Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

[Brandwin]

http://www.wral.com/news/strange/story/3398201/

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Puerto Rican man has been granted his wish to remain standing - even in death. A funeral home used a special embalming treatment to keep the corpse of 24-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina standing upright for his three-day wake.

Dressed in a Yankees baseball cap and sunglasses, Pantoja was mourned by relatives while propped upright in his mother's living room.

His brother Carlos told the El Nuevo Dia newspaper the victim had long said he wanted to be upright for his own wake: "He wanted to be happy, standing."

The owner of the Marin Funeral Home, Damaris Marin, told The Associated Press the mother asked him to fulfill her dead son's last wish.

Pantoja was found dead Friday underneath a bridge in San Juan and buried Monday. Police are investigating.

[Graphik]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Thats some creepy stuff right there. How can you sleep at night knowing there is a standing corpse in your living room. Imagine going to get a snack in the middle of the night and you forget that there is a corpse standing there watching you. I'd soil myself.

[DakkoN]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Thats some creepy stuff right there. How can you sleep at night knowing there is a standing corpse in your living room. Imagine going to get a snack in the middle of the night and you forget that there is a corpse standing there watching you. I'd soil myself.

It says it's only for the 3 day wake..

[DC]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Dumb.....

[nyisles16]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

just like the dude who was placed on a chair in front of a TV to "watch" a Steelers game.. Some people are just a little crazy.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

It says it's only for the 3 day wake..

Still though, that is some creepy mess though. Just the thought that you gotta dead body in the house posted up just chilling in the corner lol.

I know if/when I die, I want to be posted up in front of the TV with nothing but Packer games showing. Let me go out doing what I love to do the most.

At least he's going out in style with the Gabbana shades and the NY fitted.

[Scott]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

That's pretty creepy...

[mgoblue]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Kinda sad when someone that young is planning for his funeral like this...Makes me wonder if he was into some bad crowds or something...

Either way it's creepy as hell.

[TarHeelMan]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Still though, that is some creepy mess though. Just the thought that you gotta dead body in the house posted up just chilling in the corner lol.

My wife says that in Puerto Rico, it's a common thing to have the wake in the person's house, for like 2-3 days. When her grandfather died a couple of years ago, they had the wake in NY at the funeral home, then flew him to Puerto Rico and had him laid out in a relative's home before they buried him.

It's such a ripoff, IMO. Cremation all the way. You don't want to have images burned into your mind of your loved one looking all stiff and lifeless. When my father passed away, it was much easier on my mother to not have to sit there and watch him laid out in a box, especially if he ended up not looking like himself.

[TarHeelMan]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Kinda sad when someone that young is planning for his funeral like this...Makes me wonder if he was into some bad crowds or something...

Either way it's creepy as hell.

I read on another website that he was found shot to death, so it could very well be that he was into some bad stuff and it caught up with him. A lot of cats who are into that lifestyle generally don't expect to live long lives. Sad commentary, really.

[Herbsinator]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

I know when I die, I want to be posted up in front of the TV with nothing but Packer games showing. Let me go out doing what I love to do the most.

Fixed for you. There's no if about it. Sorry...

[Pared]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Albeit not standing, this is actually tradition in Puerto Rico.

It's tradition for the wake to be over multiple days and the dead stay in the home, typically in an open casket.

Some may find it creepy but it's no different than any other cultural practice.

[stiffarmleft]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Is he holding his junk.

[ChubbyBanana]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Is he holding his junk.

It does look like it.


They kind of posed him to look like he belongs in a Hip-Hop video. I can see it now. The "Weekend at Bernies Remix feat. Lil Wayne".


I assumed he was into some bad stuff, from the way the article said he was found "Under a Bridge". Then again, you know what happens when you assume.

[fistofrage]

Re: Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake

Well if you have ever been in a house built before 1900 most of them have parlors in them...You guessed it, the dead would stay in the parlor for 3 days so all the relatives could come and say goodbye.