The line between life and death can be razor‑thin, and the top 10 people on this list prove just how blurry that boundary can become. Even seasoned doctors, nurses, and emergency responders sometimes miss the tell‑tale signs that a patient is still breathing. Below, we explore ten jaw‑dropping cases where individuals were officially pronounced dead—only to spring back to life.
Why These Top 10 People Defied Their Own Death Notices
10 Timesha Beauchamp
In August 2020, 20‑year‑old Timesha Beauchamp was declared deceased and sent to a funeral home in Southfield, Michigan. While an employee was preparing to embalm her, he unzipped the body bag and was met with the unsettling sight of her eyes wide open, staring back at him. Attorney Geoffrey Fieger warned that had her eyes been closed, the embalmers would have begun draining her blood.
Paramedics had arrived after the family reported she was “unresponsive” and, unable to restart her breathing, pronounced her dead on the spot. She was later rushed to a hospital, placed on a ventilator, and listed in critical condition.
The emergency crew maintained that they followed proper protocols, and officials suggested that undisclosed aspects of Timesha’s medical history led to the premature death declaration and the release of her body without further forensic review.
Southfield, Michigan, now faces a $50 million lawsuit over the wrongful death pronouncement, and the four paramedics present are also being sued. The suit alleges that the lack of oxygen inside the bag caused brain damage, adding a tragic layer to an already shocking mishap.
9 Analia Bouter’s Newborn Baby
In April 2012, a newborn in Argentina was mistakenly labeled stillborn and placed in a morgue coffin for twelve hours. Fifteen minutes after delivery, the infant was sealed inside the cold case, leaving the parents in anguish.
During a prayer vigil, mother Analia Bouter and her husband Fabian Verón opened the coffin, only to find the baby breathing. The premature child was promptly assessed and declared critical but stable, and the family named her Luz Milagros—”Miracle” in Spanish.
The mishap led to the suspension of five hospital staff members. Hospital administrators were left baffled, noting that obstetricians, gynecologists, and a neonatologist all concurred on the stillbirth diagnosis before the miraculous discovery.
8 Charles Crawford
The January 21, 1901 edition of The New York Times reported a baffling incident titled “Live Man Taken to the Morgue.” Charles Crawford, who had shot his wife before turning the gun on himself, was taken to a morgue after officials pronounced him dead.
An ambulance first brought Crawford to St. Michael’s Hospital, where Sister Soherta quickly examined him and confirmed the police officer’s suspicion that he was indeed dead. His body was then transferred to Mullins morgue, where an assistant named Joseph Murphy immediately noticed Crawford was still breathing.
While being moved from the ambulance to a truck designed for corpses, Crawford spoke to Murphy, astonishing everyone. Had he remained in the chilly, unheated morgue overnight, the cold could have been fatal, but Murphy’s timely presence saved his life.
7 Walter “Snowball” Williams
At 78, Walter “Snowball” Williams was declared dead at his Lexington, Kentucky home in February 2014. He found himself inside a body bag, and in a desperate attempt, kicked his way out of the sack.
The following morning, funeral home staff were stunned to discover that the presumed corpse was very much alive. He was quickly transported to a nearby hospital, where doctors listed him in stable condition. Coroners later attributed the erroneous death reading to a faulty pacemaker.
Williams’ nephew, Eddie Hester, who witnessed the whole bizarre episode, celebrated his uncle’s return from the “dead.” The man was scheduled for embalming but was relieved to be alive and well.
6 Valdelucio de Oliveira Goncalves
In August 2014, 54‑year‑old Valdelucio de Oliveira Goncalves, battling terminal cancer, was declared dead from respiratory and multiple‑organ failure. Two hours later, his brother, who had arrived at the morgue to dress the body, discovered the man moving inside the bag.
Goncalves’ feet had been tied, and his ears and nose were stuffed with cotton, yet he was clearly breathing. The Menandro de Farias Hospital in Salvador launched an inquiry, promising that directors would meet the team who saw the patient to clarify the next steps.
