# Burn or Bury? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401 "2002-12-22T17:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/21 "2002-12-22T20:05:39Z")
My religion has pretty specific laws about these things. Cremation is not allowed. I will be buried in a casket made of hardwood (hardwood or crystal is required, because, while the soul has departed the body upon death, the body is still the temple that has housed the soul, and therefore deserves respect), a gold ring on my finger, engraved with the words “From God I came, and to God I return”, and buried facing the East. It is my hope that one day soon hubby and I will buy a house on a largish (10 acre or so) piece of land, and there will be a nice hardwood tree on that land, suitable for him to make my casket out of. Some people may think it’s morbid, but I like the idea of him making my casket, and he likes it, too. I think it would be nice if I could be buried on our property, too. I’d pick a spot with a nice view, a hole can be dug, our “Prayer for the dead” can be intoned, and in I’ll go. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/22 "2002-12-22T20:22:33Z")
I’m uncomfortable with the idea of my body being around intact after death. I’ll opt for cremation, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Ravi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ravi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/23 "2002-12-22T20:28:55Z")
How Kirk Douglas ended up in THE VIKINGS is the way to go but I think my city regulations would stop it from happening. Ravi ---
**Author:** ![StPaul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@StPaul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StPaul)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/24 "2002-12-22T20:39:51Z")
Lets look at the cremation process: 1. Prep phase. Use pliers to pull out any teeth with fillings - fillings contain mercury which would cause air pollution. Remove anything else that the EPA doesn’t want to go into the atmosphere. 2. Furnace phase. Heat body so that most of it turns into H2O and carbon dioxide gas. Up the chimney it goes. 3. Grinding phase. Put remaining bones and crusty stuff into a big paint mixer thing along with some iron shot-put balls. Turn on until everything is reduced to dust. Personally, none of the choices sound appealing. I’m going to put the end off indefinitely. Like cleaning the basement - I’m just not going get around to it. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/25 "2002-12-22T20:45:45Z")
A boat, an anchor, and a length of chain. That’s my ideal. If not that, than cremation. ---
**Author:** ![Medievalist2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@Medievalist2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medievalist2)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/26 "2002-12-22T21:19:28Z")
My father hates funerals. He told me and my mother, “When I die, just put a plastic sheet over me and call Animal Control to come pick me up.” (My father has a weird sense of humor.) For me, it’s definitely burial. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/27 "2002-12-22T22:27:11Z")
My will contains the instructions for me No funeral, no family, no religion, no box. Burn and give the leftovers to the SO who will do with them whatever she pleases because I suspect I will be beyond caring. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/28 "2002-12-22T22:38:02Z")
Burn. Seems much cleaner than being left to rot. I also think there’s something incredibly vain about demanding personal space set aside for you on the planet long after you’re gone. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/29 "2002-12-22T22:44:48Z")
One place to put ashes: [http://www.sanfranciscocemeteries.com/Clbrm.html](http://www.sanfranciscocemeteries.com/Clbrm.html) (for those too lazy to click, it’s call a “Columbarium”) ---
**Author:** ![ThirdMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@ThirdMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThirdMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/30 "2002-12-23T00:14:48Z")
I’m not looking to check out anytime soon, but I’ve considered donating my body to science, or maybe the “body farm” at University of Tennessee (not sure they’re taking reservations but who knows?) ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/31 "2002-12-23T00:40:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ThirdMonkey \* > **but I’ve considered donating my body to science** You do know this is just a grand title for ending up on a slab for a year, being gradually hacked to bits by first year medical students? I’ve no problem donating organs, but, sorry, you couldn’t pay me enough to “donate my body to science”. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/32 "2002-12-23T01:27:42Z")
I want to be [plastinated](http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/plastination.htm): > [@](#): > > Plastinated specimen are dry and odourless; they retain their natural surface relief and are identical with their state prior to preservation down to the microscopic level. > > The plastination technique replaces bodily fluids and fat with reactive polymers, such as silicone rubber, epoxy resins, or polyester: in a first phase solvent gradually replaces bodily fluids in a cold solvent bath (freeze substitution). After dehydration the specimen is put in a solvent bath at room temperature for defatting. The dehydrated and defatted specimen is then placed into a polymer solution. The solvent is then brought to a boil in a vacuum and continuously extracted from the specimen; the evaporating solvent creates a volume deficit within the specimen drawing the polymer gradually into the tissue. After the process of forced impregnation the specimen is cured with gas, light, or heat, depending on the type of polymer used. Then just put me in the La-Z-Boy with the remote, and I’ll be happy. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/33 "2002-12-23T01:39:49Z")
