Corpse Waves From Coffin

2020Viral videodead

Also known as: Coffin Wave Video · Corpse Waving From Coffin

Corpse Waves From Coffin is a May 2020 viral video from a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia, featuring a corpse that appears to wave at mourners through its glass-paneled coffin, sparking online debate about premature burial.

Corpse Waves From Coffin is a viral video from a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia, where a corpse appears to wave at mourners through the glass panel of its coffin. Filmed on May 5, 2020, the clip spread across Indonesian social media before being picked up by international tabloids like the New York Post, Daily Mail, and The Sun in mid-May 2020. The video sparked heated online debate about whether the person had been buried alive, though scientists attributed the movement to postmortem bodily changes.

horror memesindonesian memesviral photo memes2020 memesburied alive memes

Overview

The video shows a standard burial ceremony taking place at a gravesite in Manado, North Sulawesi. A white coffin with a small glass viewing panel sits in the grave while a priest reads scripture and grieving family members stand around the site. As the camera pans to the coffin, the faint outline of what appears to be a hand and fingers can be seen moving under the glass, as if the person inside is waving at the camera2. The movement is brief but distinct enough to have sparked widespread fear and debate online.

What made the clip so unsettling was the timing. The priest was mid-sentence, reading from the Book of John: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, he will live even though he is dead"1. The irony of that particular verse playing over footage of a seemingly animated corpse was not lost on viewers.

The original video was recorded on May 5, 2020, during a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia3. One of the mourners filmed the ceremony, and no one present noticed the apparent hand movement at the time. It only came to light after the coffin had already been buried and attendees reviewed the footage1.

The clip first went viral when Indonesian Twitter user @DMenfess1 shared it on May 9, 2020, writing (translated from Indonesian): "SERIOUSLY, WHY IS THE ONE IN THE COFFIN WAVING AT THE CAMERA?"4. According to the Indonesian newspaper Serambi Indonesia Daily, the tweet racked up 152,900 views, 1,300 retweets, and 3,200 likes4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (Indonesia)
Key People
Unknown, @DMenfess1
Date
2020

The original video was recorded on May 5, 2020, during a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia. One of the mourners filmed the ceremony, and no one present noticed the apparent hand movement at the time. It only came to light after the coffin had already been buried and attendees reviewed the footage.

The clip first went viral when Indonesian Twitter user @DMenfess1 shared it on May 9, 2020, writing (translated from Indonesian): "SERIOUSLY, WHY IS THE ONE IN THE COFFIN WAVING AT THE CAMERA?". According to the Indonesian newspaper Serambi Indonesia Daily, the tweet racked up 152,900 views, 1,300 retweets, and 3,200 likes.

How It Spread

After circulating on Indonesian social media for several days, the video caught the attention of English-language tabloids. On May 13, 2020, The Sun, New York Post, and Daily Mail all published stories about the footage within hours of each other.

The same day, the Facebook page iHorror reposted the video with the caption "Guests didn't notice the 'wave' until after the burial and they looked at the footage," picking up over 1,700 shares, 1,400 comments, and 570 likes. Comments ranged from genuine fear to attempted explanations. User Joe Haley expressed outright disbelief at what was shown.

Also on May 13, Linda Ikeji's Blog, a popular Nigerian entertainment Instagram account, shared the clip and pulled in more than 50,000 views and 2,500 likes. One commenter, user real_ibnofficial, wrote: "Oh my this shit must have happen many times unluckily to people they buried with a full wooden coffin without a glass and nobody will ever notice".

Zak Bagans, host of Travel Channel's *Ghost Adventures*, tweeted the video on the same date. His post earned over 150,000 views, 8,600 likes, and 1,500 retweets. The top reply, from user jenn_northrop, offered a more mundane take: "Looks like the reflection of the woman wiping her nose to me".

Online reactions split into roughly three camps: those convinced the person had been buried alive, those who blamed a reflection or optical illusion, and those who pointed to scientific explanations. One Indonesian commenter suggested "Maybe it's a mouse".

How to Use This Meme

Corpse Waves From Coffin is not a meme template in the traditional sense. It spread primarily as a shocking video shared for its creepy content, often accompanied by commentary debating what actually happened. People typically share the clip in one of three ways:

- As a spooky or unsettling video, often with captions expressing disbelief - In discussions about premature burial or body movement after death - As a reaction clip in threads about creepy or unexplained footage

The format doesn't lend itself to image macros or remixing the way template memes do. Its viral power came from the raw footage itself and the debate it generated.

Cultural Impact

The video briefly reignited public interest in the phenomenon of postmortem movement. Multiple news outlets cited a September 2019 study from Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, Australia, published in Medical News Today, which found that human remains can change position on their own during decomposition without any external force. Researchers studying the decomposition process observed that ligament and muscle changes after death can produce visible movement, a finding with real implications for forensic science.

Despite the scientific consensus, the clip tapped into a deep and ancient human fear of being buried alive. The comments sections across every platform where the video appeared were filled with people expressing horror at the possibility, making Corpse Waves From Coffin a brief but intense viral moment during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fun Facts

The priest's scripture reading at the exact moment of the "wave" was from John 11:25-26, a passage specifically about resurrection from the dead.

No one at the funeral noticed the hand movement in real time. It was only spotted days later when someone reviewed the video recording.

The video went viral during early May 2020, a period when COVID-19 fears about death and burial practices were already heightened worldwide.

One of the most popular alternative explanations was simply that viewers were seeing the reflection of a mourner wiping her nose on the glass.

