Inspired by an ancient Egyptian god, a Russian woman allegedly spent almost four years sleeping with the mummified dead body of her husband, according to local police.
Svetlana (no last name given), 50, also forbid her four children from talking to anyone about their dead father’s body decaying in their parents’ bedroom, threatening them with being sent to an orphanage, according to foreign news site 78.ru.
The husband and father died in December 2020 at the age of 49, reportedly after a domestic dispute in which his wife wished death upon him.
The man laid on the floor of their home for four hours while his wife ignored him, assuming he was faking. After she determined him to be dead, she brought him into the bedroom.
A social worker checking on the woman’s children made the discovery last Thursday. The couple have four children: twin boys, 11, and two girls, 17 and 8.
In addition to her husband’s dead body in one bedroom, Svetlana had converted another bedroom of the home to a shrine to Anubis, Egyptian god of the underworld.
She said she was only doing as her husband would have wished but also told people he had gone to Tibet to receive alternative medical treatments.
Svetlana is now undergoing a mental health evaluation at a hospital. The four children are also hospitalized and being assessed by psychologists and doctors, according to the New York Post.