# Burials. WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494 "2004-04-17T06:23:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/81 "2004-04-20T14:18:47Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > You can keep a corpse indefinitely, as in V. Lenin. Lincoln was said to remain in fairly good condition when exhumed in 1901. Both Lenin and Lincoln were stuffed chock full of preservatives. They did so for viewing purposes - Lincoln’s body had a long journey home from Washington to Springfield, and of course the warm spring weather wouldn’t have been the ideal conditions for a natural viewing. Lenin got a small break - the cold Russian winter kept his body frozen for a couple of months, but he had to be chemically preserved later on while the mausoleum was built. Even now they have to drain him and refresh the preservant supply on a yearly basis, IIRC. He really ought to be buried. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/82 "2004-04-20T15:24:51Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > What say you? How do you wish your mortal remains be treated? If buried, would you rather the airtight metal box, or the bio-degradable wooden box? Or no box at all? Do you really care where you’re buries, seeing as how you ain’t really gonna know?? Ideally, I would prefer to follow the natural life-cycle : being buried without a coffin and left to rot. But of course, it’s not allowed. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/83 "2004-04-20T15:36:19Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > . At his wake I saw one of the nuns tuck a pack of Camels under the pillow in his coffin. > StG Weird. I too put cigarettes in my father’s pocket before his burial. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/84 "2004-04-20T16:29:00Z")
Several posters have expressed the opinion that viewings are creepy and morbid. My maternal grandmother spent the last few years of her life rotting away in a nursing home. My mother had bad memories of helplessly watching her wither away. When Grandma died, the embalmer made her look much better, healthier, and not in pain. Mom found the viewing to be a great comfort. … As for themselves, Mom and Dad both favor cremation. They grew up during the Depression, and they prefer frugality. Dad has a plot in his family’s cemetary. Mom does not want to spend eternity surrounded by strangers, so she has specified a location where she wants her ashes scattered. As for me, cremate and scatter. Real estate is too @#$% expensive to waste on graveyards. The PC people want me to recycle, so I will start recycling! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/85 "2004-04-24T11:15:21Z")
I think how much of a help viewing is, largely depends on the quality of the embalming. In my grandmother’s case, she looked kind of freaky and deformed, although she had died very suddenly. Not helpful. In my grandfather’s case, however, they did a perfect job, and he looked very peaceful and dignified. It was kind of comforting to see him. My father ended up looking like a completely different person. In his case, the funeral home opened up the casket for us before the guests arrived; we collectively decided that with him looking like that, there was no point in having a viewing, so we asked them to close the casket. Instead, we put a photograph on top of the casket, and made two big display boards with some of our favourite photos of him. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/86 "2004-04-24T23:26:16Z")
As for the pine box option, I’m pretty sure my mom said that she chose that for her parents when they went in the past few years, because we weren’t having a viewing or a graveside visit. There really was no reason to spend the money on anything else. It’s not like we didn’t so something for them. My grandmother had played piano and organ in that church for about 50 years, and her memorial looked almost like Sunday morning service in attendance. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/87 "2004-04-25T00:37:38Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > [Plastination](http://www.koerperwelten.com/en/pages/koerperspende.asp) all the way, baby. Gosh darn you, I was going to be the first person to link to that! A pox on you! I have a wonderful book called [Stiff](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393050939/qid=1082852864/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-2332786-8112117?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Mary Roach. Did you know bodies donated to science can become crash-test dummies or be decapitated and used to train plastic surgeons? Also, I can’t recommend [The Undertaking](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140276238/qid=1082853045/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-2332786-8112117?v=glance&s=books) by Thomas Lynch enough. He’s a poet-undertaker whose essays justify burial and modern funeral tradition far better than I could. As for me, I’d like my usable organs to be donated and then have the leftovers buried. I’ve always loved cemeteries, and I can’t imagine not being a part of one some day. My survivors are welcome to cheap out on the actual burial, but I intend to leave money in a trust for the headstone, which I’d like done in as close to [the style of colonial/early America](http://www.lostinjersey.com/graphics2004/deathead.jpg) as can be found today. Cemetery art is beautiful, and maybe I’m vain, but I want some of it dedicated to me. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/88 "2004-04-25T01:45:23Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > From [this](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&e=18&u=/chitribts/mostdonatedbodiesputtogooduseexpertssay) article: > > “…the Army obtained through a broker bodies that had been given to Tulane University in New Orleans and blew them up in land mine experiments.” > > Not that you are going to notice, but donating your body to medical science doesn’t necessarily mean that medical students are using it to learn anatomy. Personally, I’d object to the military using my corpse to advance their methods for killing people. The last time I heard about corpses being used in an, uh, experimental military fashion, it was **after** they’d been discected by the med students. The students have to practice sewing people up, too, and it makes no never mind to the army that your dead body had its innards played with before they got it. Also, the story I heard about used “unclaimed” bodies- they weren’t wanted back by the donor’s families. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/89 "2004-04-25T03:47:04Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s a scene in [Kundun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119485/) where they do this. It is indeed cool. ooooooooooooh. I must rent that movie…thanks! (We need a smilie that shows the happy face going " Ooooooooh" Just a suggestion peoples.) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/90 "2004-04-25T03:57:42Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > In my grandmother’s case, she looked kind of freaky and deformed, although she had died very suddenly. Not helpful. > > . My grandma looked a hell of a lot better than she did the day before she died, but it was still weird. They had glued her mouth shut. (the nursing home had lost her false teeth) ---
