Mom’s ‘Shock and Disbelief’ As Toddler Eats Grandpa’s Ashes

A mom has described how she was left in complete shock after discovering her 1-year-old son had been eating her father’s ashes.

Up until recently, Natasha Emeny, from Lincolnshire in the U.K., had only ever posted lip-synching videos to her TikTok account @palominolil. But that all changed after a spot of home improvement kick-started a dramatic chain of events.

“I had just moved some furniture the day before to have new flooring laid,” Emeny told Newsweek. “I put my dad’s ashes where I thought they would be safe, but I forgot to put them up somewhere high. I went to put some laundry upstairs and, by the time I came back down a few minutes later, he’d got them.”

When she returned, her son was caked in a gray, powdery substance that Emeny initially struggled to identify. “It took me a minute to realize what it was,” she said. “I thought maybe one of his sisters had left some sweets around, but then I saw the pot. I was in complete shock and disbelief. I rang my sister, crying.”

Eager to document what had happened, Emeny picked up her phone and began recording. The nine-second clip begins with her stating: “Oh my God, when your son eats your dad … as ashes. My son has eaten my dad’s ashes.”

In the video, Emeny lays out the scene, with her son shown crying and covered in ashes, while a small pot, containing some of the remnants of her father, appears disturbed.

“I was in complete shock,” Emeny said. “I cleaned my son up. I’m sure he wouldn’t have eaten much, if any. I had to vacuum the rest up.”

Though Emeny was understandably concerned, and the consumption of human ashes is not advised, it is not something that poses much of a health risk.

In a 2018 interview with LiveScience, microbiologist Rolf Halden, director of the Center for Environmental Health Engineering at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, said that properly cremated human ashes are not toxic and do not carry diseases.

“Cremation essentially mineralizes the human body and produces ashes that are rich in carbon and not much of a health concern,” Halden said. “Proper cremation will remove all infectious properties of the remains, thus allowing people to take the ashes home and store them in living spaces.”

Halden added: “The one potential concern worthy of consideration would be heavy metals, as can be found particularly in tooth fillings.”

Emeny’s father passed away in 2021 and it was only later that day, while thinking of him and how he would have reacted, that she decided to share the clip to social media. “I was still shocked but remembered I took a video,” she said. “So I thought, ‘Why not share and have a laugh about it?’ My dad absolutely would be laughing about it.”

The clip ended up going viral, amassing over 26.3 million views. Though those ashes may have been lost, Emeny said her sister has another urn containing the remnants of her father. So ultimately, while alarming and unexpected, Emeny chose to see the funny side of it all. “My dad definitely would have wanted me to laugh about it,” she said.