Two Weeks After Waking Up In Body Bag, Man Dies

Enlarge this image Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Walter Williams, the 78-year-old man from Mississippi who two weeks ago "came back to life once he was put on an embalming table," has died.

According to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard said Williams died around 1 a.m. Thursday. CNN adds that the coroner believes Williams died of natural causes.

As for mistakenly concluding in February that Williams had died then, Howard said that "every case I do is a learning experience."

The Clarion-Ledger says Williams' family is glad for the time he was able to be with them the past two weeks:

"We're at peace; we know he has fought a good fight," said his daughter, Mary Williams. "His sister was able to make it into town, and he got to see his last grandchild and all of his grandkids. That was a blessing."

The newspaper reminds readers that:

"The father of 11, grandfather of 15 and great-grandfather of six had gone into hospice in late February because of congestive heart failure. He was declared dead by a coroner the first time in the early hours of Feb. 27 when neither the coroner nor others, including nurses, could find a pulse. "He was transported to the funeral home, where he began to move. An ambulance was called, and shortly thereafter, he was back in the hospital, talking to family and friends. "Williams told family members, when they asked about his experience, that he thought he had just gone into a deep sleep."

Now, nephew Eddie Hester tells local TV station WAPT, "I think he's gone this time."

"The same coroner and the same funeral home director came this time, and when they got there, I said, 'I thought y'all were going to send somebody else,' and we laughed about it. Everybody laughed," Hester also told the station.

He adds that his uncle's story has been "a two-week miracle for me and I enjoyed every minute of it, and my family did too."