An 88-year-old woman in the Czech Republic shocked mortuary workers when she woke up after she was already placed in a coffin.
The terrifying ordeal began when her husband found her unresponsive in bed. Believing she had died, he called emergency services in Pilsen.
“She didn’t move, she didn’t breathe,” he told dispatchers, according to local outlet Blesk.cz.
Paramedics arrived, examined the woman, and declared her dead. The coroner confirmed it. Undertakers were called in to move the body.
But what happened next turned the tragedy into a medical mystery.
“The workers transferred her to the coffin, and when they were right here in the apartment in the hallway by the door, they found out she was alive,” the husband told Blesk.
An ambulance was immediately called, and the woman was rushed to the hospital.
This chilling case may sound like a horror movie, but it’s a real—and rare—phenomenon known as the Lazarus Effect.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the Lazarus Effect occurs when someone comes back to life after being declared dead, most often following cardiac arrest and failed attempts at CPR. The name comes from the Bible story where Jesus brings Lazarus back from the dead.
The National Institutes of Health has documented 74 confirmed cases in the U.S. between 1982 and 2022. Doctors still don’t fully understand how or why it happens.
In this case, one thing is clear: the woman was seconds away from being buried alive.
Thanks to sharp-eyed undertakers, she got a second chance.
