THE CORPSE THAT SAT UP

It was getting around the edge of dark and my father-in-law was walking home from visiting. He came upon two men who were running. He stopped them and ask them what was wrong. They were out of breath so it took a few minutes for them to answer him as they began walking alone with him. Well we work for the funeral home and we had to go pick up someone. Now this is in the mountain area with plenty of curves to go around. So he ask them where was the funeral  home car . They said we parked it back younder. He ask them were they out of gas and they said no. So he kept on talking to them as they walked and he could tell they were scared of something.
 Being my father-in-law he would not stop until he got out of them what was wrong with them. So one of them said: We were driving along and going down the mountain  and we heard something so I turned around and looked in the back and what did I see the corpse was sitting up straight. It was moving from side to side as we were going around the curves. We got scared of it and pulled over beside the road and got out and started running. They are not supposed to sit up. He ask them what were they doing leaving the body and the car by itself. We don't make that much so we are going to just leave it parked by the road and come Monday we are going to go look for us another job. So my father-in-law got to his house and they kept on walking down the road. I wonder what happened to the body. I am sure they sent someone else to come find the body and car.  I sure would not have liked to have came upon that site. I would run to. I am glad this happened in the old days.We ask one of our cousins who works at the funeral home if this was possible and he said yes it is due to nerves in the body.
My father-in-law would tell this to people when we had a wake and we were all sitting up at it. It is the custom in the mountains to sit up all night with the dead. In the city the funeral homes close out around nine at night. If you are took to a church then people stay all night. They tell about the things that had happened in the persons life that had died and then they also tell about things that has happened to them. We still all pull over beside the road in respect for the dead when we pass them on the way to the burial place or even to the church for the funeral.