The Brazilian Man Who Sleeps In A Coffin Every Friday

His name is Zeli Ferreira Rossi, he lives in Rio De Janeiro, he's 60-years-old and he's been sleeping in a coffin every Friday night for the last 25 years:

"I've been doing this since then [1986]. This coffin is a great place to meditate, pray and ponder. If I don't sleep here on Fridays, I become an insomniac."

As children, Zeli and his best friend made a "blood pact": the first one to die would receive a coffin on behalf of the other. But in 1983 Zeli was involved in a car accident which sent him to the hospital and left him wheelchair-bound for a year. Zeli's friend, who by then was living in a town hundreds of kilometers away, was told Zeli has passed and proceeded to honor their childhood pact:

"My friend thought I was dead. He bought my coffin and sent it to my house. It really scared my family [laughs]."

Ze el de la caja [box Ze], as he's known in his hometown, tried to return the coffin to the funeral home but they wouldn't take it back. Still recovering from his accident, Ze decided to keep the coffin and promised god that he'd sleep in it if he made a full recovery.

5 years later Ze's friend was murdered on the street after being confused for a local thief. Ze upheld his promise too and sent his friend's family a brand-new coffin:

"I heard about his death and sent him a new coffin. I kept the old one and I've been sleeping in it every Friday as a tribute to him, too."

Cleusa Pereira, Ze's wife, covers the coffin with a blanket every Friday night. Ze doesn't asphyxiate because he drilled holes on some of the coffin's panels. And he's a "heavy sleeper," so he's never woken up in the middle of the night.

Hey, If you ask us, there's nothing with breaking in your coffin before you die. Ze would probably agree us:

"I sleep in this coffin every Friday night and I'll be buried in it when god comes calling."

Source: Terra