Miracle in Iowa: Dead Man Spotted Eating at the Happy Chef

On Thursday, December 29, a man walked into the offices of the Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier and handed in an obituary for 17 year-old Daniel “D.J.” Reddout. The obituary ran the next day…

“But on Tuesday Waterloo police and The Courier received a report that people who know Reddout spotted him eating at the Happy Chef a full week after his alleged demise. Police continue investigating the matter,” reported the paper in a corrective article published last Wednesday.

Apparently, the teen’s mother had “joked” to her boyfriend that her son — who had been ill — had died, and the boyfriend submitted the obit as fact. (Stay tuned: this clan is destined for Jerry Springer.)

Seriously though, if you’re wondering why joke obits don’t appear in newspapers more often, it’s because standard procedure is to confirm through the funeral home — something the Courier neglected to do.

Unfortunately, the paper did not accept blame for the mistake — instead publishing the mother’s apology and saying the paper is “looking at ways to take additional steps to confirm obituaries.”

The old steps will do just fine.

Technorati tags: Journalism, Media, Iowa, Newspapers