**Author:** ![Okaybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc348/32.png) [@Okaybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okaybear)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/91 "2004-04-25T05:10:57Z")
Upon reading these, um, “quaint” posts, I recalled hiking up on Mt. Washington once with my dad. We passed a plaque on a stone that read something to the effect of “So-and-so died near this spot on such-and-such a date”. I stated out loud how unfortunate that was. My dad quickly said, “Why? He died doing exactly what he loved.” So, I’m guessing my hiking-obsessed father would probably love to be left on a mountain somewhere, either in ashes or in a trash bag, as he has so often gruffly suggested. 🙂 As for me, I haven’t given much thought to the whole ordeal, seeing as I have nearly reached the ripe old age of 21. I like the idea of having a headstone, but I don’t really want to take up too much space. Maybe if I donate enough moola to my old high school they can bury my ashes under the cornerstone of whatever new building they plan to construct, and engrave on it “Okaybear’s Ghost is Currently Haunting the Dining Hall”. Oh, to creep out the freshmen, that would be a hoot. Or a haunt. Eesh. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/92 "2004-04-25T06:04:41Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > …The Navy provides burial at sea from the decks of a Navy warship if a Navy veteran or his family requests this service. I have witnessed about a half-dozen of these touching services. They are something to see… Mr. Moto, I am utterly fascinated by your post! I’m curious, do they perform “traditional” style burials-at-sea too, that is, with an intact body? Or will they only do it with ashes? Do they perform these rites en masse with several scatterings per, umm, voyage? Or is it one ceremony per trip? And, is this service available to vets from other branches of the service? Boy, as a sometime journalist I would love to go on one of these trips to witness the ceremony in person. I wonder if they would permit it. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/93 "2004-04-25T17:12:46Z")
I’m for cremation as well. I would like my ashes to brought up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in the Superior National Forest and sprinkled there. Hopefully, my friends would be able to do it. I would also like a little stone plaque placed there (although, Im pretty sure that’s illiegal). Hopefully they won’t sprinkle me anywhere near a trail or portage, but rather by a rock outcropping that juts out into a lake. No service, no memorial, just sprinkle and go about and have some fun. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/94 "2004-04-25T17:43:37Z")
I had planned to say the following: I don’t care what they do with me after I’m dead. I won’t be there, it won’t affect me in any way. Death services are for the living, so whatever my wife wants done with me after my viable organs are removed and used to extend somebody else’s life is fine with me. Or not, it will make no difference. I hope she doesn’t spend a lot of money, but if it’s worth it to her, I can’t really object. Until I read this: > [@](#): > > I have a wonderful book called Stiff by Mary Roach. Did you know bodies donated to science can become crash-test dummies or be decapitated and used to train plastic surgeons? Is it possible to designate that you want your corpse to be used as a crash-test dummy? Cause that would be so cool. Even better, put me in one of those rocket sleds they crash into walls at mach 2 out in the deserts of the Southwest. Vaporized in less than a thousanth of a second. That would be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/95 "2004-04-25T18:02:53Z")
> [@Poonther](#): > > What I’ve never understood is why people want to be buried and have expensive head stones posted above. I find this a little selfish and a waste of valuable real estate because after 50 to 75 years…all those that have known you will be gone too and nobody will come around to visit this spot anymore…so why do it? I think you’ve answered your own question. Being interested in history, one of the things I often think about is how for the vast, vast bulk of people in this world, their names will never be remembered or mentioned much more thatn 25 or so years beyond their death. Yet most people, at least unconsciously, want to feel important. Few people want to admit that their name will not live on the lips of men, that in a few years, no one will know that they were even on this earth. I think that the headstone is one attempt to have at least some visible record of the common man’s existence. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/96 "2004-04-25T19:41:35Z")
You’re all sick. Until they come up with a cure for dying of Being Cool, I will be cryogenically frozen and the entire machinery, along with sufficient power to last well into the 95th century, will be buried fifty feet underground in a vast chamber filled with statues of myself and poems about me written by me. I will personally place a curse on the place by pumping the air full of some ghastly disease I haven’t decided on yet (but it’ll probably involve puking). The chamber will be enclosed within a purpose-built spacecraft, also buried fifty feet down, which is designed to function as an escape pod should the earth be destroyed during my long wait for a cure. Should the earth be about to plummet into the sun/collide with a comet/elect President Cosby, the spacecraft will take off, proceed until it finds a suitable Class-M planet, seed it with my DNA, and bury itself, waiting for my descendants to come up with a cure instead. Then when I’m finally cured and released I will reign FOREVER as THE MAN WITH THE RIGHT IDEA. I should add that the power requirements to maintain this burial-plan will actually increase the likelihood of the earth’s demise substantially. In fact they’ll ensure it. But don’t worry, as the ship leaves everyone on earth will receive a free t-shirt. * * * In other news, is there no society on earth where burial customs are designed to prevent the deceased getting out, rather than nature getting in? ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/97 "2004-04-25T22:28:42Z")
I found the preceding post to be quite droll. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/98 "2004-04-26T03:04:22Z")
You realize, of course, it will say “My planet got destroyed to preserve the body of THE MAN WITH THE RIGHT IDEA and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/99 "2004-04-26T03:59:58Z")
Nothing fancy for me. Just a pine box. Or maybe stone? Yeah that’s it - a stone sarcophagus! In a pyramid! A huge Egyptian pyramid that can be seen shining across the desert for miles and miles… ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494/100 "2004-04-28T14:57:12Z")
> [@Ross](#): > > Should the earth be about to …elect President Cosby… Hey, hey, hey Actually, that’s the best idea you’ve put forth. It’d sure be better than the choices we’ve got now. You might just be the man w/ the right idea yet. Oh wait…you didn’t endorse Cosby did you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burials-wtf/240494.md?page=6)