We have looked at what happens When Resurrection Fails and the outcome is usually smelly and insanitary rather than glorious. However, this doesn't seem to stop people from giving it a go anyway. Perhaps this time it will work. Perhaps.

Two children and their mother lived for about two months with the decaying body of a 90-year-old woman on the toilet of their home's only bathroom, on the advice of a religious "superior" who claimed the corpse would come back to life, authorities said Friday.

The children -- a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy -- cried hysterically Wednesday after a deputy who came to their Necedah home looking for Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth ordered them out because of the stench from her body.

The children were in foster care Friday. Their mother, Tammy Lewis, and self-described "bishop" Alan Bushey remained in custody on felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child.

...

When Deputy Leigh Neville-Neil arrived at the house, she encountered Lewis, also known as Sister Mary Bernadett, the complaint said. Lewis, 35, initially refused to allow the deputy to check on Middlesworth, telling her that Middlesworth was on vacation and saying she had to check with her "superior" first.

But she eventually let the deputy in. The house smelled of incense and burned wood, and had religious materials everywhere and hymns playing on the stereo, according to the complaint.

When the deputy opened the last closed door, she smelled "decaying matter" and noticed something piled on what appeared to be a toilet. Lewis told her it was Middlesworth's body, the complaint said.

Lewis told the deputy that Middlesworth had died about two months earlier, but that God told her Middlesworth would come to life if she prayed hard enough.

She said she couldn't say anything more until she spoke with her "superior" -- Bushey, 57, also known as Bishop John Peter Bushey.

When Bushey (pronounced "boo-SHAY") arrived, Lewis told the deputy that Middlesworth had appeared to pass out as Lewis helped her into her underwear.

She said she propped Middlesworth on the toilet and left the room to call Bushey, who told her to leave the woman alone and pray for her, the complaint said. He said he had received signs that God would raise her from the dead with a miracle.

Lewis went on to say she thought Middlesworth was still breathing when she put her on the toilet and called Bushey, instead of an ambulance.

...

The boy at the house told a detective he had considered running away because he was uncomfortable with the situation. He said Bushey told him that demons were trying to make it look as if Middlesworth wouldn't come back to life, and that if she were to be discovered he and the girl would have to go to public school and get jobs because Middlesworth paid the bills.

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Hat tip

This all seems rather serious. As well as the impact on the children there is the possibility that Middlesworth could have been helped if emergency services were called. I suspect we'll never know now, but it does look like there could be more to this story and a trail might bring out more details of their religious beliefs - things never look good when your religious authority figure is a "so-called" anything (just in case you are wondering I am fully ordained so need to worry on that front). However, it could just be a cover for a cruder for of crime - here is another report:

Milwaukee Archdiocese Archbishop Timothy Dolan spoke about the dangers of cults on Sunday, after news broke of a self-proclaimed bishop and nun allegedly keeping a deceased 90-year-old woman's body in their house and cashing her Social Security checks. The District Attorney in Juneau County called the couple a cult. They're accused of using religion to commit fraud. Alan Bushey and Tammy Lewis allegedly kept the body of a 90-year-old woman sitting on the toilet for two months, claiming God would bring her back to life. Archbishop Dolan says he isn't familiar with the group, but he was saddened to hear what they're accused of. "That's not even religion, that's a terrible distortion and corruption of religion to even call that part of the patrimony and tradition of the church," Dolan said. Bushey's children, a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, were living in the house with the body of a 90-year-old Magdalene Middlesworth. Bushey calls himself a bishop, and Tammy Lewis calls herself "Sister Mary Burnadette." But their so-called Catholic church isn't recognized by Rome. "Periodically throughout the church you'll get these crackpots who claim to be bishops or claim to be priests or even claim to be part of the church, and they're not, of course," Dolan said.

Source

This clearly is part of an interesting history:

The two, who are also known as Sister Mary Bernadett and Bishop John Peter Bushey, along with the dead woman, Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth, were part of a small Bible-based church led by Bushey, Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson said.

Investigators are trying to determine if they were defrauding Middlesworth, Oleson said, and additional charges against the two are “a very real possibility.” He said there is evidence Middles-worth provided financial support to the church and to Lewis and her family.

Lewis and Middlesworth were not related, he said, but had been living together with Lewis’ 15-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son about 3 1/2 years.

Oleson declined to call the church a cult but said “I guess in my mind I don’t know of any faith that sanctioned his teachings.”

Bushey had been living in the area about 11 years, Oleson said, did not have outside employment and had built a chapel on the back of his home, which is about a half-mile from where Middlesworth and Lewis lived. He said Bushey’s church had few members; only eight were at a Mass about two months ago.

He said Bushey’s church was not affiliated with the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace Shrine, which is less than a mile from Middlesworth’s home. The shrine itself is not a recognized part of the Catholic Church.

Source

This shrine is interesting too:

Documents show the conflict in Necedah dates back nearly sixty years, when a woman named Mary Ann Van Hoof claimed to have seen apparitions of the Blessed Mother at the Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine. News of Van Hoof's visions drew a crowd.

"Those of us that came here really did believe that the Blessed Mother was appearing so we wanted to be here,” said Isabll Rubel.

She believed in Van Hoof's claims for 12 years and she worked closely with her. Rubel says Van Hoof would be sent messages to spread to the people, warning them of the dangers in the world: things like abortion and pornography.

"We thought coming here must be true because we were seeing these things happening,” said Rubel.

But Rubel says she stopped believing in them and rejoined the Catholic Church, which never approved of the messages.

The Diocese of La Crosse sent the Van Hoof's a letter in 1951 saying they do not approve of the shrine or the literature Van Hoof was distributing.

But her visions and claims were drawing people in from all over the nation. A few of them claiming to have a position of authority in the Catholic Church, they too were rejected.

"They are not validly ordained. They are not part of the church,” said Rubel.

One of those being 57-year-old Alan Bushey, who told Tammy Lewis, if she prayed hard enough, God would bring 90-year-old Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth back to life.

Source

So those involved in this were the fringe of a fringe group not accepted by the main church - you couldn't get much more obscure than that and still have enough followers to make it worthwhile.

I'll be keeping an eye out for more on this.