Canadian family lived with man's dead body for six months

[doggie]

This is just crazy. talk about blind faith.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/12/02/family-li ... n-4970565/

This is a story about one family’s unshakable faith in the Lord, and how it lead to a woman and her children living with a dead body for six months.

The Wald family was a law-abiding, God-fearing, religion-preaching family in Hamilton, Canada.

Peter Wald and his wife Kaling had six children, and they lived in a modest home in the appropriately named Saint Matthews Avenue.

The family drove around town in a van covered in religious messages – as was their home – and they even scratched crosses on the van’s headlights so it would beam the glorious symbol on the road in front of them.

They handed out food to the homeless and would perform little plays and skits – religiously themed, of course – in the backyard of their home for homeless folk in the neighbourhood.

But the Lord, in his infinite wisdom, decided to afflict 52-year-old Peter with diabetes. Thinking that perhaps it was one of God’s tests, Peter refused to get medical treatment – believing instead that the Yahwey would cure him.

Eventually Peter fell into a coma and died in the family home around March 20 last year. Instead of calling the authorities and beginning funeral arrangements, Kaling and five of the six children living in the house decided that they would pray for Peter’s resurrection.

And prayed they did – hard!

Kaling covered Peter’s body with two blankets, shut the bedroom door and padlocked it. She sealed with window, door, and all vents with duct tape – and then went downstairs to await his inevitable rise from the dead.

Neighbours had asked Kaling about Peter’s whereabouts but she simply replied that he was ‘in God’s hands’.

On September 17, almost six months later, the local sheriff visited the house to serve an eviction notice – they had defaulted on mortgage payments.

The Walds knew they were going to be evicted, and had already packed their belongings – including Peter’s – when the sheriff arrived.

Court reports do not record the sheriff’s reaction when Kaling unlocked the padlock and cracked open the upstairs bedroom door to reveal the still-unresurrected Peter – but it was undoubtedly one of the all-time most horrified facial expressions.

[SnazzyNazzy]

They should have thrown some "mortgage miracle prayers" into the mix.

[doggie]

well if we stop seeing pa dugger just find a sealed bedroom.

[Phoenix]

There are solid reasons why dead bodies are either embalmed within 24-hours in most of North America, cremated or buried within a week or so after death. Even with embalming they can't hold a corpse much longer than a week if you want a viewing.

Very nasty things start happening with decomposition and they happen fast. The family is lucky nobody got horribly sick or worse with a body decomposing in the attic bedroom for six months. Duct tape just isn't going to do the job.

Near the end of the article it states the local rats were not deterred by the duct tape which means those nasty microbes in play were being scattered all over the neighborhood.

I have spent way too much time talking to coroners and police officers and bottom line is there is no way to get decomposition smell out of enclosed spaces be they bedrooms or vehicles. Car collectors have also noted this. Sometimes a rare and valuable car will come on the market after a prior owner decided to end it all inside their vehicle and was not found for a long time. No matter what is done the smell cannot be removed and trust me they tried everything they could think of.

Good luck to the bank trying to sell that foreclosed property.

[doggie]

Good luck to the bank trying to sell that foreclosed property.

they should rent it back to the family they are used to the smell. :pink-shock:

[Koala]

Mom needs a mental health evaluation....really.

[BeaSnarky]

:pink-shock:

[Four is Enough]

:pink-shock:

I completely agree. How can people be so stupid?

Not only that, clearly the mother didn't expect him to be resurrected. She knew she'd be dealing with smell and putrefaction...

[JMarie]

Their van is almost as awesome as XGG's!

[Koala]

I did a double take when I saw that van. We know a family who has one that looks exactly like that. :o

[polecat]

I completely agree. How can people be so stupid?

Not only that, clearly the mother didn't expect him to be resurrected. She knew she'd be dealing with smell and putrefaction...

Yeah, I'm going to guess that fundyism is the least of that woman's problem.

When I was a kid, a mouse had gotten into the house, died, and made its presence known really darn fast. A tiny little field mouse. If a mouse can stink up the better part of a house within a few days, I can only imagine the stench that was coming from that attic.

[PennySycamore]

Yeah, I'm going to guess that fundyism is the least of that woman's problem.

When I was a kid, a mouse had gotten into the house, died, and made its presence known really darn fast. A tiny little field mouse. If a mouse can stink up the better part of a house within a few days, I can only imagine the stench that was coming from that attic.

