In a story that literally no one saw coming, a South African funeral home had to get a court order just to bury a pastor’s body after his family kept him in cold storage for — wait for it — 579 days! Why?
Because they were convinced he was going to pull a Jesus and resurrect himself. No, we’re not making this up.
Pastor Siva Moodley, who ran something called “The Miracle Centre” (yes, that was its actual name), passed away in August 2021.
But instead of planning a funeral like most people would, his family decided to… just leave him in a Johannesburg mortuary. For nearly TWO YEARS.
Here’s where it gets even more wild:
- The funeral home tried to contact his family 28 SEPARATE TIMES
- They sent more than 40 WhatsApp messages (talk about being left on read!)
- They even had lawyers send letters
- And the family was just like “nah, we’re good”
The plot thickens! Moodley’s wife apparently told the undertaker she had a ~vision~ that her husband would come back to life.
And TBH, looking at his ministry’s website, we can kind of see where she got the idea from.
According to his website (which is still up, BTW), Pastor Moodley’s church was basically a non-stop miracle fest:
- Blind people could suddenly see
- Deaf people could suddenly hear
- Legs would randomly grow
- Cancers would just… disappear?
But wait, there’s more!
His website claims he already had experience with raising the dead. In 2003, someone named Caid Bailey supposedly became the first person to be resurrected during one of Moodley’s services.
And in 2013, they claim a literal dead baby came back to life after Moodley prayed for the mother. They even say people would lose weight instantly during services which, TBH, sounds like a much better deal than my gym membership.
The saga finally ended when the Gauteng High Court was like “enough is enough” and ordered the burial.
The funeral home was basically like “guys, this is becoming a health hazard” (which, fair).
In a plot twist worthy of a Netflix documentary, when they finally buried him at Westpark Cemetery, his wife and kids didn’t even show up. Only his siblings and extended family were there to say goodbye.
The real tea? Right after Moodley died, one of his church members actually asked the undertaker how long they could keep the body at home before it started decomposing.
When they suggested taking it to the mortuary instead, the family agreed — but then ghosted everyone when it came time to actually plan the funeral.
Editor’s Note: This article is based on reports from News24, The Zambian Observer and court documents from the Gauteng High Court case regarding Pastor Siva Moodley’s burial.