Writers Quote Wednesday – REBIRTH

It’s the middle of the week and that means it’s time for Writers Quote Wednesday. Today’s prompt word/theme was chosen by Colleen Chesebro of Silver Threading. The word is Rebirth. When I first read the prompt I thought, ‘What the heck am I going to do with this word?’ Then I thought of vampires. After all, they do die and are reborn into their new nightly form, but I had already used vampire for Haiku Friday. 

I think we have all heard stories of people who were pronounced dead for a few minutes and then were brought back. I’m intrigued by these stories of people who died and claim to have had a glimpse of the afterlife, so I’ve decided to share some of the more bizarre tales of people coming back from the dead.

– Kevin Santos, Brazilian Boy Pronounced Dead, Briefly Resurrected To Ask For Water . . . 

Little Kelvin Santos, 2, died a couple of weeks ago — or so his parents were told — while being treated for pneumonia. The child’s devastated family held a wake through the night. Then, an hour before the funeral was to begin, Kelvin sat up in his open coffin, and said, “Daddy, can I have some water?”

 

– Dead Man Wakes Up In His Grave in Yemen

A 65-year-old heart attack victim in Yemen had been washed and wrapped in special cloth, according to Muslim tradition. Mourners had placed him in his grave, and were preparing to cover him with dirt, when the man suddenly came to. He was not amused.

 

– Chinese Woman, 95, Comes Back to Life . . . 

Two weeks after falling and suffering a head injury, Li Xiufeng, 95, was found lying motionless in her home by a neighbor. The friend couldn’t wake her up. She was placed in a coffin and, according to local custom, was supposed to rest there for several days before the funeral. A day before the burial, her neighbor went to check on the coffin, and Li was gone.

 

– Dead Man Wakes Up During His Own Autopsy

A Venezuelan man, Carlos Camejo, was declared dead after a highway accident in 2007. Before his wife could arrive to identify the body, medical examiners began an autopsy. Camejo who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began an autopsy.

 

– When I Died and Came Back, I Left Something on the Other Side

Guido is my 75-year-old family friend. He’s been a lot of things in his life—a vigilante, a medicine man, a world-renowned visual artist. He would come over to my parents’ house when I was a kid with a loaded pistol in the waistband of his shorts. He used to live in Guatemala but recently moved off his land to chill out in Arizona. I went to visit him, and he told me about the time he died.

 

– To Heaven and Back

While in the coma, Julie had been given a glimpse of heaven.

♦

My journey begins

I sail black waves through soft mists

Paid the ferry man

His bony arms row the boat

To my final resting place

♦

“You know Americans are obsessed with life and death and rebirth, that’s the American Cycle. You know, awakening, tragic, horrible death and then Phoenix rising from the ashes. That’s the American story, again and again.”

~Billy Corgan

♦

Writers Quote Wednesday Writing Challenge is sponsored by Colleen Chesebro of Silver Threading and Ronovan Hester of Ronovan Writes. Anyone can participate by choosing a quote by a favorite writer then, write a short piece of flash fiction or poetry to share with us all. You can include photos, photo quotes, or anything else that helps to highlight your quote. Have fun with it! This week’s theme chosen by Ronovan is REBIRTH.