Woman pretends to have died and spends a day lying in a coffin so she can experience her own funeral

A woman has fulfilled an astonishing 14-year dream of holding her own funeral - while still alive. Vera Lucia da Silva, 44, arranged to carry out her bizarre wish to lie in a coffin all day while family and friends pretended she was dead

Vera said ''I wanted to hold my own funeral 14 years ago. I've waited a long time and can't believe that at last this wish has been granted.

'When I invited my friends and family they thought I was joking and they didn't take it seriously.'  'I stayed in the coffin all day. The only movement I made was to turn my head to drink just coconut water and tea.

'Everyone came, my father, my mother, sister, brother and friends. When they saw me their mouths dropped open in amazement but they respected my wish to have my own funeral. It was the best day of my life.'

She said: 'To complete my dream I asked the funeral director to cover the coffin with the lace top and the lid. Then I asked them to carry me around for a few minutes as if they were taking me to my burial.'

Vera added that while she enjoyed the day, she is 'not ready to die just yet'.

Mr Araujo said Vera has been trying to persuade him to fulfil her desire for five years but he has always resisted up until now.

He said: 'Her husband has always been unhappy with the idea and has stopped her from doing it before. 

'But this time she finally managed to persuade the rest of her family to agree to the idea, so we went ahead.'

An excited Vera arrived at the funeral parlour at 7am on the day and started the preparations for her wake, which lasted from 9am until 6pm.

She admitted she has a fascination for funeral ceremonies and always tries to attend as many as she can in her spare time to help with the arrangements.

The extraordinary ceremony, which was held on the Day of the Dead celebration in South America on Wednesday, November 2, took place at a funeral home in Camocim, a seaside resort in north east Brazil. 

While her friends and family were against the idea, they dressed in black and visited throughout the day in a show of support. 

The owner of the Eternal Garden Funeral home, Paulo Araujo, donated the coffin and the space free to Vera, as a gesture of good will.

In a video filmed on the day, Vera can be seen having her make-up done and enjoying the moment. 

She messes around opening and closing her eyes causing her friends to scream with horror and laughter as she pretends to be dead one moment and alive in the next.

The married housewife, who doesn't have children, explained 'celebrating' her own funeral was an 'old dream' that she never thought would come true.

But she was determined to do it before she passed away.

Woman pretends to have died and spends a day lying in a coffin so she can experience her own funeral