25 crazy and strange things people have witnessed at a funeral and they're mind-blowing

Losing a loved one is the most heartbreaking thing that one has to face. While saying final goodbyes, all the memories of the deceased return at once, making people emotional. But what if, in the middle of all this, the strangest and craziest things happen? An individual, u/AffectionateHand2206, asked on Reddit an intriguing question, "What's the craziest or strangest thing you've ever experienced or witnessed at a funeral?" People shared everything from the most beautiful moments to the most crazy ones they saw at a funeral. Some also posted about the drama they witnessed.

People in the comments spoke about hilarious moments like having an awful singer at the funeral, a family breaking into a song the deceased loved or a priest using the same eulogy at two funerals. Some even wrote about the beautiful moments they experienced at funerals that reminded them of the deceased. A Reddit user wrote about a blind cousin passing away and that their friends showed up with their dogs and they howled when people sang hymns at the funeral. Check out the 25 craziest and strangest things people have experienced at funerals and it will definitely surprise you.

1. A ghost?

"My sister looked a lot like my grandmother. My grandmother had a style, heels, a cigarette holder, a wig, a dress and pearls. My father (not always appropriate) whispers in my sister's ear, 'Why don't you go in her closet and come out dressed like your grandmother?' 10 minutes later, we hear the click of the heels, the smell of a cigarette in a long holder and a spot on imitation of her voice. My aunt, uncle and cousins thought she was a ghost." - u/CMcCJ.

2. "Poo Poopy Doo"

"Not super inappropriate, but my grandfather was always a trickster. He had a great sense of humor. He had this little song he would sing to me, my siblings and my little cousins where he would just repeat the words, 'Poo Poopy Doo,' over and over. At his funeral, my aunt was telling stories about him and in the middle of her telling a story, my 6-year-old cousin screamed, 'Poo Poopy Doo' in front of 50 people. Needless to say, it lightened the mood a little bit and made everyone a little happier remembering him in a good way." - u/lavenderdream10X.

3. Humbled

"At my husband's funeral, they were folding the flag over his casket, and one of the guys was bragging about how good he was, never dropped a flag and always had perfect creases on and on. As the corners came together, he caught it on the casket, ripped the flag, hitting the ground. Someone behind me said, 'That was xxx (husband's name) telling you to humble yourself because we are all tired of hearing how perfect you are.' Everyone looked at me, and I just smiled because that was my husband to a T!" - u/exotic_asparagus2185.

4. Wait, what?

"At my grandpa's funeral, my grandparents' friend tried to sign me up to sell Mary Kay under her while I was crying beside his grave. At the same funeral, the preacher giving the eulogy talked about whether or not my grandpa spanked his kids enough. He said, 'Daddy was a hard man, but was he hard enough? Did he spare the rod too many times?' And then mentioned my dad and his sisters by name and said they should ask themselves that question when they think of their dad. We were all like, 'WTF.'" - u/MarlenaEvans.

5. "I--leen"

"At the funeral of my great-aunt Allene (pronounced al-een), apparently nobody thought to tell the guy delivering the service how to, you know, actually pronounce her name. He kept saying it 'I-leen.' So we started giggling, every cousin, every grand-niece and nephew, her brother. We couldn't stop. We weren't crying because of the beauty of the service...we were crying trying to hold in the laughter." - u/chriskaufmann.

6. 'Awful' hymns

"At my grandpa's funeral, some lady sang hymns but her voice was awful. It was so obviously off-key and her attempt at vibrato was so bizarre that I wondered if she hated my family and was doing it on purpose, lol. Before she started, my mom had been trying not to weep because of her grief, but then the woman's voice made her and her siblings laugh. The terrible performance inadvertently saved the day. Roasting the lady, honestly carried my mom through the rest of that really tough week." -u/toss_my_potatoes.

7. Dogs' tribute

"My cousin passed away some years back. He was blind and had a ton of friends, many also blind. When we sang the hymns, the guide dogs present howled/bayed along, it was so beautiful. At the wake, I also saw a guide dog very carefully eat a sausage roll off the table right in front of his blind owner. I laughed and the dog whipped his head around to look at me, like, 'Oh shit, you can see me?'" - u/shackdogg.

8. Two families

"A story from a friend who helped arrange things and keep the peace during the event: Guy died and it turned out he had two wives and two separate families who didn't know about each other before his death. For some reason, they decided to have one funeral. One family sat on the right and one on the left." - u/jan30comment.

9. Party time

"My mom is neither a native English speaker nor is she one to think too hard. She organized her FIL's 'celebration of life' and thought it was supposed to be an actual celebration... like a party. So, she hired a DJ and had him play fun music. She even tried to get people to dance with her. My teenage a** didn't have the heart to tell her how inappropriate it was. I had hoped all the non-participating, frowny-faced, white people would have given her a clue." - u/MsGoogle.

10. A beautiful moment

"My best friend's grandfather died and they had a military funeral for him, which I attended. It was a small funeral, so I sat with the family. I had noticed a butterfly flying around where we were sitting, and as the man leaned over to hand the flag to her grandmother, it landed on his shoulder. It stayed there until he stood, saluted, and turned to leave. I don’t know if anyone else noticed it, but I thought it was a particularly beautiful moment." - u/[deleted].

11. Called police over

"We had my grandma's celebration of life at my aunt's house and her neighbor called the police on us because one of my second cousins parked her car in front of their house (on the street), so she thought that they were spying on her because they didn't know who it was. When one of my second cousins was giving a speech about my grandma, his brother tried to start an argument with him over politics." - u/seattleseahawks2014.

