8 Creepy Stories From Funeral Homes & Crematoriums That Will Haunt You Forever

There is nothing creepier than abandoned funeral houses and crematoriums. A place where the dead are buried or cremated to enter another world leaving behind their existing lives. It is unsettling to even visit these places just because of the eerie and the haunted feeling. If you have to go to one, it's because you've lost someone, or you are close to someone who lost someone, or even worse, you're the one in the casket. If funeral homes and crematoriums weren't creepy enough on their own, they are also the setting for some truly disturbing and bizarre stories.

Disclaimer: Some of these stories might be very disturbing, it is advised to read if you are not too sensitive to horrific tales.

Bobby Wilks: The Man Who Wouldn't Bury The Dead

In 1988, a 51-year-old experienced funeral director would always advise families of the deceased not to watch the body as the casket is being lowered for it might be difficult for the families. While families heeded his advice, once when he gave the gravespite, the family of the deceased walked a little away but kept one eye on Wilks. That's when they saw Wilks throw some potted flowers into the grave and he didn't put on the lid of the vault, a $375 add-on that Wilks had sold them. They went to the police and they arrested Wilks. The only way to check the claims of others who complained against him, was to exhume bodies that were buried by Wilks and 30 graves in all were dug up. At least 10 coffins were stuffed with garbage like bottles, dirty diapers, used cans of dog food, and bags of hair. At least two coffins were buried on their side and one had an arm sticking out of the coffin. That suggests that Wilks didn't lower the caskets, they were just dumped in. In October 1989, Wilks pleaded guilty to 48 different charges and was sentenced to 28 years and 11 months in prison.

Mark Calebs: The Man Who Stole From The Deceased

Shortly after midnight on June 27, 1998, the staff of a funeral home in London, Kentucky, was alerted that there had been a break in. They looked around and nothing seemed to be missing. That is until they looked in the casket of nine-year-old Brittany Rae Bradley. The poor thing passed away after battling a rare cancer for 2 years. And as for what was missing, well, that was her underwear. Probes revealed that Mark had stolen the deceased's undergarment but there were no traces of any sexual abuses. Calebs was charged with third degree burglary, abuse of a corpse, theft, and criminal mischief.

Mark Villella: The Man Who Killed His Wife To Avoid Divorce Expenses

On August 01, 1999, funeral director Mark and his wife Exelee had a terrible argument leading to a huge fight. Exelee called her sister and told her about the spat between her and her husband, but her sister got worried when Exelee did not contact her since 3 days post the fight. Her missing report was filed and the investigations began. Families were doubtful that Exelee would abandon her 18-month-old toddler and walk out of the house. On the same day that police interviewed him, Mark hosted a closed casket funeral for 89-year-old Marjorie Hutchison. The police had reason to believe that Mark put Exelee's body in the same casket as Hutchinson and buried them together. 3 weeks after Exelee went missing, they confronted Mark and they told him they were going to exhume Hutchinson's casket, so he confessed to stabbing Exelee in the heat of the moment. Mark didn't want to go through a costly divorce and he didn't want to share custody of their son. He pleaded guilty and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Anthony Parisi- The Man With A Missing Head

In July 1986, Anthony Parisi passed away at the age of 83. Parisi, a co-founder of a grocery store in Mount Vernon, New York, died of natural causes and his body was being held at the Yannantuono Funeral Home. On July 26, the employees of the funeral home went to prepare Parisi for his burial and when they looked into his casket, they discovered that his head was missing. The police were called and they speculated that someone broke into the funeral home during midnight, and used a razor/scalpel to remove the head. Once the head was cut off, the intruder took it with them. Nothing else in the funeral home was stolen or perturbed. There weren't even signs of a break in. The police were baffled by the case. They have no idea who stole the head, why it was stolen, and they don't know what happened to it because it was never found.

Julie Mott- Whose Body Was Stolen From Her Casket

A pretty young 26-year-old woman who lost her life battling against cystic fibrosis left behind a mysterious case post her death. While the funeral should have been part of the grieving process for Mott's friends and family, the funeral was the start of a new nightmare. Sometime after the visitation and just before closing of the funeral home, someone took away Julie's body. The police and family are stunned with this for no one knows who has actually stolen the body. Theories of an obsessive unidentified boyfriend, involvement of the funeral home itself have been formed, but it is still unknown as to how and where did Julie's body disappear.

Robert Winston- The Man Who Stored Dead Fetuses In His Garage

Never good at business, Robert Winston got in to the funeral business after his retirement as an electrician. He was never good at handling finances and so would always be in debts and by late 2000s he had absolutely no money to pay his bills. His one source of steady income was Magee-Women's hospital who gave him dead fetuses and newborns to cremate. He would simply take that money and pay his bills without having a penny to cremate them. So he started storing them at the funeral home. In March 2004, his license was suspended for three years for not storing the fetuses, but for running an unlicensed funeral home and he didn't notify the state that he was selling prearranged funeral plans. With no license and no money, he started doing something unbelievable. In August 2005, his ex-wife called the police and she told them that he may be storing bodies in his garage. The police searched the garage and inside they found 179 fetuses that were over 16 weeks of gestation, 154 fetuses that were under 16 weeks of gestation, 253 biohazard containers containing unspecified fetal autopsy remains, and the remains of 19 newborns that were born alive but died shortly after birth. Police believed that all the remains came from the hospital between 2000 and 2002.

Michael Mastromarino- The Man Who Transplanted Organs From The Deceased Illegally

Transplantation of bones and tissues from a deceased body isn't something unnatural and uncommon. However, there are 4 primary rules that one must comply to, First, they have to have permission from the deceased and/or the family; second, the person couldn't have had any communicable diseases; third, the person couldn't be too old; and finally, the person can't be dead longer than 15-hours. Mastromarino's company ignored all of them. Mastromarino used a network of undertakers and he would pay them a standard fee of about $1,000 per body. He would then send a team of three people and they would harvest the body. None of the families were aware that any of this was happening. One notable body that was carved up was the former host of PBS's Masterpiece Theater, Alistair Cooke. When Cooke died, he was 94 and had cancer, yet arm and leg bones were taken from his body. On each body, Mastromarino apparently made $10,000 to $15,000, and he illegally harvested bone and tissue from at least 1,076 bodies. If you do the math, it's clear that the grotesque scam made Mastromarino a multi-millionaire.

Oregon State Hospital

In the basement of the Oregon State Hospital, there were shelves that were filled with copper canisters that had names on them, but over time the writing had faded. When photographer David Maisel took a closer look, he realized that each canister held the remains of psychiatric patients that once stayed there. Since then, they have removed the canisters, laying them to rest in a respectful place.