A sad love story of 1881: The man who married a corpse.

There was no kiss for the bride. No honeymoon away. And no chance of a happy-ever-after. Just a woe-heavy wedding service that segued neatly into a funeral.

As the story goes, in Florida in 1881, a love-struck man by the name of Bradley married a corpse.

He was a salesman from Utah, who had met the woman of his dreams on his travels. Alas, she was dying of consumption.

Undeterred, he proposed and she accepted. Plans were made for a speedy union. But the poor bride-to-be died before the date they had set.

"Now comes the most remarkable, and what has been, with justice, termed the most unpleasant and discreditable part of the tale," sniffed the Illustrated Police News.

Bradley had solemnly promised he wouldn't let his sweetheart go to the grave unmarried.

And so her coffin was taken into the church - bridesmaids rubbing shoulders with pallbearers - where a clergyman pronounced them husband and wife, before burying the bride.

**A gentleman's word is his honor.