# Can't buy a coffin without a body? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949 "2022-10-29T04:13:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/1 "2022-10-29T04:13:19Z")
In another thread, a [link](http://www.munsterkoach.com/dean1.htm) was shared with Q&A about the building of the Munster Koach and Drag-U-La. This caught my eye: > 15.) _What do you know about Barris obtaining the coffin to make the car? Where did you get them for the newer ones?_ > **The first coffin was obtained from the prop shop and was first used in the movie “Some Like It Hot.” The next three - I get the coffins from Mexico as you can’t buy them in the States without a dead body.** What? You can buy them at [Costco](https://www.costco.com/funeral-caskets.html). Was it illegal to buy a coffin without a death certificate in the '60s? Or was it just a ‘rule’ by the funeral industry to protect their profits? Or was Dick Dean mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/2 "2022-10-29T06:20:07Z")
That’s not the case now in California but the laws may have been different in the Sixties. I suspect what he means is that funeral homes wouldn’t sell you one a la carte; you would have had to buy the whole funeral and mortician services. Easier and cheaper to drive down to TJ and pick one up. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/3 "2022-10-29T10:02:00Z")
I seem to remember Jessica Mitford exposed any number of restrictive practices: > **[The American Way of Death](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Way_of_Death)** > > The American Way of Death is an exposé of abuses in the funeral home industry in the United States, written by Jessica Mitford and published in 1963. An updated revision, The American Way of Death Revisited, completed by Mitford just before her death in 1996, appeared in 1998. > Mitford's husband, civil rights lawyer Robert Treuhaft, persuaded her to write an investigative article about the American funeral industry. Although her article on the subject, "Saint Peter Don't You Call Me", published i... ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/4 "2022-10-29T12:02:52Z")
Should also point out that even an honest merchant may have been reluctant to sell. Their business revolves around the solemnizing of the process around death and burial. Selling coffins to people who are going to use them for stupid irreverent stuff may have been offensive to some of these funeral homes. Although, this being Hollywood you would think that money trumps everything. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/5 "2022-10-29T12:41:35Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Should also point out that even an honest merchant may have been reluctant to sell. Their business revolves around the solemnizing of the process around death and burial. Selling coffins to people who are going to use them for stupid irreverent stuff may have been offensive to some of these funeral homes. The overriding motive behind the funeral industry’s refusal to sell coffins was the fear of consumers cutting out the middleman. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/6 "2022-10-29T15:11:40Z")
What’s the big deal? You can find a body anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/7 "2022-11-02T22:18:43Z")
Back in the late 1990s, Mrs. Nott worked as an accountant for a local casket factory. They’d happily sell a casket to anybody. In fact, they sold some with shelves inside, so the customer could use them for bookshelves until they needed them for caskets. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-coffin-without-a-body/973949/8 "2022-11-02T22:41:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What’s the big deal? You can find a body anywhere. And most towns have nice and tidy storage places for used coffins.