Buzz
Farewells are among the most challenging experiences in life, often met with reluctance. While unavoidable, particularly in the face of death, they are a necessary part of existence—unless you are one of the individuals on this list. These are people who couldn’t let go of their loved ones, even after natural deaths. They took extraordinary measures to keep their cherished ones close, refusing to move on.
10. Howard Lewis
Howard Lewis, from Pontypridd, South Wales, shared 34 years of marriage with his wife, Elizabeth. During the last five years of her life, Howard cared for Elizabeth as she battled Alzheimer’s disease. In 2005, he awoke one Saturday morning to find her breathing irregularly before she passed away. Instead of calling for help, he chose to buy a newspaper and act as if nothing had occurred.
For five months, Lewis maintained the pretense that nothing was amiss. Each evening, he would visit the room, gently touch her face, and bid her goodnight. To conceal the odor of decomposition, he kept the house at a low temperature and placed air fresheners in every corner.
When friends and neighbors inquired about Elizabeth’s well-being, he would claim she was doing well. However, suspicions arose when no one had seen her for months, prompting them to alert the police. Upon entering the home, the officers immediately detected the smell, and Howard confessed, leading them to her body. He revealed she had passed away five months prior. Although arrested, he faced no prosecution, largely due to the court’s sympathy for his situation.
9. Jean Stevens
Jean Stevens, a Pennsylvania resident, married James in 1942. They shared a joyful life until James passed away from Parkinson’s disease in 1999. After his burial in a local cemetery, Jean returned a few days later, exhumed his body, and brought him home. She placed him on the couch in their detached garage, refusing to let go.
This became a recurring pattern for Jean. Losing her husband of nearly six decades was devastating, but she also faced the terminal illness of her twin sister. Jean and June shared an inseparable bond, with June even marrying James’s brother. Despite living 320 kilometers (200 miles) apart, they stayed connected through frequent calls and letters. Tragically, June succumbed to cancer on October 6, 2010. Jean initially buried her sister in the backyard but later decided June belonged on the couch in her spare room.
James remained in the suit he was buried in, while June was dressed in her finest housecoat. To mask the smell of decomposition, Jean regularly doused her sister with perfume.
The authorities uncovered the situation after an anonymous tip about the bodies in her home. When questioned about her actions, Jean confessed she struggled to cope with death. She found it profoundly sad that life ends with no certainty of an afterlife. By keeping her loved ones close, she symbolically refused to accept their passing.
8. Chan Yung Tong
Chan Yung Tong and his wife, Katima Amy Ismail, first crossed paths at a Hong Kong shipping company where both were employed. Their relationship began modestly when Chan, while reading a newspaper, mentioned a movie he wished to see. Katima expressed interest, and they attended together. Their bond grew gradually; they didn’t hold hands until months later, when Katima slipped her arm into Chan’s on a slippery road. They tied the knot in 1959.
Due to surgical complications, the couple remained childless. They spent their years traveling the globe before relocating from Hong Kong to Victoria, British Columbia, in 1986. Tragically, Katima passed away in 2001 at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, with Chan by her side, holding her hand.
Chan never recovered from the loss of his beloved. Since her passing, he has visited her grave every single day. Despite being 81 and relying on a cane, he takes the bus and walks half an hour to the cemetery, braving all weather conditions. His daily pilgrimage is driven by one simple reason: “because [he] loves her.”
7. James Davis
James Davis first met Patsy when he was 11 and she was just seven. Years later, as teenagers, he asked her out, and their first date was at a strawberry festival. From that moment, they became inseparable. They married in 1961 and raised five children. Around three decades ago, they settled into their home in Stevenson, Alabama.
As they aged, Patsy faced numerous health issues, prompting James to retire from his electrical work to care for her. On her deathbed, Patsy requested to be buried in their yard. Honoring his wife of 48 years, James fulfilled her wish after she passed in April 2009, laying her to rest in their front yard near the porch, complete with a headstone.
Davis later admitted his error was seeking city approval for the burial. While private burials are permitted in Alabama, they are prohibited within town limits. A significant issue arose as James plans to be buried beside her upon his death, rendering the land unsellable. The city demanded her remains be removed.
Davis resisted, leading to a four-year legal battle that reached the Alabama Supreme Court. He lost the case 5–3. On November 15, 2013, he reluctantly allowed officials to exhume and cremate Patsy’s remains. However, he continues to defy city bylaws by refusing to remove the headstone.
6. Faizul Hasan Kadari
When Faizul Hasan Kadari’s wife died in December 2011, she feared being forgotten, as they had no children to preserve their legacy. On her deathbed, Kadari vowed to ensure her memory would endure.
Inspired by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, Kadari is building a miniature Taj Mahal in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. Construction began in February 2012, with the structure measuring 15 meters by 15 meters (50 feet by 50 feet). Made of sandstone, redstone, cement, and iron, the monument houses his wife’s remains and will serve as his own final resting place. Kadari has exhausted his life savings and sold family heirlooms to fund the project.
Kadari now faces financial difficulties and is uncertain how to complete the monument. Despite his struggles, he declines donations, determined to finish it on his own. As a retired postmaster with a modest pension, the 77-year-old worries he may not live to see the project completed.
