‘Phantom mourner’ turns up for free lunches for 14 years
A PHANTOM mourner who goes to every funeral at her local church and then tucks into food at the wake has been slammed by grieving relatives.
It is claimed the unnamed woman has joined mourners for the past 14 years, chats to grieving family members and, at one recent funeral, ate buffet food “like there was no tomorrow”. The priest at the church said he had spoken to the woman, who said she believes it is her “duty to attend as many church masses as possible”. Father Noah Connolly added: “I can’t exactly say ‘You can’t come here’.” He continued: “Every funeral we have, she comes and if there is a reception afterwards, she makes her way to it without invitation. She is a Catholic woman and is convinced she needs to go to as many masses as possible. She has been coming and going since I have been here for the past 14 years.” But a mum whose daughter died after battling a rare illness slammed the stranger after she turned up at the family funeral and filled a box with food at the wake. Catherine Whitehead died at the age of 42 after living with Addison’s disease. Three weeks after her death, friends and family gathered for a funeral but the woman appeared on a bicycle and later began chatting to guests at the wake. Catherine’s mum Margaret Whitehead said: “She got my son Kevin to give her a lift from the church to the wake. “There were a lot of people at the funeral from Catherine’s work, so I assumed she was a colleague. When I spoke to her, though, she told me she used to work with Catherine as a waitress. But my daughter never worked as a waitress. She was eating from the buffet like there was no tomorrow.” Despite the woman’s claimed sense of religious duty, Mrs Whitehead said her attendance at the Holy Redeemer Church, in Slough, Berks, was intrusive. She said: “There’s mass every morning. She doesn’t need to go to funerals. She only goes when there’s a cheap lunch. She intrudes on people when they are upset.”
There’s mass every morning. She just goes for a cheap lunch MARGARET WHITEHEAD MOURNER AT CHURCH