Woman with fear of coffins has funeral parlour planned for her street

11:03am Sunday 5th August 2012 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter

Residents are fighting plans for a funeral parlour near their homes – because their friend has a phobia of coffins.

Katy Lee said she was “physically sick” after learning the parlour was opening in her street.

The 37-year-old has missed friend’s funerals because of her taphophobia, which stems from when her father was buried.

She spent hundreds of pounds tackling it through therapy but said she was not prepared to see if she was fully over her fear by actually seeing a coffin.

But she might have to, now that funeral parlour Dignity plans to open a branch in her street.

She said: “If I see a coffin then that’s it.

My friend’s dad just died and I am not going to the funeral.

“When my neighbour Jenny rang and told me about the parlour I was physically sick.

“I thought: ‘Oh my god this cannot be happening’.

“If I am faced with that on a daily basis I cannot even contemplate it.

“It is offensive, ridiculous and insensitive.

“I don’t want to face it.

“I told my husband about it. I said, ‘we’ve got to move’ and we’ve just done up the house. But he said no. I can’t move.

“This is my forever house, my happily ever after home, it is mine until retirement.

“Hopefully I will become anesthetised to the sight of coffins.

“But what this could physically And mentally do to me. It is do or die literally.”

For the full story see today's Argus.

Comments(23)

plantwoman says...
11:50am Sun 5 Aug 12

Unless the parlour is right on the door-step, I can't see the problem. You don't have to look in the window (which usually have blinds anyway) and the number of coffins being moved about in full view of everyone can't be that many. It's the same as most things, you don't have to look at it.

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Andy R says...
12:45pm Sun 5 Aug 12

"Residents are fighting plans for a funeral parlour in their street....." Hmmm...sorry, but I think that's the key bit of info in this story.

Not saying that this woman's problem is not real, but she seems to be taking a simple planning application very personally.

I have yet to see a coffin AT any of the many undertakers' premises around where I live, but I see A LOT out on the road in hearses. I don't really see how the sight can be avoided just by not having a undertakers in your street.

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power_ranger says...
1:33pm Sun 5 Aug 12

This woman seems to behave as if the world revolves around her and her phobia.
Man up, get proper help, start showing respect by attending funerals and quit your whining.
If you really cant do any of the above, then yes, move, as it's your problem, no one elses.

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rolivan says...
2:59pm Sun 5 Aug 12

So This Woman is out shopping and a hearse goes by with a coffin in it does She go into Histerics?

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MuammarQaddafi says...
3:05pm Sun 5 Aug 12

The last quote seems a bit dramatic. Fear itself cannot kill you. What you do with you fear can, however, have deleterious and deplorable results.

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ajpj says...
5:15pm Sun 5 Aug 12

Ridiculous ... if this lady suffers from Taphophobia (fear of being buried alive)
she should be receiving treatment . sufferers fear many situations associated with death, not only coffins ..
sounds to me as this is another ruse to thwart a planning application.

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Morpheus says...
8:33pm Sun 5 Aug 12

Was she also physically sick when she spoke to the Argus in detail about it?

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yaddab says...
9:33pm Sun 5 Aug 12

Oh ffs



how does this even constitute anything approaching a story

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Hermit 101 says...
9:37pm Sun 5 Aug 12

This has got to be the funniest story that the argus has provided for a long time, I particularly like

“I told my husband about it. I said, ‘we’ve got to move’ and we’ve just done up the house. But he said no.

Brilliant !!!

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Enema of the peephole says...
10:10pm Sun 5 Aug 12

Fear of coffins?

I have the occasional fear of coughing. Especially if I've eaten too many prunes.

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MuammarQaddafi says...
10:51pm Sun 5 Aug 12

Perhaps we should get Andre Spooner's Mighty Horse to pull the hearses, then she might not be so afraid of them!

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Achoo! says...
10:53pm Sun 5 Aug 12

'It is offensive, ridiculous and insensitive'. Yes, yes it is....

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Tring says...
11:23pm Sun 5 Aug 12

I had a terrible coffin fit after reading this.

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Minneapolis says...
2:32am Mon 6 Aug 12

“Hopefully I will become anesthetised to the sight of coffins."

Wouldn't it be great for the healthcare system if one could be anesthetised by the site of a coffin. It would certainly simplfy things in the operating room.

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mickeymonkeyman says...
2:34am Mon 6 Aug 12

its not coughing you should worry about,its the coffin they carry you off in,to the boffin.

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Euly says...
8:32am Mon 6 Aug 12

“But what this could physically And mentally do to me. It is do or die literally.” What a self absorbed individual..........
....................
...

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mimseycal says...
8:51am Mon 6 Aug 12

My sympathies are with anyone who struggles with an irrational fear. These NIMBY neighbours are willing to make of this afflicted individuals' irrational fear however. Purely because they fear a drop in saleability of their property I imagine.

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mimseycal says...
9:55am Mon 6 Aug 12

Well, in that case, move next door to an undertaker and she'll never swap gossip with you over the fence ;)

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Goldenwight says...
10:47am Mon 6 Aug 12

I'd rather have a funeral parlour next door than a crack den, a Wetherspoons pub or a cannabis farm. Or one of these NIMBYs for that matter.

Actually, I'm not too sure about the cannabis farm, I just love that fresh smell of the country.

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Flippin Burghers says...
11:37am Mon 6 Aug 12

Slightly disappointed the Argus hasn't got quotes out of the husband. He's just done up the house.

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mimseycal says...
12:00pm Mon 6 Aug 12

leobrighton wrote:
Selfish Cow
Maybe but not certain. Irrational fears are an affliction. What is certain is that her NIMBY neighbours are happy to use her affliction to further their own selfish ends.

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Flippin Burghers says...
3:48pm Mon 6 Aug 12

There is no 'my forever house'. That is why we have coffins.

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lovelee says...
10:41pm Thu 9 Aug 12

My mother died 5 days before my 8th birthday and my father in such a state refused bluntly to bury my mother.  Every day for 3 weeks he would take my sisters and I to the undertakers where he would lift me over my dead mothers body.  We would be there for hours looking at my mother in a box.  Looking at the lid by the side of her knowing that she was in a box...  For 3 weeks I was made to hug and kiss my dead mother in a box....  I can still feel her touch, cold, deathly cold touch...  I then watched as they put my mother in a box into the ground...  Where I then watched the box covered in earth... To this day I have no other thoughts than that she's in the ground in a coffin..

I wasn't until My father passed away and seeing his coffin going from the exact same spot as my mothers that it triggered the most horrific trauma that I had locked away....  

So there you have it.... Satisfied?

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