He Crashes Funerals for a Living | Jerm Warfare

Jerm (0:30)

My name is Jerm, this is Jerm Warfare, the Battle of Ideas. Well, so, I think you got probably one of the most unique jobs in the world. I mean, quite literally, I think you're the only person in the world who does what you do.

Bill Edgar (0:45)

Yeah, I am. Yeah, I am the only person that crashes funerals for a job, engaged by the deceased before they're deceased. And yeah, I crash funerals, wakes, will readings.

I deliver messages from the afterlife. I deliver gifts from the afterlife. You know, I go to viewings and place items in coffins, and I go to homes, and I sweep them of sensitive items, so my clients don't want their family and friends to find. So it's a variety of things I do now.

Jerm (1:16)

Yeah, so you're known as a coffin confessor. I mean, you've kind of described it, but what is it?

Bill Edgar (1:25)

Yeah, so in short, the coffin confessor is somebody that's engaged to attend a funeral, crash a funeral, to those that were loved, how much they were loved, and those my clients hated, to fuck off.

Jerm (1:39)

You did a Ted Talk with that title.

Bill Edgar (1:43)

I did, indeed, yes. And yeah, funny story there is at the Ted Talk, they asked me to rehearse it a few times, a couple of months out, and I said, I don't rehearse. I just come to the day and I say what I say. And they said, what are you going to say? And I said, I had no idea until I'm there. And about 30 seconds before walking on stage, a lady come up to me and she says, now remember, you can't swear.

Are you fucking serious?

Sorry, but yeah, that's, yeah. I swear in context and it's not like I just tell people to fuck off all over the place. It's in context, you know, but it's really, I understand. But at the same time, it's something that, yeah, it comes with the territory.

Jerm (2:29)

Okay, wait, so let me just make sure I'm following, Bill. So you meet with somebody who's dying or a family member of somebody who's dying and they give you information or they tell you a secret or something that is otherwise not known. And at their funeral, you go and deliver that message. Is that right?

Bill Edgar (2:52)

Yeah, that's basically it. Yes, we sit together. We talk about what they once said.

I make sure that they write it all down. I also video record my clients so that way I can't be litigated or any people at the funeral can't say, oh, it's all bullshit. You didn't, you know, who are you? Why are you doing this? So I make sure that, you know, all the background checks are done. I make sure it's recorded and that it's all above board, you know, before I crush a funeral. And I've got to say, I have refused to do more in the last few years than I've taken on, because I just can't substantiate people's claims. And as an investigator, I need to do that. I don't want to go to a funeral and drop a bomb and it be a lie. You know, it's got to be the truth. It's got to be, yeah. Yeah.

Jerm (3:37)

Okay. So let's just go back in history a little bit. You've got quite a phenomenal background.

Bill Edgar (3:46)

It's phenomenal. Yeah.

It's out there, isn't it? Yeah.

Jerm (3:50)

So, yeah. Okay. So, I mean, obviously a lot of my audience won't know who you are. So take me through some of that quick, just to build the context of how you got to where you are now.

Bill Edgar (4:01)

Oh, look, you know, abused as a child from a very young age. My eighth birthday, I was introduced to abuse at home from my grandfather.

For years, you know, four or five years. At the age of 12, I won a scholarship to one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country, in Australia. And I was there for four years being abused by the teachers there. It was a sexual, physical and mental abuse that wouldn't be bestowed on anyone, you know. I had four perpetrators in my life, you know, all before I was 15 And they were all married men with children of their own. And it's, you know, sometimes I wonder why I'm still here today after going through all that. Yeah. And that sort of leads me to running away from home and school, living on the streets and then ending up in prison.

And, you know, life is just, yeah, it's a roller coaster. You know, it's the old story. You take one step forward, two steps back. That was my whole life. And I just kept going and going and going. So, you know, and here I am.