Miss. Man Thought Dead, Comes Back To Life On Embalming Table

A man in Mississippi whom the coroner had declared dead on Wednesday came back to life once he was put on an embalming table.

Nope. We're not kidding, and the county coroner and local sheriff have verified the story for news outlets. Here's how The Los Angeles Times tells the story:

"Walter Williams' family and hospice nurse called authorities Wednesday evening to report that the Lexington man had died. Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that he arrived and checked the body, which showed no signs of a pulse or heartbeat. Williams was zipped into a body bag, and transported to , where he was placed on a table for embalming.

" 'Once we got to the funeral home ... and got him on the table, he began to move and his legs began to kick and he began to take long, deep breaths,' Howard said. Williams was then rushed to a local hospital and stunned family members were notified."

The Clarion Ledger reports the family was ecstatic. They thought Williams was dead.

"I was thinking I was dreaming, to be honest. They had told me Daddy was gone," Mary Williams told the paper. "Then another phone call came in and I said, 'Oh God, this is really real.' "

Mary went on to tell the paper that Williams doesn't remember the ordeal and he told one of his other daughters that he just remembers falling asleep and then waking up in the hospital.

"He's got very strong faith and he instilled it in us all. That's how we know it's the Lord that brought him back, and not just man," Mary Williams told the Ledger. "Man might have said, 'This is your time,' but it's up to the Lord to tell us when. It's not our time, it's the Lord's time."

We'll leave you with a report from WJTV-TV, which captures the family's emotional journey:

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