Terrifying moment corpse 'waves' from inside coffin sparking 'buried alive' fears

Mourners were left horrified after the corpse appears to wave [Photo: ViralPress]

Haunting footage shows the moment a corpse appears to wave from inside a coffin.

The video shows friends and family members gathered around as a priest reads prayers while the person is being buried.

However, as the camera zooms in on the white coffin, which has a clear glass panel on it, there appears to be a hand and fingers moving underneath.

The disturbing footage was filed in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia on May 5.

During the service, the priest is heard saying: "God has said in the book of John. I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me he will live even though he is dead," Daily Mail reports.

Just seconds after the speech is when the hand appears to be waving from the coffin.

The video sparked debate as to whether the movement was from the corpse.

One person wrote: "Yes, he waved, maybe he was still alive and try to dig his way out."

But another theory is that "maybe it's a mouse", Toink Khan said.

Despite the various claims, it is likely that the corpse was moving due to decomposition.

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Last year, a study revealed that dead bodies move ‘significantly’ as they decompose.

Researchers at the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER) carried out the research, where they set up time-lapse cameras to study how dead bodies move.

Mourners at the funeral could see the body through a glass panel on the coffin [Photo: ViralPress]

The cameras filmed the bodies at 30-minute intervals, and revealed that the arms were ‘significantly moving.’

Speaking to  ABC News, Alyson Wilson, a researcher involved in the project, said: “What we found was that the arms were significantly moving, so that arms that started off down beside the body ended up out to the side of the body.”

While you might think that the movements would be subtle, according to the researchers, this isn’t the case at all.

Dr Xanthe Mallet, who supervised the study, said: “I think people will be surprised at just how much movement there was, because I was amazed when I saw it, especially how much the arms were moving. It was astounding.”

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The researchers believe that the movement is caused by the build-up of gas in the body in the early to mid-stages of decomposition.

This means that watching a dead body’s movements could help to establish the time since death, according to the researchers.

Ms Wilson added: “This research is very important to help law enforcement to solve crime and it also assists in disaster investigations.

"It's important for victims and victims' families, and in a lot of cases it gives the victim a voice to tell their last story."