothing unusual so far. Except when the family saw their uncle's body had been mummified, they asked the gravedigger to stand him up, so they could take a photograph. The gravedigger duly obliged, and the corpse is pictured standing between him and the nephew while niece took the photo.

Then niece shared it on Whatsapp. It went viral:

'The man's niece said she didn't mean to upset anyone and said she just wanted to show the dead man's sister how his body had been mummified.'

'She said: "We never thought this could have such serious consequences, and I did not want to show any lack of respect for my uncle." '

Officials say the gravedigger will probably keep his post, as he didn't mean any harm.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-...ed-taking-photo-rotting-4210306#ixzz3DBQGqGwy
 

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As disgusting as this I think the uncensored version is less disturbing.
 
I am just wondering if this might have something to do with beliefs about 'Incorruptability'? If the family members were actually very pleased to find their uncle's body so well preserved - because it certainly is, for 23-year-old remains....though it doesn't really account for him being posed like that.


'Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that Divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their holiness. Bodies that undergo little or no decomposition, or delayed decomposition, are sometimes referred to as incorrupt or incorruptible. These bodies typically retain a healthy, living skin tone and remain flexible rather than stiffening.'

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorruptibility
 
I am just wondering if this might have something to do with beliefs about 'Incorruptability'? If the family members were actually very pleased to find their uncle's body so well preserved - because it certainly is, for 23-year-old remains....though it doesn't really account for him being posed like that.


'Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that Divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their holiness. Bodies that undergo little or no decomposition, or delayed decomposition, are sometimes referred to as incorrupt or incorruptible. These bodies typically retain a healthy, living skin tone and remain flexible rather than stiffening.'

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorruptibility
Not exactly, incorruptibility does not apply to just any mummified corpse. If there were some indication that this man was a faithful, devotional Catholic who led an exemplarily life and devoted his life to the service of God and to others, and if they suspected that his body may, in fact have been left incorruptible then there would have been conducted a wholly different exhumation. It would have been documented, studied and subjected to testing, interviews and efforts to rule out natural causes, embalming, structure of the vault/crypt.
Incorruptibility is not a result of mummification;
from your link;

"These bodies typically retain a healthy, living skin tone and remain flexible rather than stiffening."

While there are many devotional Catholics in Spain, most would know how to contact an official and start the process.

Nah, these folks were just having fun with their dead uncle for their own selfish reasons while committing the crime of defiling a corpse.

May uncle rest in peace at some point.

:cow:
 
Years ago, I went to Greece with my friend because it was time to dig up grandma.
Apparently, the dead don't stay buried there. After a set length of time ( I forget the amount) family dig up their relative, have a ceremony which consists of tossing the bones in a plastic bin, pouring some wine over the remains...a few words by an intoxicated priest.
Bones are transferred to a cardboard box. Family can pay to store the remains elsewhere ...I'm uncertain of other options. The family took photos.

While I found it bizarre, I see nothing disrespectful. I see it no different than archeologists that routinely do it.

Customs
, rituals and necessity make for some very interesting things.

All IMO





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
There are a few places in the world that regularly dig up the bones of their deceased family members. Linda7NJ has mentioned one, I cannot remember them all, but there is quite a few. In some places they dig them up every year for a festival for the ancestors, when everyone digs all their ancestors up and there are more skeletons than living people.
It is more common than we like to think.
I personally prefer to leave them in their graves. I don't think the gravedigger in Spain meant any disrespect, I hope he kept his job.
 
There are a few places in the world that regularly dig up the bones of their deceased family members. Linda7NJ has mentioned one, I cannot remember them all, but there is quite a few. In some places they dig them up every year for a festival for the ancestors, when everyone digs all their ancestors up and there are more skeletons than living people.
It is more common than we like to think.
I personally prefer to leave them in their graves. I don't think the gravedigger in Spain meant any disrespect, I hope he kept his job.

I think the yearly digging ceremony is in Thailand.

In Romania, they have a ceremony 7 years after the burial. The bones are blessed, the priest pours some wine and mirth on them, then they are piled up and re-burried.

According to the article, the gravedigger wanted to be respectful, and called the niece when he found the body, rather than tearing it into pieces (sorry for for image).
 
Years ago, I went to Greece with my friend because it was time to dig up grandma.
Apparently, the dead don't stay buried there. After a set length of time ( I forget the amount) family dig up their relative, have a ceremony which consists of tossing the bones in a plastic bin, pouring some wine over the remains...a few words by an intoxicated priest.
Bones are transferred to a cardboard box. Family can pay to store the remains elsewhere ...I'm uncertain of other options. The family took photos.

While I found it bizarre, I see nothing disrespectful. I see it no different than archeologists that routinely do it.

Customs
, rituals and necessity make for some very interesting things.

All IMO





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would tend to agree. I don't think we can pass judgment based on the societal norms of our culture. I don't think this is really any different than taking photos of the corpse in the casket, and I know people who have done that as well.
 
We all have different beliefs and customs, but it's morbid irregardless.
 
We all have different beliefs and customs, but it's morbid irregardless.

I agree it was the wrong thing to do, and I agree is was morbid. I think the niece has realised she did the wrong thing.
I think the reaction world-wide has made her stop and think that perhaps she caused a lot of problems for herself and others.
That is about all I can say before I start name-calling.
 

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