Ideally, I’d like to be left in the desert for carrion birds and various desert creatures. I really like the idea of my bones being bleached by the sun. Being stuck in a box in the ground is really, really creepy to me… and being burned into nothing is only slightly less creepy. ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/34 "2002-12-23T01:46:41Z")
OK, as I tally it, here are the results so far: Burn - 16 Unspecified or ‘traditional’ durial - 2 Natural Burial - 3 Creatively alternative method - 8 (Viking Funerals, permanent preservation, skeletonized, the Body Farm, etc.) Undecided - 1 Don’t plan to die - 1 (I have to admit that it _is_ a sure fire way to avoid the whole issue 🙂 ) The more I think of it, the more I feel that this is a _PERFECT_ thread for the days leading up to Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/35 "2002-12-23T02:12:19Z")
Cremation. Ideally, I’d like to be burned, have my ashes mixed into soil, and have some nice herbs growing on my remains. That way, at least I’ll be providing for something after I’m gone. 'Course, I plan on sticking around for a while… ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/36 "2002-12-23T03:02:44Z")
If anyone is interested in a pre-need discount let me know :😁: ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/37 "2002-12-23T03:13:29Z")
> [@](#): > > My sister and I have still not made that urn for my dad, dammit. Part of the problem is that we can’t get his ashes out of the original box Forest Lawn put him in, (it’s this weird metal thing) so we can’t transfer him to our own home-made urn. Yeesh. Could you maybe put him in a large pot, box and all? Maybe put some foam around the box if you don’t want it to rattle against the sides of the pot? > [@](#): > > The first was an essay I read while I was in a Thanotology course in college. The title of the essay was “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain”. I can’t find a link to the full text of the essay, but it speaks about many things people don’t realize about the burial process. I would like to suggest _The American Way of Death_ by Jessica Mitford, an expose of the evils of the greedy funeral industry. Very readable, and tounge-in-cheek. > [@](#): > > Burn is out as an option because I had a Bad Experience in a crematorium as a younger person. My office window used to be right next to a crematorium vent. This is all I want to say about the subject. > [@](#): > > Prep phase. Use pliers to pull out any teeth with fillings - fillings contain mercury which would cause air pollution. Remove anything else that the EPA doesn’t want to go into the atmosphere. Does the EPA have any problems with the embalming fluid and other chemicals leeching out of a decaying body into the soil? I’ve never read anything on the subject, but it seems to be that they’d end up in the ground water eventually. (Pleasant thought, I know.) > [@](#): > > I also think there’s something incredibly vain about demanding personal space set aside for you on the planet long after you’re gone. Well said! > [@](#): > > [About donating your body to science] You do know this is just a grand title for ending up on a slab for a year, being gradually hacked to bits by first year medical students? I’m sure that I won’t mind. Besides, they’ve got to practice somehow. At least if they screw up, they won’t be harming a living person. Personally, I want to be cremated and a young tree to be planted in my ashes. A small, uncut field stone with only “Lissa” carved on it placed below. I remeber reading somwhere of a culture that used to plant oak trees in the hearts of their dead warriors. If the tree flourished, the warrior was having a wonderful afterlife, if not . . . well, he hadn’t been such a great guy after all. Does anyone know who these people were? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/38 "2002-12-23T03:15:20Z")
I like the idea of a [Tibetan sky burial](http://www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/fatal_attractions/fatal_sky.htm). Traditionally, when a Tibetan died, his or her body would be chopped up and left for vultures to dispose of the flesh, thus testifying to the truth of impermanence and conserving on scarce firewood that would be wasted on cremation. Besides, I have always been an advocate of recycling. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/39 "2002-12-23T03:32:26Z")
Creamation and my ashes spread in the Atlantic Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401/40 "2002-12-23T03:48:05Z")
My dad has chosen cremation. Me, I’m not real sure yet. I know I want as many usable organs taken from my body as possible and donated. But beyond that, I’m still not real sure. Probably cremation, though. I do want a memorial service, though, because yeah, I’m that vain. But I want it to be like the reast of my family funerals. Fun. If you’ve just got to cry, that’s fine. But don’t forget to laugh and tell stories about me. And please, unless it’s all you’ve got clean at the moment, don’t wear black. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-or-bury/144401.md?page=3)