Priest Suddenly Notices Something WEIRD During The Funeral, Then He Quickly Stops Everything

In the middle of a memorial service, a priest notices something weird, which causes him to halt the funeral and call the cops. The truth he unearths is shocking and will lead to an unexpected arrest.

In the open casket lay Margaret Ellis, a woman who had been a regular churchgoer when she had been in better health. Father Gabriel remembered her quiet, friendly demeanor with fondness and was sad to see that the church was only half full for her service. In the front pews, her two children sat: a dry-eyed son whose face was unreadable and a daughter who constantly dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

Father Gabriel glanced at the casket one more time as he prayed for the deceased and suddenly saw something that jolted his heart. Her finger—was it moving, or was that his imagination? Surely, it could not be moving. Father Gabriel blinked. It had to be a trick of the light. No, wait—there it was again, and this time he was sure of what he had observed. Impossible as it may seem, he closed the book and took one step towards the casket. Did her eyelids twitch? It seemed so.

With long strides, Father Gabriel approached the casket. Every eye in the chapel was now following his progress. The funeral director rushed towards him, but Father Gabriel was the one who touched the woman in the casket. Her skin felt pliant—not cold, not stiff. He laid a finger across her wrist and felt the faint but unmistakable beating of a pulse. Yes, she was definitely alive.

Father Gabriel gasped loudly, and his faith wavered for a second. Had he gone crazy, or had Margaret Ellis come back from the dead? No, that couldn’t be. She must have never been dead in the first place. But she would be soon unless someone took action. Jolting himself out of his trance, Father Gabriel called 911 at once. Within a few minutes, paramedics rushed into the chapel to take charge of Margaret Ellis.

When the police arrived, the priest explained to them what had happened, even though he himself barely understood the whole incident. Long after everyone had gone home, the incident continued to haunt Father Gabriel. He kept getting flashbacks of those tiny moments. What if he had missed them? That was a troubling thought. But why had everyone else missed them? He was thinking of the hospital staff and the funeral director but also of Margaret’s own children. Something was out of place here. When he decided to look into them, he made an even more disturbing discovery.

As Father Gabriel strode through the long, tilted hallways of the hospital where Margaret Ellis had supposedly breathed out her last, he knew exactly whom he wanted to see first. Gwen Barry was an old acquaintance, a friend, an efficient woman of middle age who had worked in the hospital’s administrative office for almost as long as he had been a priest. He often coordinated hospital visits through her, and sometimes she even told him of patients she felt could do with a little moral support. Now, she was surprised but pleased to see Father Gabriel standing before her desk.

“Have I missed an appointment with the Lord, Father?” she joked.

He could not quite bring himself to return her smile and simply shook his head. “I came today to ask a favor.”

In as few words as possible, he explained to her what he was interested in and why. She nodded, understanding at once, and asked him to wait for her. Then she picked up her phone and made a call. About 20 minutes later, a young hospital porter arrived with a trolley loaded to the brim with folders. Gwen Barry helped him unpack these and stack them on her desk in an orderly fashion. She then called Father Gabriel and handed him a folder she had left to one side. It was Margaret Ellis’s medical file.

Although Father Gabriel was no medical expert, he knew someone who was. Sister Bethany was a trained nurse with several specialties, and with her help, he was able to successfully decode the medical file and its implications. Sister Bethany explained what each of the long list of medications was for and how they acted within the human body. When he saw her frowning over a few entries on the last pages of the file, he asked about her reaction. She pointed out several overdoses on the heart medication that was vitally important to Margaret’s health and stability. Another red flag she noticed was the sudden inclusion of a scheduled narcotic that was usually prescribed to insomniacs.

“This stuff can be very dangerous,” Sister Bethany said with authority, “especially since this dose is just far too high for someone just beginning with this type of medication. And with the cardiac problems, it is not recommended. Someone obviously didn’t know what they were doing.”

Long after Sister Bethany left, those words continued to haunt Father Gabriel. He was troubled by what they implied. Someone obviously didn’t know what they were doing, Sister Bethany had said, but perhaps someone knew exactly what they were doing and saw the slow manipulation of vital medical care to an innocent lady as the perfect way to mask an unnatural death, an attempted murder that had so far been successfully covered up.

