Funerary rites are different from culture to culture. For the most part, in the United States, funerals are solemn affairs.
But as with any planned event, things can go sideways fast.
Reddit user AffectionateHand2206 asked:
"What's the craziest or strangest thing you've ever experienced or witnessed at a funeral?"
Silent Mode
"Someone's phone went off with the ringtone 'Staying Alive'."
~ Tiobrock
"At my Grandma's funeral, someone had Linkin Park's 'In The End' as their ringtone."
~ innosins
Not So Hysterical
"My family owns a funeral home. Years ago, you had to use records to play music at funerals."
"Of course, when there were no funerals and people were just cleaning up, etc... they would play other records."
"My grandfather had a funeral going on, and told his father to just play the record that was on the turntable, because he had set it up the day before."
"Unfortunately, someone had changed it. It was the Frank Sinatra song '[Give Me] Five Minutes More'."
"Hysterical now, obviously not so hysterical at the time."
~ RareBeautyOnEtsy
Same Style
"My sister looked a lot like my grandmother. My grandmother had a distinctive style—heels, a cigarette holder, wig, dress, pearls."
"My father—not always appropriate—whispers in sister’s ear, 'Why don’t you go in her closet and come out dressed like your grandmother?'."
"10 minutes later, we hear the click of the heels, the smell of a cigarette in a long holder, and a spot on imitation of her voice."
"My aunt, uncle, cousins all thought she was a ghost."
~ BMcCJ
Oils
"The lady who convinced my mother to ditch chemo and use essential oils handed out business cards at her funeral."
~ Thernuk
One Last Laugh
"My 12-year-old niece walking up to my father's coffin and tweaking his nose."
~ PattiiB
Traumatizing
"At my cousin's funeral, one of my relatives literally tried jumping in the casket with him."
"Really traumatizing experience, I might add."
~ Lovely-Bunnyi
Man's Best Friend
"My neighbor put her husband's dog's ashes in his coffin, labeled Colonel’s medals."
"The dog got buried with her husband with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery."
~ amboomernotkaren
Bad
"My grandmother's funeral was out in the country. Rolling fields, a few trees here and there."
"As the service goes on, I see a dog, trotting through the field next to the cemetery. It's a long distance, and the dog just lopes along, while a rather boring preacher droned on and on."
"I'd glance to the coffin, then back at the dog, but it barely seemed to get closer. I notice everyone facing that direction is now watching the dog. It just keeps trotting closer."
"It slips under the cemetery fence and now crosses grave after grave until he is only a few feet away. Everyone is watching it intently as it walks up to the casket, sniffs, and lifts it leg to pee on my grandmother."
"Suddenly every single person, in unison, leaned forward, some shaking hands and arms and made a squeal or a shout or yelled at the dog. It looked surprised and ran away."
"We all started laughing."
~ TeachOfTheYear
Blowback
"We took my father-in-law's ashes in a plane piloted by my brother-in-law. This was all illegal, but we did it."
"When my wife threw the ashes out of the front window, 1/2 of them ended up on my face."
~ lespaulstrat2
Together Forever
"My mother’s 16-year-old dog died of a stroke two days after my mother’s fatal heart attack."
"They were both cremated (separately, of course), and then we placed them in the same urn."
"The urn was placed in a niche in a national veterans' cemetery, but we couldn’t tell the cemetery representative because the pet ashes would have disqualified my mother’s internment."
~ lisa63k
Unpredictable Preacher
"At my Grandpa's funeral, the preacher giving the eulogy talked about whether or not my Grandpa spanked his kids enough."
"He said, 'Daddy was a hard man, but was he hard enough? Did he spare the rod too many times?'."
"And then he mentioned my dad and his sisters by name and said they should ask themselves that question when they think of their Dad."
"We were all like, WTF‽‽"
~ MarlenaEvans
Urn
"At my grandmother's funeral, I was more familiar with the idea of releasing the ashes. She, however, was in an elaborate urn that was to be buried, so that really should've tipped me off."
"As they were digging the hole, I—while surrounded by several much more qualified persons—was inexplicably handed the urn."
"Once the hole was ready, I was told to bring it forth, and as I made my way up there—in a haze of grief and nerves—tried to pry that bad boy open."
"I'm so relieved today at how well-sealed it was."
~ Robius
The Trickster
"My grandfather was always a trickster. He had a great sense of humor. He had this little song he would sing to me, my siblings, and my little cousins where he would just repeat the words 'poo poopy doo' over and over."
"At his funeral, my aunt was telling stories about him, and in the middle of her telling a story, my 6-year-old cousin screamed 'POO POOPY DOO' in front of 50 people."
"Needless to say, it lightened the mood a little bit and made everyone a little happier remembering him in a good way."
~ Lavenderdream1OX
Quietly
"Someone trying to 'quietly' open a can of beer while they were doing the closing prayer."
~ Dreamy_queenX
Ash Bomb
"Probably me and my brothers not realizing we were supposed to open my mom's ashes box and release the ashes."
"So instead we awkwardly dropped her entire box in the river like a bath bomb."
~ MysticMitts
What's the strangest thing you've seen happen at a funeral?