A 15-year-old girl in Guatemala reportedly regained consciousness inside her coffin during her own wake, hours after her family believed she had died. Yuleidy Ixcotoyac’s mother noticed movement while crying beside the coffin, and when the family opened the lid, the teenager reportedly sat up in front of stunned mourners.
As reported by IBTimes UK, the incident took place in the village of El Jocote, in the municipality of Sacapulas. Guatemala’s Public Ministry has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the case.
Yuleidy had been experiencing health issues when her father, Abraham Ixcotoyac, an evangelical pastor, was driving her toward a local medical center. He stopped the vehicle because he believed his daughter had stopped breathing, and he claimed he could no longer detect a pulse in her wrists.
No doctor examined her before the wake began
Instead of continuing to the hospital for a professional assessment, he returned home with her, convinced that she had died. The family set up a wake, and mourners from the village gathered to pay their respects.
Yuleidy had not undergone any medical examination to confirm her death, and no official death certificate was ever issued. That detail has become a central point for the officials looking into the case.
Her mother, identified as Ríos, said she had kept a sliver of hope that her daughter was still alive. When she saw movement inside the coffin, she realized Yuleidy appeared to be waking up.
The family quickly opened the lid, and footage of the mourners reacting with relief and excitement later went viral on social media. Another mother’s alertness made a difference in Wales recently, when she smelled solvent upstairs and found her 10-year-old had tried a nail polish remover eye hack.
Yuleidy later described experiencing intense pain and a heavy sensation in her chest right before she lost consciousness. She said she felt as though she had fainted, but no medical explanation has been given for what caused her to collapse or why she regained consciousness.
Her father has publicly attributed her recovery to divine intervention, describing it as a miracle. Investigators, meanwhile, are looking for medical answers.
Child protection officials have also been involved, and the teenager has undergone medical evaluations to determine her current state and the cause of her collapse. The investigation is focused on how the family concluded she had died without any medical oversight, as well as the nature of the medical emergency that caused her to lose consciousness.
Published: Oct 17, 2026 10:00 am