It all started as a hallway joke: someone surrounded a dead cockroach that had been on the hospital staircase for weeks with yellow “crime scene” tape. They gave it a name, Fred, and that should have been the end of the story.
But no. The next day, an improvised tombstone appeared, condolence flowers, and even a religious holy card watching over the body.
By the third day, Fred already had a 3D-printed coffin and a proper grave. Someone wrote him a poem —”Six legs, five eyes, so shy”— and read it aloud between shifts.
By day 6, there was a candlelight vigil and a poetic ending: a can of insecticide as a ceremonial offering. On day 7, Fred “reunited” with his wife in the afterlife.
Nine days later, the entire hospital had filed past to say a final goodbye to a cockroach that only wanted to die in peace on a staircase 🪳🕯️
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