The Creepy Secret Origins Of 7 Popular Wedding Traditions

As it turns out, posthumous weddings play a role in certain cultures and traditions. For instance, ghost weddings have been practiced in China for 3,000 years, with the kindly intention of helping deceased single people find a companion in the afterlife.

Recently, though, the practice has led to some sinister crimes in China. In 2013 four men were imprisoned for unearthing dead women from their graves in order to sell the bodies for ghost marriages, according to TIME. The associated crimes don't stop at grave robbing, however. In 2016, a man was charged with murdering two women with the intention of selling their bodies to be used in these ghost weddings, according to the BBC. The demand for dead wives is high enough to drive some people to commit terrible crimes.

Ghost marriages aren't the only cases of living people wedding the dead. In countries such as France, Sudan, and China, posthumous marriages are legal, although the reason for their occurrence is often heartbreaking. In 2017, CNN reported on a person posthumously marrying their partner who was killed in an April terror attack. Although rare, these marriages between a living and dead person are sometimes performed when great tragedy prevents them from wedding in this life.

[Photo via IMDB]