A loose page fell out of the folder onto the ground, and this brought yet another surprising twist to the matter. Father Gabriel frowned as he read its contents and learned that Margaret Ellis had changed her will during her last week in the hospital, leaving everything to her younger daughter Claire. Was this legitimate? He realized that he really needed to talk to both of Margaret’s children. Using the unique sanction that his role as a priest afforded him, Claire Ellis was so jumpy she appeared to be afraid of her own shadow. She was overwrought with tension and something that Father Gabriel could not quite put his finger on. The worry of the past weeks had left its mark on her.

“I don’t know what to think, what to feel,” she sniffed. “When Mom passed…” Here she hesitated, and one of the tears brimming in her gray eyes spilled onto her cheek.

Father Gabriel gave her a moment to recover, then he said, “I understand. Please go on.”

Claire Ellis took a deep breath. “I thought her pain, her suffering, was over. She struggled so much for every breath. I was relieved that it was over. But now…” Tears overcame her.

Father Gabriel said, “That’s understandable. Normal.”

“No, it’s not,” said Claire, her conflicting thoughts laid bare. “Did I wish my mother was dead? I feel terrible. Perhaps I didn’t listen hard enough when she was talking, when she coughed. It was so difficult to understand what she was saying. I should have spoken to the nurses, the doctor. How did this happen? I feel as if I can’t look her in the eyes now. I feel so guilty that we almost buried her alive.”

Her grief and inner turmoil seemed genuine, making what Father Gabriel had to say next even harder. “The mix-up with your mother’s medication seems suspicious,” he began. “I have reason to believe that she may still be in danger.”

Claire’s face crumpled at Father Gabriel’s words. “Yes,” she said at once. “That danger is real, although I tried not to believe that it was true, that he was capable of such a thing. A few months ago, Edward came back and said he would help me with Mom. He said that he was concerned about Mom and me living in the big house all alone with Mom not being well, but he was back to help. At first, I thought that he actually meant what he was saying, that he had a change of heart.”

Claire Ellis hesitated. She seemed reluctant to put her own suspicions into words.

“Go on,” said Father Gabriel.

Claire took another deep breath. “When I was much younger, my mom told me to be careful of Edward, but I didn’t understand what she was talking about. I thought he was my bold older brother who lived this exciting life. But when he moved back in, I saw another side of him. The way he talked to Mom, belittling her with absolutely no respect. And after he came back, Mom’s condition worsened. But he said it was all in my mind. I’m so glad you did what you did, but I don’t know how to face her now.”

“I’m sure she would love to see you again,” said Father Gabriel. Although he did not voice this, Claire’s story had disturbed him profoundly. He prayed for courage as he sought the best way to approach Margaret’s son.

Edward was considerably older than Claire. He seemed like a nice, gregarious person, but Father Gabriel felt that there was something off about him.

“I hope my sister behaved herself in your company, Father,” he began.

“How so?” Father Gabriel asked.

There was something calculated about Edward’s hesitation. “Well, if you must know,” he said, “my sister has been an awful lot of trouble to our mother. She’s always been a wild child, sneaking off to bars when she was still underage and sponging off our mother. As you know, I have been away at college, but Mother phoned a lot and told me all about the things Claire got up to. When Mother got ill, I was seriously worried about both of them, but especially Mother. I could not leave her alone with Claire, who had no grasp at all of her responsibilities.”

Father Gabriel frowned. “Being alone with a parent must have been a huge task for someone as young as Claire.”

“Exactly,” Edward agreed. “Do you know that she sometimes mixes up Mother’s pills?”

“That is concerning,” said Father Gabriel. “You must be relieved that she is in the hospice now.”

“Yes, of course,” said Edward Ellis. “You know, Father, your sermon was beautiful, and the lilies—I bought them. You know they’re imported, only the best for Mother.”

