Brazilian Man Appears very Much Alive at His Own Funeral

Gilberto Araujo

A 41 year old Brazilian assumed to be dead caused a pandemonium when he appeared in his funeral in his mother’s house in the town of Alagoinhas in northeastern Brazil according to the police report.

Police inspector Roberto Lima in a telephone interview said that on Sunday Jose Marcos Araujo identified a body at the city morgue as being that of his brother, Gilberto.  And a wake keeping was held for him in his mother’s house.

But unknowing to Jose Marcos the corpse he identified and took to his mother’s home was that of Genivaldo Santos Gama and not his brother, Gilberto. 

Lima said that Gilberto and the man whose body was in the mogue closely resembled each other hence the confusion. 

"The two men closely resembled each other and both worked as car washers,"  

Jose Marcos wife, Ana Paula explained to UOL internet news portal that "The confusion started when news started circulating that a car washer had been shot dead."

"Police called my husband and told him that his brother had been killed and his body was at the morgue."

And shortly before the funeral "a friend of Gilberto's saw him walking down the street and told him that his family was mourning him," Lima said.

"So he went to his mother's home to let everyone know he was very much alive."

Maria Menezes, a family friend said when Araujo showed up at his wake "some people fainted and others were so scared they ran away. It was a big shock,"

Gilberto's mother Marina Santana told reporters "I am overjoyed. What mother wouldn't be after being told that her son is dead and then sees him alive."