You Are Not Dead, Yet.

John Zepka was a beekeeper who never wore protective gear. (†)

He had a way with them, his neighbors said — as though the bees had made some private agreement with him long ago.

When John died in April of 1956, his family followed the old custom: they draped the hives in black and told the bees their keeper was gone.

At the graveside, mourners entered the tent to find thousands of bees clinging to the ceiling and the floral arrangements, quiet and still, as if they had already known.

As the coffin was lowered, they left.

John is dead.