"Obviously a made up story that shows how gullible people are."

Actually it is very real. I read an article about it in the economist recently. They are worried about the ammount of money the Ghanians are spending on their funerals, when they are so poor. They say wasting money in this way will be economically bad for the country. But culturely the funeral is perhaps their biggest statement to their community, always trying to out do others.

Another interesting fact is that they try and keep bodies frozen in the morgue for as long as possible, as this shows how afluent you are (it costs alot).