A grieving sibling realized that their father, who had died 17 years earlier, was not in the grave bearing his name. During all this time, they had gathered on that of a stranger.
It is an unimaginable story that took place during County Durham. On June 16, 2022, Hilda Bell, 79-year-old woman died of lung disease. Soon her three children, Tom, Denise and Debra initiated procedures to rest with her husband, Thomas Bell, who died 17 years earlier. They therefore approached the funeral services to organize his funeral at Holy Trinity Church in Wingate.
A few days later, Tom Bell was flabbergasted when he received a call from the funeral directors explaining to them that the gravediggers had found a stranger’s coffin in the grave of their father and that the latter was nowhere to be found, as reported by the Mirror. “We really couldn’t believe what we were hearing” he confided before continuing: “Mom used to go to the hairdresser every Friday, take flowers and clean the tombstone. To think that our father’s grave that we have spent the last 17 years visiting is not his, it is simply unbearable“.
An error of circumstance would be at the origin of the confusion
For six long weeks, the gravediggers dug in no less than 11 plots before finally finding Thomas Bell’s coffin, while his wife Hilda was still in the funeral home. The story finally ended well since she was able to rest with her husbandin the good grave, even if the siblings have still not received a concrete explanation.
Indeed, a month-long investigation has begun to understand how such an error could have occurred. In the end, the conclusion points to a “mistake of circumstance” whereas several burials would have been organized on the day of the funeral of the father of Tom Bell. “I don’t really feel like we’re any further ahead. This still doesn’t explain what happened and it didn’t answer any of our questions.” he lamented.
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3/6 –
Graveyard
The funeral services told them that they had found the coffin of an unknown person in their father’s grave.
© Photo by Maryna Vladymyrska on Unsplash
4/6 –
Flowers
For 17 years, the family had gathered every week at the grave of a stranger.
© Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash
5/6 –
Graveyard
After six weeks of searching, Thomas Bell’s coffin was finally located and Hilda Bell was able to rest beside him.
© Photo by Rhodi Lopez on Unsplash
6/6 –
Burial
The family has not received any concrete explanation for this error. There may have been a misunderstanding on the day of Thomas Bell’s funeral, when other burials were also planned in the cemetery.