'Just like a horror show': Funeral home mixes up bodies, cremates wrong one

Sandra Bennett was wrongly cremated in a series of funeral home blunders.

A funeral home is under investigation after cremating the wrong body in one of several blunders involving the same family.

"It's just like a horror story," one family member said of their dealings with the undertaker firm in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Staff had twice presented the wrong body to the family - and had wrongly dressed a stranger in the clothes provided by the family.

The blunders happened at the Serenity Funeral Home in Berwick, located in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, last month.

Sandra Bennett had died on December 20, at age 65, after a lengthy illness.

Before her open-casket visit was set to begin her husband Gary had to point out to staff that the wrong body was on display.

After some discussion, that casket was wheeled out and another brought in. That one also did not contain his wife's body, but the deceased woman was wearing Bennett's clothes, according to family members, CBC News reported.

After both wrong bodies had been taken away, funeral home staff returned to explain that Bennett's body had been mistakenly cremated.

Bennett's family members spoke to CBC News on the condition they not be identified, as they are concerned about the impact on potential litigation.

CBC also spoke to the son of one of the deceased that the funeral home confused with Bennett.

The son also did not want his name used but said just before his mother's funeral four days after Bennett's visitation, funeral home staff pulled his family aside and said his mother — who wanted to be cremated — had accidentally been embalmed and displayed as someone else.

The son said he felt sympathy for Bennett's family.

Serenity Funeral home is privately-owned and its website states: "We serve everyone as though we have loved them and known them all our lives."

The funeral home owner's lawyer, Bernie Conway, said he has advised his client not to comment but said: "Rest assured, Serenity Funeral Home takes utmost pride in the services it provides and takes this matter very seriously."

Funeral home complaints in the province are handled by the Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, which is now investigating.