12. "Ta-da"

"My son was seven. I had prepped him for cremation during the car ride to the funeral home and explained why we were going to the visitation. So, we shuffle through the room, hug the family, and walk up to the urn. My son does his best 'ta-daaaaa' pose, complete with jazz hands and says, 'Here are the ashes!' Thankfully, no one was outright angry and most just chuckled because kids are kids, but I was mortified at the time." - u/babywoovie.

13.  Lol.

"During my grandpa's funeral mass, the priest had the mic too close to his face during communion. You could hear the crunch of the host in his mouth and it sounded like he was eating an apple or Lays potato chips. I went from crying (still miss my grandpa) to hiding my face in my suit jacket so I don't laugh at church." - u/tmps1993.

14. Advertisement 

"They used YouTube to play one of the woman's favorite songs with lyrics on a projector. Just after starting the song, YouTube started an ad that showed a woman straining on the toilet and it was not skippable. Everyone busted up laughing. The woman's husband said she would have found it funny, too." - u/mousieplanetarium.

15. Same eulogy

"My wife's maternal grandfather died and had a church funeral. The vicar gave a nice but somewhat generic eulogy, but it mentioned her grandfather often, so it seemed personal. About three months later, my wife's maternal grandmother died and had a church funeral. The same vicar gave the exact same eulogy and didn't even bother to change it at all. He mentioned her grandfather again throughout but never her grandmother at her grandmother's own funeral. I don't know if the vicar was senile or just lazy, but my wife was beyond appalled." - u/RCur113.

16. Awww...

"At her funeral, my mother wanted the theme tune to the 1960s Batman TV series (the Adam West version). She also told her older sister, my aunty, to ensure the funeral director was aware. So as the hearse pills up, and her coffin gets carried into the crematorium too, the speakers erupt into 'Batman! Dnadnadnadna Batman!' Resulting in a few hundred people laughing uproariously. She wanted people to remember that she wasn't always the unwell woman most of them would have known. She used to be a naughty little tomboy who'd only come in to watch Batman (her words). Also, there's a pretty psychedelic jazz flute section in there that made the whole thing extra surreal." - u/perdurabos.

17. Not this way

"My wife died suddenly at the age of 31. Less than a month later, her grandmother died. Different funeral homes. At grandmother’s funeral, the funeral director for my wife’s service came up to me, smiled, chuckled, and shook my hand saying, 'We’ve got to stop meeting this way.'" - u/veryoddlyspecific.

18. Sleepwalking

"During my great grandfather's funeral, while seated with my family in the front row, my baby brother, about five years old then, dozed off beside me. Mid-ceremony, I glimpsed him in my peripheral, sleepwalking towards grandpa's coffin. I rushed forward, scooped him up, and carried him back to our seat. We still laugh about that creepy yet amusing moment to this day." - u/neitherkestrel.  

19. Haha!

"At my father's funeral, after his brother had given the eulogy, they asked if anyone else would like to speak and a very nice woman who I had known for years said she would. She then gave a speech in which she talked about how handsome and cool my father was when they were growing up together. But then, when he came home after the navy, he'd walk around town and all the girls would swoon, wanting him to invite them to the disco, etc. Then she basically yelled and I quote her exact words, 'And he made a woman out of me.' It was a little awkward but more funny as that was basically my father, so most everyone just laughed about it." - u/blissskr.

20. Poor bird

"I guess the 'craziest' thing I've seen wasn't really crazy, but definitely memorable. Once, I saw a dove released at the end of a graveside service. Only, it flew straight into a tree and got stuck! It was pretty chaotic for a few minutes while they tried to get it down. Thankfully, they did, and it flew away, okay." - u/louiseleung.

21. Clap or slap?

"I got slapped in front of the open casket at a wake by a parent of the deceased after telling a joke. You could tell she didn’t mean to slap me for real, but she accidentally overdid it and the 'clap' definitely turned heads. We were both laughing at the time and everybody knew us because they loved the pulled pork my dad made for the family, so it was quickly made all good. One of the better wakes I've been to." - u/sisyphuzz.

22. Not a clue

"My entire family is not religious, but my one aunt decided that my grandmother's service should be in a church, a full religious ceremony. Well, when it came time for the hymns to be sung, you could have heard a pin drop. None of us had the slightest clue what the words were, so we just looked at each other and sniggled. 5 hymns total. The poor priest looked at us like we were a bunch of heathens invading his church and the building was about to be struck by the wrath of god. My grandmother would have loved it. She never went to church in her life." - u/arlee77.

23. Fight at a funeral

"I once attended a funeral where a fight broke out between two family members over inheritance money. It was so surreal to see people arguing and even throwing punches in the middle of saying goodbye to their loved ones. It definitely made for a memorable and strange funeral experience." - u/massive_hand_5772.

24. Taking pictures of everything

"A lady taking pictures of everything. Like taking photos of the casket or standing up in the middle of the pew during the eulogy to take a picture. It was the strangest thing. It was the father of an old childhood friend's funeral and hadn't been in touch with him or the family for years, but he was a close friend in childhood and his father was always kind growing up or whenever I ran into him around town so I felt like I should go. Sat with another old high school friend I hadn't seen in a long time and he had the same confused reaction to what the lady was doing. No one I talked to at the funeral knew what the connection she had to the family or why she was taking all the photos, but no one seemed to be bothered by it, so I guess it was ok, but it was just really strange." - u/sublimefan2001.

25. "Happy birthday to you"

"Kids were supposed to sing, 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' - one 3 year old, and two around 6-8 year old. The three-year-old instead started singing the other song she knew. 'Happy birthday to you,' which in Swedish has the lyrics, 'Yes may she live as a start. Then they all sang it instead—the first part of it." - u/glitterycakehuman.