5 Larry Donnell Green
Initially, neither the paramedics nor the medical examiner realized that 29‑year‑old Larry Donnell Green was still alive. After being pronounced dead, he was placed in a body bag, transported to a morgue, and stored in a freezer.
Green had been struck by a car on a highway in Franklin County, North Carolina, in January 2005. His parents claim the accident caused irreversible brain damage and massive medical bills. The family sued the county medical examiner and the emergency workers for $20,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, hoping to prevent similar tragedies.
The involved paramedics—Randy Kearney, Paul Kilmer, Cathryn Lamell, Pam Hayes—and EMT Ronnie Woode were suspended with pay. Green was later moved to Duke University Medical Center, placed on life support, and listed as critical.
Medical examiner J. B. Perdue, while certifying the cause of death, noticed signs of life and ordered the same paramedics who had taken Green to the morgue to transport him to the hospital. County Manager Chris Courdriet admitted the error, promising swift corrective measures.
4 Premature Baby
A premature infant, born at just 23 weeks, was placed in a refrigerated morgue compartment in La Margarita, Puebla, Mexico, on October 22, 2020. When undertakers retrieved the tiny body for the funeral, the baby began crying and moving, startling the workers.
Funeral home owner Miguel Angel Flores called the father over, and together they witnessed the baby’s cries. The doctor who had signed the death certificate was summoned urgently. Flores marveled that after six hours in a fridge—normally used to preserve amputated limbs—the infant remained alive.
An investigation into the incident is currently underway, probing how such a grave mistake could occur.
3 South African Man
In July 2011, a 60‑year‑old South African man suffered an asthma attack. His family, assuming he had died, called a local mortuary instead of emergency services. The mortuary crew placed his body in a refrigerated compartment and left.
More than two hours later, the man awoke and began screaming. The mortuary workers, terrified they were hearing a ghost, fled. After gathering reinforcements, they opened the compartment to find a shivering, confused man. An ambulance was called, and after six hours of observation at a hospital, he was declared stable and sent home.
Eastern Cape Health Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo reminded citizens that refrigeration units are meant to preserve corpses, not living people. He also noted that rumors of a ghost might now circulate in the village, affecting the man’s social standing.
2 Rosa Celestrino de Assis
Sixty‑year‑old Rosa Celestrino de Assis of Rio de Janeiro was being treated for a lung infection when doctors pronounced her dead on September 23, 2011, at Hospital Estadual Adão Pereira Nunes. She was placed in a refrigerated morgue bag.
Later that evening, her daughter Rosangela hugged her mother, feeling a breath and shouting, “My mom is alive!” Hospital staff initially thought Rosangela was delirious, but a nurse’s suspicion led to the revelation. Rosa was transferred to the ICU, where she stabilized.
The nurse who first suspected the error was fired, and the doctor who declared her dead resigned, highlighting the grave consequences of the misdiagnosis.
1 Tom Sancomb
When Tom Sancomb’s girlfriend could not locate her 46‑year‑old boyfriend for two days, she requested a welfare check. Police entered his apartment with the building manager and found Sancomb collapsed, cold to the touch and in rigor mortis. Fire department paramedics did not attempt resuscitation, and he was pronounced dead at 2:10 am on May 19, 2015.
Later that afternoon, a team arrived to transport the body to the morgue. As they lifted him, they noticed he was breathing and moving an arm and a leg. His pulse returned, and he was rushed to Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s heavily redacted report withheld the cause of the bizarre event, and hospital spokesperson Evan Solochek declined to comment, citing privacy laws. Sancomb’s condition has been improving daily, according to his brother.
Top 10 Fascinating Deathbed Moments
About the Author: Gary L. Pullman, an English instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, lives south of Area 51, a fact his friends say explains “a lot.” He is the author of a four‑book series, An Adventure of the Old West, available on Amazon.