A woman will confess to sleeping with her partner’s parents.
A man will come clean about having had sex with his brother’s wife.
And an 88-year-old multimillionaire will admit to being a fraud, having never worked a day in his life.
These are some of the clients private investigator Bill Edgar has recently taken on as the 'Coffin Confessor' – a thriving business idea that lets people have the last word after they die.
While his clients have closely guarded their secrets while still alive, Bill has been hired by them to reveal all – the good, the bad, and the ugly – only after they’ve kicked the bucket.
Bill Edgar says he’s been delivering messages to funerals since 2018.
Bill’s role as the Coffin Confessor involves gate-crashing his client’s funeral or will reading, where he spills the beans to loved ones about secrets, regrets, or harsh truths the clients were unable or unwilling to discuss while still alive.
Bill is paid anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 for his services. As his client lays dead in their coffin, he becomes their advocate, their voice from the grave.
“It’s a mic drop for the people that die and they want this service,” Bill explained to Insight’s Kumi Taguchi.
Bill’s Coffin Confessor career first came to life in 2018 – a now-thriving business idea that started out as a bit of a joke.
“My first client was Graham and I got to know him only for a short while. He had cancer, was close to death. He said he'd been to plenty of funerals where eulogies just aren't [respectful], or the families just don't show,” Bill said.
Bill Edgar charges his clients anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000.
“So, I suggested I crash his funeral for him and he took me up on the offer and I did so. He wanted me to out his best mate for trying to sleep with his wife while he was on his deathbed. [The best mate] left pretty quickly.”
“He also asked me to remove three people from the congregation that he hadn't seen in 30 years,” he said.
But what of the shock and potential damage to loved ones attending the funeral service?
According to Bill, his loyalty is only to his client, not their family or friends.
“I have no concern for those left behind, no care or concern,” he said.
Psychologist Amanda Gordon believes the role of the Coffin Confessor does more damage than good.
“I think it's colluding with the narcissistic nature of the client,” she told Insight. “Why is it okay for someone who is now dead, to wreak havoc and cause horrible outcomes for other people, if you don't have the courage to do it while you're alive?”
“Why is it right to do it from the coffin … to create chaos between family members to have people fighting with each other.
It just sounds capricious and unpleasant and I really don't see any good in it at all.”
But for the Coffin Confessor, it’s all about the client.
“It's their funeral. Let them have their say and if it's through me, don't shoot the messenger.”
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