My aunt had rented a wonderful old house in my hometown for herself and my three cousins while my uncle was stationed in Vietnam. One day after I'd spent the night with my girl cousin, we were all scouted up early (Beagle, too) and asked to go outside for the day while my aunt dealt with a mouse who'd gotten under the stove and died. My aunt spent the day cleaning that kitchen of the dead mouse smell. I think it was the first time I'd ever seen Airwick. I just cannot imagine how horrific a dead body would have been if a dead mouse was enough to evict all us kids out of the house that day.

[keen23]

My aunt had rented a wonderful old house in my hometown for herself and my three cousins while my uncle was stationed in Vietnam. One day after I'd spent the night with my girl cousin, we were all scouted up early (Beagle, too) and asked to go outside for the day while my aunt dealt with a mouse who'd gotten under the stove and died. My aunt spent the day cleaning that kitchen of the dead mouse smell. I think it was the first time I'd ever seen Airwick. I just cannot imagine how horrific a dead body would have been if a dead mouse was enough to evict all us kids out of the house that day.

My Dad bought an income property in the late 1980's, where the prior occupant had died in January, and it wasn't noticed until April. It had been a very cold winter. But he still wound up having to strip the house down to the studs. I was only a child, and I still remember the smells that would come out the door when we'd stop by.

[JBsHairspray]

Just finished reading this Canadian news article. I'm amazed, speechless.....

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ ... -1.1861076

[TXGirlInAMaterialWorld]

Seriously? This lady is definitely a few bricks short of a full load. I can just imagine the emotional trauma the kids endured- their mother making them all get on their knees every night and tell God how they know he can resurrect Daddy. There was a Contemporary Christian song in the early 90's that was a dramatic retelling of the Lazarus story that comes to mind. Those kids will need some serious counseling.

And the county might as well put that family back in that house- no one else will ever want to live there.

[lilwriter85]

There have been similar stories like this and whenever I read or hear of one, it reminds me of one of William Faulkner's short stories. There was a recent story of woman in NYC who kept her mother's body in their apartment for a few months. Then there have been several stories of people who lived alone and died and weren't discovered for months or sometimes years. Parts of this story remind me of the crazy faith healing cases in which people die due not seeking medical treatment.

[Four is Enough]

People don't recognize the hand of God when it's right there! Diabetes is treatable, but he relied on God! DUH! God gave you a brain to go to the doctor, didn't he?

Reminds me of that story of a man who was in a flood. Prayed hard to be saved. Rowboat came by, he refused. Motorboat came by, he refused. Raft came by, he refused. Helicopter came, he refused. Died and got to the Pearly Gates. And he said, "Lord, I prayed and prayed for your help and you let me die? Why?" And the Lord said, "Damnit, I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, a raft, and a helicopter!"

[nomoxian]

The thing that pisses me off the most about this story is that CPS was involved, determined that the kids were not in harms way, and closed the case :pink-shock: :wtf:

[Seven Severn]

There have been similar stories like this and whenever I read or hear of one, it reminds me of one of William Faulkner's short stories.

A Rose for Emily? I thought of that, too. I always do when I read about people keeping dead bodies.

[tropaka]

in addition to 5 of their children, 7 adults lived in the home at the time; they all had to have been part of the cult

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/12 ... ction.html

[VGL]

The guy in the apartment almost next to mine (there is a stairwell in between) died about 2 years ago. He had been dead about a week when he was found. The stench in the hallway was terrible.

[DGayle]

I completely agree. How can people be so stupid?

Not only that, clearly the mother didn't expect him to be resurrected. She knew she'd be dealing with smell and putrefaction...

MTE. Why try sealing him off if you expect ressurection? If he did come back, he'd be stuck, and could die again.

I wonder if they were getting financial benefits of some sort for him being alive, or thought alive.

[DGayle]

The thing that pisses me off the most about this story is that CPS was involved, determined that the kids were not in harms way, and closed the case :pink-shock: :wtf:

This is worrisome to me too.

[KnittingOwl]

I have no words for this. Those poor children. It's shocking to me that CPS closed the case.

I also find it strange that the neighbors noticed all the weird things, but didn't want to call police to do a welfare check or anything.

[acheronbeach]

Oh wow - off topic, but I know Janet Booy, the prosecutor in this case!!!