There’s loyalty, and then there’s this Thai husband.
74-year old retired army medic Charn Janwatchakal made headlines in 2022 for his heartbreaking story of timeless love.
Beside his 780 square meter house located in the Bang Khen district of Bangkok, he kept the corpse of his wife hidden for over 21 years. The corpose in the rundown shed was a secret that only he and his two estranged sons were aware of.
We didn’t tell anyone, so nobody knew.
— Mr. Charn
To his surprise, the coffin did not emit any foul odor from within, with Mr. Charn chalking this up to the formalin used for the funeral preparation two decades ago.
His wife, Madam Jirawan Khaosun, passed away in the hospital in 2001 after suffering a brain aneurism.
It took him 21 years before he decided that it was time to finally let her go. He asked a Thai foundation to help him with the logistics of cremating his wife’s body. On April 28, the Phetkasem Foundation Bangkok opened the sealed white coffin and found the bones of Madam Jirawan inside.
I’ve kept her body for 20 years, I think it’s long enough.
— Mr. Charn
Her ashes now rest in an urn that was placed in the same shed where her coffin laid for over two decades.
The couple met at an army hospital half a century ago in 1972. Madam Jirawan worked as a pharmacist while Mr. Charn visited as a patient. They quickly fell in love, got married, and had two sons together.
Mr. Charn revealed that he fell in love with his wife at first sight and that their union was a peaceful one.
I was impressed by her diligence. We never quarreled. She was always super calm, serene and never got angry at anyone
— Mr. Charn
