Scathing Obituary: ‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead’

A scathing obituary written by a brother and sister about their dead mother has gone viral, and for obvious reasons. The obituary, which was published in the Reno Gazette-Journal on September 10, is not your everyday obituary paying respect to the deceased.

Here is how the scathing obituary begins:

Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit.

The deceased’s son, Patrick Reddick, aged 58, was totally unrepentant about the wording of the obituary, even taking it one step further and telling reporters, “We sang ding dong the witch is dead when mom died.”

Patrick and his sister Katherine revealed how their mother, 78-year-old Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick – who would beat her children with a belt – ran a prostitution business from their home and forced them to give up their beds for clients and sleep on the floor.

The mother’s abuse was so horrific that Patrick told the Daily Mail he was now able to sleep well at night knowing his mother was dead. He and his siblings are planning a party at the end of September where they will toast the passing of their mother.

Patrick also said that he and his brothers and sisters were subjected to “terror from the time we were born” and the family hadn’t kept a single picture of their mother. He said he had written the obituary in order to “shame her.”

The obituary speaks for itself as it continues to highlight what life was like in the Reddick home:

‘When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit. On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after-life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children.”

What do you think of the scathing obituary? Do you think it was wrong for the bereaved children to write it? Or was it poetic justice for the dead woman? Share your comments in the feed below.