Newspaper Writes Lovely Obituary for Someone Who Is Not Actually Dead

Don't we all think it might be nice to attend our own funerals? People will just admire pretty photographs of us and list off our greatest attributions for hours. But we'll be dead, unable even to read what may be our greatest claim to fame -- our own obituary.

But one man named Charlie Donaghy has managed to work around the problem of death, thanks to the help of a mistaken English newspaper that published his obituary while he was still alive. 

The newspaper, The Northern Echo, is based in the town of Darlington in northeast England. They'd written an obituary for Donaghy on November 10, saying the "tow law and country durham stalwart has died." Below the bold claim was a photo of the man smiling in what was alleged to be his last years, and the sub-headline read that he was a "lifelong supporter of grassroots sport."

It was more of an article than obituary. Family members and friends of this loyal, hardworking man were perhaps the only ones who didn't find the text positively charming. But alas, the man was still alive. His son Ian Donaghy lashed out on Facebook, saying that, first of all, daddy's not dead, and second of all, his "sister’s in bits." Ian said that newspaper was going to have a "VERY bad day tomorrow."

The Echo's staff promptly responded, writing that they "apologize unreservedly for our mistake, and for any understandable distress and devastation that was caused to Mr. Donaghy, his family and friends."

The paper also allowed the family to also publish their own statement, which read "This has caused immeasurable distress for my sister, as well to many of Dad’s friends and supporters over the years. To allow this to be released onto the Internet without checking with our family is unforgivable." 

And to that we say Live In Peace, Mr. Donaghy. We hope and pray that the newspaper has scrapped the draft.

h/t Fox News

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Ruby Anderson is a News Writer for Thrillist.