5. Ruth Huber Bostic
Over 14 years, Ruth Huber Bostic’s home in Raleigh, North Carolina, fell into disrepair. The only area she cared for was her garden, where she often conversed with her plants. The rest of the property was in complete disarray.
Aside from her plants, Ruth rarely interacted with her neighbors. When she did, she shared strange tales about working in one of Hitler’s concentration camps. More often, she yelled at people and chased them off her property. These actions led to conflicts, with neighbors repeatedly urging her to clean up her yard. Eventually, she poured concrete over her front yard and garden.
Her neighbors eventually accepted that she was a mentally troubled woman living in a dilapidated home after her husband abandoned her 14 years prior. Ruth had isolated herself so thoroughly that her body wasn’t discovered until a month after her death in January 2010, when the mailman noticed her mail was piling up.
Months after her passing, authorities began investigating the whereabouts of Ruth’s husband. His Social Security checks were being deposited into a joint account, which was closed after Ruth’s death. The last confirmed interaction with David was in 1994, and while records showed he voted in 1996, there was no trace of him afterward.
The police interviewed neighbors, who recounted how Ruth had devoted time to her garden before covering it with concrete. Detectives broke the cement and excavated the garden, where they discovered David’s body. They concluded his death was not suspicious, as he was an 84-year-old man in poor health. It became clear that Ruth was a grieving widow, spending her days speaking to her late husband, which explained her fierce protectiveness over the garden.
4. Margaret Bernstorff
The Bernstorff family settled into their Evanston, Illinois, home in the 1920s. Frank and Lilian raised four children—Anita, Frank, Margaret, and Elaine—in the house. None of the children married or moved out, remaining there their entire lives.
Margaret was the most outgoing of the siblings. Neighbors often saw her gardening and described her as friendly. She was sociable enough that neighbors would help with small tasks, like delivering groceries. By all accounts, Margaret was a kind, elderly, and mentally sharp neighbor.
Margaret was the most visible because her siblings never left the house—literally, as they kept passing away. Elaine Bernstorff, born in 1916, was last seen alive in the early 1980s. Frank, aged 83, died in 2003. The eldest, Anita, lived to 98 before her death.
Margaret never informed anyone of her siblings’ deaths. When questioned about their absence, she claimed they had moved in with other relatives. Police discovered the bodies after being contacted by Evanston’s community health division manager. The remains were found in different parts of the house, covered with blankets, and all appeared to have died of natural causes.
3. Casie
A woman named Casie, featured on TLC’s My Strange Addiction, met her husband, Shawn, in 2008. Casie’s mother noted that her daughter had never been happier than during her time with Shawn. Their happiness lasted two and a half years until Shawn died unexpectedly from an asthma attack shortly after their marriage, leaving Casie a widow at 26.
Casie was deeply heartbroken by Shawn’s death, but her way of coping was unusual. Initially, she carried his ashes everywhere, talking to them and even preparing meals for them. One day, after getting ashes on her finger, she felt wiping them off would be disrespectful. Instead, she licked them off, leading her to consume Shawn’s ashes. Over five months, she ate 450 grams (1 lb) of his remains.
She describes the taste as a mix of “rotten eggs, sand, and sandpaper,” but she has grown accustomed to it. While this behavior poses serious health risks—due to traces of embalming fluid in the ashes—Casie’s primary concern is running out of Shawn’s ashes. She worries that once she finishes the remaining 2.3 kilograms (5 lb), there will be nothing left of him.
2. Le Van
Le Van and Pham Thi Suong’s marriage was arranged by their parents, who were neighbors. Though they didn’t start in love, their bond grew over time, and they built a family together, raising seven children.
Tragically, their marriage ended abruptly in 2003 when Pham passed away. Overwhelmed by grief, Le spent every night for 20 months sleeping on her grave. He even dug a tunnel to visit her when weather or other obstacles disrupted his nightly ritual.
When his children discovered his actions, they forbade him from visiting the cemetery. In response, Le exhumed her body in November 2004, encased it in clay, and painted it to resemble her. He dressed the statue, placed it in his bed, and has kept it there ever since. Le cleans the statue daily, applies makeup, and sews dresses for it to keep his wife’s memory alive.
Authorities have attempted to remove the body, but legally, they have been unable to take it away from Le Van.
1. Tsiuri Kvaratskhelia
For any parent, losing a child is the most devastating experience imaginable. While it’s natural to struggle with the idea of burying a child, it’s a crucial step in the grieving process. The harsh reality of death is that life must eventually move forward.
Tsiuri Kvaratskhelia is a mother who couldn’t bring herself to let go. Her son, Joni, passed away at 22 in 1995 due to unknown causes. Since then, she has preserved his body in the basement of her Georgia home, essentially pickling him in rubbing alcohol and wrapping him in sheets. She even changed his clothes annually on his birthday until 2010, when the decay became too severe to continue.
Tsiuri explained her actions by pointing out that Joni had a son before his death. She believed Joni was a good man and wanted her grandson to have the chance to know his father.
