Elderly Man In Bangkok Keeps Body Of Late Wife At Home For 21 Years
Dealing with the death of a spouse is a very difficult thing. After spending so many precious moments together, to have them suddenly gone from your life can be utterly unbearable.
People resort to all kinds of methods to deal with the pain. Some, like the following tale, are more unconventional than others.
Recently, a Bangkok man who kept the body of his late wife at home for over two decades finally decided that it was time to cremate her.
The Thai foundation that helped him with the rites streamed the event on Facebook, and his devotion touched many netizens.
Man finally cremates body of late wife after over two decades
Last Saturday (30 Apr), the Phet Kasem Bangkok Foundation shared the story of Mr Charn Janwatchakal, a 72-year-old man who kept his deceased wife’s body at home for 21 years.
According to The Nation Thailand, Mr Charn had asked the foundation to help cremate his wife’s body on 29 Apr.
A foundation executive, who delivered food to the old man over the past two months after he suffered a motorcycle accident, was confused as she thought he lived alone.
When staff visited Mr Charn’s home, they discovered that he had been living with his late wife’s body. He would reportedly talk to the body, which he kept in a coffin, as if she were still alive.
Man was worried wife would not get a proper burial
The Nation Thailand reports that Mr Charn’s wife passed away in 2001. He kept the body because he loved her too much and could not bear to be separated from her.
While he initially planned to stay with his wife’s body until his own death, he was worried that there would be nobody to hold a proper funeral for her. Thus, he finally decided to cremate her.
Mr Charn’s two sons, who lived with him before his wife passed, moved out as they couldn’t accept his decision to keep her body.
Source: The Nation Thailand
The Phet Kasem Bangkok Foundation streamed the cremation rites on Facebook. Heartbreaking scenes of a devastated Mr Charn bidding his wife a final goodbye touched netizens, who dubbed him the “endless love man”.
After the ceremony, Mr Charn put his wife’s cremated remains in a white cloth and took them home.
Mr Charn is well-educated & served in the army
When a lawyer interviewed Mr Charn on 2 May, he learned that the old man actually has pharmacy and law degrees. He also used to be a medic in the Royal Thai Army.
Source: The Nation Thailand
Mr Charn shared that he plans to volunteer for the foundation to do good deeds for his late wife. He will also let the foundation keep its rescue boats on his property.
In return, staff will visit and care for him daily. They also gifted him with a new mattress, blanket, and pillow and helped fix his dilapidated house.
Hope Mr Charn can finally move on
While the thought of sleeping next to a dead body may be too much for most, Mr Charn was clearly too overwhelmed by grief and the love for his wife to be bothered by it.
Hopefully, now that he’s finally given his wife a proper send-off, he can move on with his life.
We also hope that Mr Charn will be able to reconcile and reunite with his two sons. Perhaps being with the family will help him overcome his sadness even quicker.
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Featured image adapted from The Nation Thailand.
