Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Brad Soroka, from WJTV News Channel 12, said everybody wants to hear from "the man who came back from the dead"

A Mississippi man has been found literally alive and kicking in a body bag at a funeral home after being declared dead.

Workers at Porter and Sons Funeral Home were preparing to embalm Walter Williams on Thursday when he moved.

A coroner pronounced the 78-year-old dead after finding no pulse when he was called to Mr Williams' home in the city of Lexington on the previous evening.

It is thought that his pacemaker may have temporarily stopped working.

Holmes County coroner Dexter Howard told the BBC he was called to Mr Williams' home by a hospice nurse, who said the man had passed away.

Mr Howard said he went through the "normal procedure" of checking for Mr Williams' vital signs, but found none.

'A miracle'

Mr Williams was taken to Porter and Sons Funeral Home and was being prepared for embalming when "we noticed there was some kicking and moving going on", Mr Howard said.

"He began to breathe," he added. "It was a miracle."

The farmer and school board employee was taken to a hospital for treatment, where Mr Howard visited him.

"He's still holding on," he said.

Image copyright Porter and Sons Funeral Home Image caption Walter Williams awoke inside Porter and Sons Funeral Home in Lexington, Mississippi

The coroner said Mr Williams' family were rejoicing and "just in a state of shock" after learning of his recovery.

Mr Howard said he had never seen anything like this in more than two decades as a coroner.

"It's an unusual case," he said. "I hope he keeps on keeping on."

Williams' nephew, Eddie Hester, told ABC affiliate WAPT: "I don't know how long he's going to be here.

"But I know he's back right now. That's all that matters."