Death is a phase in life that everyone dreads. It is usually accompanied by pain and a sense of emptiness but it doesn’t always have to feel that way. Life can be celebrated instead of sulked upon. People interpret death in many ways, and after the funeral of this particular man, his family will no longer look at his death as a day of sadness.
In this story, a father makes sure he has the last laugh and that his family isn’t just mourning his loss but laughing about it. Shay Bradley from Dublin, Ireland decided to play a prank on his loved ones at his own funeral.
It is with great sadness that I was informed of the passing of our Military Brother and Veteran Colleague Shay Bradley…
Posted by Irish Defence Forces Veterans News on Tuesday, October 8, 2019
According to his obituary, on October 8, 2019, Shay Bradley died “after a long illness bravely borne”. He was a Defense Forces Veteran and a man who was loved by many. During his funeral, he not only delighted but shocked his funeral goers.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, they heard Shay’s voice coming from inside the coffin as it was being lowered into the ground.
“Hello? Hello. Hello? Let me out!” the funeral attendees heard along with knocks coming from the coffin.
It continued, “Where the [bleep] am I? … Let me out, it’s [bleeping] dark in here. … Is that the priest I can hear? … This is Shay, I’m in the box. No, in [bleeping] front of you. I’m dead.”
The video went viral on Twitter after being found by a user via a different app and now it has over 35,000 likes and almost 10,000 retweets. In the video, you can see guests giggling while wiping away their tears. Bradley ended the prank by singing, “Hello, again. Hello. I just called to say goodbye.”
In an interview with HuffPost, Andrea Bradley shared that her father prerecorded the audio about a year ago and only told her brother Jonathan and her nephew, Ben. Then, two days before the funeral, the immediate family was told about the prank. Jonathan Bradley said it was Shay’s “dying wish” for the audio to be played at his funeral.
According to Andrea, Shay Bradley wanted his wife to leave his funeral laughing and not crying, and that’s exactly what he did for his sweetheart of 43 years.
Andrea stated that the joke was her dad’s way of “saying not only goodbye but to also say, ‘OK the sadness is over now here is a laugh so you can go and celebrate my life with a smile on your face.’”
Upon finding the viral video on Twitter, Andrea replied with her own photo of her father giving a little more insight on this amazing man. The tweet is pictured below.
What a great and uplifting way to end your life. The Bradley family will now look at Shay’s death completely different, and although he will be missed, he maintained to have the “last laugh”.
Here is a picture of the legend himself. My dad, Shay Bradley. It was his dieing wish that we played this at his funeral. What a man…. To make us all laugh when we were incredibly sad….. He was some man for one man…. Love you forever Poppabear #Shayslastlaugh pic.twitter.com/YkG2ecKAaL
— Andrea (@Andrea36496119) October 13, 2019
