The story of Mr. Le Van, 63, who is sleeping with the remains of his dead wife for years. The local administration requested him to bury his wife but he denied. The strange man has been living and sleeping with his dead wife for nearly ten years.
Mr. Le Van, in Ha Lam Town, Thang Binh district, the central province of Quang Nam and his wife, Pham Thi Suong did not love each other but they still got married. Their parents were close neighbors and they promised to match their children when the kids grow up. The couple fell in love after their marriage and they lived in happiness.
Because of difficulties, Van had to sell his spacious house to build a smaller one. He also quit carpentry to become a rock exploiter while his wife made incenses.
Though Le Van’s story is not new but many are still curious about the reason that a man dug up his wife’s grave to take the remains home with himself against the prevention of his neighbors and the local authorities. Why a healthy man has that odd behavior? Has the dead wife been buried again? Reporters met Le Van again to find out the answers.
Asking Van why he brought his dead wife home, he said: “At that time (February 2003), I was working in the Central Highlands when my family called to inform me of my wife’s death. I went home immediately and tried to stop people burying my wife. Someone said I was crazy and if the dead is not buried, her soul will not be saved. So I let them do whatever they want. One year later, in a rainy evening, I went to the cemetery alone to dig up my wife’s corpse. I put the remains in a bag. Afraid of being detected, I dug a small hole, put her in and filled it.”
Since then, he could not sleep at night, thinking of how to bring his dead wife home. He bought plaster, cement, sand and glue and stayed in the cemetery for days to make a statue of his wife then he put her remains into the statue.
“After two months, I successfully rescued my wife. My children were so surprised when I brought the statue home. At first they only thought that since I missed her so much so I made her statue. When I told them the truth, they were panicked,” Van recalled.
The children thought he joked but he took them to the cemetery and showed them the empty coffin, with only a torn blanket inside. They were stunned. They tried to persuade Van to burry their mother again while Van’s relatives criticized him for going again the customs and ethics. However, he didn’t care and insisted that his wife was still alive.
Le Van’s story has shaken the local and foreign media. Mr. Tran Trong Sanh, Chair of the town of Ha Lam, said in 2005 the local government received people’s complaints of Van’s case. Local residents expressed their worry of environmental pollution and the social impacts.
Van has been living with his dead wife’s remains for nearly 10 years, despite of other people’s view. He sometimes drops at groceries to purchase cosmetics. At first, people thought he bought cosmetics for his daughters but it turned out that the cosmetics is for his dead wife. He bought lipsticks and face powder to make up the statue.
He also cleans the statue everyday. He said he is responsible to beautify his “wife.” “Let’s see! My wife is as beautiful as famous beauty queens and models.
Agencies