Somewhere around March this year, a story of a morgue employee who was cremated while sleeping surfaced. World News Daily Report (WNDR), a website, reported that a Beaumont, Texas, morgue worker named Henri Johnson was cremated as a mistake by a coworker. Screenshots of the story, featuring the ABC News logo, started doing rounds all over the internet. Although the story has already been proven fake, it did it’s job of getting the attention of people on the internet.
The events in the story stated that a 48-year-old employee, Henri Johnson, was taking a nap on a stretcher after working 16 hours straight, when a colleague mistook him for a 52-year-old road accident victim’s body, and carried him to the crematory.
Before anyone could notice the mistake, the 48-year-old employee was already exposed to temperatures ranging 1400 to 1800 degrees fahrenheit.
The article also quoted another employee of the morgue named Jenna Davis saying that she heard his screams for about 15 seconds after the crematory was activated.
At first, we didn’t understand where the sound was coming from. By the time we realised what was happening, it was already too late, we shut down the system but he (Henri) was already dead.Jenna Davis, Female Employee Quoted in the fake news report
While the screenshot of the site features an ABC News logo, the link, www.abcnews-us.com, did not match that of actual ABC news' abcnews.go.com link.
The Macomb County’s (the morgue in question) spokesperson told International Business Times that "there is no (such) story”. Someone from the Macomb County Medical Examiner's office also told CBS that they don't even do cremations there and no such incident has occurred.
Also, since the story was reported by World Daily News Report, a fake news site, there was never really any basis to the whole incident.
Also, the photograph of the deceased morgue employee used in the article was actually of a picture of a DeSoto County constable Christopher Plumlee, who was arrested in 2015. Also, the photograph used of the above quoted female employee 'Jenna Davis', was actually a picture of forensic pathologist Dr Lisa Funte, snopes.com, a website that debunks rumours reported.
International Business Times also quoted the fake news website's about page as saying "This website has no relation to ABCNews.go.com and any likeness is a miracle. This website is purely for comedic purposes."
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT to find #PollutionKaSolution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)