12 Crazy Deathcare Rumors Debunked (or Confirmed!) by Snopes

Did you know that President Biden won the 2020 election through fraud? Or that Rihanna is five months pregnant again even though she just gave birth in August? Or that the COVID vaccines were deadly and caused really stringy blood clots? Yeah … Nah. These are all examples of what one politician dubbed “fake news” — and they definitely won’t be the last fake headlines that you’ll find on social media and elsewhere. Artificial intelligence and widespread misinformation is keeping the folks at the 417 active fact-checking sites super busy — including those at Snopes. Snopes has been keeping folks honest since the early 1990s; it’s the site everyone should visit before sharing any even slightly questionable tweet, post, or video.

At least we can all be thankful that Snopes has clarified the following 12 rumors about deathcare. Can you tell which ones Snopes has debunked as satire or outright lies and which they’ve confirmed as true? The answers (at the bottom of the page) might surprise you!

Was an Exhausted Funeral Home Employee Cremated by Mistake?

In 2020, a New York mortician named Michael Jones, exhausted from working 16 hours straight during the COVID outbreak, was accidentally cremated by a coworker after taking a nap on a gurney.

Was Donald Trump ‘Ordered’ to Stay Away from Barbara Bush’s Funeral?

When former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away in 2018, her sons told then-President Donald Trump he was not allowed to attend her funeral “in honor of [their] mother’s beliefs.”

Was Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Hearse Used for Brigham Young’s Funeral?

Walt Disney was committed to providing an “authentic” experience for Disneyland visitors, so he purchased an actual horse-drawn hearse for the park’s Haunted Mansion attraction — a hearse that had, in fact, ushered the body of the legendary Brigham Young to his final resting place.

Did a Funeral Home Owner’s Son Build a ‘Sex Doll’ Out of Body Parts?

We’ve seen some terrible atrocities within deathcare this year, but this 2017 event was pretty detestable in its own right. In December of that year ABC News reported that the son of a Milwaukee funeral home owner took parts from bodies to construct a sex doll. Steven Adams’ creepy crime was only found out when authorities exhumed the incomplete body of a young female cold case victim.

Did Thieves Mistake Cremains for Cocaine?

After Nathan Radlich’s house was burgled, police hypothesized that the thieves took “generic white cardboard box filled with grayish-white powder” because they mistook it for cocaine. Only after Radlich went on TV to beg the thieves to return the cremains of his deceased sister did the box appear on his doorstep with a note saying, “Sorry we snorted your sister.”

Was Teddy Roosevelt Pictured Watching Lincoln’s Funeral?

A 2022 TikTok video revealed that a little boy photographed watching Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 funeral procession from an open second-story New York window was a six-year-old Theodore Roosevelt.

Did a Funeral Home Advertise Using the Slogan ‘Don’t Get Vaccinated’?

It’s not often that a funeral home goes viral and makes national headlines. But when the message “Don’t Get Vaccinated” appeared next to the name “Wilmore Funeral Home,” both virality and news were made. At the height of the COVID pandemic, Carolina Panthers fans noticed a truck displaying this stark message circling around the stadium.

Did Pope Benedict XVI Request that Biden Not Attend His Funeral?

When Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on Dec. 31, 2022, his constituents specifically omitted U.S. President Joe Biden from the funeral invitation list — even though Biden is Catholic.

Was a Hearse Towed Away During the Middle of a Funeral?

No one would believe this one if it hadn’t been captured on film — which it was, in early 2010. Sadly, as pallbearers exited a London church with a coffin perched on their six shoulders, prepared to place said coffin in the waiting hearse, they were stunned to see said hearse being towed away on a flatbed truck, presumably because it was parked in a fire lane. Oops!

Did an Elephant Return to a Woman’s Funeral After Trampling Her to Death?

Elephants never forget … to visit the funerals of the people they murdered. Last year an older woman was trampled to death by an elephant as she collected water outside a wildlife sanctuary in India. During her funeral service later that day, the elephant returned, terrorizing her village and mauling her body.

Was a Russian Woman ‘Embalmed Alive’ with a ‘Formalin Drip’?

In 2018, Ekaterina Fedyaeva’s mother accused medics of murdering her daughter after mistakenly putting an embalming-fluid-like substance into the 28-year-old Russian woman’s IV drip, effectively “embalming her alive.”

Did the FBI Seize Over 3,000 Penises During a Raid at Morgue Employee’s Home?

Eww. FBI agents made an unfortunate and quite shocking discovery when they raided the home of a 54-year-old Texas mortuary employee in 2017: more than 3,000 embalmed penises (penii?). The man was thought to be part of an organ trafficking network, but those particular organs weren’t necessarily what they expected to find.