The clip spread from Indonesian Twitter to Nigerian Instagram to American tabloids within about four days, showing how quickly creepy content crosses language barriers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Corpse Waves From Coffin

2020Viral videodead

Also known as: Coffin Wave Video · Corpse Waving From Coffin

Corpse Waves From Coffin is a May 2020 viral video from a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia, featuring a corpse that appears to wave at mourners through its glass-paneled coffin, sparking online debate about premature burial.

Corpse Waves From Coffin is a viral video from a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia, where a corpse appears to wave at mourners through the glass panel of its coffin. Filmed on May 5, 2020, the clip spread across Indonesian social media before being picked up by international tabloids like the New York Post, Daily Mail, and The Sun in mid-May 2020. The video sparked heated online debate about whether the person had been buried alive, though scientists attributed the movement to postmortem bodily changes.

horror memes indonesian memes viral photo memes 2020 memes buried alive memes

Overview

The video shows a standard burial ceremony taking place at a gravesite in Manado, North Sulawesi. A white coffin with a small glass viewing panel sits in the grave while a priest reads scripture and grieving family members stand around the site. As the camera pans to the coffin, the faint outline of what appears to be a hand and fingers can be seen moving under the glass, as if the person inside is waving at the camera. The movement is brief but distinct enough to have sparked widespread fear and debate online.

What made the clip so unsettling was the timing. The priest was mid-sentence, reading from the Book of John: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, he will live even though he is dead". The irony of that particular verse playing over footage of a seemingly animated corpse was not lost on viewers.

The original video was recorded on May 5, 2020, during a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia. One of the mourners filmed the ceremony, and no one present noticed the apparent hand movement at the time. It only came to light after the coffin had already been buried and attendees reviewed the footage.

The clip first went viral when Indonesian Twitter user @DMenfess1 shared it on May 9, 2020, writing (translated from Indonesian): "SERIOUSLY, WHY IS THE ONE IN THE COFFIN WAVING AT THE CAMERA?". According to the Indonesian newspaper Serambi Indonesia Daily, the tweet racked up 152,900 views, 1,300 retweets, and 3,200 likes.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (Indonesia)
Key People
Unknown, @DMenfess1
Date
2020

The original video was recorded on May 5, 2020, during a Christian burial service in Manado, Indonesia. One of the mourners filmed the ceremony, and no one present noticed the apparent hand movement at the time. It only came to light after the coffin had already been buried and attendees reviewed the footage.

The clip first went viral when Indonesian Twitter user @DMenfess1 shared it on May 9, 2020, writing (translated from Indonesian): "SERIOUSLY, WHY IS THE ONE IN THE COFFIN WAVING AT THE CAMERA?". According to the Indonesian newspaper Serambi Indonesia Daily, the tweet racked up 152,900 views, 1,300 retweets, and 3,200 likes.

How It Spread

After circulating on Indonesian social media for several days, the video caught the attention of English-language tabloids. On May 13, 2020, The Sun, New York Post, and Daily Mail all published stories about the footage within hours of each other.

The same day, the Facebook page iHorror reposted the video with the caption "Guests didn't notice the 'wave' until after the burial and they looked at the footage," picking up over 1,700 shares, 1,400 comments, and 570 likes. Comments ranged from genuine fear to attempted explanations. User Joe Haley expressed outright disbelief at what was shown.

Also on May 13, Linda Ikeji's Blog, a popular Nigerian entertainment Instagram account, shared the clip and pulled in more than 50,000 views and 2,500 likes. One commenter, user real_ibnofficial, wrote: "Oh my this shit must have happen many times unluckily to people they buried with a full wooden coffin without a glass and nobody will ever notice".

Zak Bagans, host of Travel Channel's *Ghost Adventures*, tweeted the video on the same date. His post earned over 150,000 views, 8,600 likes, and 1,500 retweets. The top reply, from user jenn_northrop, offered a more mundane take: "Looks like the reflection of the woman wiping her nose to me".

Online reactions split into roughly three camps: those convinced the person had been buried alive, those who blamed a reflection or optical illusion, and those who pointed to scientific explanations. One Indonesian commenter suggested "Maybe it's a mouse".

How to Use This Meme

Corpse Waves From Coffin is not a meme template in the traditional sense. It spread primarily as a shocking video shared for its creepy content, often accompanied by commentary debating what actually happened. People typically share the clip in one of three ways:

- As a spooky or unsettling video, often with captions expressing disbelief - In discussions about premature burial or body movement after death - As a reaction clip in threads about creepy or unexplained footage

The format doesn't lend itself to image macros or remixing the way template memes do. Its viral power came from the raw footage itself and the debate it generated.

Cultural Impact

The video briefly reignited public interest in the phenomenon of postmortem movement. Multiple news outlets cited a September 2019 study from Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, Australia, published in Medical News Today, which found that human remains can change position on their own during decomposition without any external force. Researchers studying the decomposition process observed that ligament and muscle changes after death can produce visible movement, a finding with real implications for forensic science.

Despite the scientific consensus, the clip tapped into a deep and ancient human fear of being buried alive. The comments sections across every platform where the video appeared were filled with people expressing horror at the possibility, making Corpse Waves From Coffin a brief but intense viral moment during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fun Facts

The priest's scripture reading at the exact moment of the "wave" was from John 11:25-26, a passage specifically about resurrection from the dead.

No one at the funeral noticed the hand movement in real time. It was only spotted days later when someone reviewed the video recording.

The video went viral during early May 2020, a period when COVID-19 fears about death and burial practices were already heightened worldwide.

One of the most popular alternative explanations was simply that viewers were seeing the reflection of a mourner wiping her nose on the glass.

The clip spread from Indonesian Twitter to Nigerian Instagram to American tabloids within about four days, showing how quickly creepy content crosses language barriers.

Frequently Asked Questions