# Can the morbidly obese be cremated?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-morbidly-obese-be-cremated/363916>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 10, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-morbidly-obese-be-cremated/363916 "2006-07-10T19:27:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-morbidly-obese-be-cremated/363916/21 "2006-07-11T15:28:31Z")

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At the end of Gilbert Grape rather than subject their mobidly obese dead mother to the public riddicle of being taken out of the house with a crane, Gilbert and his four siblings empty out the house and set it on fire

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**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-morbidly-obese-be-cremated/363916/22 "2006-07-11T20:16:31Z")

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Whales sometimes beach themselves. They are difficult to handle postmortem.

> **[Exploding whale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale)**
>
> There have been several cases of exploding whale carcasses due to a buildup of gas in the decomposition process. This would occur if a whale stranded itself ashore. Actual explosives have also been used to assist in disposing of whale carcasses, ordinarily after towing the carcass out to sea, and as part of a beach cleaning effort. It was reported as early as 1928, when an attempt to preserve a carcass failed due to faulty chemical usages.
> A widely reported case of an exploding whale occurred...

> **[Cetacean stranding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beached_whale)**
>
> Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is a phenomenon in which whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, collapsing under their own weight, or drowning when high tide covers the blowhole. Cetacean stranding has occurred since before recorded history.
> Several explanations for why cetaceans strand themselves have been proposed, including changes in water temperatures, peculiarities of whales' echolocation in certain su...

No, I do not suggest that we “blow up” the dearly departed.

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