After Father Gabriel had spoken to both children

of Margaret Ellis, he felt no clearer about the mystery surrounding her almost getting buried alive. Edward’s accusations were very troubling, but Father Gabriel did not like him very much. The man had an air of insincerity, and the Claire he described seemed a far cry from the sensitive young woman he had met earlier in the chapel. Who should he believe? Who told the truth?

He took a stroll to clear his mind and found himself walking in the direction of Margaret’s cozy little cottage. The place was still sealed off by police tape, but Father Gabriel paused to talk to the inspector in charge of the investigation, who was also a parishioner.

The police officer told him that they were stumped by the case. Although they felt certain that a crime had taken place, it would be difficult to prove in a court of law. Father Gabriel then asked if he could be permitted to look around. He remembered Margaret’s cottage well, and in the things he saw scattered about the sunny room where she spent most of her time, he was reminded of her creativity and her love of needlework.

That’s when he noticed that there was a piece of thread still stuck in the little spool. This was unlike Margaret, who had been meticulously tidy with her equipment. As he slipped his finger in the cavity below the needle to remove the thread, he saw that a tiny notebook had been wedged inside.

Father Gabriel removed it and took it to the rectory, where he said a prayer, hoping the Lord would forgive him for pouring over the thoughts of Margaret Ellis. The little book seemed to be a type of diary because the entries were dated. It told a story of the last days Margaret had spent in her own house, detailing how Edward had returned home and manipulated his mother into lending him a huge sum of money to start a business. When she refused, he had turned violent and stolen the money. His oppressive presence had leeched all joy and hope from her life. She appeared resigned to her own fate but feared for Claire’s future. In her final entry, she made the chilling prediction that Edward might try to end her life.

Realizing that Margaret’s diary gave testimony of the abuse she had suffered and her son’s attempt on her life, Father Gabriel wasted no time in taking it to the police officers in charge of the investigation. The battered little book helped police to build a case that would lead to a successful prosecution.

In the hospital’s intensive care unit, Margaret Ellis was given oxygen and hooked up to an impressive bank of high-tech life-saving equipment. After a few days, she recovered full consciousness, and with the right medication, she became more responsive. Even her breathing problems, which were related to her heart condition, improved. Claire Ellis visited her mother daily, and without her older brother’s toxic influence, she also seemed to flourish. She even managed to contact some relatives Edward had isolated her and her mom from. These included Margaret’s two brothers and their wives as well as several younger cousins. Margaret was overcome with gratitude to experience this bittersweet reunion. They shared memories and photographs, and she was able to give some precious keepsakes to each of these relatives. It gave her the opportunity to gain closure and find peace.

Claire Ellis, who had so often felt desperately alone under her brother’s tyranny, was grateful for the support of her extended family. The only person not included in their happy reunion was, of course, Edward. Several years later, the second funeral of Margaret Ellis sharply contrasted the disruptive, overbearing nature of her first burial. Yes, there were lilies, but also daisies, peonies, snapdragons, and roses—a beautifully diverse mix of flowers to celebrate a brave woman whose kind creativity and humble tenacity had won out against the brutal tyranny of a cruel son. Although Claire still shed tears of grief, she had been transformed into a confident young woman who mirrored her mother’s indomitable spirit. She was not alone in her grief either. This time, she was surrounded by uncles, aunts, and cousins—the family members who had been alienated by the harsh manipulation of her heartless brother.

Father Gabriel led the service with an easy grace that had been missing from that sham of a first burial. The only note of regret was a brief thought for that vindictive, spoiled man who was now safely behind bars and could not harm his family any longer. Had the family desired it, he would have been allowed to attend his mother’s funeral, but Claire had specifically requested his absence, and both Father Gabriel and the funeral director respected that. It was a cloudy day, but as Father Gabriel reached the end of the eulogy, a brief ray of sunlight broke through the stained glass window behind the altar to touch the dead woman’s face with a shaft of blue light. In death, Margaret Ellis appeared to be smiling. There was a brief flicker of movement, a strand of gray hair lifting briefly in a breeze no one else felt. After a final struggle and subsequent vindication, she was now at peace.