SPOOKY

‘Dead’ Woman Starts Knocking on Her Coffin During Wake

Bella Montoya, 76, was declared dead by a hospital earlier that day.

Retired nurse Bella Montoya was 76 when she died—or so her family thought. Despite being declared dead at an Ecuadorian hospital, Montoya revived at her own wake and shocked attendees when she started knocking on her coffin. “It gave us all a fright,” Gilberto Berbera, Montoya’s son, told the Associated Press. “There were about 20 of us there. After about five hours of the wake, the coffin started to make sounds. My mom was wrapped in sheets and hitting the coffin, and when we approached we could see that she was breathing heavily.” Montoya was rushed to the hospital, where she remained in serious condition Monday. She was initially declared dead on Friday after she was checked into the Martín Icaza Hospital in Babahoyo with a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, Ecuador’s Health Ministry said in a statement. Now the government is looking for answers, launching an investigation into the hospital.