An eccentric South American man known for his Green Lantern costume ended up wearing it even when he was dead, after being embalmed and dressed in the outfit to welcome guests to his own funeral.
Renato Garcia, 55, had found the costume in a box next to be a bin in the city of San Juan, in the north-eastern Puerto Rico and was known for wearing it around his local area. When he died last week after suffering a severe asthma attack, his family decided it was appropriate that he was also buried in it.
So after he was embalmed, his body was then propped up in the corner of the hall where the funeral took place under the instructions of his sister Milagros Garcia, 51, who said: 'It is what he would have wanted.'
She said that she remembered Renato had loved reading comic books as a boy and he was a great joker, and loved walking around town in his costume after he found it lying next to a rubbish bin.
The man's corpse was not only upright but was surrounded by flowers as he stood in the suit complete with the Green Lantern power ring.
She said: 'He did have really bad asthma and was regularly getting oxygen in the local hospital. He used to turn up there as well with his Green Lantern costume.
'When he died it was the thing everybody was talking about, and so we thought it was obviously so much a part of him that we decided to bury him with it.'
She added: 'In keeping with the Puerto Rican tradition of embalming bodies for funerals, there was no point in burying him in the suit if nobody saw that he was wearing it, and therefore he was put on display in the funeral hall.'
The Green Lantern was brought to the big screen in 2011, with Ryan Reynolds playing the superhero.
Renato's is just the latest in a number of bizarre funerals in Puerto Rico. Last June, the body of a builder was taken to the funeral in the shovel of a bulldozer.
Shortly before, a Puerto Rican octogenarian woman, Georgina Chervony, had a wake dressed in her wedding dress and sitting on her favourite rocking chair.
Then there was the boxer who had asked to be dressed in his boxing attire and placed on his feet in the corner of a boxing ring - and the 22-year-old man who wanted to have his wake held with him riding on the motorcycle he used to ride.
Other cases have included the man who was embalmed and driven around town in one of the ambulances he owned and the man who asked to be dressed as Cuban guerrilla icon 'Che' Guevara, whom he had admired.
These odd wakes are taken very seriously by the families of the deceased, who say they are attempting to pay tribute in a special way to their loved ones, although local authorities have been trying fruitlessly to find legal ways to prohibit them.
Meanwhile, the practice, which is thought to have originated in Puerto Rico in 2008, seems to be spreading to the continental United States and last year The New York Times reported that similar wakes had been held in New Orleans and Ohio.
Renato Garcia, 55, had found the costume in a box next to be a bin in the city of San Juan, in the north-eastern Puerto Rico and was known for wearing it around his local area. When he died last week after suffering a severe asthma attack, his family decided it was appropriate that he was also buried in it.
So after he was embalmed, his body was then propped up in the corner of the hall where the funeral took place under the instructions of his sister Milagros Garcia, 51, who said: 'It is what he would have wanted.'
She said that she remembered Renato had loved reading comic books as a boy and he was a great joker, and loved walking around town in his costume after he found it lying next to a rubbish bin.
The man's corpse was not only upright but was surrounded by flowers as he stood in the suit complete with the Green Lantern power ring.
She said: 'He did have really bad asthma and was regularly getting oxygen in the local hospital. He used to turn up there as well with his Green Lantern costume.
'When he died it was the thing everybody was talking about, and so we thought it was obviously so much a part of him that we decided to bury him with it.'
She added: 'In keeping with the Puerto Rican tradition of embalming bodies for funerals, there was no point in burying him in the suit if nobody saw that he was wearing it, and therefore he was put on display in the funeral hall.'
The Green Lantern was brought to the big screen in 2011, with Ryan Reynolds playing the superhero.
Renato's is just the latest in a number of bizarre funerals in Puerto Rico. Last June, the body of a builder was taken to the funeral in the shovel of a bulldozer.
Shortly before, a Puerto Rican octogenarian woman, Georgina Chervony, had a wake dressed in her wedding dress and sitting on her favourite rocking chair.
Then there was the boxer who had asked to be dressed in his boxing attire and placed on his feet in the corner of a boxing ring - and the 22-year-old man who wanted to have his wake held with him riding on the motorcycle he used to ride.
Other cases have included the man who was embalmed and driven around town in one of the ambulances he owned and the man who asked to be dressed as Cuban guerrilla icon 'Che' Guevara, whom he had admired.
These odd wakes are taken very seriously by the families of the deceased, who say they are attempting to pay tribute in a special way to their loved ones, although local authorities have been trying fruitlessly to find legal ways to prohibit them.
Meanwhile, the practice, which is thought to have originated in Puerto Rico in 2008, seems to be spreading to the continental United States and last year The New York Times reported that similar wakes had been held in New Orleans and Ohio.
Music : Teller of Tales by Kevin MacLeod
Source : DailyMail, Elnuevodia , ElnuevoHerald
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