# Cheap body disposal **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 16, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355 "2013-01-16T03:35:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/1 "2013-01-16T03:35:03Z")
Being recently reminded of my mortality, it’s time for me to plan for disposal of my body. I do not believe in an afterlife; I believe that upon my death, this body will have no more significance than road kill (it barely does while I’m alive). My partner feels the same way, so we’re both about to make plans for disposal of our bodies, if only for the sake of our “next of kin.” So what’s the absolute bare-bones cheapest way to dispose of the bodies . . . without the law coming down on our families? ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/2 "2013-01-16T04:10:26Z")
I worked for a funeral home one very memorable summer. Their cheapest option was for pre-paid cremation. IIRC, it was $600 or so. It’s also a huge relief for the family when the deceased has all their funeral plans already taken care of - no ‘but what would dear aunt Jane have wanted?’ and no reams of paperwork. If it doesn’t make you queasy, there are lots of places to donate your body to science and/or medical students. I’m assuming those are free. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/3 "2013-01-16T04:11:09Z")
Probably cremated, then stacked in a rack in a municipal columbarium. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/4 "2013-01-16T04:15:07Z")
Carnivorous pets. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/5 "2013-01-16T04:22:33Z")
[BioGIft](http://www.biogift.org/02_abcs.html). Donating your body to science incurs no cost for you or your family. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/6 "2013-01-16T04:33:54Z")
Call Jimmy 347 572-8371 [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BbwFXngs9Lw/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgSChaMA8=&rs=AOn4CLAZFZDavbNMaeK1Ql1SxVcY12bE6A "Goodfellas") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbwFXngs9Lw) ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/7 "2013-01-16T04:45:18Z")
Google “Low Cost Cremations” and your area. I put in Ohio, and came up with this for [$450.](http://www.450cremations.com/) StG ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/8 "2013-01-16T04:57:30Z")
Full-body donation. It’s free, your survivors don’t have to go to any trouble, and you are doing some good for Humanity. Especially handy if you don’t have any spares anybody wants, like if you die old or worn out. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/9 "2013-01-16T11:51:27Z")
I plan to donate whatever is left of me. My family knows this, but I should probably do the paperwork now. I like the idea of being useful after I’m dead. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/10 "2013-01-16T11:53:47Z")
Is it possible to be an organ donor, then leave the rest for science? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/11 "2013-01-16T12:01:08Z")
Thirding body donation. The Cleveland Clinic has a body donation program. We worked with them when my MIL died. My sister worked with [MedCure](http://medcure.org/) when my brother died. Zero cost to us in both instances. MedCure has very few restrictions on donation and often “part out” the body, so to speak, so prior organ donation would not be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/12 "2013-01-16T13:30:39Z")
I want to donate my body to science, mostly for the reason of being cheap. I live near Duke so I looked into their body donation program and it is free but you have to pay a funeral home to transport the body to them, that’s like $200! There are also a few universities that have departments that need bodies to decompose in the woods so they can study them while they do so…more info for the CSI folks and such. I would be into that, again, they usually want you to pay for transport. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/13 "2013-01-16T13:41:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Is it possible to be an organ donor, then leave the rest for science? I think it is. It’s what I’d like to do. So I have an organ donor card & I’m registered, and then I’d like to donate the rest to science. AFAIK they are separate systems. The organs will come out first, and then they look into what you wanted to do with the remains. They could at the very least still look at your brain, I presume. And that is if they even use your organs. I believe it is pretty rare that you have the right kind of death for your organs to be useful, have good organs and also have a match. They probably won’t use much, if anything. One thing I rather like the thought of is being in those tests to see how bodies decompose under different conditions. You just lie out in the open on the forest floor and get eaten by bugs. 😛 But I don’t really mind what they do, I’d just like to be of some use. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/14 "2013-01-16T13:55:24Z")
If it was possible… > [@John Biggs](#): > > Send me to glory in a Glad Bag. Don’t waste a fancy coffin on my bones. Just put me out on the curb next Tuesday. Let the city sanitation bear me home. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/15 "2013-01-16T14:55:53Z")
For the [Body Farm](http://fac.utk.edu/donation.html), they’ll pick up within Tennessee and within 100 miles of Knoxville at no cost to you. If you have HIV, TB, MRSA or and form of hepatitis they won’t take you. StG ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/16 "2013-01-16T15:22:37Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I believe that upon my death, this body will have no more significance than road kill (it barely does while I’m alive). My partner feels the same way [/quote] \*\*\* hugs **panache45** \*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/17 "2013-01-16T15:54:56Z")
Yet another vote for scientific donation. My brother wanted his body to go to the Body Farm once the cancer took him away, but we learned about the whole transport thing too late and couldn’t organize it within the week. Ultimately, we registered him with MedCure before he died. They were super efficient, it took one phone call and they were there within an hour. Didn’t cost a cent and saved us plenty of grief in an already miserable situation. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/18 "2013-01-16T17:10:05Z")
Out of curiosity, I looked up Texas state law once. You can be buried on private land with no fuss if: - it’s in an unincorporated part of the state (not within city limits) - it’s not a cemetery I think they may have some rules about the hole being six feet deep, but they didn’t say anything about a casket or concrete or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/19 "2013-01-16T18:02:15Z")
You could always call [this guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJP1DphOWPs) (Youtube meme double warning) for a quote, but it is probably more than the $200 option up thread. I think the organ donation + body to science option should be one of the cheapest. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355/20 "2013-01-16T18:32:09Z")
Do you or anyone you know own pigs? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-body-disposal/647355.md?page=2)