Strange things always happen everywhere, even the one where a "dead" man comes back to life. A few years ago, a prisoner in Spain was declared dead by three different doctors but suddenly woke up a few hours before his autopsy.
Authorities until now were not sure what caused this unexpected event, but they believe the 29-year-old prisoner could have had catalepsy that rendered him motionless and unresponsive at that time.
Two healthcare workers brought the body of a man who died of cancer into the morgue of the San Jorge hospital in Huesca on March 12, 2021, in Huesca, Spain.
Man Thrice Declared Dead Went Back to Life
On January 7, 2018, 29-year-old Gonzalo Montoya Jimenez was found unresponsive in his prison cell in northwest Spain. WION News reported that the inmate was serving a prison sentence for robbery in the maximum-security wing of Asturias Central Penitentiary at that time.
As per protocol, two doctors on duty that day examined Jimenez and declared him dead. But to be sure, a forensic doctor was also called in and gave a similar diagnosis, declaring that the man was indeed dead for the third time. He was then put in a body bag kept in cold storage of the mortuary and marked with scalpel marks for autopsy.
But an unexpected event happened when authorities suddenly heard snoring coming from the body bag in which Jimenez was put into. "Forensic doctors began to hear noises coming from inside the bag. Montoya was not dead. Quite the opposite," Spanish news outlet El Español reported at the time.
When the forensic pathologist opened the bag, he found that the inmate was still alive and breathing. By this time, the man had already spent a lot of time in the cold storage inside the body bag to preserve his body but miraculously was found alive. He was immediately sent to a hospital where he was in a stable condition and regained consciousness after 24 hours.
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Why Was He Declared Dead and Suddenly Woke Up?
Although a spokesperson for the Spanish Prison Service said that they could not give comments o what happened to the man, they clarified that three doctors verified clinical signs of death and that it is unclear what happened.
But hospital authorities said that the man could have suffered from catalepsy. According to Science Alert, Jimenez complained of feeling ill a day before he was found "dead." They said that the man showed signs of cyanosis or purple skin color due to poor blood circulation or lack of oxygen.
Moreover, hospital officials told Spanish media that one of the probable causes of his catalepsy is because he used to experience epilepsy and takes medication for it. Additionally, his family said that Jimenez was not always easy to follow his medication schedule in prison, which might have triggered it.
What is Catalepsy?
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines catalepsy as a state of sustained unresponsiveness over a long period in which the body remains rigid in a fixed body posture.
As Very Well Mind reported, symptoms of catalepsy could include decreased or slowed movement, decreased muscle control, loss of muscle control, rigid body posture, slowed breathing, slowed bodily functions, waxy flexibility, and reduced pain sensitivity. The condition could be caused by catatonia, cocaine withdrawal, epilepsy, Ketamine use, and Parkinson's disease.
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