# Cremation Or Burial? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333 "2004-05-21T07:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/21 "2004-05-21T16:48:33Z")
> [@DeVena](#): > > Donation - Cremation - Fertilizer > > or, as I like to think it… > > Re-Use, Reduce, Recycle. I **like** that. And that’s basically what I want. I wrote it specifically in my “durable power of attorney” that no “extreme measures” be used, and any/all useful organs be donated. Then cremation, then ashes scattered over the Smokies (ancestral home). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/22 "2004-05-21T17:02:48Z")
Cremation. The wife knows, and I must say…she is morbidly looking forward to putting a little Hawaiian shirt on my urn. 😃 Then when she joins me in the Choir Invisible, our ashes are to be scattered under an olive tree. Like **kelly5078,** I find modern burial procedures revolting. Anaerobic bacteria and I have never gotten along very well anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/23 "2004-05-21T17:25:50Z")
I have always said cremation. But this new technology of making bodies into diamonds sounds interesting. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/24 "2004-05-21T20:40:19Z")
Donation - Cremation. There’s not much space for burials here. I wanted people at a hospital, or laboratory, just pick whatever they need out of my body and then throw the rest of me out with the garbage. But apparently they don’t do that. So: a minimal cremation. If you wanna mourn over me, do it at home. No false sentiments please. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/25 "2004-05-21T21:07:46Z")
If I could be buried in a pine box with no embalming and no airtight vault, I would go that way. Give the worms something to do. Since in the USA that isn’t really an option any more, I’ll go with cremation (please, DON’T pay to have a coffin cremated with me). ---
**Author:** ![Studioworks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Studioworks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Studioworks)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/26 "2004-05-21T21:13:10Z")
Cremation, then have my ashes built into fireworks, which will be shot off at some party in my honour. (BTW I also (if I ever get a lot of $$) having a fake funeral/wake so taht I can hear the eulogy, and see what nice things people say about me, of course people who say bad things about me will get bad things from my will. For his own use eternally, I leave my shower chair to …) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/27 "2004-05-23T06:46:59Z")
I am really kind of surprised at the overwhelming selection of cremation, although I think it is better for a lot of reason. I read where the turning ashes into a diamond is a scam, and not only that, they only use something like 2 ounces of your ashes to make the diamond, if they actually use it at all. So far, I am most impressed with **DeVena** ’s answer: Re-Use, Reduce, Recycle. Practical, morally correct and just good sense. No one has mentioned religious reasons for NOT being cremated…aren’t there some religions where that is forbidden, or am I mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/28 "2004-05-23T13:17:49Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > … but burial these days involves putting your corpse in an airtight box and letting anaerobic bacteria liquify you. I’m sure that, even dead, I’d find a way to be upset by this. Exactly. That’s why I want cremation. I don’t even want a viewing, because that would involve embalming, which I also find distasteful. No, thanks. Immediate cremation in a cardboard box, and the ashes scattered. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/29 "2004-05-23T15:22:58Z")
“Accelerated decomposition,” then put what’s left—at least what’s fine enough—into egg timers. At least then I’ll finally be doing something useful[SUP]\*[/SUP]. [SUP]\*[/SUP]No, that’s not original to me: It’s been attributed to Anthony Hopkins, as well as to another British man whose name I can’t remember. But I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/30 "2004-05-23T15:36:05Z")
I prefer whatever is the cheapest method my next-of-kin can find. I would guess that donating my body to science would be free, yes? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/31 "2004-05-23T15:39:38Z")
I don’t care what they do with me, but if anyone brings a member of the clergy within a hundred miles of me, I’ll haunt 'em for eternity. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/32 "2004-05-23T15:43:17Z")
> **[Science Care - Donate your body to science - no cost program](https://www.sciencecare.com/)** > > Science Care serves as a link between those who wish to donate their body to science, and medical researchers and educators. Cremation is provided at no cost to Science Care donors. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/33 "2004-05-23T16:07:00Z")
Cremation. I’ve always found caskets to be such a waste of money. Pay thousands of dollars for a pretty box the family is going to view for a few hours and then shove into the ground for years and years. The deceased doesn’t care. I’m not sure what I want done with my ashes, though. Probably bury the ashes and plant a tree over it, like **Kalhoun**. And maybe a small, cheap, marker with my name, birthdate and deathdate on it. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/34 "2004-05-23T16:14:24Z")
> [@Skopo](#): > > I’ve always liked the idea of a classical funeral–and by “classical” I mean ancient Greek/Roman. Ever since I first read descriptions of funerals in Greek myths, I’ve always preferred cremation. A blazing funeral pyre, or being lowered into the earth as maggot-food? No contest. I’ve always had the fantasy of someone sneaking my ashes into the [Mausoleum of Augustus](http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mausaug.html) in Rome. I’m not sure if tourists are allowed into the actual Mausoleum, so it probably could never happen anyway. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/35 "2004-05-23T16:55:36Z")
Cremation, then toss me over the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara, which is where we scattered my mother’s ashes. Yeah, it’s illegal, but if you do it at night when everyone’s distracted by the lights on the American Falls then no one will even notice. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phedre_no_Delaunay)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/36 "2004-05-23T19:43:22Z")
I’d like to be flash frozen then stuck in a glacier somewhere with a lot of cultural artifacts so that scientists in the distant future can learn about people from our time. Probably won’t happen though. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/37 "2004-05-23T19:46:50Z")
Cremation. Burial takes up so much in the way of resources, money not being the least of them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Green\_Feather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@The\_Green\_Feather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Green_Feather)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/38 "2004-05-23T20:10:05Z")
My first wife had both. First cremation and a funeral ceramony. Then I took her remains to Pa. were her family is from for another funeral ceramony and burial in the church cemetary next to her mother. The double funeral was almost too much for me to handle. But it was a hell of a lot cheaper than shipping a casket. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/39 "2004-05-23T20:15:27Z")
Harvest anything useful, burn the rest, ashes to the Gulf of Mexico or down the toilet, whichever is easier. ---
**Author:** ![Tayr0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@Tayr0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tayr0)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/40 "2004-05-24T02:42:41Z")
Cremation, after organ harvesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333.md?page=3)