Buzz
Posthumous marriage, also referred to as necrogamy, is a tradition found in various parts of the world. In some regions of China, ghost marriages are conducted as a means of 'appeasing the spirits' of the deceased. Meanwhile, in France, posthumous marriages are legally recognized, most notably allowing women to marry soldiers who perished in World War I.
Following a dam collapse in Frejus in 1959, a woman appealed to President Charles de Gaulle, requesting permission to marry her fiancé who had tragically died in the disaster. This request led to the passing of a law allowing posthumous marriage. Continue reading to explore tales of posthumous marriages across China, France, and beyond.
10. Cecelia Kleiman and Isaac Woginiak
Though marrying a deceased individual is typically not allowed in the United States, some have attempted to do so. Cecelia Kleiman and Isaac Woginiak tied the knot in a Jewish ceremony on Miami Beach in January 1987. Unfortunately, Woginiak passed away suddenly from a heart attack on March 10, 1987.
Unfortunately for Kleiman, the couple did not possess a marriage license during their first ceremony. Woginiak would have needed to provide a certified copy of his divorce from his previous wife in Venezuela, a document he did not have.
Rabbi Meyer Abramowitz, the officiant of the ceremony, is said to have gone ahead with the marriage despite the missing documents because the couple had already made arrangements for over 100 guests and he did not wish to cancel the event over a 'technicality.'
After Woginiak’s death, Kleiman took the matter to court, and a posthumous marriage was sanctioned by a Dade County circuit judge. A court clerk signed the marriage license in place of the deceased groom. However, upon learning of the union, Woginiak’s sons contested it, and the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami ruled the marriage to be illegal.
Kleiman argued that Woginiak’s sons simply sought to deny her the rightful widow’s share of Woginiak’s estate, which was valued at over $100,000.
9. Julia Pak and Heung Jin Moon
Before his untimely passing at the age of 17 in January 1984 due to a car accident, Heung Jin Moon was the son of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han, the leaders of the Unification Church in South Korea. According to the teachings of the church, only married couples were allowed to enter heaven.
Heung Jin Moon had intended to marry prima ballerina Julia Pak prior to his death, so his parents organized a spiritual wedding for the pair on February 20, 1984. Now known as Julia H. Moon, the general director of Universal Ballet, she has been known to share messages from her late husband from the spiritual realm.
8. Charlotte Kaletta and Friedrich ‘Fritz’ Pfeffer
Friedrich 'Fritz' Pfeffer, a Jewish dentist, appears in Anne Frank’s diary under the alias Albert Dussel. He spent two years hiding with the Frank family. Anne referred to him as 'Dussel,' meaning 'idiot,' as they did not get along.
Before going into hiding, Pfeffer had fallen in love with Charlotte Kaletta. However, due to the Nazi Nuremberg Laws of 1935, they were not allowed to marry in Germany as he was Jewish and she was not. The couple fled to the Netherlands after Kristallnacht, though their marriage would have been illegal there as well.
When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, Pfeffer was forced into hiding and eventually joined the Frank family in their annex. After their hiding place was discovered, Pfeffer was arrested and transported to Auschwitz in early September 1944, then moved to Neuengamme in October, where he was murdered on December 20, 1944.
Kaletta did not learn of Pfeffer’s death until almost a year after it happened. On April 9, 1953, she was finally allowed to marry Pfeffer posthumously.
7. David Masenta and Mgwanini Molomo
In 2004, in the small village of Ceres, South Africa, David Masenta tragically shot and killed his pregnant fiancée, Mgwanini Molomo, before taking his own life. However, their families wished to remember them as a joyful couple, so they organized a posthumous wedding for them.
The couple was dressed in wedding clothes and prepared to be united in marriage before being buried. Mathole Motshekga, an expert in African culture, explained, 'In African culture, death is not viewed as the end, but as the separation of body and soul. It is also significant because the families are united through marriage.'
6. Etienne Cardiles and Xavier Jugele
Xavier Jugele, a French policeman, was tragically killed by a terrorist on the Champs-Elysees on April 20, 2017. As posthumous marriage is legal in France, Etienne Cardiles, Jugele's partner, married him in a ceremony attended by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and former French President Francois Hollande.
Prior to Jugele's untimely death, the couple had been in a domestic partnership. This marriage is thought to be the first posthumous gay marriage in the world.
5. Christelle Demichel and Eric Demichel
After Eric Demichel's death in a 2002 road accident, Christelle Demichel went ahead with marrying him, even though he was not physically present for the ceremony. The couple had first met as police officers in Paris in 1997, soon cohabiting and registering as common-law partners.
The couple relocated to Nice to begin their family and had even set a wedding date. Tragically, when Eric passed away, Christelle was one month pregnant. Unfortunately, she lost the child in the weeks that followed.
Having studied necrogamy laws in law school, Christelle successfully convinced both her and Eric's families to support the marriage. The ceremony provided her with a sense of peace, and she reflected, 'With the marriage, I’ve been able to rebuild something that should have happened and also lay the foundation for my future.'
4. Chadil ‘Deffy’ Yuenying and Sarinya ‘Anne’ Kamsook
In Surin, Thailand, Chadil 'Deffy' Yuenying and Sarinya 'Anne' Kamsook had been in a relationship for 10 years before they were able to marry—after Kamsook had already passed away. They had planned to wed once Yuenying finished his studies, but tragically, Kamsook was killed in an accident before they could tie the knot.
In early 2012, Yuenying reportedly married Sarinya 'Anne' Kamsook primarily out of guilt for having postponed their wedding. He admitted that he felt he hadn’t done enough for her before her untimely death.
3. Ma’s Murdered Women
The practice of ghost weddings, meant to ensure that the unmarried dead aren't alone in the afterlife, can have tragic consequences. In Shaanxi province in 2016, Ma Chonghua was arrested for promising two women with mental disabilities that he would find them husbands. He then murdered them, attempting to sell their bodies for ghost weddings.
This wasn't the first instance of necrogamy turning sinister. In 2015, thieves reportedly stole 14 female corpses from a village in Shanxi province, hoping to profit by selling the bodies for posthumous marriages.
A study found that between 2008 and 2010, the price of young women's bones and corpses significantly increased. In 2015, an individual from Liangcheng County in Inner Mongolia confessed to the police that he had murdered a woman to sell her body to a family seeking a ghost bride.
While posthumous marriages often occur as a way for a grieving lover to find closure, it is evident that these ceremonies can sometimes be linked to sinister criminal activity.
2. Magali Jaskiewicz and Jonathan George
A tragic car accident in eastern France in November 2008 ended the earthly bond between Magali Jaskiewicz and Jonathan George, but France’s necrogamy laws allowed them to continue their union beyond 'till death do us part.' At 26, Jaskiewicz had spent six years living with George and raising two children together.
Just two days before George’s death, the couple had gone to the town hall to arrange their marriage. A year later, wearing the same dress she had originally chosen for the event, Jaskiewicz officially married George. Mayor Christophe Caput, who conducted the ceremony, remarked that Jaskiewicz had 'become a widow at her wedding.'
1. Janetta Gardiner and Kenneth Vanderwerff
In a rare case of posthumous marriage, Janetta Gardiner and Kenneth Vanderwerff were allowed to marry in the United States in 2014. They had been in a relationship from 2007 until Vanderwerff’s death in 2010 at age 78. Initially, a judge granted Gardiner’s request for a posthumous common-law marriage, which also made her the executor of Vanderwerff’s estate.
However, Vanderwerff’s cousins soon contested the decision, leading the case to the Utah Supreme Court. In the end, the marriage was upheld.
